Karl Säre (July 2, 1903 – March 14, 1945) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician. He was the first first secretary of the Central Committee of the

Estonian Communist Party The Communist Party of Estonia (, abbreviated EKP; in Russian: Коммунистическая партия Эстонии) was a regional branch of the Soviet communist party (CPSU) which in 1920–1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, aft ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was arrested by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and taken to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

, where he died in 1945. The Soviet government avoided the mention of Säre's name in any public sources, as he was suspected of treason by disclosing to Nazi Germany information about the

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

officials and pro-Soviet agents who had remained in German-occupied Estonia during the war.Säre, Karl.
eestigiid.ee

Biography

Born in to the family of brewery worker, Säre joined the communist movement at a young age and became a member of the Union of Communist Youth of Estonia in 1917. In 1921, he left Estonia for

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and began his studies at a

rabfak Rabfak (from , a syllabic abbreviation of Рабочий факультет, ''Rabochiy fakul′tet'', "workers' faculty") was a type of educational institution in the Soviet Union which prepared Soviet workers and peasants to enter institutions of ...

and later on the

Communist University of the National Minorities of the West The Communist University of the National Minorities of the West (KUNMZ – ''Kommunistichesky Universitet Natsionalnykh Menshinstv Zapada''; КУНМЗ - Коммунистический университет национальных меньши ...

. Säre became a member of the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

and later

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

apparatus and was sent to work in the Soviet embassy in China. He was later sent to conduct underground activities in Estonia and participated in the restoration of the party. He became a member of the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia (, abbreviated EKP; in Russian: Коммунистическая партия Эстонии) was a regional branch of the CPSU, Soviet communist party (CPSU) which in 1920–1940 operated illegally in Estonia an ...

in 1927 and also became formally secretary of the then underground party's youth branch. He was sent back to Moscow and continued his studies at the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) () was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet ...

and later on was sent to conduct illegal activities in countries like

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

as a

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

agent. In 1938, Säre returned to Estonia and remained there clandestinely. After the Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia in June 1940, he was actively involved in the newly installed

puppet government. A few weeks after the annexation of Estonia into the USSR, Säre became member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia on 12 September 1940 and was elected its first secretary, thus formally becoming the leader of the Estonian branch of the

Communist Party of the USSR The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

."Avastati Eesti kommunistide peamehe veretöö", Meie Maa, January 28, 1943, lk 1 Estonian communist leaders in Tallinn 24

In 1941, he became a candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b) and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. After the German invasion, from, July to August 1941, he was Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Estonian SSR. He was lse underground to organize armed resistance to the Nazi occupiers. He was arrested by the German occupiers and after extensive investigation he gave the information of his fellow underground communist officials and resistance fighters.Eesti ajalugu elulugudes : 101 tähtsat eestlast / (Allan Liim, Ago Pajur, Sulev Vahtre... jt.); koostanud Sulev Vahtre. Tallinn : Olion, 1997 After the Soviet military intelligence network led by

Richard Sorge Richard Gustavovich Sorge (; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Russian journalist and GRU (Soviet Union), Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during World War II and worked undercover as a German journa ...

was exposed and detained in Japan in 1942, German intelligence sent a special plane to Tallinn and took Säre from Tallinn's central prison to Berlin. From there he was sent to the

. Karl Säre was probably last seen in the public in Denmark in March 1943, where he had been accused of murdering fellow communist Paul Eltermann.Richard Sorge ja Eesti
, Virkko Lepassalu, Luup 1996 Further information of Säre is still a subject of investigation. According to the researchers of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory he was sent to

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

, where on 14 March 1945 he died as a result of heart failure.Argo Kuusik, Valdur Ohmann. "EKP Keskkomitee esimese sekretäri Karl Säre saatus selgunud". Tuna 3/ 2014

References

Bibliography

*Olaf Kuuli, Karl Säre ja 1940. aasta Eestis. Poliitika (1990) nr 3, lk. 51–64. *Voldemar Pinn. Kes oli Nikolai Karotamm? 1, Kultuuritragöödia jälgedes: kompartei kolmest esimesest sekretärist Karl Särest, Nikolai Karotammest, Johannes Käbinist, Haapsalu: V. Pinn, 1996. *Laar, Mart. Säre, Karl. Eesti ajalugu elulugudes. 101 tähtsat eestlast. / (Allan Liim,

Ago Pajur Ago Pajur (born 24 March 1962 in Türi) is an Estonian historian. His principal fields of interest include the political history of Estonia in the first half of the 20th century, and the military history of Estonia in the 20th century. In 1999, ...

, Sulev Vahtre... jt); koostanud Sulev Vahtre. Tallinn : Olion, 1997 *Mai Vöörman, Pool sajandit võõra nime all, Luup (1997) nr. 19 (50), September 15. *Külli Niidassoo, Valdur Ohmann. Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei – 1930. aastad kuni juuli 1940: varjusurmast ajalooareenile. Tuna (2000) nr 3, lk 68–75. *Erik Nørgaard. Kongelundeni mõrv: dokumentatsioon, mis sisaldab seni salajas hoitud materjale Kongelundenis vastlapäeval 1936 aset leidnud poliitilise mõrva kohta ja lugu sellest, kuidas kommunistid 1940. aastal Eestis võimu haarasid, Tallinn: 2001, tõlkinud Arvo Alas. *Valdur Ohmann, EKP Keskkomitee I sekretäri Karl Säre arreteerimisest, reetlikkusest ja tema saatusest Tuna, (2001) nr 4, lk 38–47. *Helme, Rein. Karl Säre ja kambajõmmid mõrvatööl // Eesti Ekspress, January 30, 2002 *Olev Remsu, "Elitaarne mees Harry Männil", Tln, Tänapäev, 2011

External links

Сярэ Карл Янович (Karl Säre)
(''vene keeles'')
Eesti biograafiline andmebaas ISIK
*Valdur Ohmann
''Vendade Karl ja Artur Säre elukäigu salaniidistik.''
Tuna, (2003) nr 3, lk 64–77. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sare, Karl 1903 births 1945 deaths Politicians from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat Candidates of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Heads of the Communist Party of Estonia Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1947 International Lenin School alumni People who died in Neuengamme concentration camp