Tõnis Rotberg (9 September 1882 in

Viljandi Parish Viljandi Parish () is a rural Municipalities of Estonia, municipality of Viljandi County, Estonia. It is located around the town of Viljandi, but does not include it. Viljandi Parish was established by merging four municipalities: Paistu Parish, ...

Kreis Fellin Viljandi County (; , ) was a historic county in the Governorate of Livonia, and in the Republic of Estonia dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Estonian SSR in 1949. It was situated in the northern part of the governora ...

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

– 24 July 1953 in Tayshet,

Russian SFSR 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 ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n general.

Biography

Rotberg was born in Viljandi and attended Vilnius military school to become an officer in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, as Estonia at the time was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He became a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in 1909. During the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

, Rotberg became a lieutenant colonel in the Estonian Army and was the Head of Army Supplies between 1918 and 1938. In 1928, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. In 1938–1940, Rotberg was Deputy Minister of War. On 21 June 1940, he was appointed

Minister of War A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in Johannes Vares' cabinet after the

occupation of the Baltic states The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Naz ...

by the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. He held this position until the cabinet was replaced by the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

of the

Estonian SSR The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

on 25 August 1940. Rotberg was then transferred to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and fought in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

. He was taken prisoner by

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

forces near the town of Porkhov in July 1941, but released in July 1942 after promising not to take up arms against the Germans. After the Soviet Union re-occupied the Baltic states in September 1944, Rotberg was arrested by the

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 ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. He was accused of participating in hostilities against the Red Army in 1919, of surrender to the Wehrmacht without resistance in 1941, and of living in German-occupied Estonia without taking up arms against the occupiers after his release from captivity. On 19 October 1951, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rotberg died on 24 July 1953 in prison in Tayshet. He was posthumously rehabilitated on 31 October 1957. He was awarded the Cross of Liberty for Military Leadership (Second class) in 1921 and the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(Fourth class) in 1925.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotberg, Tonis 1882 births 1953 deaths People from Viljandi Parish People from Kreis Fellin Estonian major generals Soviet major generals Imperial Russian Army officers Ministers of defence of Estonia Russian military personnel of World War I Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Estonian people who died in Soviet detention People who died in the Gulag Soviet rehabilitations