Otto Tief | |
|---|---|
 Tief, c. 1930 | |
| Born | (1889-08-14)14 August 1889 |
| Died | 5 March 1976(1976-03-05) (aged 86) |
| Occupations | Lawyer Prime Minister |
Otto Tief (14 August [O.S. 2 August] 1889[1] – 5 March 1976) was anEstonian politician, military commander, and a lawyer.
Tief was theacting prime minister of the lastgovernment of Estonia[2][3] beforeSoviet troops occupiedEstonia inthe Second World War in September 1944. Due to his commitment to his country, Tief is regarded by many of his fellow countrymen as a symbol of national resistance.
Tief studied law inSt Petersburg between 1910 and 1916. During theEstonian War of Independence, Tief was a commander in theKalevlaste Maleva battalion formed in 1918 by members of theKalev sports society. Following the war, he graduated in law from theUniversity of Tartu in 1921. He served as legal counsel to Eesti Maapank (the Estonian Land-Bank) and also worked in private practice as a lawyer. Tief was elected to parliament (thirdRiigikogu) in 1926 and served as the Minister of Social Affairs from 1926 to 1927. In 1928 he was the Minister of Justice. In 1932 he was elected to the fifth Riigikogu.[4]
During the turbulent days in September 1944, between the retreat of theGerman occupation forces inEstonia and the advancement of theRed Army, the actingPresident of theRepublic of EstoniaJüri Uluots appointed TiefPrime Minister and asked him to form agovernment on 18 September 1944. Tief then published a proclamation, re-establishing the independence of the Republic of Estonia on the basis of legal continuity, and attempted to organise the defence ofTallinn against the invadingRed Army, which pushed into the capital on 22 September 1944.
Members of the Tief's government:
Otto Tief was arrested by the SovietNKVD on 10 October 1944. In 1945, the Soviet occupation authorities sentenced him to ten years of imprisonment in the SiberianGulag. While in imprisonment, in January 1953, he was removed in absentia from theEstonian government-in-exile byAugust Rei. After being able to return briefly to Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1955, Tief was again forced to live in exile inSoviet Ukraine until 1965, when he was permitted to relocate closer to home, and he could then reside just on the other side of the Estonian border inLatvia. When Tief died on 5 March 1976, theSoviet security services would not allow his burial in Estonia. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, Tief was reinterred and reburied in his home country, in the national cemetery inTallinn, in 1993.
Tief held power for only a brief period of time (18–22 September 1944), and his efforts were rapidly undone by the invadingRed Army. However, Tief's actions have immense symbolic and legal significance, as his proclaiming of the restoration of theRepublic of Estonia, as well as the accompanying raising of theEstonian flag atop the tower ofPikk Hermann high above Tallinn at the seat of power in theToompea quarter negatesSoviet historiography's claims, according to which the invasion of Estonia by the SovietRed Army in September 1944 constituted "the liberation of Estonia".[5][6] Although the attempt to restore Estonian independence in September 1944 did not succeed, the Tief government proved to be an integral and indispensable part of thede jure continuity of the Republic of Estonia.
In February 2007 the Estonian parliament decided to commemorate the actions of Tief's government by proclaiming 22 September the annual "Day of Resistance". 22 September 1944 was the day, several days after the departure ofNazi Germany's occupying forces, that Stalin´s invading Red Army took over the administrative centre of Tallinn, tore down theEstonian national flag, and replaced it withthe Red Banner, the symbol of Soviet occupation.[7]
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