Lennart Meri
Encyclopedia
Lennart Georg Meri (ˈlennɑr̺t ˈɡ̥eorɡ̥ ˈmer̺i) (29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was a writer, film director and statesman
who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonia
n independence movement.
, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later Shakespeare
translator Georg Meri, and Estonian Swedish
mother Alice-Brigitta Engmann. With his family, Lennart left Estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. His warmest memories were from his school years in Lycée Janson de Sailly
in Paris. In addition to his native Estonian
, Lennart Meri fluently spoke five other languages: Finnish, French, German, English and Russian.
However, the family was in Tallinn when Estonia was occupied by the armed forces of the Soviet Union
in June 1940. The extended Meri family was split in the middle between those supporting the Soviet Union and the Allies of WWII and those opposing the Soviets. Lennart's cousin Arnold Meri
joined the Red Army
and was soon made a Hero of the Soviet Union
. In 1941, the Meri family was deported
to Siberia
along with thousands of other Estonians, Latvians
and Lithuanians
sharing the same fate. Heads of the family were separated from their families and shut into concentration camps where few survived. At the age of twelve, Lennart Meri worked as a lumberman
in Siberia
. He also worked as a potato peeler and a rafter to support his family.
Whilst in exile, Lennart Meri grew interested in the other Uralic languages
that he heard around him, the language family of which his native Estonian is also a part. His interest in the ethnic and cultural kinship amongst the scattered Uralic family had been a life-long theme within his work.
The Meri family survived and found their way back to Estonia where Lennart Meri graduated cum laude from the Faculty of History and Languages of the University of Tartu
in 1953. On 5 March 1953, the day of Joseph Stalin
's death, he proposed to his first wife Regina Meri, saying "Let us remember this happy day forever." The politics of the Soviet Union
did not allow him to work as a historian, so Meri found work as a dramatist in the Vanemuine
, the oldest theatre of Estonia, and later on as a producer of radio plays in the Estonian broadcasting industry. Several of his films were released to great critical acclaim.
Mountains in Central Asia and the old Islamic centres in the Kara Kum Desert in 1958, Lennart Meri wrote his first book, which met with a warm reception from the public. Already as a student, Lennart Meri had been able to earn his living with his writing, after his father had been arrested by the Soviet authorities for the third time. With the help of his younger brother who had been forced to leave his studies and take a job as a taxi driver, he managed to support their mother and to complete his own studies. The film The Winds of the Milky Way (Estonian: Linnutee tuuled), shot in co-operation with Finland and Hungary, was banned in the Soviet Union, but won a silver medal at the New York Film Festival
. In Finnish schools, his films and texts were used as study materials. In 1986, Lennart Meri was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Helsinki University. He became a member of the Estonian Writers' Union
in 1963. In the 1970s, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary Society.
Tulemägede Maale, created in 1964, which is translated as To the Land of Fiery Mountains, chronicled Meri's journey to Kamchatka Peninsula
in the 1960s. Other members of his expedition group included geologists, botanists, a photographer, and the artist Kalju Polli. "Traveling is the only passion that doesn't need to feel shy in front of intellect," wrote Meri. Urban people still have an inner urge to see the world, hunger for nature. Meri did not underestimate the drawbacks of mass tourism but concluded that "science will liberate us from the chains of big cities and lead us back to nature".
Meri's travel book of his journey to the northeast passage, Virmaliste Väraval (At the Gate of the Northern Lights) (1974), won him huge success in the Soviet Union. It was translated into Finnish in 1977 in the Soviet Writers series, which also introduced to Finnish readers works by the Estonian writers Mats Traat
, Lilli Promet
, and Ülo Tuulik. In the book Meri combined the present with a perspective into history, and used material from such explorers as Cook
, Forster
, Wrangel
, Dahl, Sauer, Middendorff
, Cochran, and others. When he sees a mountain rising against the stormy sky of the Bering Strait, he realizes that Vitus Bering
and James Cook
had looked at the same mountain, but from the other side of the strait.
Meri's best known work is perhaps Hõbevalge, which translates into Silver White and was published in 1976. It reconstructs the history of Estonia and the Baltic Sea region. The Estonian language
belongs to the Finnic
group of the Uralic languages and Estonian is closely related to Finnish and distantly related to Hungarian. As in his other works, Meri combines documentary sources and scientific research with his imagination. "If geography is prose, maps are iconography," Meri writes. Hõbevalge is based on a wide-ranging ancient seafaring sources, and carefully unveils the secret of the legendary Ultima Thule. The name was given in classical times to the most northerly land, reputedly six days' voyage from Britain. Several alternative places for its location have been suggested, among them the Shetland Islands, Iceland, and Norway. According to Meri, it is possible that Thule derives from the old folk poetry of Estonia, which depicts the birth of the crater lake in Kaali, Saaremaa
. In the essay Tacituse tahtel (2000), Meri examined ancient contacts between Estonia and the Roman empire and notes that furs, amber, and especially Livonian kiln-dried, disease-free grain may have been Estonia's biggest contribution to the common culture of Europe – in lean years, it provided seed grain for Europe.
Meri founded the non-governmental Estonian Institute
(Eesti Instituut) in 1988 to promote cultural contacts with the West and to send Estonian students to study abroad.
Most recently Meri appeared in the Documentary Film The Singing Revolution as an interviewee discussing the fall of the Soviet Union and the Singing Revolution
.
in the late 1970s, and Meri persistently used the opportunities open to him in Finland to remind the free world of the existence of Estonia. He established close relationships with politicians, journalists and Estonians who had fled from the occupation. He was the first Estonian to publicize abroad the protests against the Soviet plan of mining phosphorite
in Estonia (known as the Phosphorite War
), which would have rendered a third of the country uninhabitable.
In Estonia, environmental protests soon grew into a general revolt against Soviet rule: "the Singing Revolution
", which was led by Estonian intellectuals. Lennart Meri’s speech Do Estonians Have Hope focused on the existential problems of the nation and had strong repercussions abroad. In 1988, Meri became a founding member of the Estonian Popular Front
, which cooperated with its counterparts in Latvia and Lithuania. After the first non-communist-style multi-party election in 1990
, Meri was appointed to the post of Foreign Minister. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lennart Meri’s first task was to create the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He developed around him a group of well educated young people, many English speaking, in order to establish an open communication channel to the West, and at the same time to represent Estonia more widely on the international scene. He participated in the CSCE
Conferences in Copenhagen
, New York, Paris, Berlin and Moscow, and the foundation conference of the Council of the Baltic Sea Countries
. He also had several meetings with American and European Heads of State and Foreign Ministers, and was the first Eastern European guest to give a presentation at NATO Headquarters in Brussels
.
After a brief period as Ambassador of Estonia to Finland, on 6 October 1992 he became the 2nd President of the Republic of Estonia. Meri was the candidate of the Isamaaliit "Pro Patria" Alliance. Although, on the first ballot, Arnold Rüütel
, a former leading communist and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR, had led with 42 per cent of the total vote, the final choice for the nomination was made by Parliament, the Riigikogu
, which was dominated by the Pro Patria Alliance. During the campaign, the nationalist right tried to bring up questions about Meri's alleged former links with the KGB
. However, these allegations did not harm Meri's reputation and public image. Lennart Meri was sworn in as the President on 6 October 1992. On 20 September 1996, he was re-elected for a second and final term.
In 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association declared Meri the Year's Press Enemy. This was the first time this award was given; since that, it has been a yearly occurrence. Interestingly, in 1998, Meri was given the complementary award and titled the Year's Press Friend. In 1999, Meri was once again given the Year's Press Enemy award.
He was a member of Club of Madrid
.
in Europe, and was a member of the jury of the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award
, which was awarded by the Centre Against Expulsions
(Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen). In 1999 he received the highest distinction of the Federation of Expellees
(Bund der Vertriebenen).
(born in 1949) worked as an actress in the Estonian Drama Theatre until 1992. Lennart Meri’s first wife Regina Meri emigrated to Canada in 1987. Lennart Meri is survived by three children: sons Mart Meri (born in 1959) and Kristjan Meri (born in 1966) and daughter Tuule Meri (born in 1985), and four grandchildren.
Lennart Meri was chosen the European of the Year in 1998 by French newspaper La Vie
.
for months. In a televised national speech, his successor, President Rüütel
, said, "In his nine years as head of state, Meri both restored the presidency and built up the Republic of Estonia in the widest sense." Finnish President Tarja Halonen
stated, "The Finnish nation lost in Lennart Meri a close and sincere friend and the world, a great statesman who was one of the leading architects of the post-Cold War world." Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
said, "the world has lost a great Estonian, a great statesman and a true European."
Meri's funeral was attended by (among others) former Swedish premier Carl Bildt
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n independence movement.
Early life
Lennart Meri was born in TallinnTallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
translator Georg Meri, and Estonian Swedish
Estonian Swedes
The Estonian Swedes, Estonia-Swedes, or Coastal Swedes are a Swedish-speaking linguistic minority traditionally residing in the coastal areas and islands of what is now western and northern Estonia...
mother Alice-Brigitta Engmann. With his family, Lennart left Estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. His warmest memories were from his school years in Lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly is a lycée located in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris, France. It is generally considered as one of the most prestigious lycées in Paris...
in Paris. In addition to his native Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
, Lennart Meri fluently spoke five other languages: Finnish, French, German, English and Russian.
However, the family was in Tallinn when Estonia was occupied by the armed forces of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in June 1940. The extended Meri family was split in the middle between those supporting the Soviet Union and the Allies of WWII and those opposing the Soviets. Lennart's cousin Arnold Meri
Arnold Meri
Arnold Meri was an Soviet Red Army veteran of World War II and Hero of the Soviet Union who was charged with genocide for his role in the deportation of women and children to the inhospitable regions of the USSR. He was the cousin of former President of Estonia, Lennart Meri...
joined the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and was soon made a Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
. In 1941, the Meri family was deported
Soviet deportations from Estonia
As the Soviet Union had occupied Estonia in 1940 and retaken it from Nazi Germany again in 1944, tens of thousands of Estonia's citizens underwent deportation in the 1940s...
to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
along with thousands of other Estonians, Latvians
Latvians
Latvians or Letts are the indigenous Baltic people of Latvia.-History:Latvians occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which may have originated from the word Latve which is a name of the river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia...
and Lithuanians
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
sharing the same fate. Heads of the family were separated from their families and shut into concentration camps where few survived. At the age of twelve, Lennart Meri worked as a lumberman
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. He also worked as a potato peeler and a rafter to support his family.
Whilst in exile, Lennart Meri grew interested in the other Uralic languages
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
that he heard around him, the language family of which his native Estonian is also a part. His interest in the ethnic and cultural kinship amongst the scattered Uralic family had been a life-long theme within his work.
The Meri family survived and found their way back to Estonia where Lennart Meri graduated cum laude from the Faculty of History and Languages of the University of Tartu
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
in 1953. On 5 March 1953, the day of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death, he proposed to his first wife Regina Meri, saying "Let us remember this happy day forever." The politics of the Soviet Union
Politics of the Soviet Union
The political system of the Soviet Union was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , the only party permitted by Constitution.For information about the government, see Government of the Soviet Union-Background:...
did not allow him to work as a historian, so Meri found work as a dramatist in the Vanemuine
Vanemuine
Vanemuine, a literal translation from is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian language theatre, founded as the Vanemuine Society on June 24, 1865 following the idea of Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1869 Vanemuine Society organised the first song festival in Estonia...
, the oldest theatre of Estonia, and later on as a producer of radio plays in the Estonian broadcasting industry. Several of his films were released to great critical acclaim.
Writer and filmmaker
After a trip to the Tian ShanTian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
Mountains in Central Asia and the old Islamic centres in the Kara Kum Desert in 1958, Lennart Meri wrote his first book, which met with a warm reception from the public. Already as a student, Lennart Meri had been able to earn his living with his writing, after his father had been arrested by the Soviet authorities for the third time. With the help of his younger brother who had been forced to leave his studies and take a job as a taxi driver, he managed to support their mother and to complete his own studies. The film The Winds of the Milky Way (Estonian: Linnutee tuuled), shot in co-operation with Finland and Hungary, was banned in the Soviet Union, but won a silver medal at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
. In Finnish schools, his films and texts were used as study materials. In 1986, Lennart Meri was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Helsinki University. He became a member of the Estonian Writers' Union
Estonian Writers' Union
The Estonian Writers Union , is a professional association of Estonian writers and literary critics.-History:...
in 1963. In the 1970s, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary Society.
Tulemägede Maale, created in 1964, which is translated as To the Land of Fiery Mountains, chronicled Meri's journey to Kamchatka Peninsula
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
in the 1960s. Other members of his expedition group included geologists, botanists, a photographer, and the artist Kalju Polli. "Traveling is the only passion that doesn't need to feel shy in front of intellect," wrote Meri. Urban people still have an inner urge to see the world, hunger for nature. Meri did not underestimate the drawbacks of mass tourism but concluded that "science will liberate us from the chains of big cities and lead us back to nature".
Meri's travel book of his journey to the northeast passage, Virmaliste Väraval (At the Gate of the Northern Lights) (1974), won him huge success in the Soviet Union. It was translated into Finnish in 1977 in the Soviet Writers series, which also introduced to Finnish readers works by the Estonian writers Mats Traat
Mats Traat
Mats Traat is a prolific Estonian poet and author.-Literature:Traat is frequently compared to Jaan Kross. However, unlike Kross, who writes about individuals influenced from beyond Estonian culture, Traat writes about the indigenous Estonian population...
, Lilli Promet
Lilli Promet
Lilli Promet was an Estonian writer. During the Soviet occupation of Estonia in the 1960s, she was a member of the Communist Party.-Early life:...
, and Ülo Tuulik. In the book Meri combined the present with a perspective into history, and used material from such explorers as Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
, Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster was a German Lutheran pastor and naturalist of partial Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America...
, Wrangel
Ferdinand von Wrangel
Baron Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangel – May 25 , 1870) was a Russian explorer and seaman, Honorable Member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a founder of the Russian Geographic Society...
, Dahl, Sauer, Middendorff
Alexander von Middendorff
Alexander Theodor von Middendorff was a Baltic German zoologist and explorer.- Early life :Middendorff's mother Sophia Johanson was an Estonian peasant girl who had been sent to Saint Petersburg for education by her parents. There she met with the future director of the St...
, Cochran, and others. When he sees a mountain rising against the stormy sky of the Bering Strait, he realizes that Vitus Bering
Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...
and James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
had looked at the same mountain, but from the other side of the strait.
Meri's best known work is perhaps Hõbevalge, which translates into Silver White and was published in 1976. It reconstructs the history of Estonia and the Baltic Sea region. The Estonian language
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
belongs to the Finnic
Finnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
group of the Uralic languages and Estonian is closely related to Finnish and distantly related to Hungarian. As in his other works, Meri combines documentary sources and scientific research with his imagination. "If geography is prose, maps are iconography," Meri writes. Hõbevalge is based on a wide-ranging ancient seafaring sources, and carefully unveils the secret of the legendary Ultima Thule. The name was given in classical times to the most northerly land, reputedly six days' voyage from Britain. Several alternative places for its location have been suggested, among them the Shetland Islands, Iceland, and Norway. According to Meri, it is possible that Thule derives from the old folk poetry of Estonia, which depicts the birth of the crater lake in Kaali, Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
. In the essay Tacituse tahtel (2000), Meri examined ancient contacts between Estonia and the Roman empire and notes that furs, amber, and especially Livonian kiln-dried, disease-free grain may have been Estonia's biggest contribution to the common culture of Europe – in lean years, it provided seed grain for Europe.
Meri founded the non-governmental Estonian Institute
Estonian Institute
The Estonian Institute is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation aiming to promote Estonian culture abroad. The institute was founded in 1989 as a shadow foreign office for the Estonian independence movement by Lennart Meri, later the first foreign minister and first president of Estonia...
(Eesti Instituut) in 1988 to promote cultural contacts with the West and to send Estonian students to study abroad.
Most recently Meri appeared in the Documentary Film The Singing Revolution as an interviewee discussing the fall of the Soviet Union and the Singing Revolution
Singing Revolution
The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania...
.
Political activity
After more than twenty years of refusals, the Soviet administration finally gave permission for Lennart Meri to travel beyond the Iron CurtainIron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
in the late 1970s, and Meri persistently used the opportunities open to him in Finland to remind the free world of the existence of Estonia. He established close relationships with politicians, journalists and Estonians who had fled from the occupation. He was the first Estonian to publicize abroad the protests against the Soviet plan of mining phosphorite
Phosphorite
Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock which contains high amounts of phosphate bearing minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite is at least 15 to 20% which is a large enrichment over the typical sedimentary rock content of less than 0.2%...
in Estonia (known as the Phosphorite War
Phosphorite War
The Phosphorite War is the name given to a late-1980s environmental campaign in the then-Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, against the opening of large phosphorite mines in the Virumaa region...
), which would have rendered a third of the country uninhabitable.
In Estonia, environmental protests soon grew into a general revolt against Soviet rule: "the Singing Revolution
Singing Revolution
The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania...
", which was led by Estonian intellectuals. Lennart Meri’s speech Do Estonians Have Hope focused on the existential problems of the nation and had strong repercussions abroad. In 1988, Meri became a founding member of the Estonian Popular Front
Rahvarinne
The Popular Front of Estonia - initially introduced to the public by Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar as the "Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika" - a name soon discarded - was a political organization in Estonia in late 1980s and early 1990s...
, which cooperated with its counterparts in Latvia and Lithuania. After the first non-communist-style multi-party election in 1990
Estonian Supreme Soviet election, 1990
Legislative elections were held in the Estonian SSR on March 18, 1990. It was the first free parliamentary election in Estonia since 1930s. A total of 105 deputies were elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR, of which 4 were from military districts. Altogether 392 candidates competed for...
, Meri was appointed to the post of Foreign Minister. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lennart Meri’s first task was to create the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He developed around him a group of well educated young people, many English speaking, in order to establish an open communication channel to the West, and at the same time to represent Estonia more widely on the international scene. He participated in the CSCE
CSCE
CSCE may refer to* Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange which merged to form the New York Board of Trade* Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe...
Conferences in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, New York, Paris, Berlin and Moscow, and the foundation conference of the Council of the Baltic Sea Countries
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. He also had several meetings with American and European Heads of State and Foreign Ministers, and was the first Eastern European guest to give a presentation at NATO Headquarters in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
After a brief period as Ambassador of Estonia to Finland, on 6 October 1992 he became the 2nd President of the Republic of Estonia. Meri was the candidate of the Isamaaliit "Pro Patria" Alliance. Although, on the first ballot, Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel OIH was the third President of the Republic of Estonia from October 8, 2001 to October 9, 2006. He was the second President since Estonia regained its independence in 1991....
, a former leading communist and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR, had led with 42 per cent of the total vote, the final choice for the nomination was made by Parliament, the Riigikogu
Riigikogu
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu...
, which was dominated by the Pro Patria Alliance. During the campaign, the nationalist right tried to bring up questions about Meri's alleged former links with the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. However, these allegations did not harm Meri's reputation and public image. Lennart Meri was sworn in as the President on 6 October 1992. On 20 September 1996, he was re-elected for a second and final term.
In 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association declared Meri the Year's Press Enemy. This was the first time this award was given; since that, it has been a yearly occurrence. Interestingly, in 1998, Meri was given the complementary award and titled the Year's Press Friend. In 1999, Meri was once again given the Year's Press Enemy award.
He was a member of Club of Madrid
Club of Madrid
The Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 80 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 56 countries, the Club de Madrid is the world’s largest forum of former Heads of State and Government.Among...
.
Work for German refugees and for other victims of ethnic cleansing
Lennart Meri was engaged in the work for the human rights of German refugees from Central and Eastern Europe and other victims of ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
in Europe, and was a member of the jury of the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award
Franz Werfel Human Rights Award
The Franz Werfel Human Rights Award is an international human rights award in Europe. It is awarded to individuals or groups who, through political, artistic, philosophical or practical work, have opposed breaches of human rights by genocide, ethnic cleansing and the deliberate destruction of...
, which was awarded by the Centre Against Expulsions
Centre Against Expulsions
The Centre Against Expulsions was a planned German documentation centre for expulsions and ethnic cleansing, particularly the expulsion of Germans after World War II. Since March 19, 2008 the name of the project is Sichtbares Zeichen gegen Flucht und Vertreibung...
(Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen). In 1999 he received the highest distinction of the Federation of Expellees
Federation of Expellees
The Federation of Expellees or Bund der Vertriebenen is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of Germans who either fled their homes in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, or were expelled following World War II....
(Bund der Vertriebenen).
Personal life
Lennart Meri was married twice. His second wife Helle MeriHelle Meri
Helle Meri , widow of Lennart Meri , is an Estonian actress who also served as the Estonian First Lady from 1992 to 2001....
(born in 1949) worked as an actress in the Estonian Drama Theatre until 1992. Lennart Meri’s first wife Regina Meri emigrated to Canada in 1987. Lennart Meri is survived by three children: sons Mart Meri (born in 1959) and Kristjan Meri (born in 1966) and daughter Tuule Meri (born in 1985), and four grandchildren.
Lennart Meri was chosen the European of the Year in 1998 by French newspaper La Vie
La Vie
La Vie is a weekly French Christian magazine, edited by Malesherbes Publications, a member of the Groupe La Vie-Le Monde.-History:Founded in 1924 by Francisque Gay as La Vie catholique , the magazine was renamed La vie in 1977...
.
Death
Diagnosed with a brain tumor in mid 2005 after experiencing strong headaches, he underwent surgery in August. The tumor was found to be malignant and he died in the morning of 14 March 2006, after being hospitalized in TallinnTallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
for months. In a televised national speech, his successor, President Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel OIH was the third President of the Republic of Estonia from October 8, 2001 to October 9, 2006. He was the second President since Estonia regained its independence in 1991....
, said, "In his nine years as head of state, Meri both restored the presidency and built up the Republic of Estonia in the widest sense." Finnish President Tarja Halonen
Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen is the incumbent President of Finland. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency...
stated, "The Finnish nation lost in Lennart Meri a close and sincere friend and the world, a great statesman who was one of the leading architects of the post-Cold War world." Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the sixth President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in eastern Europe. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.Dr...
said, "the world has lost a great Estonian, a great statesman and a true European."
Meri's funeral was attended by (among others) former Swedish premier Carl Bildt
Carl Bildt
, Honorary KCMG is a Swedish politician, diplomat and nobleman. Formerly Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, Bildt has served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006...
Legacy
In 2009 Tallinn Airport was renamed to Lennart Meri Tallinn International Airport.Awards and merits
- Merited Writer of Estonian SSR (1979)
- Correspondent member of the European Academy of Science, Art and Literature (1989)
- Honorary Doctor of Helsinki University (1986)
- Liberal InternationalLiberal InternationalLiberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
and Coudenhove-Kalergi award