Meri, Lennart

▪ 2007

 Estonian scholar and political leader (b. March 29, 1929, Tallinn, Estonia—d. March 14, 2006, Tallinn), was president (1992–2001) of Estonia. Although the post was largely ceremonial, Meri refused to ratify a law requiring Russians who wished to continue living in Estonia to apply for residence permits and to pass an Estonian language test, and he forged an agreement with Pres. Boris Yeltsin on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Estonia. After the Soviet Union annexed Estonia in 1940, Meri's diplomat father was confined in a labour camp in Moscow and the rest of the family was sent to Siberia. In 1946 they were reunited in Soviet Estonia, where Meri received (1953) a degree in history and languages from Tartu University. He documented the history of the Finno-Ugric peoples in writings and in documentary films, notably Linnutee tuuled (1977; “The Winds of the Milky Way”), which was banned in the Soviet Union. In 1988 Meri founded the Estonian Institute, which promoted Estonian culture through contacts with Western countries. After Estonia's first free elections (1990), he was named foreign minister, and after independence (1991) he was appointed ambassador to Finland. Meri ran for president in 1992 as the head of the nationalist coalition Isamaa (Fatherland). He placed second, but no candidate received a majority of the votes, and the parliament elected him president on Oct. 5, 1992. An electoral college of MPs and local government officials in 1996 elected Meri to a second five-year term. He was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

▪ 1994

      The man chosen to lead Estonia as its first president since the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union was an erudite scholar who studied, documented, filmed, and burnished the memory of native Estonian history and culture.

      Lennart Meri was born in Tallinn, Estonia, on March 29, 1929, in the period between the world wars when Estonia enjoyed its first, brief independence. His father, Georg Meri, was a man of letters who served the young nation as a diplomat, and the younger Meri was educated in Berlin, London, and Paris. In 1940 Georg Meri was named Estonia's first ambassador to the U.S., but while the family was preparing to leave the country, Estonia was invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union. The elder Meri, a committed nationalist, was arrested and placed in a labour camp in Moscow, while Lennart, his mother, and brother were sent into exile in Siberia. After the war the family was reunited in Soviet Estonia, where Lennart attended Tartu University and studied history.

      Meri spent his professional life charting the history of the Finno-Ugric peoples, who span the former Soviet Union from the Baltic States and Finland to Siberia. He later said that he wrote books and directed film documentaries that traced the history of the native Estonian population because "it was the only way of remaining honest during the Soviet occupation period." Meri served variously at Estonian Radio, as a secretary of the Estonian Writers' Association, and as a director of the Estonian Institute.

      In 1990, at the age of 60, Meri entered politics when he was named foreign minister after Estonia's first free elections. Estonia gained its independence in 1991, and Meri was appointed ambassador to Finland in April 1992. He decided to run for president later that year as head of the nationalist coalition party Isamaa (Fatherland), whose priority was to preserve Estonian culture. During the campaign, allegations surfaced that his father, who died in 1983, had served as an informant for the secret police; Meri vigorously denied the charges. Meri placed second in the elections, but no one candidate earned a majority, and the parliament, dominated by parties aligned with Meri's, elected him president on Oct. 5, 1992. Looking warily at developments in Russia in December, Meri told the Times that Estonia had won its independence in 1991 without bloodshed, "and this time, we mean to keep it."

      (CHERYL L. COLLINS)

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▪ president of Estonia

born March 29, 1929, Tallinn, Estonia

died March 14, 2006, Tallinn

 Estonian scholar and political leader, who was president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001.

      His father, Georg Meri, was a man of letters who served newly independent Estonia as a diplomat between World Wars I and II, and consequently Lennart was educated in Berlin, London, and Paris. After the Soviet Union annexed Estonia in 1940, Georg Meri was sent to a labour camp in Moscow and the rest of the family to Siberia. In 1946 the family was reunited in Estonia, which had become a Soviet republic. Lennart Meri received a degree in history and languages from Tartu University in 1953, and he spent much of his professional life documenting the history of the Finno-Ugric peoples in writings and in documentary films. One such film, Linnutee tuuled (1977; “The Winds of the Milky Way”), was banned in the Soviet Union but received excellent reviews for its documentation of rural folkways.

      In 1988 Meri founded the Estonian Institute, which promoted Estonian culture through contacts with Western countries. After Estonia's first free elections in 1990, Meri entered politics when he was named foreign minister. Estonia became independent in 1991, and Meri was appointed ambassador to Finland in 1992. He then ran for president as the head of Isamaa (Fatherland), a nationalist coalition party dedicated to preserving Estonian culture. No candidate received a majority of the votes, and Meri placed second. The parliament, however, was dominated by parties aligned with Isamaa, and it elected him president on October 5, 1992. Although the post was to a large degree ceremonial, he took an active part in Estonian politics and foreign relations. In 1993 he refused to ratify a law requiring Russians who wished to continue living in Estonia to apply for residence permits and to pass an Estonian language test, and in 1994 he forged an agreement with President Boris Yeltsin (Yeltsin, Boris) on the withdrawal of the remaining Russian troops from Estonia. On September 20, 1996, an electoral college of parliament members and local government officials elected him to a second five-year term. Constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, Meri left office in 2001.

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