Lennart Meri is a famous Estonian politician and writer. From 1992 to 2001, he was president of this Baltic republic. It is considered one of the most famous leaders of the independence movement in Estonia.
Biography Politician
Lennart Meri was born in Tallinn in 1929. His father was an Estonian diplomat, who later became interested in literature. Translated into Estonian Shakespeare.
At an early age, Lennart and his parents had to leave the country. They constantly changed their place of residence. As a teenager, Lennart Mary replaced nine schools in four different countries.
Most of all he liked to study at the Lyceum of Jeanson de Sayy in Paris. The hero of our article returned to Tallinn in 1940, when Soviet power was established in Estonia. But a year later, his family was sent to Siberia. Already at the age of 12, young Lennart worked at a logging business. To earn at least some money, he worked as a logger and potato cleaner.
In exile, he began to actively study the Finno-Ugric languages and culture of these peoples. The Mary family was able not only to survive, but also to return to Estonia. Lennart entered the University of Tartu. He graduated from the Department of Languages and History with honors.
After high school, Lennart Meri began working as a playwright in the oldest Estonian theater. Over time, he got a job as a director on a republican radio.
Creative work
Lennart-Georg Mary (this is his full name) went to Central Asia in 1958. He wrote his first book in the Karakum desert.
By the way, he began to earn literary work while still a student. This was especially in demand after his father was imprisoned for the third time. Thus, he supported financially his mother, along with his younger brother, who got a job as a taxi driver.
In 1978, Lennart Meri, whose biography was associated with the Finno-Ugric peoples, directed one of his most famous films, The Winds of the Milky Way. In it, the director presents his own theory of studying the degree of kinship, as well as types of cultural and linguistic ties between Finno-Ugric peoples. The shooting was carried out together with colleagues from Hungary and Finland. However, in the USSR, the film was banned. At the same time, he received a silver medal at the New York Film Festival. But in Finland, this film was used in the classroom as educational material.
Mary's books
Also known as writer Lennart Mary. The author’s books have been translated into many languages. In 1964, the novel "Into the Land of the Fire Mountains" was published, dedicated to his journey to Kamchatka. Lennart went on an expedition with geologist and photographer Kalju Polly. He wrote that traveling is a passion for urban residents who are hungry by nature. The hero of our article believed that science would free us from megacities and bring us back to nature.
In 1974, he wrote the novel "At the Gates of the Northern Lights." In it, he combined today's knowledge of Finland and surrounding countries with studies of the past.
Perhaps his most famous work is called "Silver-White, " the first time it saw the light of day in 1976. It details the history of Estonia itself and the entire region located on the Baltic coast. As in most of his other works, Mary combines documentary sources with her own imagination and scientific research.
The basis for the novel "Silver and White" was a large number of ancient sources on navigation, with the help of which it is possible to unveil the veil of secrecy on the legendary island of Thule, which was described by Greek travelers. In the Middle Ages it was believed that this is the territory of modern Iceland or one of the Faroe Islands. However, many researchers today believe that he is simply fictitious.
Mary himself believed that the basis for the legend of Tula was an old Estonian folk poem, which describes the birth of the crater lake.
Mary dealt with the fate of Estonian history for the rest of his life. In 2000, he published an essay entitled "The Will of Tacitus." It examines in detail the ancient contacts that, in his opinion, existed between Estonia and the Roman Empire. He claims that it was Estonia that made a great contribution to the development of European culture, since amber, furs and Livonian dry were delivered to Europe in large volumes. And grain was brought to the hungry zones from this Baltic country.
It is believed that one of Meri's achievements lies in the foundation of the Estonian Institute. This is a non-governmental organization that appeared in 1988. Its goal is to improve contacts with the Western world, send Estonian students to study at prestigious European universities.
Political career
In the late 70s, Mary received permission from the Soviet authorities to go abroad. Prior to that, he was refused for 20 years. Mary immediately began to establish close relations with politicians and representatives of the Estonian creative elite who left for Europe and America. As a result, he became the first Estonian to openly declare that the Soviet Union could make Estonia an unsuitable country due to the development of phosphate deposits. According to environmentalists, this project could affect one third of the inhabitants of Estonia.
It was environmental protests that soon grew into anti-Soviet protests. This uprising led by the Baltic intelligentsia was called the “Singing Revolution”.
Mary’s famous speech “Estonians have found hope”, in which he dwells in detail on the problems of the existence of an entire nation. In 1988, the hero of our article begins to cooperate with similar protest organizations in Lithuania and Latvia, and in 1990 took part in the Estonian Congress.
Foreign Minister
In 1990, Mary was promoted to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first democratic elections.
In this post, he only managed to work out issues related to the creation of the ministry itself, to make a number of study visits to Western Europe, and to establish external contacts.
He took part in the work of the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe. And also in the conference, which resulted in the creation of the Council of the Baltic Sea countries.
At the head of state
In 1992 he was elected President of Estonia. He won the second round of parliamentary elections. He was supported by 59 senators from 101.
In 1996, he was again nominated by the National Coalition Party "Fatherland". And again he received the post of President of Estonia. This time, the election dragged on for five rounds. In the decisive, 196 out of 372 electors supported him.
By law, he did not have the right to run for a third term. Therefore, he was replaced by Arnold Rüütel, nominated by the Estonian People's Union.
