Estonian Vaps politician who headed the collaborationist Estonian Self-Administration under German occupation in 1941–1944
Born at Tuhala in Harju County, he studied in Berlin, Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz and took doctorates in geophysics (1927) and constitutional law (1930). After standing twice for parliament he joined the Vaps movement as its propaganda chief; sentenced in 1935 to twenty years’ hard labour, he was amnestied in 1938, went to Germany and took German citizenship. In May 1941 he founded the Estonian Liberation Committee in Helsinki, and returning with the German army that year he headed the Estonian Self-Administration from 1941 to 1944. In 1944 he fled to Austria, where the Western Allies cleared him of Nazi crimes and he later advised the Austrian government. In the 1990s Estonia’s International Commission named him among the Estonians chiefly responsible for crimes committed by Estonian police and SS units.
Activities and affiliations
- 1941–1944 Government and administration
- –1934 Ideology and propaganda
Career Timeline
- 1927–1930Doctorates in geophysics (Innsbruck) and constitutional law (Graz)
- 1935Sentenced to twenty years’ hard labour as a Vaps leader
- 1941Founded the Estonian Liberation Committee in Helsinki
- 1941–1944Head of the Estonian Self-Administration
- 1944Fled to Austria