Artur Alliksaar (15 April 1923, in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

– 12 August 1966, in Tartu) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

Alliksaar (formerly Alnek) attended elementary school in Tartu in 1931. In 1937, he enrolled in the prestigious secondary school: the

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium Hugo Treffner Gymnasium (; abbreviated as HTG) is a secondary school in Tartu, Estonia with special emphasis on science education. Founded by Hugo Treffner, it was the only large secondary school in 19th-century Estonia with predominantly Estonia ...

. Afterwards, he worked for the railway, like his father, for a short period of time in 1942. That same year, he started to study law at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. In 1943–1944, he served as a conscript in the

Estonian Legion The Estonian Legion (; ) was a military unit of the Combat Support Forces of the Waffen-SS during World War II, mainly consisting of Estonian soldiers. Under the collective name "Estonian SS Legion", SS military units composed of Estonians ope ...

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

.Artur Alliksaar: rohkem kui legend
/ref> In 1944, he saw combat on the Eastern Front against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. After the Soviet occupation, he joined the underground as a Forest Brother. Eventually, he returned to Tartu and again worked for the railway. In 1949, the Soviet authorities arrested him for abusing his position. The charges were dubious. Alliksaar believes they were politically motivated. In 1954, he was also charged with betraying the homeland. Upon his release, in 1957, Alliksaar was not allowed to return to Estonia and lived in the

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

oblast. In 1958, he secretly returned to Tartu and worked in a brewery, in construction and for the railway. He also dedicated himself to creative writing. Artur Alliksaar suffered much injustice under Soviet authority. In addition to imprisonment, his house was burned down and he was forced to live in a shed with a dirt floor while his wife and son suffered with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. Alliksaar died of colon cancer in 1966.

Creative life

In his poetry, Alliksaar celebrates individual freedom. His poems are innovative and critical of his era. Mainly, he wrote in

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

. His language is innovative and full of wordplay. Alliksaar is idolised by many. His creation is passionate, reckless and bohemian in nature. Few of Alliksaar's poems were published during his lifetime; yet, he was well known. He wrote one play, ''Nimetu Saar'' (''Nameless Island''), which he lived to see in print. The complete collection of his poems, ''Päikesepillaja'' (''Lavishing Sunshine''), was published in 1997, and became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

. He also translated poetry.

Sources

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References

External links

Artur Alliksaar at Estonian Writers' Online Dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alliksaar, Artur Estonian male poets 1923 births 1966 deaths Writers from Tartu Hugo Treffner Gymnasium alumni 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century Estonian male writers Soviet military personnel of World War II Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Estonia Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union Forest Brothers