August Traksmaa (27 August 1893 – 16 July 1942) was an Estonian officer and diplomat. August Traksmaa was born as August Traksmann in the manorial estate in

Põlula Põlula () is a village in Vinni Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern 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 ...

village, Kreis Wierland (now in

Vinni Parish Vinni Parish () is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. It has a population of 5,630 () and an area of . Settlements There are 6 small boroughs: Laekvere, Pajusti, Roela, Tudu, Vinni, Viru-Jaagupi, and 37 villages, incl ...

), in the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estoni ...

. He Estonianized his name to Traksmaa in 1935. He participated as an officer with the rank of captain in the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

. From 1926, he was at the Estonian

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

and late became a divisional commander. Between 1936 and 1937 he served as envoy to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1939 and for a brief period served as deputy minister of war. During the

Soviet occupation of Estonia The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

, he was arrested and executed by Soviet forces.

References

1893 births 1942 deaths People from Vinni Parish People from Kreis Wierland Estonian major generals Imperial Russian Army officers Russian military personnel of World War I Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 4th class Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class II Estonian people executed by the Soviet Union People who died in the Gulag Estonian Gulag detainees {{Estonia-bio-stub