Gustav Ränk (18 February 1902 − 5 April 1998) was an Estonian ethnologist who was Professor of Ethnography 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.

, Director of the

Estonian National Museum The Estonian National Museum () founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter part of the 19th centur ...

and Associate Professor of Ethnology at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

Biography

Gustav Ränk was born on a farm in

Nõmme Nõmme ( Estonian for ' heath') is one of the eight administrative districts () of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-class, suburban ...

on the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

on 18 February 1902. Earning his doctorate from the

in 1938, Ränk was subsequently appointed Professor of Ethnography at the University of Tartu. He was simultaneously Director of the

. In 1944, during the Baltic Offensive which led to the

Occupation of the Baltic states The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Naz ...

, Ränk supervised the evacuation of collections from the University of Tartu, the Estonian National Museum and other

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 ...

research institutions, ensuring that invaluable material was saved for Estonian scholarship. Ränk fled to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in autumn 1944, and in 1955 was appointed Associate Professor of Ethnology at

. He retired in 1969. Ränk was awarded the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 4th Class in 1998. He died in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

on 5 April 1998. He was an honorary alumnus of the

Estonian Students' Society The Estonian Students' Society (; commonly used acronym: EÜS) is the largest and oldest all-male academical student society in Estonia, and is similar to the Baltic Germans, Baltic German student organizations known as German Student Corps, c ...

Biography

References

Further reading