Johannes Vares (pen name Barbarus or Vares-Barbarus – 29 November 1946) 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 ...

n poet, medical doctor, and politician.

Early life and education

Vares was born in a farmer family in the village of

Kiisa Kiisa is a small town () in Saku Parish, Harju County, Estonia. As of the 2011 census, the settlement had a population of 713. It has a railway station on the Tallinn - Viljandi railway line operated by Elron (rail transit) AS Eesti Liiniro ...

, near

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

. He received secondary education at

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

Gymnasium, and in 1910–1914 studied medicine at the

University of Kyiv The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

Medical career

Vares served as a military physician in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and after that as a military physician for the

Estonian Army The Estonian Land Forces (), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. The Estonian Land Forces is currently the ...

during 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 ...

(1918–1920). He was awarded the Estonian Cross of Liberty for the participation. In the 1920s, Vares started working as a medical doctor in Pärnu. He subsequently became a well-known poet as well as a radical socialist, using the pen name Johannes Barbarus.

Prime minister of Estonia

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after the

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

ist

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 ...

invaded and

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

Estonia in June 1940,

Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ( rus, Андрей Александрович Жданов, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ˈʐdanəf, a=Ru-Андрей Жданов.ogg, links=yes; – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician. He was ...

, leader of the Soviet aggression, forced the Estonian president

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts ( – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades p ...

to appoint Vares as prime minister of a communist-dominated

puppet government A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...

. Päts resigned in July 1940, and Vares formally took over most presidential duties. The puppet regime declared Estonia a "

Soviet Socialist Republic In the Soviet Union, a Union Republic () or unofficially a Republic of the USSR was a constituent federated political entity with a system of government called a Soviet republic, which was officially defined in the 1977 constitution as " ...

" (SSR), and petitioned to join the Soviet Union as a constituent republic. He headed the delegation to Moscow on 6 August 1940 that formally delivered the petition to Stalin and the Soviet government, an act that has tainted Vares as a traitor to the majority of Estonian people. When the Kremlin "accepted" the petition in August 1940, Vares remained as nominal head of state, now titled as chairman of the Estonian Supreme Soviet, until 1946. From 12 September 1940, Vares was a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia (, abbreviated EKP; in Russian: Коммунистическая партия Эстонии) was a regional branch of the CPSU, Soviet communist party (CPSU) which in 1920–1940 operated illegally in Estonia an ...

, joining soon after the party had been merged into the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) of the USSR.

Exile in Russia

Following the German invasion of Estonia in 1941, Vares fled to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

, where he lived in exile from 1941 to 1944, until the Soviets reconquered Estonia. On 20 April 1944, the Electoral Committee of the Republic of Estonia (the institution specified in the Constitution for electing the Acting President of the Republic) held a clandestine meeting in Tallinn. The participants included

Jüri Uluots Jüri Uluots (13 January 1890 – 9 January 1945) was an Estonian prime minister, journalist, prominent attorney and distinguished Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu. Early life Uluots was born in Kirbla Pari ...

, the last Prime Minister of Estonia before the Soviet occupation, the substitute for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

Johan Holberg Johan Holberg (20 February 1893 – 8 April 1978, Chicago) 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 B ...

, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies

Otto Pukk Otto Pukk (29 November 1900 Loona, Saare County – 14 February 1951 Stockholm) 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, ...

, the second deputy vice-chairman of the National Council

Alfred Maurer Alfred Maurer may refer to: * Alfred Henry Maurer (1868–1932), American modernist painter * Alfred Maurer (politician) Alfred Maurer (2 December 1888 Tallinn - 20 September 1954 Stockholm) was an Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of ...

, and State judge

Mihkel Klaassen Mihkel Klaassen (24 February 1880 – 7 March 1952) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia since 1924. Klaassen was a member of the Electoral Committee () that decided the Soviet-era appointment of Johannes Vares as prime minister by Konst ...

. The Committee declared Päts' appointment of Vares as Prime Minister had been illegal. Accordingly, it held that Uluots had assumed the President's duties from 21 June 1940 onwards. Since Estonia regained independence in 1990/91, it has maintained that all laws, decrees and treaties made in 1940–1941 in Soviet-occupied Estonia, including those of Vares' puppet government were legally invalid. The

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of Parliament had been dissolved soon after the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and was never reconvened, nor re-elected. According to the then

Constitution of Estonia The Constitution of Estonia () is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. The first Constitution was adopted by the free ...

, all laws had to pass both houses of parliament before being promulgated. This applied also to the new pro-Soviet 1940 "electoral law" under which the blatantly rigged elections of 14–15 July 1940 were conducted. It was this

sham election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

that produced the so-called " People's Riigikogu" which then declared Estonia a "Soviet republic" and "requested" to join the Soviet Union. On that basis, Estonia maintains that the electoral law was illegal and unconstitutional, rendering all acts of the "People's Riigikogu" void. Estonia also maintains that as a result, it did not need to follow the constitutional process of secession from the Soviet Unio, since it was reasserting an independence that still ''de jure'' existed.

Return to Estonia and death

After returning to Estonia in 1944, Vares came under investigation by the Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

for his activities in the

(1918–1920). He committed suicide in presidential residence in

Kadriorg Kadriorg ( Estonian for ' Catherine's Valley') is a subdistrict in the district of Kesklinn ("Midtown"), Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 4,561 (). The subdistrict name derives from the Catherinethal, a Baroque palace of ...

, Tallinn, in November 1946 and was buried at the

Metsakalmistu Metsakalmistu () is a cemetery in the Pirita district of Tallinn. History Metsakalmistu was originally planned to be a public central city cemetery. Eduard Vilde was the first to be buried in 1933. The original area of the cemetery was 24.2 hec ...

Citations and references

Cited sources

External links

Johannes Vares at Estonian Writers' Online Dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vares, Johannes 1890 births 1946 deaths 1946 suicides People from Viljandi Parish Politicians from Viljandi County People from Kreis Fellin Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia Heads of state of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Prime ministers of Estonia Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1947 First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Estonian male poets 20th-century Estonian poets Estonian military doctors Soviet military doctors Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Russian military personnel of World War I Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Honoured Writers of the Estonian SSR Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 4th class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Recipients of the Order of Lenin Suicides by firearm in Estonia Estonian politicians who died by suicide Soviet politicians who died by suicide