Lennart Georg Meri (; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian writer, film director, and statesman. He was the country's foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 and

President of Estonia The president of the Republic of Estonia () is the head of state of the Estonia, Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid. Estonia is one of the few parliam ...

from 1992 to 2001.

Early life

Meri was born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

translator Georg Meri, and Estonian Swedish mother Alice-Brigitta Engmann. With his family, Lennart left Estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. His warmest memories were from his school years in Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris. In addition to his native Estonian, Lennart Meri fluently spoke five other languages: Finnish, French, German, English, and Russian. Lennart Meri and his family lived in Tallinn when Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Stalinist

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 ...

in June 1940. In 1941, the Meri family was deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

along with thousands of other Estonians,

Latvians Latvians () are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common Latvian language ...

, and

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

sharing the same fate. Heads of the family were separated from their families and shut into concentration camps where only a few survived. At the age of twelve, Lennart Meri worked as a lumberman in

. He also worked as a potato peeler and a rafter to support his family. Whilst in exile, Lennart Meri grew interested in the other Finno-Ugric languages that he heard around him, the language family of which his native Estonian is also a part. His interest in the ethnic and cultural kinship amongst the scattered "Finno-Ugric family" became a lifelong theme within his work. The Meri family survived and found their way back to Estonia where Lennart Meri graduated '' cum laude'' from the Faculty of History and Languages of the University of Tartu in 1953. On 5 March 1953, the day of

Joseph 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 ...

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, he proposed to his first wife Regina Meri, saying "Let us remember this happy day forever." The politics of the Soviet Union did not allow him to work as a historian, so Meri found work as a dramatist in the Vanemuine, the oldest theatre of Estonia, and later on as a producer of radio plays in the Estonian broadcasting industry. Several of his films were released and have since gained great critical acclaim.

Writer and filmmaker

After a trip to the Tian Shan Mountains in Central Asia and the old Islamic centres in the Kara Kum Desert in 1958, Lennart Meri wrote his first book, which met with a warm reception from the public. Already as a student, Lennart Meri had been able to earn his living with his writing, after his father had been arrested by the Soviet authorities for the third time. With the help of his younger brother who had been forced to leave his studies and take a job as a taxi driver, he managed to support their mother and to complete his own studies. The film '' The Winds of the Milky Way'' (Estonian: ''Linnutee tuuled''), shot in co-operation with Finland and Hungary, was banned in the Soviet Union, but won a silver medal at the New York Film Festival. In Finnish schools, his films and texts were used as study materials. In 1986, Lennart Meri was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Helsinki University. He became a member of the Estonian Writers' Union in 1963. In the 1970s, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary Society. ''Tulemägede Maale'', created in 1964, which is translated as ''To the Land of Fiery Mountains'', chronicled Meri's journey to the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

in the 1960s. Other members of his expedition group included well known scientists Harry Ling, Kaarel Orviku, Erast Parmasto, Ants Raik, Anto Raukas, Hans Trass, the artist Kaljo Polli, and filmmaker Hans Roosipuu. "Traveling is the only passion that doesn't need to feel shy in front of intellect," wrote Meri. Urban people still have an inner urge to see the world, hunger for nature. Meri did not underestimate the drawbacks of mass tourism but concluded that "science will liberate us from the chains of big cities and lead us back to nature". Meri's travel book of his journey to the northeast passage, ''Virmaliste Väraval'' (At the Gate of the Northern Lights) (1974), won him huge success in the Soviet Union. It was translated into Finnish in 1977 in the Soviet Writers series, which also introduced to Finnish readers works by the Estonian writers Mats Traat, Lilli Promet, and Ülo Tuulik. In the book Meri combined the present with a perspective into history, and used material from such explorers as Cook, Forster, Wrangel, Dahl, Sauer, Middendorff, Cochran, and others. When he sees a mountain rising against the stormy sky of the Bering Strait, he realizes that

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...

and

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

had looked at the same mountain, but from the other side of the strait. Meri's best known work is perhaps ''Hõbevalge'', published in 1976 (English translation ''Silverwhite: The Journey to the Fallen Sun'' by Adam Cullen, published in 2025). It reconstructs the history of Estonia (largely refuted by modern geneticists) and the Baltic Sea region. As in his other works, Meri combines documentary sources and scientific research with his imagination. "If geography is prose, maps are iconography," Meri writes. ''Hõbevalge'' is based on a wide-ranging ancient seafaring sources, and carefully unveils the secret of the legendary Ultima Thule. The name was given in classical times to the most northerly land, reputedly six days' voyage from Britain. Several alternative places for its location have been suggested, among them the Shetland Islands, Iceland, and Norway. According to Meri, it is possible that Thule derives from the ancient Estonian folk poetry, which depicts the birth of the Kaali crater lake in Saaremaa. In the essay ''Tacituse tahtel'' (2000), Meri examined ancient contacts between Estonia and the Roman empire and notes that furs, amber, and especially Livonian kiln-dried, disease-free grain may have been Estonia's biggest contribution to the common culture of Europe – in lean years, it provided seed grain for Europe. Meri founded the non-governmental Estonian Institute (''Eesti Instituut'') in 1988 to promote cultural contacts with the West and to send Estonian students to study abroad. He appeared in the documentary film '' The Singing Revolution'' as an interviewee discussing the collapse of the Soviet regime.

Political activity

After more than twenty years of refusals, the Soviet administration finally gave permission for Lennart Meri to travel beyond the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

in the late 1970s, and Meri persistently used the opportunities open to him in Finland to remind the Western world of the existence of Estonia. He established close relationships with politicians, journalists and Estonians who had fled from the occupation. He was the first Estonian to publicize abroad the protests against the Soviet plan of mining phosphorite in Estonia (known as the Phosphorite War), which would have rendered a portion of the country uninhabitable. In Estonia, environmental protests soon grew into a general revolt against Soviet rule: the " Singing Revolution", which was led by Estonian intellectuals. Meri's speech ''Do Estonians Have Hope'' focused on the existential problems of the nation and had strong repercussions abroad. In 1988, Meri became a founding member of the Estonian Popular Front, which cooperated with its counterparts in Latvia and Lithuania.

Foreign minister (1990–1992)

After the first non-communist-style multi-party election in 1990, Meri was appointed to the post of Foreign Minister. As

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, Lennart Meri's first task was to create the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. He developed around him a group of well educated young people, many English speaking, to establish an open communication channel to the West, and at the same time to represent Estonia more widely on the international scene. He participated in the CSCE Conferences in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, New York, Paris, Berlin and Moscow, and the foundation conference of the Council of the Baltic Sea Countries. He also had several meetings with American and European Heads of State and Foreign Ministers, and was the first Eastern European guest to give a presentation at

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Headquarters in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In 1992, Lennart Meri, together with 9 Baltic Ministers of Foreign Affairs and an EU commissioner, founded the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the EuroFaculty.

First presidential term (1992–1996)

After a brief period as Ambassador of Estonia to Finland, on 6 October 1992 he became the 2nd President of Estonia, and the first since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Meri was the candidate of the Pro Patria Union. For the only time since the restoration of independence, the

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

had a popular vote component. Arnold Rüütel, a former leading communist and chairman of the Supreme Council (as the Estonian Supreme Soviet had been renamed following independence), led the field with 42 per cent to Meri's 29 percent. With no candidate receiving a majority, the election was decided in the newly elected

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (, from Estonian ''riigi-'', "of the state", and ''kogu'', "assembly") is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chi ...

, which was dominated by the Pro Patria Alliance. During the campaign, some of his opponents tried to bring up questions about Meri's alleged former links with the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

. However, these allegations did not harm Meri's reputation and public image. Lennart Meri was sworn in as the President on 6 October 1992. Meri made public remarks against the Karaganov Doctrine on 25 February 1994 in a festival speech to the good

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

ers, who descended from the trade barons of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. Karaganov generated his doctrine in about 1992, and it states that Moscow should pose as the defender of human rights of ethnic Russians living in the 'near abroad' for the purpose of gaining political influence in these regions. Already in 1992 this idea was brought into

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

politics by

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

. In 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association declared Meri the Year's Press Friend. This was the first time this award was given; since that, it has been a yearly occurrence.Eesti Ajalehtede Liit 3 December 1998
Ajalehtede Liit valis viiendaks pressisőbraks president Meri
In 1998, Meri was given the complementary award and titled the Year's Press Friend.

Second presidential term (1996–2001)

On 20 September 1996, he was re-elected for a second and final term. In 1999, Meri was once again given the Press Friend award.Eesti Ajalehtede Liit 3 December 1999

He was a member of Club of Madrid.

Work for German refugees and for other victims of ethnic cleansing

Lennart Meri was engaged in the work for the human rights of German refugees from Central and Eastern Europe and other victims of

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

in Europe, and was a member of the jury of the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award, which was awarded by the Centre Against Expulsions (). In 1999 he received the highest distinction of the Federation of Expellees ().

Personal life

Meri was married twice. His second wife Helle Meri (1949−2024) worked as an actress in the Estonian Drama Theatre until 1992. Lennart Meri's first wife Regina Meri (1932−2020) emigrated to Canada in 1987. Lennart Meri was survived by three children: sons Mart Meri (born in 1959) and Kristjan Meri (1966–2022) and daughter Tuule Meri (born in 1985), and five grandchildren. His first cousin was the Estonian Soviet soldier Arnold Meri, who spent the last 2 years of his life on trial under charges of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

for his involvement in deportations of Estonians, but died in 2009 before a verdict was given. Meri was chosen the European of the Year in 1998 by French newspaper '' La Vie''.

Death

Diagnosed with a brain tumor in mid-2005 after experiencing strong headaches, Meri underwent surgery in August. The tumor was found to be malignant and he died on the morning of 14 March 2006, fifteen days before his 77th birthday, after being hospitalized in Tallinn for months. In a televised national speech, his successor, President Arnold Rüütel, said, "In his nine years as head of state, Meri both restored the presidency and built up the Republic of Estonia in the widest sense." Finnish President Tarja Halonen stated, "The Finnish nation lost in Lennart Meri a close and sincere friend and the world, a great statesman who was one of the leading architects of the post-Cold War world." Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga said, "the world has lost a great Estonian, a great statesman and a true European." Meri's funeral was attended by former Swedish premier Carl Bildt, among other figures. He was buried at Forest Cemetery in the Tallinn district of

Pirita Pirita is one of the eight administrative districts () of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Pirita occupies a relatively large area, but compared to other districts of Tallinn its population of 17,592 (as of 1 November 2014) is relatively small. ...

Legacy

Lennart Meri was one of the most popularly respected presidents in Estonian history. Tallinn Airport was renamed in 2009 Lennart Meri Tallinn International Airport in his honour.

Awards and decorations

*Merited Writer of Estonian SSR (1979) *Correspondent member of the European Academy of Science, Art and Literature (1989) *Honorary Doctor of Helsinki University (1986) *

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

and Coudenhove-Kalergi award *Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member and President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (2002) * (2006)

Honours

* : Collar of the Order of the National Coat of Arms (Posthumous 2008) * : 1st Class of the Order of the National Coat of Arms (2006) * : Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (1995) * : Grand Cross of the Order of Jordanian Revival (1993) * : Knight of the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...

(1994) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose with collar (1995) * : Knight of the

Order of the Seraphim The Royal Order of the Seraphim (; ''Seraphim'' being a category of angels) is the highest order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Sweden. It was created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the ...

(1995) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (1995) * : 1st Class of the Order of the Three Stars with collar (1996) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit () is the fourth highest Order (honour), State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the Order of ...

(1997) * : Knight of the Order of the Golden Star of Liberty (1997) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

(1997) * : Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (19 August 1997)Lithuanian Presidency
, Lithuanian Orders searching form Lennart Meri grafiti Tartus

* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (1998) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon (1998) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) (1998) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the Saviour (1999) * : Grand Cross Special Class of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(2000) * : Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta with collar (2001) * : Grand Cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(2001)

Bibliography

* 1964 – "Tulemägede maale" (To the Land of Fiery Mountains) * 1974 – "Virmaliste väraval" (At the Gate of Northern Light) * 1976 – "Hõbevalge" (Silverwhite) * 1977 – "Lähenevad rannad" (Nearing Shores) * 1984 – "Hõbevalgem"

Notes

References

Lennart Meri, portrait of a President – Baltic States City Paper

Encyclopædia Britannica Lennart Meri
* ''Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations'', Volume 6: World Leaders, 10th ed. Gale Group, 2001.

External links

BBC article "Estonia mourns ex-president Meri"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meri, Lennart 1929 births 2006 deaths Politicians from Tallinn Writers from Tallinn Estonian people of Swedish descent Presidents of Estonia Ministers of foreign affairs of Estonia Ambassadors of Estonia to Finland Estonian screenwriters Estonian non-fiction writers Translators from Russian Translators to Estonian 20th-century screenwriters Soviet dissidents 20th-century Estonian politicians 20th-century Estonian writers 20th-century Estonian translators People of the Singing Revolution Lycée Janson-de-Sailly alumni University of Tartu alumni Members of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Honoured Writers of the Estonian SSR Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 1st Class Recipients of the Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Grand Crosses of the Order of Vytautas the Great Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Collars of the Order of the White Lion Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil) Recipients of the Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 1st Class Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) Deaths from brain cancer in Estonia Burials at Metsakalmistu 20th-century presidents in Europe Restoration of the independence of the Baltic states