Neeme Ruus (11 December 1911, Oparino,

Vologda Governorate Vologda Governorate (), also known as the Government of Vologda, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 until 1929. ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 2 June 1942,

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 ...

Generalbezirk Estland ''Generalbezirk Estland'' ( German for "General District Estonia"; ) was an administrative subdivision of the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' of Nazi Germany that covered Estonia from 1941 to 1944. It served as the Nazi civilian administration f ...

) was an Estonian politician, socialist and communist activist and

Esperantist An Esperantist () is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto and uses it for ...

. From 1938 to 1940, he served as a leftist member of parliament (lower house of the bicameral

VI Riigikogu VI Riigikogu was the sixth legislature of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu). The legislature was elected after the 1938 elections (held on 24–25 February 1938). It sat between 7 April 1938 and 5 July 1940, after which the Soviet Union occupied ...

). During World War II, immediately after the

Soviet 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 ...

invasion of Estonia, 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 occupation authorities promoted Ruus to Minister of Social Affairs in the new pro-Soviet puppet government ( Johannes Vares' cabinet) on 21 June 1940 as part of a "central executive committee." Soon after the Nazi German invasion in 1941, Ruus went into hiding and stayed in Estonia. He was arrested by German occupation authorities in the Estonian village of

Hirvli Hirvli is a village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County in northern 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 ...

, tried, and executed. His daughter is

Ingrid Rüütel Ingrid Rüütel ( Ruus; born 3 November 1935) is an Estonian folklorist, philologist and former First Lady of Estonia. She was married to former President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel until his death on 31 December 2024. Personal life Ingrid Rü� ...

References

1911 births 1942 deaths People from Kirov Oblast People from Nikolsky Uyezd Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia Social affairs ministers of Estonia Members of the Riigivolikogu Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1947 Estonian Esperantists Estonian people executed by Nazi Germany Communists executed by Nazi Germany {{Estonia-1938-Riigikogu-politician-stub