Riho Lahi (27 October 1904 – 23 April 1995) 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 ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, probably best known by his fictional character Kihva Värdi. Lahi was born Richard-Heinrich Lahi in

Võhma Võhma is a List of cities and towns in Estonia, town in Põhja-Sakala Parish, Viljandi County, central Estonia. History The settlement dates to the sixteenth century. The German-language name of the town was Wöchma. It began to grow when a ra ...

Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...

Kihva Värdi

Kihva Värdi, supposedly born Ferdinand Kihv, was a well-known

n fictional character developed by Lahi. Kihva Värdi has been cited as a possible inspiration for the later fictional character of similar genre, Kärna Ärni. The character, active in the early decades of Soviet occupation of Estonia, regularly "wrote" editorials in a number of Estonian newspapers, commenting, in a humorous and censorship-tolerated way, on current political issues. His editorials have also been published in book form. Värdi practiced a characteristic, well-recognisable in his era, writing style most prominent for consistently neglecting to join compound words, which are rather frequent in Estonian. This and other stylistic cues paint him as middle-aged and poorly educated (or, as presented by

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 ...

authorities, "proletarian") man. This aura of proletarianism afforded Lahi some extra leeway in maneuvering through Soviet

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

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* Postimees 27 October 2004
Kuidas ma vesteid aja lehe veergudele toimetasin
by Raimu Hanson 1904 births 1995 deaths Estonian male writers Estonian editorial cartoonists Estonian magazine cartoonists People from Võhma 20th-century Estonian writers 20th-century Estonian journalists {{Estonia-journalist-stub

Kihva Värdi

See also

External links