Tõnis Rotberg (9 September 1882 in

Viljandi Parish Viljandi Parish ( et, Viljandi vald) is a rural municipality of Viljandi County, Estonia. It is located around the town of Viljandi, but does not include it. Viljandi Parish was established by merging four municipalities: Paistu, Pärsti, Saa ...

Kreis Fellin Kreis Fellin (''Viljandi kreis'', ''Феллинский уезд'') was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate (in present-day southern Estonia). I ...

, Governorate of Livonia – 24 July 1953 in Tayshet,

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n general.

Biography

Rotberg was born in Viljandi and attended

Vilnius military school Vilnius Military School (russian: Виленское военное училище) also known as the Vilnius Junker Infantry School (russian: Виленское пехотное юнкерское училище) was a military school for the non ...

to become an officer in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

, as Estonia at the time was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. He became a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in 1909. During the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westwa ...

, Rotberg became a lieutenant colonel in the Estonian Army and was the Head of Army Supplies between 1918 and 1938. In 1928, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. In 1938–1940, Rotberg was Deputy Minister of War. On 21 June 1940, he was appointed

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

in Johannes Vares' cabinet after the

occupation of the Baltic states The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He held this position until the cabinet was replaced by the

Council of People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

of the

Estonian SSR The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

on 25 August 1940. Rotberg was then transferred to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and fought in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

. He was taken prisoner by

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

forces near the town of

Porkhov Porkhov (russian: По́рхов) is a town and the administrative center of Porkhovsky District in Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the Shelon River, east of Pskov, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History The fortress o ...

in July 1941, but released in July 1942 after promising not to take up arms against the Germans. After the Soviet Union re-occupied the Baltic states in September 1944, Rotberg was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. He was accused of participating in hostilities against the Red Army in 1919, of surrender to the Wehrmacht without resistance in 1941, and of living in German-occupied Estonia without taking up arms against the occupiers after his release from captivity. On 19 October 1951, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rotberg died on 24 July 1953 in prison in Tayshet. He was posthumously rehabilitated on 31 October 1957. He was awarded the Cross of Liberty for Military Leadership (Second class) in 1921 and the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...

(Fourth class) in 1925.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotberg, Tonis 1882 births 1953 deaths People from Viljandi Parish People from Kreis Fellin Estonian major generals Soviet major generals Imperial Russian Army officers Defence Ministers of Estonia Russian military personnel of World War I Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Estonian people who died in Soviet detention People who died in the Gulag Soviet rehabilitations