Lennart Meri
| Lennart Meri | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 2nd President of the Republic of Estonia | |
|
In office 6 October 1992 – 8 October 2001 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Mart Laar Andres Tarand Tiit Vähi Mart Siimann Mart Laar |
| Preceded by |
Konstantin Päts (Last President before Soviet occupation in 1940) Heinrich Mark (Last head of state in Exile) Arnold Rüütel Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia |
| Succeeded by | Arnold Rüütel |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
|
In office April 1990 – March 1992 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Edgar Savisaar Tiit Vähi |
| Preceded by | Olev Olesk (in exile) |
| Succeeded by | Jaan Manitski |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
29 March 1929 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Died | 14 March 2006 (aged 76) Tallinn, Estonia |
| Nationality | Estonian |
| Political party | Pro Patria Union |
| Spouse(s) | 1st Regina Meri 2nd Helle Meri |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Tartu |
| Profession | writer, film director, politician |
Lennart Georg Meri (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈlenˑɑrt ˈgeorg ˈmeri]; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian politician, writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the movement to restore Estonian independence from the Soviet Union.
Lennart Meri was born in Tallinn, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later Shakespeare 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.
However, the family was in Tallinn when Estonia was occupied by the armed forces of the Soviet Union in June 1940. The extended Meri family was split in the middle between those opposing and supporting the Soviet Union. Lennart's cousin Arnold Meri joined the Red Army and was soon made a Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1941, the Meri family was deported to Siberia along with thousands of other Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians sharing the same fate. Heads of the family were separated from their families and shut into concentration camps where few survived. At the age of twelve, Lennart Meri worked as a lumberman in Siberia. He also worked as a potato peeler and a rafter to support his family.
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