Otto Tief
| Otto Tief | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
14 August 1889 Uusküla, Rapla County, Estonia |
| Died | 5 March 1976 (aged 86) Ahja, Põlva County, Estonia |
| Nationality | Estonia |
| Occupation | Lawyer Prime Minister |
Otto Tief (14 August [O.S. 2 August] 1889 – 5 March 1976) was an Estonian politician, military commander during the Estonian War of Independence, and lawyer. He was Acting Prime Minister of the last government of Estonia before Soviet troops occupied Estonia in 1944. Due to his commitment to his country, Otto Tief is regarded as a hero by many of his fellow countrymen.
Tief studied law in St Petersburg between 1910 and 1916. During the Estonian War of Independence, Tief was a commander in the Kalevlaste Maleva battalion formed in 1918 by members of the Kalev sports society. Following the war, he graduated in law from Tartu University in 1921. He served as legal counsel to the Estonian Land Bank and also worked in private practice as a lawyer. Tief was elected to the third Riigikogu in 1926 and served as the Minister of Social Affairs from 1926 to 1927. In 1928 he was the Minister of Justice. In 1932 he was elected to the fifth Riigikogu.
During the several days between the retreat of German occupation forces and the onslaught of the Red Army, acting President Jüri Uluots appointed Otto Tief as Prime Minister and asked him to form a government on 18 September 1944. Tief then published a proclamation reestablishing the independence of the Republic of Estonia on the basis of legal continuity, and attempted to organise a defence of Tallinn against the invading Red Army, which pushed into the capital on 22 September 1944.
Members of the Tief government
Otto Tief was arrested by the Soviet authorities on 10 October 1944. In 1945 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the Siberian gulag. Returning to Estonia in 1956, he was forced to leave for the Ukraine until 1965, when he was permitted to return to the Baltic region to live just beyond the Estonian border in Latvia. When Otto Tief died on 5 March 1976, the Soviet security services would not allow his burial in the national cemetery in Tallinn. When Estonia regained independence in 1991, he was reinterred there in 1993, in the presence of a large number of people who came to remember and honor him.
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