Jaan Poska
Jaan Poska (originally Ivan Poska; * 12 Januarjul / January 24 1866greg in Laiusevälja, today rural community Jõgeva, Estonia, .. † March 7, 1920 in Tallinn) was an Estonian politician.
Early years
Poska was born the fifth of twelve children of a poor Russian-speaking family. His father was a clerk, the family milieu dominated orthodox clerical. Poska first went to the Orthodox village school Tuhalaane (now Karksi rural community ), then the parish school in Laiuse. He then - supported by the Orthodox Church - from the Seminary of Riga ( Рижская духовная семинария ), where he graduated high school. 1882 his father died; the mother moved to Tartu, where a son was studying. In 1886 he made as the External High School in Tallinn.
1886 Poska began the study of medicine before becoming a year later enrolled at the Law Faculty of the University of Tartu in Tartu Livonian. He also attended courses and lectures in the German language. Under the pseudonym Jaan Karu he published translations from Russian, including Alexander Pushkin and Peter the Great.
Politician
1890 closed Jaan Poska from his law studies. He settled as a lawyer in the Estonian capital Tallinn. In 1904 he was elected there to the city council and in 1905 as Chairman of the City Council. In the revolutionary year 1905, he was briefly detained for political reasons by the tsarist state power, but was then able to continue his local political career. From 1913 to 1917 was Poska mayor of Tallinn.
The February Revolution in Russia in 1917 also brought the political life of Estonia drastic changes. Poska played in the revolutionary years of 1917/18 and in the creation of the state Estonian independence a key role.
In March 1917, the new Russian government united the settlement area of Estonians ( the government of Estonia and the northern part of the government of Livonia) into one administrative unit. The former tsarist governor over Estonia was deposed. His place was taken from March to October 1917 Poska as provincial commissar of the Russian Provisional Government. In the fall of 1917 as a member of the All-Russian Poska Constituent Assembly ( Всероссийское Учредительное собрание ) was chosen. He belonged to the conservative- liberal Estonian National Democratic Party ( Eesti Demokraatlik Erakond ).
Minister and diplomat
On 24 February 1918 called the Provisional Parliament from the province of Estonia, the so-called Maapäev, authorized Rescue Committee in Tallinn, Estonia's secession from Russia and proclaimed the sovereignty of Estonia. Jaan Poska was appointed foreign minister in the (first) Provisional Government. However, Estonia remained from late February to mid- November 1918 occupied by German troops, so that the government could not exercise actual state power.
On November 12, 1918 Jaan Poska in the (second) Provisional Government, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Court, then from November 27 1918 to 9 May 1919 in the (third) Provisional Government of Estonian foreign minister.
Poskas main task was to achieve international recognition and support of the Estonian independence especially in the Western Powers. On November 13, 1918 Soviet Russia had begun with the attack on the city of Narva ostestnische a military offensive to retake the Baltics. The Estonian War of Independence began.
1918/19, Poska traveled as a diplomatic envoy Western Europe. He took part in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as the Estonian representative. In the same year he returned to his home country. The government appointed him head of the Estonian delegation at the forthcoming peace negotiations with Soviet Russia, which was officially opened in December 1919. The war ended in early 1920 with an Estonian victory. On February 2, 1920, both countries signed the Peace Treaty of Tartu, who confirmed the Estonian independence.
Poska was elected to the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Estonia ( Asutav Kogu ) in April 1919. He died suddenly a year later in Tallinn. In his former home in Tallinn Kadriorg district of a museum has been established in 2008.
Private life
Jaan Poska was married since the end of 1895 with Constance Ekström ( 1870-1926 ). The couple had nine children.
The Poska family placed great emphasis on the education of their male and female children. The most popular are the doctor Ksenia Poska (1896-1964), the lawyer Vera Poska - Grünthal (1898-1986, married with lawyer Timothy Grünthal ), the historian Tatiana Poska (1900-1988, married first with Aleksander Arder, later with Eduard Laaman ), the lawyer Jaan Poska (1902-1941), the translator Anna Poska (1905-1986), the lawyer Helen ( Jelena ) Poska - Niinemanni ( 1907-1939 ) and the lawyer and clergyman Jüri Poska ( 1919-1974 ).