History 03/03/20 Konstantin päts: why the first President of Estonia was held in a mental hospital
In 1956, died 81-year-old patient of the closed psychiatric hospital, located in one of the villages in Tver region. In this event there would be nothing remarkable, if the deceased never held a very high position. He was the first President of Estonia.
Former mayor
Biography of Konstantin päts, 1874 birth replete with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. So, after graduation, Constantine initially enrolled in the Orthodox theological Seminary in Riga. But after four years of study, he still came to the conclusion that this area is not suitable. So soon, the pats became a student of the law faculty of the Imperial University of Tartu in Tartu.
Releasing from the University, the pats worked for some time in Tallinn (then the city was called Reval) in the specialty, that is, a lawyer. It was there in 1901, he teamed up with other radical young people created a newspaper “the Herald”, which began to enjoy a certain popularity among the citizens. After three years, the pats elected to the post of Vice mayor of Tallinn.
In 1905, Konstantin päts actively participated in the First Russian revolution. But when the whole city administration was dissolved, the pats were ordered to arrest. However, he managed to escape. He lived in Switzerland and Finland. Meanwhile, in Russia he was sentenced to death. Three years later, however, this verdict was overturned, and the pats returned to Tallinn.
Former President
But the pats were waited by new troubles. Soon Tallinn was occupied by the Germans, and former Vice-mayor was in a German concentration camp. However, he was again lucky. He was able to return home to Estonia, and even several years held the post of head of the government.
And on 12 March 1934, Konstantin päts with the support of the chief of the army yoKhan Laidoner organized in Estonia, the revolution and declared the Republic independent. Four years later, päts was elected the first ever President of the country.
In 1939 the newly formed Republic after agreement with the Union placed on their land Soviet military bases. But already in 1940 in Tallinn was raided by troops of the Soviet Union. After began the process of integrating Estonia into the USSR. In this regard, Konstantin päts was arrested and sent to Bashkiria. Following the President into exile and was followed by members of his family: two sons, daughter and grandchildren.
a Patient
at First, the former President identified for compulsory treatment allegedly from mental illness in a psychiatric clinic of a prison in the capital of Tatarstan Kazan. There pats spent a long 10 years. And no charges for all this time he never showed. The verdict was announced in 1952: a quarter century of imprisonment and confiscation of property.
In the same year in the Butyrka died son pats Victor, and for 8 years prior to this orphanage died from starvation and one of the grandsons of the President.
for Many years about the fate of Konstantin päts practically nothing was known. Only in the 1990-ies it became clear that he had gone to another world in 1956. It happened in a psychiatric hospital in Burashevo village of Tver region. In the same patient pats and buried. After almost 35 years the remains of the first President of Estonia was brought to his homeland.
Source:
© Russian Seven
