Lennart Georg Meri was a multifaceted individual, serving as the second president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001, a politician, writer, and film director. Born on March 29, 1929, in Tallinn, Estonia, he was the son of diplomat and Shakespeare translator Georg Meri and Estonian Swedish mother Alice-Brigitta Engmann.
Meri's early life was marked by his family's departure from Estonia in 1939, and he spent his formative years in nine different schools, studying in four languages. He developed a strong connection with his time at Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris, where he formed lasting memories.
Fluent in six languages, including Estonian, Finnish, French, German, English, and Russian, Meri's linguistic abilities would serve him well throughout his life. Despite the challenges he faced, Meri's family was split during the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, with some members supporting and others opposing the Soviet Union.
Tragedy struck when the Meri family was deported to Siberia in 1941, along with thousands of other Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. Lennart's cousin, Arnold Meri, even joined the Red Army and became a Hero of the Soviet Union. The Meri family was eventually separated, with Lennart working as a lumberman, potato peeler, and rafter to support his family at the tender age of twelve.
While in exile, Meri developed an interest in the Uralic languages, which would become a lifelong theme in his work. His fascination with the cultural and ethnic kinship among the scattered Uralic family would drive his creative endeavors.
Upon returning to Estonia, Meri graduated cum laude from the University of Tartu's Faculty of History and Languages in 1953. The same year, he proposed to his first wife, Regina Meri, on the day of Joseph Stalin's death, saying, "Let us remember this happy day forever." Due to the Soviet Union's restrictions, Meri was unable to work as a historian, so he turned to his passion for drama, becoming a dramatist at the Vanemuine Theatre and later a producer of radio plays in the Estonian broadcasting industry. Several of his films have since received critical acclaim, cementing his legacy as a talented writer and director.
