Lennart Meri · People · Letters from the USSR

October 1991 · Magazine clipping

NOTABLE QOUTES (Estonia & the 1991 Soviet collapse) — page 17

A magazine 'Notable Qoutes' column (page 17) collecting memorable statements by Estonian and international figures around the August 1991 Soviet coup and Estonia's restoration of independence. Includes Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, magazine editor Kai Maran, TV director Hagi Shein, composer Veljo Tormis, the Dalai Lama, and novelist Jaan Kross. A pen box outlines the Lennart Meri quote referencing US Secretary of State James Baker, with one word redacted in ink.

Estonian independenceAugust 1991 Soviet coup

1992 · Magazine clipping

Estonian Leaders: Jaan Kross, Lennart Meri & Marju Lauristin (Page 22)

A printed magazine page (page 22) profiling three prominent Estonian figures of the early-independence era: novelist Jaan Kross (a Nobel Prize candidate), Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Marju Lauristin. Each entry gives a biographical sketch, 'Other Facts', and an office telephone.

Estonian independenceBaltic politics

December 22, 1991 · Letter

Letter from Seth to Mom & Dad: toilet paper, Baltic news subscriptions, and a no-gas Estonian Airlines

A two-page handwritten letter from Seth to his parents dated Dec. 22, 1991. He thanks them for packing envelopes and toilet paper, jokes about the scarcity of paper products in the USSR, describes news clippings and newspaper subscriptions he is sending about the coup and the Baltics, and recounts a comic visit to Estonian Airlines where there were no flights because there was no gasoline.

shortages and rationingSoviet collapse

December 24, 1991 · Letter

The day I accidentally talked to Estonia's Foreign Minister

Writing from St. Petersburg the day after returning from Tallinn, Seth recounts how he stumbled into a conversation with Lennart Meri, the Foreign Minister of newly independent Estonia, while trying to learn how to get an Estonian visa. Meri quietly told him to just enter on the night train without a visa in January, and Seth only realized afterward he had spoken with the 4th most important person in Estonia.

Estonian independencepost-Soviet borders and visas

October 1991 · Magazine clipping

"Notable Qoutes" — Estonia independence quotes (Saint Petersburg PREMIER, pages 17-18)

A two-page clipping from an English-language magazine (consistent with the Saint Petersburg PREMIER milieu Seth was part of). Page 17 is a 'Notable Qoutes' feature collecting statements about the August 1991 coup and the restoration of Estonian independence, from figures including Estonian Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, librarian Kai Maran, Estonian TV director Hagi Shein, composer Veljo Tormis, the Dalai Lama, and novelist Jaan Kross, plus an editorial cartoon by Rein Lauks. Page 18 carries advertisements for the Maharaja Restaurant in Tallinn and a household-appliance/electronics retailer on Aia street.

Estonian independenceAugust 1991 coup

1991 · Brochure

Very Important Persons — Some Estonians You Should Know

A printed AIFS orientation/guidebook page (header 'VIPs') profiling key Estonian leaders shortly after Estonia regained independence in 1991. Includes capsule biographies of President Arnold Rüütel, Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar, author Jaan Kross, and Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, with a fifth profile (Marju Lauristin) truncated at the page edge.