  lennart georg meri () (29 march 1929 â 14 march 2006) was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second president of estonia from 1992 to 2001. meri was a leader of the estonian independence movement. ==early life== lennart meri was born in tallinn, a son of the estonian diplomat and later shakespeare translator georg meri, and estonian swedish mother alice-brigitta engmann. with his family, lennart left estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. his warmest memories were from his school years in lycÃ©e janson de sailly in paris. in addition to his native estonian, lennart meri fluently spoke five other languages: finnish, french, german, english and russian. however, the family was in tallinn when estonia was occupied by the armed forces of the soviet union in june 1940. the extended meri family was split in the middle between those opposing and supporting the soviet union.entisen presidentin serkkua syytetÃ¤Ã¤n neuvostoajan kyydityksistÃ¤  lennart's cousin arnold meri joined the red army and was soon made a hero of the soviet union. in 1941, the meri family was deported to siberia along with thousands of other estonians, latvians and lithuanians sharing the same fate. heads of the family were separated from their families and shut into concentration camps where few survived. at the age of twelve, lennart meri worked as a lumberman in siberia. he also worked as a potato peeler and a rafter to support his family. whilst in exile, lennart meri grew interested in the other uralic languages that he heard around him, the language family of which his nativ
1929_births 2006_deaths Ambassadors_of_Estonia_to_Finland Burials_at_Metsakalmistu Cancer_deaths_in_Estonia Deaths_from_brain_tumor Estonian_diplomats Estonian_non-fiction_writers Estonian_people_of_Swedish_descent Estonian_screenwriters Estonian_translators Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Vytautas_the_Great Knights_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_St._Olav Knights_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_the_Falcon LycA(c)e_Janson_de_Sailly_alumni Members_of_the_Estonian_Academy_of_Sciences Ministers_of_Foreign_Affairs_of_Estonia People_from_Tallinn People_of_the_Singing_Revolution Presidents_of_Estonia Recipients_of_the_Collar_of_the_Order_of_the_Cross_of_Terra_Mariana Recipients_of_the_Collar_of_the_Order_of_the_National_Coat_of_Arms Recipients_of_the_Order_of_the_National_Coat_of_Arms,_1st_Class Recipients_of_the_Order_of_the_Three_Stars,_1st_Class Translators_from_Russian Translators_to_Estonian University_of_Tartu_alumni