page_title: Otto Tief
section_title: Otto Tief's Government of 1944
hierarchical_section_title: Otto Tief / Otto Tief's Government of 1944
caption_attribution_description: Riigi Teataja
context_page_description: Otto Tief was an Estonian politician, military commander, and a lawyer.
  He was the Acting Prime Minister of the last government of Estonia before the Soviet troops occupied Estonia in the Second World War in September 1944. Due to his commitment to his country, Otto Tief is regarded by many of his fellow countrymen as a symbol of national resistance.
context_section_description: During the turbulent days in September 1944, between the retreat of the German occupation forces in Estonia and the onslaught of the Red Army, the acting President of the Republic of Estonia Jüri Uluots appointed Otto Tief as a Prime Minister and asked him to form a government in 18 September 1944. Tief then published a proclamation, re-establishing the independence of the Republic of Estonia on the basis of legal continuity, and attempted to organise the defence of Tallinn against the invading Red Army, which pushed into the capital on 22 September 1944.
  Members of the Tief's government:
  Otto Tief – Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior
  Arnold Susi – Minister of Public Education
  Johannes Klesment (escaped to Sweden, assumed office 13 January 1945) – Minister of Justice
  Kaarel Liidak (died 16 January 1945) – Minister of Agriculture
  Hugo Pärtelpoeg (died 29 April 1951) – Minister of Finance
  Voldemar Sumberg – Minister of Social Affairs
  Juhan Pikkov (died 3 September 1947) – Minister of Communications
  August Rei (in Sweden, assumed office 31 December 1944, until 9 January 1945) – Minister of Foreign Affairs
  Juhan Kaarlimäe – Minister
  Johannes Sikkar (in Sweden, from 20 April 1952) – Minister
  Artur Terras (in Sweden, from 20 April 1952) – Minister
caption: The 18 September 1944 appointed Government of Estonia in Riigi Teataja
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