Estonian government - in - exile The Estonian government - in - exile refers to the formally declared governmental authority of the Republic of Estonia in exile , existing from 1953 until the reestablishment of Estonian sovereignty over Estonian territory in 1992 . It traced its legitimacy through constitutional succession to the last Estonian government in power prior to the Soviet invasion of 1940 . Timeline . Members of Estonian government go underground during Soviet occupation . The USSR illegally annexed Estonia in June , 1940 . Soviet authorities arrested President Konstantin Päts and deported him to the USSR where he died in prison in 1956 . Many members of the current and past governments were deported or executed , including 8 former heads of state and 38 ministers . Those that survived went underground . Jüri Uluots was the last constitutional prime minister at the time of Soviet occupation . With the loss of Päts , Uluots , as the head of the Estonian government in accordance with Section 46 the Estonian Constitution ( " Riigi Teataja " 03 . 09 . 1937 No . 71 Art 590 ) , which specified that in the case that the President vacated the office or was otherwise unable to execute his duties , those duties were to be assumed by the Prime Minister , who carries duties of the Prime Minister to the Acting Prime Minister , became acting head of State . Uluots attempted to appoint a new Estonian government in July 1941 , at the beginning of the German occupation , but German authorities refused to recognize Estonia as a sovereign state . National Committee under occupation by Nazi Germany . The National Committee of the Republic of Estonia was formed from individuals engaged in the Estonian government prior to Soviet annexation . The Committee was led initially , from March 23 , 1944 , by Kaarel Liidak , then , from August 15 or 16 , by Otto Tief . The Committee proclaimed itself the supreme power of the Republic of Estonia on August 1 , 1944 . Failure to reestablish independence . In June 1942 political leaders of Estonia who had survived Soviet repressions held a meeting hidden from the occupying powers in Estonia where the formation of an underground Estonian government and the options for preserving continuity of the republic were discussed . On January 6 , 1943 a meeting was held at the Estonian foreign delegation in Stockholm . In order to preserve the legal continuation of the Republic of Estonia , it was decided that the last constitutional prime minister , Jüri Uluots , had to continue to fulfill his responsibilities as prime minister . On April 20 , 1944 , the Electoral Committee of the Republic of Estonia ( " Vabariigi Presidendi Asetäitja Valimiskogu " , the institution specified in the Constitution for electing the Acting President of the Republic ) held a clandestine meeting in Tallinn . The participants included : The Committee determined that the Soviet - era appointment of Johannes Vares as Prime Minister by Konstantin Päts had been illegal and that Uluots had assumed the President ' s duties from June 21 , 1940 onwards . On June 21 , 1944 – Jüri Uluots appointed Otto Tief as deputy prime minister . On September 18 , 1944 Uluots , suffering from cancer , named Otto Tief the Acting Prime Minister and appointed a Government which consisted of 11 members . On September 20 , 1944 , Uluots , in failing health , departed for Sweden . Tief assumed office in accordance with the constitution and took the opportunity with the departure of the Germans to declare the legitimate Estonian government restored . Most of members of this government left from Tallinn on September 21 and Tief on September 22 . As reported by the Royal Institute of International Affairs : on September 21 the Estonian national government was proclaimed , Estonian forces seized the government buildings in Toompea and ordered the German forces to leave . The flag of Germany was replaced with the Estonian tricolour in the Pikk Hermann flag tower . Tief ’ s government , however , failed to keep control , as Estonian military units led by Johan Pitka clashed with both Germans and Soviets . On September 22 the Soviets took control of Tallinn and took the Estonian flag down . Flight ahead of Soviet forces . The Tief ' s government fled Tallinn . The last meeting was held in Põgari village on September 22 . However , the boat which was to rendezvous to evacuate them across the Baltic developed engine trouble and failed to arrive in time . Most of the members and officials , including Tief , were caught , jailed , deported , or executed by the advancing Soviets . Tief managed to survive a decade in Siberia and died back in Estonia in 1976 . Only Kaarel Liidak , Minister of Agriculture , died in hiding on January 16 , 1945 . Rei succession and Maurer rivalry . After Uluots died on January 9 , 1945 , August Rei , as the most senior surviving member of the government , assumed the role of acting head of state . Rei was supported by the surviving members of the Tief ' s government in Sweden . Rei was the last Estonian envoy in Moscow before the Soviet annexation and had managed to escape from Moscow through Riga to Stockholm in June 1940 . Rei declared an official Estonian government in exile on January 12 , 1953 in Oslo , Norway . ( Oslo , not Stockholm , was chosen because Norway did not have bans on such political activity , while Sweden had . ) However , another group of Estonian politicians believed a president should be elected through some representative body . This group was led by Alfred Maurer , who had been second deputy chairman of the National Council of Estonia prior to 1940 . Maurer was elected Acting President of the Republic ( Vabariigi Presidendi Asetäitja ) in exile on March 3 , 1953 in Augustdorf , Germany . While Maurer ' s lineage had more support among the exile community , he never appointed any new government ( stating that Tief ' s government is still in office and there is no need for a new government ) and this line became extinct upon Maurer ’ s death a year - and - a - half later , on September 20 , 1954 . This left the Rei government as the sole contestant to legitimacy . The position of acting head of government continued to be assumed by succession following Rei ’ s death in 1963 . From 1953 to 1992 , five governments in exile were formed . Diplomacy . Of the three Baltic states , only Estonia established a formal government in exile . In the cases of Latvia and Lithuania , sovereign authority had been vested in its diplomatic legations . Even with regard to Estonia , the legations were the primary instrument for the conduct of diplomacy and for administering the daily matters of state ( such as issuing passports ) . Estonia ’ s primary legation was the consulate in New York . Under the Stimson Doctrine , USA , and under similar doctrines , the legitimacy of the Soviet occupation of Baltic states was never recognized . As primary diplomatic authority was exercised by the Estonian consulate ( in New York ) , the government in exile ’ s role from Oslo was , to a great degree , symbolic in nature . However , the Estonian government in exile did serve to carry the continuity of the Estonian state forward . The last prime minister in the duties of the president , Heinrich Mark , ended the work of the government in exile when he handed over his credentials to the incoming President Lennart Meri on October 8 , 1992 . Meri issued a statement thanking the Estonian government in exile for being the keepers of the legal continuity of the Estonian state . A group of activists including Mihkel Mathiesen , Kalev Ots and Ahti Mänd refused to accept the dissolution of the government in exile , claiming that no Estonian government could be legitimate unless its authority was derived from the 1938 Constitution . They reconstituted the government in exile , based in Nõmme to this day .