[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


            DEATH OF FORMER ESTONIAN PRESIDENT LENNART MERI

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today I would like to honor the 
extraordinary life and legacy of the late Estonian President Lennart 
Meri. President Meri was an inspiration to his countrymen, a true 
friend of the United States, and a stalwart advocate for freedom. His 
passing on March 14, 2006, was a tremendous loss to the people of 
Estonia and the world.
  Born in 1929 to the renowned diplomat and Shakespearean translator 
Georg Meri, Lennart's early childhood exemplified the plight of the 
Estonian people. Living in a country ravaged by war and subjected to 
the brutality of Soviet occupation, Lennart attended nine different 
schools and studied in four different languages. He was eventually 
deported from his homeland to Siberia along with thousands of other 
Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. During his forced exile, he 
helped feed his family by picking potatoes.
  President Meri experienced more hardship as a boy than most men do in 
a lifetime, but he was quick to turn his struggles into opportunities. 
In the course of his itinerant education he became fluent in French, 
German, English, and Russian. He also developed a tenacity that would 
serve him well throughout his life.
  Lennart eventually came back to Estonia to study history and 
languages, graduating from Tartu University with honors in 1958. The 
Soviet Government prevented Lennart from working as an Estonian 
historian, but he again found possibility where others might have only 
seen discouragement. Instead of accepting defeat, he established 
himself as a writer, filmmaker, and dramatist, and used these avenues 
to preserve Estonia's national identity.
  For over 20 years, the Soviet Union refused to allow Lennart to 
venture beyond the Iron Curtain. Ultimately, when he did travel abroad, 
he served as a lone, unofficial emissary of what was by then an almost 
forgotten country. He established contact with politicians and 
journalists, recounting the story of Estonia to whoever would listen. 
When the collapse of the Soviet empire finally freed his country, 
Lennart was able to continue representing his newly independent 
homeland as an Ambassador and Foreign Minister. Ultimately, Lennart 
served two terms as President of the country he had loved and 
championed for so long.
  Lennart's accomplishments were myriad; he helped build Estonia's 
Foreign Service from the ground up, established strong ties with the 
West, and reached an historic agreement with Boris Yeltsin to end 
Russia's military presence in Estonia. Beyond these remarkable 
achievements, though, Lennart left behind a bequest of liberty that 
will endure along with the free nation of Estonia. I hope each of us 
will appreciate that legacy and continue working to advance the cause 
of freedom.

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