At a festive presentation at Stenbock House, Government Office and Estonian Post Ltd. presented a postage stamp dedicated to Head of State Kaarel Eenpalu on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth. The stamp is the ninth in the series ‘Estonian Heads of State 1918–2018’.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said at the presentation of the postage stamp that he was glad that the new stamp was dedicated to a great statesman and politician, whose contribution to the everyday life of Estonians has been bigger than we could imagine. “Thanks to Kaarel Eenpalu we have the police, in whom the Estonian population has high confidence. Eenpalu laid the foundations for the creation and development of the police, as a result of which it is one of the most highly regarded organisations among the Estonian population,” Ansip said.
“Eenpalu also established Victory Day as a nationally important and publicly anticipated event. He may also be considered as the initiator of Estonians’ culture of home decor, as it was Eenpalu who invited people to repair and decorate their homes,” Ansip added.
Prime Minister Ansip also expressed his gratitude to the creators of the postage stamp and its artist Lembit Lõhmus.
Kaarel Eenpalu (known as Karl August Einbund until 1935) was the Head of State from 19 July 1932 to 1 November 1932, the Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister from 1934 to 1938, and the Prime Minister from 9 May 1938 to 12 October 1939.
Eenpalu was the Auditor General in 1919-1920 and the Minister of the Interior in 1920, 1921-1924 and 1924-1926, and he is considered as the founder of the Estonian police. Over the period of 1926-1934 he intermittently acted as the Speaker of the third, fourth and fifth Riigikogu, a member of the Estonian Constituent Assembly in 1919-1920, a member of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth Riigikogu in 1920-1934 and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1938-1940.
Kaarel Eenpalu was born on 28 May 1888 in Vesneri parish in Tartu County. He finished Hugo Treffner Private Upper-secondary School, studied law at the University of Tartu in 1909-1914 and later graduated from the University of Moscow.
From 1914 to 1917, Eenpalu fought in World War I, serving as a battery commander in the First Estonian Artillery Regiment in 1917 and 1918. During the Estonian War of Independence in 1918-1919, he first commanded the Tartu High School students’ battalion, and then the seventh battery in the Second Estonian Artillery Regiment in 1919.
In 1910-1912 and 1915, Eenpalu was a member of the editorial board of Postimees, working as the editor in 1918. He also worked as the editor-in-chief of Tallinna Teataja in 1920 and the editor-in-chief of Kaja in 1924. He ran the Hellema farm in Rae parish near Aruküla from 1925 to 1940 and worked as the General Director of Eesti Fosforiit in 1939-1940.
Eenpalu also worked as the Chairman of the Education Union in 1927-1932 and the Chairman of the Estonian group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1928-1933, the Senior Commander of the Young Eagles in 1930-1932, the Chairman of the Estonian-Polish Society in 1930-1935 and the Chairman of the Agricultural Council in 1932, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Defence League in 1924-1940 and a member of the Estonian Olympic Committee in 1923-1940.
NKVD arrested Eenpalu on 27 July 1940 and he died while imprisoned at the Vyatka prison camp in Kirov oblast in Russia on 27 January 1942.
The postage stamp dedicated to Kaarel Eenpalu is the ninth in the series ‘Estonian heads of State 1918-2018’.