Johannes Vares commonly known as Johannes Vares Barbarus, was an Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n poet, doctor, and politician.

Vares was born in Heimtali, now in Pärsti Parish, Viljandi County

Viljandi County

Viljandi County , is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties. 55,657 people live in Viljandi County – constituting 4.2% of the total population in Estonia ....

, and educated at Pärnu

Pärnu

Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga...

 Gymnasium. He later studied medicine at the University of Kiev, in present-day Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

.

Vares served as a military physician in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and after that as a military physician for the Estonian army during the Estonian Liberation War

Estonian Liberation War

The Estonian War of Independence , also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the White Russian Northwestern Army, Latvia, and the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Western Front offensive and the aggression of the...

 (1918–1920), he was awarded Cross of Liberty

Cross of Liberty

The Cross of Liberty was established by then Prime Minister of Estonia, Konstantin Päts, on 24 February 1919 to honor people for their services during the Estonian War of Independence and conferred in three grades, each in three classes. Grade I was for military leadership, Grade II for personal...

 for the participation, but Vares denied the offer.

Vares later worked as a doctor in Pärnu

Pärnu

Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga...

, and became a well known Estonian poet as well as radical socialist, using the pen name Johannes Barbarus.

When Soviet troops occupied

Occupation of Baltic Republics

The occupation of the Baltic states refers to the military occupation of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940 followed by their incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics, unrecognised...

 the Republic of Estonia in June 1940, Vares was installed (by Andrei Zhdanov

Andrei Zhdanov

Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov was a Soviet politician.-Life:Zhdanov enlisted with the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1915 and was promoted through the party ranks, becoming the All-Union Communist Party manager in Leningrad after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934...

) to head the puppet communist government as prime minister until August 1940, when Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. He became a Central Committee member of the restructured Estonian Communist (Bolshevik) Party

Communist Party of Estonia

Communist Party of Estonia was a political party in Estonia.EKP was formed November 5, 1920, as the Central Committee of the Estonian Sections of the Russian Communist Party was separated from its mother party. During the first half of 1920s the hopes to an immediate world revolution were still...

 on the 12 September 1940.

Following the German invasion of Estonia in 1941, Vares fled to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, where he lived in exile from 1941 to 1944, until the Soviets reconquered Estonia.

On 20 April 1944, the Electoral Committee of the Republic of Estonia (the institution specified in the Constitution for electing the Acting President of the Republic) held a clandestine meeting in Tallinn. The participants included Jüri Uluots

Jüri Uluots

Jüri Uluots was an Estonian prime minister, journalist, prominent attorney and distinguished Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu....

, the last Prime Minister of Estonia before the Soviet occupation, the substitute for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Johan Holberg, the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Otto Pukk, the Second deputy Vice-Chairman of the National Council Alfred Maurer, and State judge Mihkel Klaassen

Mihkel Klaassen

Mihkel Klaassen was a justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia since 1924.Klaassen was a member of the Electoral Committee that decided the Soviet-era appointment of Johannes Vares as Prime Minister by Konstantin Päts had been illegal and stated, that Jüri Uluots is Prime Minister acting as...

. The Committee determined that the Soviet-era appointment of Johannes Vares as Prime Minister by Konstantin Päts

Konstantin Päts

Konstantin Päts VR I/1 and III/1 was the most influential politician of interwar Estonia. He was one of the first Estonians to become active in politics and started an almost 40-year political rivalry with Jaan Tõnisson, first through journalism with his newspaper Teataja, later through politics...

 had been illegal and that Uluots had assumed the President's duties from 21 June 1940 onwards.

After returning to Estonia, Vares came under investigation by the Soviet NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

 for his activities in the Estonian War of Independence. He committed suicide in Kadriorg Palace

Kadriorg Palace

Catherinethal is a Petrine Baroque palace of Catherine I of Russia in Tallinn, Estonia. It was built after the Great Northern War to Nicola Michetti's designs by Gaetano Chiaveri and Mikhail Zemtsov. In the 20th century the Estonian version of the name, Kadriorg, gained currency and came to be...

 in Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

, in November, 1946.