Raadi cemetery
Encyclopedia
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
, in 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...
, dating from the 18th century. Many prominent historical figures from the history of Estonia are buried here. It is also the largest burial ground of the Baltic Germans in Estonia after the destruction of Kopli cemetery
Kopli cemetery
Kopli cemetery was Estonia's largest Lutheran Baltic German cemetery, located in the suburb of Kopli in Tallinn. It contained thousands of graves of prominent citizens of Tallinn and stood for over 170 years from 1774 to shortly after World War II when it was completely flattened and destroyed by...
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...
. Until 1841, it was the only cemetery in Tartu.
The cemetery currently includes several smaller graveyard sections, the oldest of which date back to 1773.
Origins 1771-1773
Between 1771 and 1772, Catherine the Great, empress of the Russian empireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, issued an edict
Edict
An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism. The Pope and various micronational leaders are currently the only persons who still issue edicts.-Notable edicts:...
which decree
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
d that from that point on no-one who died (regardless of their social standing or class origins) was to be buried in a church crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
or churchyard
Churchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
; all burials were to take place in the new cemeteries to be built throughout the entire Russian empire, which were to be located outside town boundaries.
These measures were intended to overcome the congestion of urban church crypts and graveyards, and were prompted by a number of outbreaks of highly contagious diseases linked to inadequate burial practices in urban areas, especially the black plague which had led to the Plague Riot
Plague Riot
Plague Riot was a riot in Moscow in 1771 between September 15 and September 17, caused by an outbreak of bubonic plague.-History:...
in Moscow in 1771.
It was officially opened on 5 November 1773 as "Vana-Jaani"(Old Jaani), ( as part of the property of the Baltic German congregation of St John's church in Tartu.
Different congregations and ethnic groups
Until 1841, the cemetery served as the common burial ground for all congregations and ethnic groups in the city. The cemetery was divided into different sections for each one.A small area nanmed Maarja, north-west of Vana-Jaani, was also established in 1773 as a burial ground for the ethnic Estonian congregation of St John's church in Tartu.
North-west of Maarja, lies the Uspenski section, which was also established in 1773 as an (most Russian) Orthodox burial ground.
The old Tartu university section is in the north-eastern corner of Raadi.
Decline in burials 1939-1944
Burials at the cemetery were drastically reduced after Hitler's forced transfer, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop PactMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, of tens of thousands of Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia in late 1939 over to areas in western Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Burials at the cemetery continued on a much smaller scale until 1944, principally among those Baltic Germans who had refused Hitler's call to leave the region.
Present state
By the beginning of the 21st century, the expansion of the city of Tartu had passed well beyond the borders of the Raadi cemetery and a new burial ground has been established on the east side of town.Notable interments
- Betti AlverBetti AlverBetti Alver was the pseudonym of Elisabet Lepik-Talvik, one of Estonia's most notable poets. She was among the first generation to be educated in schools of an independent Estonia. She went to grammar school in Tartu.- Writing :She began as a prose writer...
(1906–1989), poet - Karl Ernst von BaerKarl Ernst von BaerKarl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn also known in Russia as Karl Maksimovich Baer was an Estonian naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a...
(1792–1876), biologist - Karl Ernst Claus (1796–1864), chemist and naturalist
- Miina HärmaMiina HärmaMiina Härma was a widely-recognised Estonian composer. She was the second Estonian second musician with higher education....
(1864–1941), composer - Gregor von HelmersenGregor von HelmersenGregor von Helmersen , was a Baltic German geologist, born at Kammeri manor , near Tartu , Estonia).He received an engineering training and became major-general in the corps of Mining Engineers...
(1803–1885), geologist - Johann Wilhelm Krause (1757–1828), architect
- Friedrich Reinhold KreutzwaldFriedrich Reinhold KreutzwaldFriedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald was an Estonian writer, who is considered to be the father of the national literature for the country.-Life:Friedrich's parents were serfs at the Jõepere estate, Virumaa. His father worked as a granary keeper and his mother was a chambermaid...
(1803–1882), writer and physician - Olevi KullOlevi KullOlevi Kull was an Estonian professor at the University of Tartu known for his contribution to ecology...
(1955–2007), ecologist - Julius KuperjanovJulius KuperjanovJulius Kuperjanov VR II/2 and II/3 was an Estonian military commander during the Estonian War of Independence and commanding officer of the Kuperjanov Partisan Battalion.-Life:Kuperjanov was a schoolteacher in the village of Kambja...
(1894–1919), military commander - Yuri LotmanYuri LotmanYuri Mikhailovich Lotman – a prominent Soviet literary scholar, semiotician, and cultural historian. Member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences...
(1922–1993), semiotician, and culturologist - Zara MintsZara MintsZara Grigoryevna Mints was a Slavic literary scientist active in the University of Tartu. She was the wife of Juri Lotman.Zara Mints was born in Pskov, but the family soon moved to Leningrad...
(1927–1990), literary scientist - Ludvig PuuseppLudvig PuuseppLudvig Puusepp , was an Estonian surgeon and researcher and the world's first professor of neurosurgery.-Early life:...
(1875–1942), surgeon - August Sabbe (1909–1978), Forest Brother
- Gustav TeichmüllerGustav TeichmüllerGustav Teichmüller was a German philosopher.-Biography:Teichmüller was born in Braunschweig. He taught as a professor at the Basel University and the Imperial University of Dorpat...
(1832–1888), philosopher - Hugo TreffnerHugo TreffnerHugo Hermann Fürchtegott Treffner was the founder and first director of the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu, Livonia, Russian Empire, and an important figure in the Estonian national awakening.- Biography :...
(1845–1912), pedagouge - Michael Wittlich (1866–1933), chemist
See also
- List of cemeteries in Estonia
- Great Cemetery (Riga)Great Cemetery (Riga)The Great Cemetery was formerly the principal cemetery of Riga in Latvia, established in 1773. It was the main burial ground of the Baltic Germans in Latvia....
- Nazi-Soviet population transfersNazi-Soviet population transfersThe Nazi–Soviet population transfers were a series of population transfers between 1939 and 1941 of tens of thousands of ethnic Germans and ethnic Russians in an agreement according to the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.-...
- Baltic Germans