Aleksander Jaakson

Aleksander Jaakson (29 January 1892 – 2 October 1942) was an Estonian general and educator. After beginnings as a teacher in Türi, he served with the Imperial Russian Army in World War I, and was advanced to Staff Captain. During the disintegration of the Russian Republic in 1917, he returned home to establish a branch of the Estonian Defence League. He was a decorated participant in the Estonian War of Independence and later continued serving in the Estonian Defence Forces in various positions, including military education.

Jaakson was the Estonian Minister of Education from 1936 to 1939, contributing to the establishment of various institutions—including Tallinn Technical University and the Estonian Academy of Sciences. His final contributions were as the last Chief of Staff of the Estonian Army, in which capacity he served from 1939 to 1940, reaching the rank of major general. With the onset of Soviet occupation, he was arrested by NKVD in 1940 and killed at Kirov two years later.

Biography Aleksander Jaakson was born on 29 January 1892 in a family of a manor worker in Holdre Parish (now Tõrva Parish), Kreis Fellin, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. He studied in Holdre village school, in Helme parish school, and in . From 1913 to 1915 Jaakson worked as a teacher in Türi parish school and Nõmmküla ministry school.

During World War I, Jaakson was mobilized, entering service in February 1915. He studied in the 4th Petrograd Praporshchik school, receiving the corresponding rank in the Imperial Russian Army, and was then called up to fight on the Eastern Front against the German Empire. In March 1916 he was wounded in combat. Jaakson received multiple promotions, reaching the rank of Staff Captain in January 1917, and was awarded the Order of Saint Anna and Order of Saint Stanislaus. In 1936 Jaakson graduated cum laude from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu. In June 1941 he was transferred to Kirov Oblast, where he was killed in a prison camp at Kirov city (Vyatka) on 2 October 1942. Jaakson participated in public life belonging to several organisations, including being an honorary member of Estonian Naturalists' Society.