Julius Kuperjanov

Julius Kuperjanov VR I/2, VR II/2 and VR II/3 ( – 2 February 1919) was an Estonian military officer who helped to liberate Tartu during the War of Independence, and was the commander of the Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, posthumously renamed the Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion.

Life

Early life Kuperjanov was born on 11 October 1894 to Taniel and Liisi Kuperjanov (née Reben); a family of Estonian immigrants living in Pskov, Russia. Because his parents emigrated to Russia for work, they acquired a russified form of their family name (original Kupper). After returning to Estonia, they preserved this name.

In 1904, his family returned to Estonia and resided in Tartu county. After five years of studies at the 2-class ministry school in Sipel Vana-Kuuste in Kambja municipality, Kuperjanov entered the in 1910. After finishing school in 1914, he asked to be appointed as a teacher at the village school in Kambja, due to the school set to be closed due to the lack of teachers who were mobilized for the First World War.

Military service At the start of World War I, he was mobilized into the Imperial Russian Army and commissioned after receiving basic training at Vladamir Military School in Saint Petersburg.

Contemporary view

The discharge of Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov took place in the Vanemuine Concert Hall, where representatives of many societies in Southern Estonia had gathered. General Martin Wetzer, the leader of the Western Front, and the delegates of Tartu and Valga spoke with remarks. Commander-in-Chief Johan Laidoner expressed his condolences to the Tartu Partisan Battalion in the event of the fall of the commander and initiated the renaming of the unit to the Kuperjanov Battalion. It was disbanded in 1940 after the Soviet occupation and re-established after Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union.

Julius Kuperjanov was posthumously awarded the Cross of Liberty (VR I/2, VR II/2 and II/3). His tomb at the Raadi cemetery, Tartu, was one of the few War of Independence monuments to survive the Soviet occupation. The monument was restored in 2008. During the Soviet occupation of Estonia from 1940 to 1991, Kuperjanov's tomb acquired great symbolic significance. Dissidents and patriotically minded students would periodically gather there on various anniversaries to light candles and place flowers in his memory. During the occupation period, the KGB kept watch on the tomb, and arrested anyone who came to honor the memory of the national hero.

In 2009, a commemorative stamp was issued to mark the 90th anniversary of Kuperjanov's death by Eesti Post.

Certain Streets in Tartu, Valga and Põltsamaa were named in memoriam of Julius Kuperjanov.

The Julius Kuperjanov Society The Kuperjanov Partisan Porgu Society was also established on December 23, 1938, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel J. Soodla. In 2010, the Society established a commemorative medal for Lieutenant Kuperjanov, which are awarded to those citizens whose activities for the well-being of the indigenous people of Estonia have been transparently honest, purposeful and self-sacrificing.

To date, a total of 6 persons have been awarded the Medal of Lieutenant Kuperjanov:

Julius Kuperjanov, posthumously Johannes Soodla, posthumously (hero of the Battle of Paju and founder of the Kuperjanov Society) Ülo Adamson (leader of the Kuperjanov organization during the Soviet Occupation, deported) Jüri Pertmann (leader of the Kuperjanov organization during the Soviet Occupation, deported) Villu Kibena (leader of the Kuperjanov organization during Soviet Occupation, deported) Artur Sirk, posthumously (Infamous soldier of the War of Independence, died due to suspicious circumstances).

Tartumaa Partisan Battalion

The Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, which was led by him and renamed for his memorium, was restored in 1992 after the Estonian Restoration of Independence, and is still a division of the Estonian Defense Forces in Võru to this day.