Kalju Reitel

Kalju Kumar Reitel (February 11, 1921 – September 10, 2004) was an Estonian sculptor.

Early life and education Kalju Reitel was born in Tapa, Estonia, the son of Rudolf Heinrich Reitel (1887–1923) and Alice Maria Reitel (née Tirman, later Rööpson; 1892–1973). He attended Gustav Adolf High School in Tallinn from 1934 to 1936 and from 1936 to 1941. However, in December of the same year, he was arrested on charges of fighting on the wrong side. After years in prison and internment in the Vorkuta gulag, he was released in 1955. the memorial to the mass grave of soldiers that fell during the capture of the Väinatamm causeway in 1944, Leinav ema (The Grieving Mother), also known as Muhu ema (The Mother of Muhu, with Eha Reitel) on the island of Muhu (1972), and Kaali mees (The Man of Kaali, with Eha Reitel) on Saaremaa (1989).

As a former fighter pilot, the theme of fallen fellow pilots remained close to his heart. Thus, the monument erected in 1997 at Utti Air Base in Finland to those that died in the Finnish Air Force, occupy an important place in his late work.

Family Kalju Reitel was married three times: to Helvi Johannson (later Mei, 1918–2005), Silvia Taalmann (later Kromanov, 1926–1990), and Eha Thoren (1922–2005). He was the father of the musician Lea Gabral and the art historian Sirje Helme, and the grandfather of the literary scholar Maarja Vaino and the politician Martin Helme.