Artur Alliksaar

Artur Alliksaar (15 April 1923 – 12 August 1966) was an Estonian poet.

Biography

Alliksaar (formerly Alnek) attended elementary school in Tartu in 1931. In 1937, he enrolled in the prestigious secondary school: the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium. Afterwards, he worked for the railway, like his father, for a short period of time in 1942. That same year, he started to study law at the University of Tartu.

In 1943–1944, he served as a conscript in the Estonian Legion of Waffen-SS. In 1944, he saw combat on the Eastern Front against the Red Army. After the Soviet occupation, he joined the underground as a Forest Brother.

Eventually, he returned to Tartu and again worked for the railway.

In 1949, the Soviet authorities arrested him for abusing his position. The charges were dubious. Alliksaar believes they were politically motivated. In 1954, he was also charged with betraying the homeland. Upon his release, in 1957, Alliksaar was not allowed to return to Estonia and lived in the Vologda oblast. In 1958, he secretly returned to Tartu and worked in a brewery, in construction and for the railway. He also dedicated himself to creative writing.