Arnold Konstantinovich Meri was born on July 1, 1919 in Tallinn. Since 1926 he lived with his family in Yugoslavia. Graduated from Russian primary school in the town of Skopje and a Russian-Serbian gymnasium in Belgrade. In 1938 he returned to Estonia and worked as a locksmith's apprentice. Was drafted into military service in the Estonian army. In July 1940, with the establishment of Soviet power in Estonia, Meri was elected to the committee of the Komsomol of Tallinn. Became a member of the CPSU (b). In the fall of 1940, the Estonian army was transformed into the 22nd Estonian Rifle Corps of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. Mary was sent to serve in the corps 415th separate battalion communications for the post of deputy political instructor.
Since June 1941, Mary fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War... During a clash near the town of Porkhov, Pskov region, on July 17, 1941, Mary stopped the retreat and led the defense of the corps headquarters. For this he was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union... He became the first Estonian to receive this title. After treatment at the hospital, Mary entered the Moscow Military Engineering School (MVIU). He graduated from the short course of the school in 1942. He served as deputy head of the political department of the 249th Estonian division and the 8th Estonian rifle corps.
In June 1945, Meri was demobilized from the army and sent to Tallinn, where he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Estonian Komsomol. In the spring of 1949, on instructions from the Estonian Communist Party, Meri was sent to the island county of Hiiumaa to supervise the deportation of families of Estonians suspected of collaborating with the Nazis as a party commissioner. Subsequently, Meri stated that he had never been able to get the lists of those who were being expelled from the NKVD, and as a result resigned his authority and responsibility.
Since 1949, Mary was a student of the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in Moscow. In December 1951, as a result of a denunciation, he was expelled from the party, and then stripped of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was accused of being passive during the deportation from Hiiumaa, as well as creating an anti-Soviet organization. After that, Meri worked as a carpenter, craftsman and technical manager at a furniture factory in Tallinn. Then he was forced to leave for Gorno-Altaysk.
In 1956, on appeal to the XX Congress of the CPSU, Mary was reinstated in the party, and the decision to withdraw her awards was canceled. Since 1958 he taught political economy in Gorno-Altai teacher training institute, was the dean at this institute. In 1960 he returned to Tallinn and took the post of deputy and then first deputy minister of education of the Estonian SSR. In 1979 he also became chairman of the Presidium of the Estonian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with foreign states... In 1989 he retired.
In 2004, Meri became the chairman of the Public Union against neo-fascism and ethnic hatred in Estonia. In August 2007, the Estonian prosecutor's office sent a criminal case to court, in which Meri was accused of “genocide of civilians”. According to the prosecution, he "directed and supervised the deportation to the island of Hiiumaa." Mary pleaded not guilty. According to him, he not only was not the organizer of the deportation of Estonians, but also tried to prevent abuse in their conduct. The trial began on May 20, 2008 in Kärdla, Hiiumaa.
Mary was awarded many orders and medals.
For the heroes-veterans of the Great Patriotic War in modern Estonia, the war seems to have not ended. At times, it seems that the nationalist government is already confused in the selection of unthinkable accusations against them. The authorities are especially disliked by the anti-fascist Estonians, who by their living example are destroying an artificially constructed “national idea”.
Arnold Meri, the Estonian anti-fascist No. 1 who died this year, was the first Estonian to become a Hero of the Soviet Union for his participation in the battles near the town of Porkhov in the Pskov region in 1941, who fully experienced this attitude of the authorities. Shortly before his death, the Estonian prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against him, charges of deportation and "genocide" of civilians were brought. The veteran of the Great Patriotic War did not live up to the verdict - on March 27, 2009, Arnold Meri died of lung cancer at the age of 89. The next day, March 28, 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree posthumously awarding Hero of the Soviet Union Arnold Mary with the Order of Honor. Until the last days of her life, Mary, in spite of her grave health condition, continued his struggle against the hated fascist ideology; he was the chairman of the Estonian Public Union against neo-fascism and interethnic hatred (this is the legally registered name of the Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee, established in 2004).
Hero of the Soviet Union Arnold Meri (drawing by E. Einman in 1942)
Arnold Konstantinovich Meri was born on July 1, 1919 in Tallinn in the family of an employee; his father was Estonian by nationality, his mother was a Russianized German. In 1926 the family left their homeland and moved to Yugoslavia. Father got a job as a cook, mother - as a servant. Arnold studied at a Russian primary school in Skopje (now the capital of Macedonia), and then at a Russian-Serbian gymnasium in Belgrade. In Serbia, Arnold converted to Orthodoxy, was baptized with the name Adrian. I must say that the future hero was greatly influenced by communication with the Russian emigration. In 1938 the family returned to Estonia, Arnold Meri went to work as a locksmith's apprentice at the F. Krull machine-building plant, and soon he was drafted into military service in the Estonian army - in an autotank regiment. In July 1940, when Soviet power was established in Estonia, at the organizational meeting of the reconstituted Tallinn Komsomol organization, Arnold Meri was elected to the first city committee of the Komsomol. Then, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, he headed the soldiers' bureau, created to organize Komsomol cells in army units. In the fall of 1940, the Estonian army was transformed into the 22nd Territorial Estonian Rifle Corps of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, and Arnold was sent for further service in the corps 415th separate communications battalion as deputy political instructor of a training company.
Commanders and soldiers of the 22nd Estonian Territorial Corps at the parade in Tallinn. November 7, 1940
In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps as part of the North-Western Front began its combat path, marching in the last days June to the area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Porkhov, Pskov region. Here, in the battles in the vicinity of Slavkovichi and Makhnovka, the corps suffered heavy losses, taking on the blow of the 56th motorized corps of the Wehrmacht.
On July 18, 1941, near the Porkhov station, Arnold Mary was wounded four times in a fierce battle with superior forces Nazis, but, despite the pain, did not leave the battlefield and led the defense of the corps headquarters until reinforcements arrived. This is how Arnold himself described that battle in his conversation with the editor-in-chief of the site “Actual comments” (www.actualcomment.ru) Mikhail Budaragin: “Everything seemed to be calm. A warm wind gently stirred the branches of the trees, under which the radio machines stood. Further, among the pine trees, is the headquarters of the corps. It was half a kilometer from the highway between Dno and Porkhov. And suddenly a terrible shooting began. I decided to take a look at what was going on there - nothing could be seen behind the thicket. It turned out that I crawled through the advancing chain of Germans. Horrible screams cut the soul, it looks like the Nazis dealt with the captured Red Army soldiers with bayonets. And then I heard German speech. Those who walked in chains were talking.
We moved without bending down — our sleeves were rolled up, the machine gun was pressed to the stomach. It began to dawn on me that between the radio vehicles and the corps headquarters there was not a single combat-ready unit, not a single line of trenches. First, crawling, and then running back. My cars were smashed, no people were visible. Then I ran to the headquarters. I looked - a clearing. You can organize defense on it. Gathered the Red Army, there were about thirty of them. Soon the first Germans appeared who did not consider us to be combat-ready. We opened fire, and very successfully. Ten minutes passed, and a new group of soldiers jumped out at us. It looks like they were drunk. The submachine gun fire was crazy, and no one among us was killed or even wounded. Branches felled by bullets flew from the trees, and foliage fell on our shoulders. To be honest, it was scary. All the same, automatic fire is automatic fire. And we, besides rifles, had only my revolver and the only grenade.
When the ammunition was running out, I remembered the place where I saw the boxes with ammunition. There I also found Degtyarev's machine gun. I had little combat experience, so at first I decided that we were facing a small detachment of parachutists. They gathered among the bushes. As soon as the branches began to move, I commanded: “Fire! Shoot only with volleys! “Here I was wounded. A new attack, mines are flying, and again I feel the impact of a fragment. To lead the fight, I had to crawl great. We beat off a few more attacks. The sun rolled towards sunset, and the battle continued. The Nazis went on the attack again - we could hardly defend ourselves, and then I heard a loud and friendly "hurray". Help was coming to us. The corps headquarters was protected. I can hardly remember everything that happened next. I dimly saw a girl crying and bandaging my wounds with a piece of sheets. Then the hospital at Morino station. From the operating table I was carried to the carriage, and our train set off for Staraya Russa.
There is no need to say how we got there. When we arrived at the place, our car was riddled with bullets and shrapnel so that it began to resemble a sieve. There are only four people left alive. As a boy, and I turned 22 on July 1, I was glad that I was presented for an award. Lied and calculated what medal they would give? Hoped - "For courage." One day a hospital commissioner came to my room. He asked for a long time whether many Estonians have the surname Mary, and the name is Arnold. Have I been there and there. Making sure that I am me, he stood up and solemnly congratulated me on being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. "
Too harsh or too humane?
On August 15, 1941, Mary was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; he became the first Estonian to receive this title.
After recovery, the hero studied at the Moscow Military Engineering School, served as deputy chief of the political department of the 249th Estonian Division and the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps. Guard Major A.K. Mary was included in the participants of the Victory Parade and was appointed assistant at the banner of the combined regiment of the Leningrad Front. However, in June 1945 A. Meri was urgently demobilized and sent to his homeland, where he was expected to be appointed first secretary of the Estonian Komsomol Central Committee. In the spring of 1949, events took place that caused the repressions that fell on the hero in 1951, as well as the reason for his persecution by the authorities of present-day Estonia. On the instructions of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Arnold was sent to the island of Hiiumaa in order to supervise the deportation of persons who helped the Nazis during the war years as a party commissioner. At the end of 1951, as a result of the denunciation, Arnold Mary was expelled from the party, stripped of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and other awards. Shkiryatov, who was in charge of party control, recalled the hero and his Yugoslav "White Guard past." Then Arnold was accused of too "passive" participation in the deportation. Ironically, the Estonian nationalists today accused him of exactly the opposite - of the "genocide" of the Estonian people ...
Mary was forced to change his job and get a job as a foreman at the Tallinn furniture factory, and soon, fleeing further repressions, moved to Altai.
The hero's misadventures did not last long, in 1956 Arnold Meri was reinstated in the party, all the awards were returned to him, and since 1958 he already worked as a teacher of political economy at the Gorno-Altai Pedagogical Institute. And in 1960, Meri moved to a leading position in the Ministry of Education of the Estonian SSR. In 1979 he became chairman of the Presidium of the Estonian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. A. Meri retired in 1989. No one knew then that war would soon enter his life again and, moreover, would split his family into two irreconcilable camps ... His cousin Lennart Meri became the first president of "independent" Estonia. And Arnold in 2004 headed the Public Union against neo-fascism and ethnic strife, created with his participation.
The last line of defense
In August 2007, the Estonian District Prosecutor's Office sent a criminal case to court, in which the war veteran, the first Estonian Hero of the Soviet Union, Arnold Meri, was accused of “genocide” of civilians. According to the prosecution, Meri "directed and supervised the deportation on the island of Hiiumaa." The authorities didn’t seem to want to hear A. Mary’s explanations that deportation was not part of his duties, that his task was to check the lists of former fascist accomplices to be deported and to prevent abuses by local authorities... At the same time, Arnold Meri tried to create the safest conditions for the Estonians to be deported to Siberia; he contacted Baltic Fleet and asked to send a suitable transport ship to the port, since the fishing boats on which they were going to transport the migrants could capsize into the sea. In general, they were accused of the same thing as in 1951, only the wording changed. The trial began on May 20, 2008 in the town of Kardla on the island of Hiiumaa in the hall of the town house of culture (due to the large number of participants in the trial) the authorities set themselves the goal of sentencing more than an elderly sick person to life imprisonment. Russian requests to stop criminal prosecution the hero of the last war did not take action - the hatred of the heirs of the policemen for the chairman of the Antifascist Committee was too strong.
The death of the hero has dotted the i's. The criminal case was immediately closed. The motives for his excitement became more than transparent - the modern epigones of fascism achieved what they wanted - the death of the Hero, who saw the purpose of his life in the struggle to liberate Estonians from the ideology of national enmity and hatred towards Russia.
But the neo-fascists did not achieve their main goal, the veteran pursued by them died undefeated. His fight continues. In May 2009, the Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee decided to name this organization after the Hero of the Soviet Union Arnold Meri.
Alexey Vovchenko
And her mother was a Russianized German. Since 1926, the Meri family lived in Yugoslavia, where Arnold graduated from a Russian primary school and a Russian-Serbian gymnasium. In 1938, his family returned to Estonia, a year later, Arnold was drafted into the Estonian army. After Estonia joined the USSR, he took part in the creation of Komsomol organizations in the army, was elected to the city committee of the Komsomol of Tallinn. After the transformation of the Estonian national army in the 22nd Estonian Territorial Corps of the Red Army, Meri was appointed deputy political instructor of the 415th radio battalion. From the end of June 1941 A. Meri took part in the battles on the North-Western Front. On July 17, 1941, in a battle near the city of Dno, he stopped the flight of soldiers and organized a defense. In this battle, he was wounded four times, but continued to lead actions to repel the enemy offensive. For his actions in this battle, Arnold Meri was the first of the Estonians to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on August 15, 1941. After recovering in the hospital, he studied at the Moscow Military Engineering School, later served as deputy head of the political department of the 249th Estonian division and the 8th Estonian rifle corps.
At the end of World War II, Arnold Meri was demobilized from the army and in June 1941 he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Estonia. He held this post until 1949, when he entered the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). In the same year, Meri was sent to the island of Hiiumaa as a commissioner from the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party to carry out the deportation of anti-Soviet elements, which later served as the basis for accusing him of involvement in crimes against humanity. In 1951, Mary himself fell under the roller of repression, he was expelled from the Higher Party School and deprived state awards... Returning to Estonia, he worked as a carpenter, then went to live in Gorno-Altaysk. In 1956, Arnold Meri was rehabilitated, he was returned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After completing his studies at the Higher Party School, he taught political economy at the Gorno-Altai Pedagogical Institute.
In 1960, Arnold Meri returned to Estonia again and held senior positions in the Estonian Ministry of Education. In 1979 he headed the Presidium of the Estonian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and retired in 1989. In 1992-2001, his cousin Lennart Meri was the President of Estonia. But Arnold practically did not communicate with him; the brothers had a different outlook. Until his death, Arnold Meri remained faithful to communist ideas, advocated friendly relations with Russia, and headed the Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee.
In August 2007, the Estonian prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Arnold Meri on charges of organizing and participating in the deportation of the inhabitants of Hiiumaa in March 1949. Mary himself claimed that his duties included monitoring compliance with the rule of law during deportation and suppression of abuse. This case took on a political overtones and negatively affected Russian-Estonian relations. The Russian government officially came out in support of Arnold Mary. Ultimately, the trial did not confirm Mary's criminal charges.
During the Great Patriotic War, representatives of dozens of peoples inhabiting the Soviet Union fought in the ranks of the Red Army. Representatives of all union republics fought on the fronts, which in a few decades will turn into independent states.
The descendants will turn out to be unworthy of their heroic ancestors - the politicians of many newly formed countries will begin to divide the fallen into “friends” and “aliens,” questioning the meaning of the Great Patriotic War.
The time has come when the heroes who have gone through the crucible of war and lived to this strange era, envied their fallen comrades, who did not see how their grandchildren betrayed Victory.
Arnold Konstantinovich Meri was destined to become the first Estonian to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He also got the bitter fate of becoming the last surviving Hero of the Soviet Union in independent Estonia, where those who served the Nazis were elevated to the rank of idols of the nation.
From the Estonian army to the Red Army
Arnold Mary. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Arnold Meri was born on July 1, 1919 in Tallinn. His father was an Estonian, and his mother was a Russianized German. In 1926, the family moved to Yugoslavia, where Arnold graduated from a Russian primary school and an Orthodox Russian-Serbian gymnasium.
In 1938, Mary's family returned to their homeland. A year later, Arnold was called up to serve in the army of independent Estonia.
Pro-Soviet sentiments in the Baltics were very strong at that time, therefore, the majority of the population, which took place in 1940, when Estonia joined the USSR, was greeted with joy. Those who did not like it hid for a while.
Arnold Meri was one of those who believed that joining the Soviet Union was good. The young soldier began to work in the city committee of the Komsomol in Tallinn, after which he was entrusted with creating Komsomol cells in the army.
Estonian military establishment, included in the Red Army, were transformed into the 22nd rifle corps, in which Arnold Meri took the post of deputy political instructor of the radio of the 415th separate communications battalion.
The positions of political instructors were different people, many of the fighters really had a negative attitude. But political instructor Mary's words were never at odds with deeds.
The feat of the political instructor
The 22nd Rifle Corps had to take on the powerful blows of the Wehrmacht units already at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In early July, the corps suffered heavy losses, barely avoiding encirclement.
On July 17, 1941, in the Pskov region, near the town of Porkhov, units of the 222nd Rifle Corps took upon themselves a powerful new blow from the enemy.
The Nazis rapidly developed an offensive, in the area where the 415th communications battalion was located, the Germans landed a landing. Panic began, some of the fighters fled, but political instructor Mary managed to stop the flight and organize a defense.
From the presentation for the award: “Comrade Mary during the battle, being wounded, remained in the ranks and conducted destructive fire at the enemy from a light machine gun ... Comrade Mary, by his personal example, made the Estonian Red Army men staunchly hold on and hold their position ... being wounded twice, he continued to fight with exceptional resilience ... and only after the third serious injury was he evacuated to the first-aid post. "Inaccuracy crept into this view: Arnold Mary in that battle received not three, but four wounds - in the right arm, knee, hip and chest. But the fortitude of the political instructor inspired the Red Army men, who managed to hold their positions and push the Nazis back.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 15, 1941, for a heroic feat accomplished while carrying out combat missions of the command on the front of the struggle against German fascism, Deputy Political Instructor Mary Arnold Konstantinovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Gold Star medal.
"I drew the fighters forward by personal example"
From the consequences of his injuries, Mary recovered only in October 1941 and was sent to study at the Moscow Military Engineering School. There, Meri learned that Estonian units were being formed in the Red Army again. He wrote a report with a request to enroll him in one of these units. So at the beginning of 1942, Arnold Meri became a Komsomol organizer of the Estonian infantry regiment.
In the new Estonia, evil tongues will assert that the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was given to Mary for propaganda purposes, that he spent the rest of the war at headquarters, as an example of a “correct Estonian” ... As a refutation of these words, it is enough to cite one more idea for the award: “ Captain Mary, together with a battalion commanded by a comrade Pappel, On December 13, 1942, he went to the city of Velikiye Luki to carry out a combat mission. At the entrance to the city, the battalion came under heavy machine-gun and artillery fire. The head of the battalion, together with the commander, was thrown far forward. Comrade Mary, under heavy enemy fire, repeatedly returned back and secretly led separate groups of fighters to join the battalion head unit ... By his personal example, composure and skill, he drew the fighters forward to fulfill the combat mission. " It is unlikely that this is the behavior of the "cardboard hero" sitting in a warm place at the headquarters.In addition to the "Golden Star" of the Hero and the Order of Lenin, Arnold Mary was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree during the war years.
Arnold Meri ended the war with the rank of Guards Major, Deputy Head of the Political Department of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps, which received the honorary title "Tallinn" for participation in the liberation of the capital of the Estonian SSR.
But Guards Major Mary did not have a chance to take part in the Victory Parade - he was appointed an assistant at the banner of the combined regiment of the Leningrad Front, but shortly before the parade he was demobilized. The reason was more than valid - Mary was recalled to work in the Estonian Komsomol, where he was elected to the high post of first secretary of the Central Committee.
Hero of the Soviet Union Arnold Mary. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Smulsky
Two brothers - two destinies
In 1949, Arnold Mary was sent to study at the Higher Party School, but two years later, on denunciation, he was expelled from it. Mary was stripped of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and other state awards. Arnold Konstantinovich again showed character, did not break, worked as a simple carpenter. In 1956, he was fully rehabilitated, all awards and titles were returned to him.
For many years Arnold Meri worked in the Ministry of Education of the Estonian SSR, was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the republic. In 1989, at the age of 70, he retired.And just a couple of years later, the Estonian SSR was gone, and in independent Estonia, yesterday's hero turned into an outcast, "an accomplice of the bloody regime."
Yesterday's Estonian Komsomol organizers and instructors of district party committees were forged into ardent nationalists. Arnold Meri did not renounce his beliefs and lived life, which incurred the wrath of the new Estonian political elite.
Since 1992, the post of President of Estonia has held Lennart Mary, cousin of Arnold Mary. Arnold Konstantinovich spoke briefly about Lennart: “We hardly talked. We are too different - both in character and outlook. "
Arnold Mary did not support the nationalist course of his relative, he was not going to repent and ask the president for help either.
He continued to wear the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, headed the Anti-Fascist Committee of Estonia, refused to call the Estonians who served Hitler “freedom fighters”.
“I have nothing to fear, I am not guilty of anything in front of anyone. And now I really wear the Golden Star even more often than during the Soviet Union ... And today I simply have to wear my award. This is my tribute to those who fought alongside me. I can't do it any other way! " - said Arnold Mary.Since the mid-1990s, the Estonian authorities have not stopped trying to send the first Estonian Hero of the Soviet Union to jail. He was accused of “genocide of the Estonian people”. The reason was the events of 1949, when Arnold Meri was sent to supervise the deportation of the inhabitants of Hiiumaa.
Paradoxically, this story at one time led Mary to be deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The fact is that Arnold Konstantinovich began to figure out who was actually being deported and for what. Finding that the local authorities did not want to provide such information, Meri sent a telegram to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, in which he said that he could not fulfill the task and resigned.
Two years later, someone remembered this demarche and wrote a denunciation against Mary, which cost him several years of disgrace.
And in his declining years, the Estonian authorities decided to prove that Meri was in fact the main leader of the deportation and the culprit in the deaths of the elderly and children.
Who was actually deported from Hiiumaa, innocent sheep or Nazi accomplices, is not so important. It is important that the case against Mary, taking into account all of the above, was sewn with white thread.
Arnold Meri (right) and Finnish scientist Johan Beckmann, January 19, 2008 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
A man with a clear conscience
In May 2008, the trial of Arnold Meri began in Estonia. The 88-year-old veteran by that time was already terminally ill with cancer, and it was extremely difficult for him to take part in court hearings. The court, however, questioned Mary's medical records, believing that he was trying to delay the process in this way.
If convicted, Arnold Meri faced life imprisonment. But the real hero of Estonia, who in his youth was not afraid of Hitler's thugs, withstood his the last battle with the Estonian Themis. He did not plead guilty, did not renounce his life, everything that he believed in and served.They failed to defeat him. Arnold Konstantinovich Meri died on March 27, 2009 at his home in Tallinn. The verdict against him was never passed.
On March 28, 2009, by decree of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for his great personal contribution to military-patriotic education, countering the falsification of the results of World War II, Arnold Mary was posthumously awarded the Order of Honor.
Mary Arnold Konstantinovich
01.07.1919 – 27.03.2009
The hero of the USSR
Mary Arnold Konstantinovich - the first Estonian to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Born on July 1, 1919 in Tallinn in the family of an employee. Estonian. In 1926, Mary's family left for Yugoslavia. Here Arnold converted to Orthodoxy, in 1938 he graduated from the 1st Russian-Serbian gymnasium in Belgrade.
In 1938, the family returned to Estonia.
In 1939, he was drafted into military service in the Estonian army. In the fall of 1940, the Estonian army was transformed into the 22nd Territorial Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army, and Arnold Meri was sent for further service in the corps 415th separate communications battalion as deputy political instructor of a training company. On July 17, 1941, in the Pskov region, the command of the Estonian Corps tried to organize an offensive north and south of Porkhov, but unsuccessfully, German troops broke through the front. At this moment, A.K.Mery, the only one who did not succumb to panic, he alone stood in front of the crowd fleeing from the trenches. And he made her stop, organize a defense, push the enemy back. He was wounded in the right arm by a mine fragment, but did not leave a combat post. Then A.K. Mary was wounded a second time by a mine fragment in her thigh and knee. Bleeding, he did not leave the battlefield. The battalion has successfully coped with the combat mission. The Nazis' plan to reach the Porkhov-Dno highway and destroy the headquarters of the 22nd Rifle Corps was thwarted.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 15, 1941, for the heroic feat shown during the execution of combat missions of the command on the front of the struggle against German fascism, Deputy Political Instructor Mary Arnold Konstantinovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 513 ).
From October 1941 he studied at the Moscow Military Engineering School in Bolshev. At the beginning of 1942, he was appointed to the post of Komsomol of a rifle regiment, from the fall of 1942 - assistant to the head of the political department of the 249th Estonian rifle divisionand later - the 8th Estonian Tallinn Rifle Corps, in which he served until the end of the war. Participant in Velikie Luki, Nevelsk, Narva, Baltic strategic (Tallinn and Moonsund front) operations. He liberated his native Tallinn from the Nazis.
In June 1945, he was demobilized and recalled to Tallinn, where he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Estonian SSR. He headed the republican youth organization until the fall of 1949.
In 1951, on denunciation, he was expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of awards.
In 1956, at the appeal of the XX Congress of the CPSU, Arnold Konstantinovich Meri was reinstated in the ranks of the CPSU, in the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union and the right to awards.
In 1967, A. K. Meri, at the invitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, returned to Tallinn and assumed the post of deputy and then first deputy minister of education of the Estonian SSR. In 1979 he became the chairman of the Presidium of the Estonian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
Since 2007 - Chairman of the Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee.
Since 1995, he has been persecuted by the authorities of the Republic of Estonia on charges of “genocide of the Estonian people in 1949”. A. K. Meri himself never admitted his guilt; he actively spoke out in his defense and against attempts to revise fascism in Estonia. Died on March 27, 2009. Buried in Tallinn.
Retired Colonel. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Badge of Honor, russian order Honor, medals.
Awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the city of Porkhov" (Pskov region).
