Brief histories of the first clubs of each geographic region

Rotary Club of Tallinn, the First Club of Estonia

Rotary International District 1420

Part of our section on the History of Rotary in Europe

ROTARY IN ESTONIA

Also see:

• Post War Revival in Estonia

• Estonia in 1940 and 1941
  
  The earliest club in ESTONIA was Tallinn and this was the first of a handful of clubs in the three Balkan states. Its inaugural meeting was held on August 2, 1930, and it was followed by two other clubs, Tartu, organised first in April 1932, had its inaugural meeting on January 19, 1934, and Nomme on January 21, 1938. The sponsoring club was the Rotary Club of Helsinki- Helsingfors, Finland. The first meetings to start the club had taken place already in December 12 1927, with General Johan Laidoner presiding.
  It took time to get everything in order so that the official acceptance came much later. The first official president was General John Laidoner, Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces and meetings were held at Restorani Kuldane Lovi (Restaurant Gold Lion) in Tallinn. The most prominent members of the first Rotary Club of Estonia included: Konsatntint Paets, President of The Republic of Estonia, Johan Kukk, a cabinet minister and former speaker of the Estonian Parliament, Juri Jaakson, a cabinet minister and former speaker of the Estonian Parliament, Metropolitan Aleksander Paulus, the leader of the Orthodox Church in Estonia, Joakim Puhk, Owner and CEO of the largest trading house in Estonia, J.Puhk and Son, Claus Scheel, CEO of the largest private bank in Estonia, G. Scheel & Co, and Heirich Gutkin, CEO of The Jewish Bank in Estonia and leader of the Jewish cultural community in Estonia.

Paul Harris and members of the Rotary Club of Tallinn planted a "Friendship Tree" in 1932.

In 1932 the Rotary Club of Tartu was chartered with Tallin being the sponsoring Club, and four years later In 1938 a third club, the Rotary Club of Nomme, a suburb of Tallinn, was chartered, Tallinn RC again being the sponsor.

As happened elsewhere in the Russian controlled Balkan states, Rotary clubs were forced to close in 1940 and their membership was terminated on October 10 of that year. In the files of RI Archives, there is some correspondence dated 1944 which relates to the fate of some of the members of the Nomme Club. It was sent by a former club member from a refugee camp in Sweden.

In 1991, Rotary returned to Estonia, with the resurrection of the Tallinn Club, followed soon afterwards by Tartu. Nomme took a little longer but is now back in the Rotary fold. The clubs in Estonia are now in District 1420 with Finland. Present day members include: Mr. Andres Ansip, PM (Previously Major of the City of Tartu), Dr. Toomas Savi, former speaker of Parliament, Euro Parliamentarian, Professor Dr. Peter Tulviste, Euro Parliamentarian. The President of Estonia Mr. Arnold Rüütel is a Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Saaremaa, his home island in the western part of Estonia.

This account of Rotary in Estonia has been compiled from RI Records and with information from Rotary Global History Historian PDG Kari Tallberg of D1420.