Tõnis Rotberg



Tõnis Rotberg (9 September 1882 – 24 July 1953) was an Estonian General.

He was born in Viljandi and went to a military school in Vilnius to become an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, as Estonia at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He became a lieutenant in 1909. During the Estonian War of Independence he became a lieutenant colonel in the Estonian Army and was the Head of Army Supplies between 1918 and 1938. Between 1938 and 1940 he was Deputy Minister of Defence and he was promoted to the rank of Major-General already in 1928. During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, he was given the post of Minister of War in the puppet government of Johannes Vares. After Estonia was officially annexed by the USSR Rotberg was transferred to the Red Army, later taken prisoner but released and in 1944 arrested by the Soviet authorities. In 1951 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and he died on 24 July 1953 in prison in Tayshet.

He was awarded the Cross of Liberty for Military Leadership (Second class) in 1921 and the Order of Polonia Restituta (Fourth class) in 1925.