About Johannes Vares
Johannes Vares (pen name Barbarus or Vares-Barbarus 12 January 1890 [O.S. 31 December 1889] – 29 November 1946) was an Estonian and Soviet poet, medical doctor, and politician. == Early life and education == Vares was born in a farmer family in the village of Kiisa, near Viljandi, Estonia. He received secondary education at Pärnu Gymnasium, and in 1910–1914 studied medicine at the University of Kiev. == Medical career == Vares served as a military physician in World War I, and after that as a military physician for the Estonian Army during the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920). He was awarded the Estonian Cross of Liberty for the participation. In the 1920s, Vares started working as a medical doctor in Pärnu. He subsequently became a well-known poet as well as a radical socialist, using the pen name Johannes Barbarus. == Prime minister of Estonia == During World War II, after the Stalinist Soviet Union invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940, Andrei Zhdanov, leader of the Soviet aggression, forced the Estonian president Konstantin Päts to appoint Vares as prime minister of a communist-dominated puppet government. Päts resigned in July 1940, and Vares formally took over most presidential duties. The puppet regime declared Estonia a "Soviet Socialist Republic" (SSR), and petitioned to join the Soviet Union as a constituent republic.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.