"Margus Reinsalu's Diary": Chapter. 1918 - My Father's Life Before My Mother

Photo: My Father

My father, Ottmar Reinsalu, was born in March 1918 in Taali, Tori parish, Pärnu County, at a time when Estonia declared its independence and German troops occupied the country at the same time. He was born in the midst of historical events, but his own life turned out to be peaceful at least initially, as the son of a prosperous farm.

Father came from a fairly large family. His father Johannes was a worker and craftsman who, despite becoming blind in early childhood, managed to build a home and family. My grandmother Marta was the heart and soul of the farm, who bore the entire household. Father grew up with his brothers Evald and Ervin and sister Helta.

The family lived in Taali, Pärnu County, on a prosperous farm, of which my father was the young master as the eldest son. Fate later handed the farm over to father's brother when times changed and the war disrupted everyone's lives.

In 1936, the family name Reinhold was Estonianized to Reinsalu, where grandfather had a total of 12 siblings, half of whom took Reinsalu and half Talumaa as their family name, quite a confusion.

As a young man, father married Liisa, a 17-year-old girl whom he courted. Liisa's sister Linda also moved in with them to help with the farming. Soon their first and only child, daughter Reet, was born.

Reet was a gentle and cheerful girl. When she played, she often sang:

"I pick flowers, flowers... I go far, far..."

But one day changed everything. It was an ordinary summer day. Linda went to drive the cows from the pasture, Liisa was working at the store in Are, grandmother Marta was busy in the farmyard. When Linda returned, she had a bad premonition. She called across the yard: "Reedu, where are you?"

No one answered.

Then grandmother noticed the dug water intake in front of the sauna. They ran there... and Reet was there.

Grandmother tried to revive her. Her body was warm... but life was already gone.

Father never talked about it. It was a story he carried with him, but which he could not speak about.

                                                            Video: My Father wit Motocycle

That moment completely changed his life.

After Reet's death, everything changed. Father could no longer keep the farm. He handed the home farm over to his brother Evald, who remained there as the master. He left there.

In the last years of the Republic of Estonia before World War II, he went into military service in the Estonian army.

When the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940, he was also swallowed into the Red Army.

The war did not last long for him. Near Narva, he was sent into battle and was wounded on the first day.

He was taken to a field hospital and from there already discharged from the military. With that, his war was over.

After the war, father sought a new life.

He went to Kohtla-Järve to look for work, where during the Soviet era a large shale mining and industrial complex was built. He trained as a welder and worked first as a welder, later as a locksmith at the Kohtla-Järve Chemical Plant. There he met my mother.

The two of them had a lot in common; both had lost something important and had to find something new.

When we later made a family tree on Geni.com, a surprising connection came out.

Father's first wife Liisa and aunt Helta, father's sister's first husband Martin Laidvee were sister and brother. So, when father was married to Liisa, his sister Helta was married to Martin, but Martin died a year or two after their marriage.

On to the next chapters.