Karl Säre

Karl Säre
Portrait of Säre, 1941
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Estonia
In office
12 September 1940  September 1941
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byNikolai Karotamm
Personal details
Born(1903-07-02)2 July 1903
Derpt, Livonia, Russian Empire
Died14 March 1945(1945-03-14) (aged 41)
Neuengamme concentration camp, Germany
CitizenshipSoviet
NationalityEstonian
Political partyAll-Union Communist Party (b) (1927-1941)
Alma materCommunist University of the National Minorities of the West
International Lenin School

Karl Säre (July 2, 1903 – March 14, 1945) was a Soviet and Estonian communist politician. He was the first first secretary of the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party. During World War II, he was arrested by Nazi Germany and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he died in 1945. The Soviet government avoided the mention of Säre's name in any public sources, as he was suspected of treason by disclosing to Nazi Germany information about the Stalinist officials and pro-Soviet agents who had remained in German-occupied Estonia during the war.