• Source: Korporatsioon Vironia

Korporatsioon Vironia (abbreviated korp! Vironia or C!V!) is an Estonian fraternal student society and the oldest student corps in Estonia. The organization is named after the Latin name for the ancient Estonian county of Virumaa. A full member of the organization is called a "vironus" (abbr. "vir!"), while every member can also be called a "Vironian" (viroonlane).




History


Vironia was officially founded at the Riga Polytechnical Institute on 9 December [O.S. 26 November] 1900 as the very first ethnic Estonian student corps. It remained the only Estonian student corps in Riga and became also the only Estonian member of the two Baltic German corps federations (Chargierten-Convent) in the Baltic governorates. Vironia was also the initiator and the co-founder of the League of Estonian Corporations (EKL) in 1915.
After a brief evacuation to Moscow during World War I in 1915 and a short return to Riga in 1918, Vironia entered the Estonian War of Independence in corpore. 6 of its members died in the war and one died of war injuries after the war. It was reactivated in Tartu, Estonia in 1920 and opened a second chapter in Tallinn in 1936.
After being banned following the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940, it opened 8 colonies abroad in 6 Western countries and there was also unofficial activity in Venezuela. Underground activity in occupied Estonia was restored in the 1960s and the chapters in Tallinn and Tartu were legally restored in 1989.
Today, Vironia has more than 550 members worldwide, being among the biggest Estonian student organizations. Active chapters are in Tallinn and Tartu in Estonia, Toronto, and the US West Coast.




Foreign relations


Vironia retains good relations with all non-Baltic German members of the former Riga Chargierten-Convent:

Arkonia (1879, Polish, currently in Warsaw)
Fraternitas Arctica (1880, Baltic Russian, separate colony in Tartu)
Selonija (1880, Latvian)
Welecja (1883, Polish, currently in Warsaw)
Talavija (1900, Latvian)
Of these, Vironia also has cartel agreements with Welecja (signed 1936) and Fraternitas Arctica (signed 2010). Vironia has also signed cartel agreements with the Karjalainen Osakunta in Helsinki (1930) and is currently an active member of the League of Estonian Corporations, having also signed a cartel agreement with Fraternitas Estica (2009). Unofficial relations since the exile period are retained with the Västmanlands-Dala Nation in Uppsala, Sweden, and since the 2010s with Neo-Lithuania in Kaunas, Lithuania.




Chapters


Tallinn, Estonia
Tartu, Estonia
Estonia Alumni Assembly
Toronto, Canada
West Coast United States, colony




Notable members






= Academia

=
Karl Ipsberg – Rector of the Special Engineering Courses, Tallinn University of Technology
Hugo Kaho – Rector of the University of Tartu
Edgar V. Saks – Historian and author, Estonian exile government's minister of education i
Jaan Unt – Philologist and translator




= Art and architecture

=
Ernst Enno – Poet and writer
Boris Kõrver – Composer and musician
Edgar Johan Kuusik – Architect
Roman Toi – Composer, conductor, and organist




= Business

=
Eduard Aule – President of the Bank of Estonia
Oskar Kerson – President of the Bank of Estonia in Exile (1968–1980)
Peter Leoke – Publisher
Harry Männil – Businessman and cultural benefactor
Märten Ross – Deputy President of the Bank of Estonia
Artur Uibopuu – President of the Bank of Estonia




= Military

=
Gustav Jonson – Major General, Chief of Cavalry regiments of the Estonian Ground Force in the War of Independence (1918-1919)




= Politics

=
Oskar Amberg – Minister of Labour and Welfare, Minister of War, Minister of Roads, and Member of Parliament
Eduard Aule – Minister of Nutrition and Member of Parliament
Karl Ipsberg – Minister of Roads, Deputy Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Member of Parliament
Hugo Kaho – Member of Parliament
Kalev Kallemets – Member of Parliament
Juhan Kalm – Member of Parliament
August Kerem – Deputy State Elder, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Roads, Minister of Defense
Tõnis Kint – Prime Minister in duties of the President, acting Prime Minister in Exile, Deputy Prime Minister in Exile, Minister of Agriculture in Exile, Acting Minister of War in Exile, and Member of Parliament
Andres Küng – Member of Parliament and MP of Sweden
Juhan Kurvits – Member of Parliament
Peeter Kurvits – Minister of Economic Affairs, II Deputy President of the Riigikogu, and Member of Parliament
Viktor Päts – Member of Parliament
Jaan Mägi – Member of Parliament
Jaan Raudsepp – Minister of Roads
Villem Reinok – Member of Parliament
Juhan Ross – Member of Parliament
Edgar V. Saks – Minister of Education in Exile
Karl Selter – Minister of Economic Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Member of Parliament
Leo Sepp – Minister of Monetary Affairs and Minister of Economic Affairs
Johan Sihver – Member of Parliament
Edgar Sulg – Member of Parliament
Anton Teetsov – Minister of Monetary Affairs
Artur Uibopuu – Member of Parliament
Georg Vestel – Deputy State Elder, Minister of Monetary Affairs, and Minister of Commerce-Industry
Nikolai Viitak – Minister of Roads and Member of Parliament




See also


List of fraternities and sororities in Estonia




References


Richard Kleis (ed.): Eesti entsüklopeedia , Vol. 4, Loodus, Tartu 1932, p. 1085.
Raimo Pullat, Tõnis Liibek: In search of one's own alma mater. Engineers and architects from Estonia who studied at technical universities in Europe before the Second World War. KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe 2022. p. 109.
Anton-Heinz Schmidt: The educational expansion in the countries and territories of the former Danube Monarchy that no longer belong to Austria. Aigen-Voglhub 1996, p. 258.
Ajalugu (history). Retrieved 24 January 2024 (Estonian).
Linda Raun: The Estonians . Human Relations Area Files, New Haven 1955. P. 151.
Tiina Metso: German Influence on Estonian and Baltic German Corps Traditions in Tartu , in: Acta Historica Tallinensia 8, Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, Tallinn 2004. pp. 20-36, here: pp. 29-31.
Michael Doeberl et al. (eds.): Academic Germany. Volume 2: The German Universities and their Academic Citizens . CA Weller, Berlin 1931. P. 201.
Tobias Mayr: Student fraternities: studies, honor, beer drinking for the Baltic States . In: Der Standard , 28 April 2016.




External links


Official website

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Korporatsioon Vironia
• Peter Leoke
• League of Estonian Corporations
• Märten Ross
• Kalev Kallemets
• List of fraternities and sororities in Estonia
• Fraternitas Estica