President Lennart Meri will visit Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday, September 4. On Saturday evening, the President will have a meeting with the German Bundestag Member Wolfgang von Stetten, who is a member of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against Humanity.

On September 5, President Meri will receive a citation of honour of the German Union of the Deportees (Bund der Vertriebenen). On the ceremony of the presentation of the citation of honour, Lennart Meri will hold a speech. The Union of the Deportees is an organisation with cultural and socio-political objectives, which unites the Germans deported from their homes after the World War II in connection with the changed borders, and their descendants. All in all, more than 12 million Germans were deported from the areas that became parts of Poland, the Soviet Union and other countries; 2 million of those perished. The foundation document of the Union of the Deportees is ''The Charter of the Germans Deported from Their Homeland'', approved on August 5, 1950. Today, the Union comprises 21 communities of compatriots, which altogether have about 2 million members. Erika Steinbach, a member of the German Bundestag, is the President of the Union. The Baltic German community of compatriots (Deutsch-Baltische Landsmannschaft) will host a dinner in honour of the President.

On Monday, September 6, 1999, The American Chamber of Commerce in Germany will offer lunch to President Meri. President Meri will give a presentation ''The Development of the Baltic Sea Space''. The American Chamber of Commerce in Germany unites the leading figures of the economic, industry and service spheres of Baden-Württemberg, who have requested many influential economists and politicians to speak on their luncheons. In 1986, the Foreign Minister of Germany at the time Klaus Kinkel made a presentation; in 1997, a presentation was made by Volker Rühe, the German Minister of Defence.

President Meri will be back in Estonia on in the evening of September 6.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, September 2, 1999

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