Baron Peter Eugen Arthur von Buxhoeveden was born 140 years ago on 28 March 1882 in Saaremaa at Muratsi (Murratz in German) Manor. After studying at Kuressaare Gymnasium he went to Tver for his military education at the school for cavalry Junkers from 1904 to 1908, from which he graduated as a cornet. He thereafter served in the tsarist army and participated in World War I from August of 1914 to December of 1917, fighting in East Prussia and Galicia against Germany and Austria-Hungary. He stood out in terms of bravery and suffered a concussion on two occasions. He rose to the rank of Rittmeister (cavalry master) and earned the Order of St. Anna, the Order of St. Stanislav 2nd Class, the Order of St. Vladimir 4th Class with swords and a bow, and the Cross of St. George 4th Class. After returning to his Estonian homeland, he was one of the first officers to voluntarily join the Saarte Kaitseliit (Defence League of the Islands) when the Estonian War of Independence broke out in November of 1918. He urged other officers to do the same. He did not want to join the Baltic Battalion, which was formed of Baltic Germans, preferring instead to serve in Estonian military units. Hence, he initially served in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. He thereafter served as commander of the Reserve Squadron and Reserve Division of Cavalry Regiments. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in January of 1920.

After the War of Independence, Arthur Buxhoeveden served as head of the school for cavalry non-commissioned officers and commander of the training squadron. He was also a lecturer at the military courses given by the Estonian General Staff, and later at the Higher Military School. He was appointed inspector of the cavalry in 1921 and was additionally appointed senior adjutant to the Minister of War in 1923. The following was written in his attestation: ‘Demanding, consistent, fair, and uniform in maintaining discipline; is able to precisely assess the value and work of the officers and soldiers under his command; is very disciplined himself. Amiable, friendly, and well-disposed in his treatment of soldiers, his relations with them is very good. Limitless honesty. Honest, thrifty, and demands order in handling of state property.’ Arthur Buxhoeveden was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1924. He had been awarded the Estonian Cross of Liberty 1st Grade 2nd Class in 1920. He was given back the core of Muratsi Manor and 64 ha of farmland, which had been expropriated from his father, as award land for his services in the War of Independence. He was also awarded the Commander’s Cross of the White Rose of Finland 2nd Class in 1922, the Latvian Order of the Bearslayer (Order of Lāčplēsis) 3rd Class in 1924, and the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta Officer’s Cross in 1926. He was elected honorary member of the Kaitseliit’s squadron of Tallinn’s Malev in 1928.

Colonel Arthur Buxhoeveden retired for health reasons in 1928 after suffering a motorcycle accident. The Baltic German Baron von Buxhoeveden, or ‘Old Puks’ as his comrades called him, was one of the most popular officers of Estonia’s defence forces. The generals Nikolai Reek, Andrus Larka, Ernst Põdder, and many other comrades in arms attended his send-off party at the Officers’ Casino. Cavalry non-commissioned officers carried their former commanding officer on their shoulders from Raekoja plats (Town Hall Square) to Baltic Railway Station, from where he travelled to Saaremaa and set about working in agriculture and horse breeding with great enthusiasm at Muratsi Manor. Managing a manorial estate was far from being an easy task for a military man. Difficult weather conditions, crop failures, and the economic situation required that he also take out loans in order to make ends meet. Artur Buxhoevden was a passionate nature lover, hunter, and fisherman. The Baron had a very good relationship with the local people. He spoke Estonian all his life in pure Saaremaa dialect.

Retired Colonel Buxhoeveden was chairman of the Saaremaa Kaitseliit rifle platoon and of the Saaremaa Chapter of the Vabadussõjalaste Liit (Association of War of Independence Veterans). He was elected head of the War of Independence Veterans as a respected patriot and the patriarch of Saaremaa’s military men. A state of national emergency was declared in Estonia on 12 March 1934 and the leading figures of the War of Independence Veteran’s movement were arrested throughout the country. Nine leading figures in the War of Independence Veterans Saaremaa Chapter were also arrested but retired Colonel Buxhoeveden was not among them. While the War of Independence Veterans were accused of having ties to Germany, of favouring Hitler, and of conspiring with the barons, then it did not even occur to anyone to start making such accusations against Buxhoeveden.

While most Baltic Germans left Estonia in 1939 arising from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, then Arthur Buxhoeveden did not leave until the winter of 1941 in the course of the Nachumsiedlung (post-resettlement) when Estonia was already occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, and he was under threat of being arrested by the Soviet authorities. He was re-settled like many other Baltic Germans as a colonist in Warthegau in formerly Polish territory, where he continued to work in agriculture until he had to flee to Western Germany ahead of the advancing Red Army. When Soviet military bases were established in Estonia, the main building of Muratsi Manor had already been placed at the disposal of the Red Army in November of 1939 and it remained in the hands of the army after the war as well until the 1960s. By that time, the manor had been completely devastated and was in a state of utter disrepair, and a fire had broken out in the manor on top of everything. By now, the main building and auxiliary buildings of Muratsi Manor are in ruins. The walls of only one end of the manor’s mansion have survived at more or less their full height. The manor’s park is wild and overgrown. Baron Arthur von Buxhoeveden was active in post-war Germany in assisting and organising Estonian war refugees and soldiers. He participated in the activity of both Baltic German and Estonian exile organisations, serving as a connecting link between them. He yearned for his Estonian homeland and believed that it would be liberated. He hoped to finally return to Muratsi in Saaremaa. Baron Arthur von Buxhoeveden died on 27 October 1964 in Karlsruhe. It was written in the Estonian expatriate publication entitled Võitleja [Combatant]: ‘There is no need to coerce the pen in writing the obituary for Colonel Buxhoevden because “our Puks”, respected and beloved by soldiers, officers, and friends alike, was the most brilliant embodiment of a man of honour, a comrade, and a patriot. The 700-year-old Buxhoevden family in Estonia originated from the lineage of the bishop of the same name, receiving Estonian, Livonian, Swedish, Danish, Polish, and Scottish blood into their veins through marriages over the course of generations. It is no wonder then that the young cornet (lieutenant) had “estonets” (Estonian) marked as his nationality in his tsarist era service record. Arthur Buxhoevden (from the more distant historical name “Buxhoeveden”) was like someone from Saaremaa and like a peasant in his nature, way of thinking, and actions (just like his fluency in the Estonian language), and that is meant in the most beautiful and noble sense of the word “peasant”. Buxhoevden was a grand seigneur in terms of his social customs and behaviour, but inside he was a guileless peasant. He deeply honoured his forefathers and family traditions, yet at the same time, he felt an equally deep sense of belonging to Estonia and Estonians.’

The rental period of the burial plot of Baron Arthur von Buxhoeveden and his wife Kira (born von Scheidemann on 12 December 1892), who died five years later, at Karlsruhe’s main cemetery ended in 2009. Since no family members were present to extend the rental agreement, the tombstone was removed from the burial plot according to the instructions of the cemetery’s administration and the plot was prepared for receiving a new burial. As fate would have it, the Estonian Cultural Heritage Protection Society organised an expedition to cemeteries in Southern Germany in October of 2011 for the purpose of mapping out the graves of compatriots. We did not find Colonel Buxhoeveden’s grave and turned to the cemetery administration for assistance in finding it. There it turned out that his burial plot was in line for a new burial. The administration was nevertheless prepared to delay the new burial when we had told them about Colonel Buxhoeveden’s important role in our history and offered possible reburial in Estonia. Both the Estonian Ministry of Defence and the Buxhoeveden family supported the reburial proposal. The earthly remains of Colonel Arthur von Buxhoeveden and his wife Kira arrived back on Estonian soil on 28 November 2013 – very meaningfully on precisely the 95th anniversary of the start of the Estonian War of Independence. The reburial ceremony with military honours was held at Tallinn’s Defence Forces Cemetery on 12 September 2014 as jointly organised by the Estonian Cultural Heritage Protection Society, the Estonian Ministry of Defence, the Estonian War Museum, and the German Embassy. That brought to a close a horseman’s long road back to his homeland, which he had so fervently loved.