Peeter Raudsepp says people believe too much today

Tallinn Mayor Peeter Raudsepp says his generation benefited from learning to analyse information and question it when necessary. In an interview on ERR’s Vikerraadio programme “Käbi ei kuku…”, he said people today tend to accept too much as fact.

Raudsepp described himself as an independent-minded child who preferred to observe and think things through rather than go along with everything. He said he had never been in a fight and had resolved difficult situations with words.

His father, Vambola Raudsepp, was born in 1941 and grew up in Urvaste parish in Võrumaa, where Sõmerpalu municipality is now located. The youngest of five children, he said his mother played a major role in his upbringing and strongly encouraged him to continue his education after primary school.

Vambola started school in autumn 1949, a difficult period shortly after a major deportation. He recalled that some classmates had been left without parents, while many others were being raised by single mothers. Speaking Võru was strictly forbidden at school and could be punished, he said.

After secondary school, Vambola moved to Tallinn to study economics. He said his interest grew in his final school years, as he wondered why farms were so poor and why the Soviet Union was poor despite its vast natural resources.

During secondary school, he met his future wife at a travelling cinema in Sulbi, a settlement where screenings were followed by dancing. They married in 1963. Their first son, Peeter, was born in 1970, followed by Priit seven years later.

Peeter said he spent much of his childhood as the only child in the family, and the seven-year age gap meant he and Priit had different friends and interests when they were young. Their age difference matters less to them now, he said.

His mother stayed at home, so Peeter did not attend kindergarten. He said this did not limit his social life because there were many other children around when the family lived in Tartu, but he believes it helped make him independent. His school marks varied widely, he said, reflecting his interest in subjects more than his ability. When he applied himself, he could earn top marks.

Vambola said his son’s career as a business leader and later as Tallinn’s mayor was in some ways a logical progression: Peeter’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all managed farms.