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The President of the Republic honoured Donald Koppel
02.07.2004


President Arnold Rüütel at Kadriorg presented photographer and freedom fighter Donald Koppel with the 4th Class Order of the Cross of the EaglePresident Arnold Rüütel today at Kadriorg presented photographer and freedom fighter Donald Koppel with the 4th Class Order of the Cross of the Eagle.

Donald Koppel, born in 1919 and at present living in the United States of America, in Miami, is a member of several Estonian expatriate organisations and, for his assistance to Estonian disabled veterans, has been elected Honorary Member of the Association of Estonian Disabled Veterans.

Donald Koppel took part in the Second World War as a war photojournalist, whereas his hundreds of war photographs represent an ideologically neutral position, free from great-power military propaganda. His photographs show among other things the historical Town of Narva before and after the Soviet bomb attacks of March 1944, the Estonians' war-weary neutrality towards to the war, and daily life of people drawn into the turmoil of war.

One of Koppel's best-known photograph series illustrates his risky escape route from Sweden to Florida in the summer of 1946 - 18 people in a small fishing boat sailed across the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay and, thereafter, across the North Atlantic, which took altogether 83 days.

After the war, Koppel worked as a photographer and zincographer in Florida.

At a reception following the award ceremony, President Rüütel and Donald Koppel discussed the present and future of Estonian expatriate organisations. The distinguished honoree also recollected from his youth at Aegviidu and wartime events.

The President of the Republic resolved to confer on Donald Koppel the 4th Class Order of the Cross of the Eagle on 5 February 2004, on the occasion of the Independence Day and in recognition of his services the Estonian state.


Public Relations Unit of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, July 2, 2004


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