Uno Laht

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Uno Laht, born on April 20, 1924 in Valga, Estonia, is an Estonian writer and poet who wrote about the characteristics of everyday Soviet life in poetry. Laht is an ex-KGB officer who participated in arrests and deportations in 1940s.

Laht's humorous satires were popular, notably in the collections Piimahambad in 1954 ("Milk Teeth") and its second version Piimahambad (plombeeritud) in 1956 ("The Milk Teeth, Filled"). The subject matter includes "shock troops" (work battalions sent to pioneer new agricultural and industrial collective projects), cultural restriction, time wasting bureaucracy and other phenomena of Soviet life. Laht has published several books, mostly satirical poetry and humor. In 1975, Laht was awarded the Tuglas Prize for his short story We Good Fellows All Over the Earth. He has declared his political views changed at the restoration of the Estonian independence. He left the USSR Union of Writers and rejected the status of a Soviet war veteran.