Johannes Hint

Johannes Rudolph Hint was born in Kuusnõmme, a small fishing village in the west of Saaremaa island, Estonia, on 20 September 1914. His father, Alexander Hint, was a sailor and a member of the government in the Estonian Republic. His mother, Mare Hint, was a housewife.

In 1933, Hint graduated from Saaremaa Gymnasium with a concentration in science. From 1933 to 1934, he undertook an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Tartu Ülikool (Tartu University), and from 1935 to 1936, he continued his studies in the same technology department, majoring in building technology. In 1941, he graduated as a building engineer from Tallinn's Polytechnic Institute.

From 1961 to 1966, Hint was the head of operations of the Soviet Institute of Technological Research and projects of Silikatsiit (Silicalcite/Laprex) and between 1974 and 1981, the head of the construction and technological limited company Desintegraator (Disintegrator), which he established. Desintegraator (Disintegrator) joined forces with Austrian company Simmering-Graz-Pauker in 1977 and together they established an international company "Dessim", which was the first and possibly, the only successfully run business collaboration between the Soviet Union and the Western World.

Hint became a member of the Estonian Communist Party between 1941 and 1943. He was persuaded by his brother Aadu Hint, who later became a famous author in the Soviet Union. In 1943, he was arrested by the Nazis, who were occupying Estonia, as Hint was blacklisted as a communist. He was put to Nazi concentration camp in Estonia to await his execution. He managed to escape from the camp and flee to nearby Helsinki, Finland on a little fishing boat, crossing the Gulf of Finland in the middle of the night. His plan was to flee to nearby neutral Sweden, as Finland was allied with Nazi Germany, at the time. But, Hint failed, and was arrested in Helsinki, and placed in a war prisoners’ camp.

He was returned to his native Estonia after the end of Second World War. Estonia, then was occupied by the Soviet Union. By the end of the 1960s, Johannes had become deeply disappointed in the Soviet political system, and became what can be described as a "free mind", keeping a unique individualism and distance from the political and social ideologies of the communist regime. He was openly vocal to his friends and co-workers about his feelings against Soviet Rule. Johannes Hint, also had connections with members of the underground resistance, the Estonian Democratic Movement.