Education
University of Tartu.
University of Tartu.
He served as Minister of Economic Affairs from 1933 to 1938 and as minister of Foreign affairs from 1938 to 1939. His historically most memorable act was to sign a non-aggression and mutual assistance treaty with the Soviet leaders in Moscow in September 1939. This treaty gave the Soviet army a right to set up military bases in Estonia, and it significantly reduced Estonia"s independence until Estonia was formally incorporated into the Soviet Union between June and August 1940.
He moved to Geneva, Switzerland as a diplomat.
After Germany occupied Estonia between 1941 and 1944, and after it was re-incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1944, he stayed in Switzerland as an exiled diplomat and politician.
Selter left Estonia in November 1939, resigning both as Foreign Minister and as a member of Parliament.
