force. The group came close to power in 1933 before being banned by Konstantin Päts the following year. The government had claimed that Andres Larka, Sirk and other leading Vaps figures had been preparing to launch a coup although in this instance there was little evidence that the allegations were true. Nonetheless, Sirk was one of a number of Vaps leaders arrested by the Päts regime but he escaped from prison and fled to Finland. Between 1934 and 1935 he directed Vaps activity from his Finnish base and even became involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Estonian government with his allies in the Lapua Movement. Plans for an armed rebellion against Päts were put in place but these were discovered in December 1935 by the state security police with the main ringleaders arrested. Sirk however was not amongst those arrested as he was able to escape again and this time settled in Luxembourg. Death Sirk died after a fall from a hotel window in Echternach in circumstances that have remained suspicious for some commentators to this day. Estonian historians including Pusta and Tomingas have argued that the death was an act of defenestration by agents of Päts, although local police in Luxembourg stated that it was a suicide. Sirk's funeral was held in Helsinki on 9 October. The eulogy was delivered by Elias Simojoki whilst hundreds of members of Simojoki's Sinimustat youth movement and the Academic Karelia Society were in attendance. August Jääger, an Estonian nationalist in attendance, blamed Sirk's death on the Estonian government, helping to begin the historical debate over the death. References External links About A. Sirk and Vaps Movement 1900 births 1937 suicides People from Tapa Parish People from Kreis Jerwen Estonian Lutherans Members of the Vaps Movement 20th-century Estonian lawyers University of Tartu alumni Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Estonian politicians who committed suicide Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery