The Legend of Keres
In the 1930s Paul Keres (1916-1975) of Estonia emerged as one of the top chessplayers in the world. When Germany invaded Estonia in 1939, Keres was asked to participate in chess tournaments for Nazi propaganda.
Once Estonia was “liberated” and became a Soviet republic, the authorities accepted that he come back to the USSR, providing that he manages to avoid playing against Botvinnik, strongest of the Russian players.
Nobody really knows who was better and who could win.
Keres faced the threat of arrest, for the crime (by Soviet standards) of having played in Nazi-organized tournaments during the German occupation of Estonia.
Anyway, Keres was appreciated by everybody everywhere everytime: by Estonian, by German, and by Soviet (people, not authorities).
When Estonia became independent, his portrait was printed on 5 krooni bill. He’s the first chess player to get a such honor.
Reference: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb1.txt
