Juhan Leinberg
Juhan Leinberg, also known as Prophet Maltsvet, was a founder of a religious sect named after him in Estonia.
Biography
Juhan Leinberg was born in Norra Parish in Järva County. In his youth he was a farmer, miller, barkeeper, and merchant in Tallinn. In 1854 he started preaching in northern Estonia and called on people to give up collecting wealth. A short imprisonment in 1858 increased his popularity, and the number of his followers reached 200 to 300 families.In 1860 Leinberg started to promote relocation to Crimea, going there himself in February 1861. The most fanatic of the Maltsvetians waited in May and June 1861 at Lasnamäe for the coming of the "White Ship" that was to take them to the promised land. The followers of Maltsvet also played an important part in the peasant rebellions in Albu and Ahula in November 1861. By the mid-1860s, Maltsvet's influence had worn off. After his return to Estonia in 1865, he resumed his business career. Leinberg died in Pruuna Parish in Järva County.
File:Juhan Leinbergi haud.jpg|thumb|Grave of Juhan Leinberg at Reopalu Cemetery in Paide
The movement of the Maltsvetians is treated by Eduard Vilde in the novel Prohvet Maltsvet. Published in 1908, this was the third book of a trilogy that established Vilde as a writer. Like the others, it mixed fact and fiction, but it was based on letters and notes from interviews with Crimean Estonians.
The Finnish author Aino Kallas wrote the short story "Lasnamäen valkea laiva", which portrays the members of Leinberg's religious sect waiting for a white ship to take them into paradise, as Leinberg had promised according to the story.