biography
|
Vilhelms Munters (1898-1967)
July 25, 1898
in Riga |
January 11, 1967
in
Riga |
| 1925.g. graduated University of Latvia,
degree in Chemistry |
| Awarded the Lacplesis Military Order, III
degree; the Three Star Order, II, II, and IV degrees; orders from Austria,
Belgium, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, the Vatican, and
Yugoslavia. |
| 1915-1917. studied chemistry at the
evacuated Riga Polytechnic Institute in Moscow |
| 1917. served in the Russian army |
| 1918. returned to Latvia |
| 1919. joined the Estonian army |
| October, 1920. released from the army,
returned to Latvia |
| |
| SERVING IN THE LATVIAN
FOREIGN MINISTRY |
| from December, 1920 |
Foreign Ministry Information Division, III, II, I
secretary |
| from April, 1923 |
I secretary, F.M. Western Affairs Division |
| from February, 1925 |
Head of Baltic States Affairs Diviison |
| from January, 1931 |
Director of the Legal and Administration
Department |
| from July, 1933 |
Foreign Ministry Secretary General |
| from July, 1936 |
Foreign Minister |
| 1938 |
Chairman, 101st session of the Council of the League
of Nations, Geneva |
| June 16, 1940 |
Resigned from the Cabinet of Ministers due to its
demission |
DEPORTED on July 16, 1940 to Voronezh, where he worked in
the foreign language institute. JAILED June 26, 1941. Imprisoned in the
Voronezh, Saratov, Kirov, Ivanov prison. Inquest suspended, September 1942,
classified as a wartime internee. Inquest resumed, February 1952. Charged with
the following crimes: fought against the Red Army from 1917-1920; served in
senior positions in the Latvian Foreign Ministry from 1920-1940; oriented
toward capitalist England and Germany; participated in the 1934 fascist coup
d'état; took part in the foundation of the fascist regime, censuring the
communist party and the revolutionary movement in Latvia. Judgement rendered
April 16, 1952: based on the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Soviet
Federated Socialist Republic, paragraph 58-4»,
sentenced to 25 years in prison. Imprisoned in Vladimir prison. Released early
in August, 1954, remaining settled in Vladimir. Worked as a translator in the
Vladimir tractor factory. Allowed to return to Latvia in 1959. Participated in
various publications, published works of an acceptable spirit to the Soviet
occupation. Died January 11, 1967 in Riga.
For additional background, in Latvian, the
Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded us an extract from
"Biographical Dictionary: The Latvian Foreign Office, 1918-1991"
compiled by historians Dr. Eriks Jekabsons and Dr. Valters Scerbinskis,
published in 2003, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Latvia, the Latvian State Historical Archives, and the Latvian
Archives Society.
[You
can access the document (PDF format, LV)
here»]
Translated from the web site of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Latvia»,
picture from, and original biography (in Latvian) at:
http://www.am.gov.lv/lv/Ministrija/4432/4439/4473/»
Our
thanks especially to Sarmite Saveja, director of the Archives of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, for her assistance in translating
and in providing additional biographical materials!
For pictures of the
101st session of the Council of the League of Nations, access the League of
Nations archive at the University of Indiana, at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~league/photocategories.htm»
(enter Munters as search string) |
criminal procedure code of the
russian soviet federated socialist republic, § 58-4
| 58-4. The offering of whatever kind of aid to
that part of the international bourgeoisie, which, not recognizing the equal
rights of a Communist system replacing a Capitalist system, exerts itself for
its overthrow, and likewise to public groups and organizations, being under the
influence of or directly organized by that bourgeoisie, in the carrying out of
hostile activities toward the USSR, shall be punishable by — |
| |
deprivation of liberty for a term not less than three
years with confiscation of all or part of one's property, with an increase, in
especially aggravating circumstances, up to the supreme measure of social
defense — shooting or declaration to be an enemy of the workers, with
deprivation of citizenship of one's union republic, and, likewise, citizenship
of the USSR and expulsion beyond the borders of the USSR forever, with
confiscation of property. [6 June 1927 (SU NO 49, art. 330)]. |
| |
|
Reproduced from Hugo S.
Cunningham's Cyber USSR»,
RSFSR
criminal code at: http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/uk58-e.html» |
other biographies
- Munters, Vilhelms, Latvia's last foreign minister (first independence), from July 1936 to June 1940
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