Albert Kviesis

Albert Kviesis. 1930.

Alberts Kviesis (born December 22, 1881 municipality Tērvete , Latvia , † August 9, 1944 in Rīga ) was a Latvian politician and the third president of his country.

Life

Kviesis attended high school in Mitau and then studied law at the University of Dorpat . After graduating in 1907, he worked as a lawyer . From 1912 he had his own office in Jelgava. During the First World War , Kviesis worked for the Red Cross and the refugee aid committee . In addition, he was politically active and in 1917 joined the newly founded Latvian Peasant Union ( Latviešu Zemnieku savienība ). Kviesis was a member of the Latvian People's Council ( Tautas Padome) who declared Latvia's independence in 1918. In the 1920s he held various levels of government, such as minister and deputy parliamentary speaker.

Kviesis was elected President of Latvia in 1930 and was confirmed in office for a second term in 1933. On May 15, 1934 the Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis dissolved the Saeima , the parliament of Latvia, and established an authoritarian government. Kviesis disapproved of this coup , but showed no active resistance. He served the remainder of his term of office until 1936 and signed the laws of the Ulmani government. After that, Ulmanis took over the office of State President himself.

Until the occupation of Latvia in 1940, Kviesis worked as a lawyer again. The Soviet rulers banned him from working and was placed under house arrest at times . Thanks to a warning, he was able to evade a planned deportation. When the territory of Latvia was occupied by the Wehrmacht in 1941 , Kviesis returned to Riga. From 1942 he worked for the Latvian self-government established by the Germans . Despite his collaboration with the Germans, he condemned the 1943 conscription in the Latvian Legion . On August 9, 1944, Alberts Kviesis died of a heart attack when he had already embarked on a refugee ship destined for Germany. He is buried in the Riga Forest Cemetery.

literature

• Ā. Šilde Latvijas vēsture 1914-1940. Valsts tapšana un suverēnā valsts , Riga 1976
• Ričards Trejs: Latvijas valsts un tās vīri. Latvijas Republikas valdības. Ministri savos darbos. 1918-1940. , Latvijas Vēstnesis 1998, pp. 144-149.

Web links

• Alberts Kviesis - biography (Latvian)
• Alberts Kviesis - Biography of the Presidential Office of Latvia (Latvian)