Jānis Krūmiņš (party official)

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Jānis Krūmiņš (born September 13 . Jul / 25. September  1894 greg. In Skrīveri ; † 15. March 1938 ) was a Latvian communist, revolutionary and ministers and a victim of Stalinism .

Life

Jānis Krūmiņš was born into a peasant family. In 1912 he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP); when they split in the same year he joined the Bolshevik camp . In 1915 he was elected to the Central Committee of the RSDLP in the Livonian Governorate .

During the First World War Krūmiņš (from 1915) was a soldier in the 12th Army , in which he - initially cautious, later more and more openly and with growing success - agitated among his comrades for an overthrow in the Russian Empire . In the revolutionary year of 1917 he was delegated to the soldiers' council of the 12th Army, soon afterwards he became deputy chairman of the executive committee of the council of representatives of workers, soldiers and the landless of Latvia (Lat .: Latvijas Strādnieku, Zaldātu un Bezzemnieku Deputātu Padome : Russian .: Исполныйт комитет Совета рабочих, солдатских и безземельных депутатов Латвии , Iskolat ). At the same time he was the responsible editor of the magazine " Ziņotājs " (Latvian: "The Messenger") of the workers, soldiers and landless Soviets. In late 1917 / early 1918, a dispute broke out in the Latvian social democracy over the question of nationality: some of the leading Latvian communists wanted an independent Latvia; Krūmiņš, on the other hand, pleaded for joining revolutionary Soviet Russia .

When the German troops conquered the parts of Latvia that had been held by the Russian army in the first months of 1918 and occupied Latvia after the peace of Brest-Litovsk , Krūmiņš went underground in February 1918. To do this, he took the code name "Pīlādzis" (Latvian for "mountain ash"). Under the name "Pīlādzis" or "Pilāts" he soon became better known than his family name; later birth and battle names were combined: Krūmiņš-Pilāts . He organized the clandestine party work and thus contributed to the fact that in December 1918, after the withdrawal of the German troops at the end of the World War, a Latvian Soviet Republic could be proclaimed. During this First Latvian Soviet Republic , which existed until the end of 1919 , Krūmiņš was People's Commissar (i.e. Minister) of the Latvian Soviet government of Pēteris Stučka . However, this never controlled the whole country and ultimately only a small part. In 1919 he was also head of propaganda for the LKP's Central Committee (ZK) and head of the “Russian Office” of the LKP's Central Committee, which ensured ties to the ideologically relevant Communist Party of Russia (KPR). In this function he took part in the 8th Congress of the KPR in 1919.

Since 1917 Krūmiņš belonged to the Central Committee of the Latvian Social Democratic Party (LSD), whose majority wing in 1919 became the Communist Party of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Komunistiska partija , LKP). He was a member of the Central Committee of the LKP until 1931. In 1922 Krūmiņš became secretary of the LKP Central Committee - a key position within the party. From 1923 he taught temporarily at the Communist University for the workers of the east in Moscow. In Moscow he completed his studies at the Institute of the Red Professorship (until 1932).

As head of the LKP's foreign office and thus the LKP's delegate in the Communist International (Comintern), Krūmiņš had already participated in the 3rd World Congress of the Comintern (1921) and the 4th Congress (1922). In 1932 Krūmiņš was appointed head of the Latvian section of the Comintern and took part in this function at the 7th (and last) Congress of the Comintern in Moscow in 1935; there was elected to their executive committee. In 1936 and 1937 he worked in the Comintern's liaison office in Copenhagen.

The Latvian NKVD operation started at the end of November . On December 1, 1937, the NKVD arrested him and declared him "unmasked". Krūmiņš was alleged to have had connections to the Latvian publishing house and cultural association “ Prometejs ” in Moscow as well as to Kārlis Daniševskis and other suspects (Latvians and Russians). He smuggled Latvian spies into the USSR and, as a resident, ran an agent ring. He was sentenced to death for "anti-Soviet activity".

On March 15, 1938, Jānis Krūmiņš was executed.

literature

  • Sigurds Ziemelis: Pīlādzis. Jāņa Krūmiņā-Pilāta dzīves apraksts . Liesma, Riga 1967 (German translation of the Latvian title: Die Eberesche. The biography of Jānis Krūmiņš-Pilāts).

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e Article Круминь, Ян Мартынович (Krumin, Jan Martinowitsch) in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia , 3rd edition, vol. 13: Конда - Кун , 1973.
  2. ↑ Uldis GERMANIS: komandieris Zemgaliešu . In: Jaunā Gaita , ISSN 0448-9179, No. 88, 1972, Chapter 12: Oktobŗa revolūcijas sagatavošana un norise ziemeļu frontē (Latvian).
  3. ↑ Uldis GERMANIS: komandieris Zemgaliešu . In: Jaunā Gaita , ISSN 0448-9179, No. 88, 1972, Chapter 11: Zemgalieši sedz 12. Armijas atkāpšanos no Rīgas (Latvian).
  4. ↑ Brūno Kalniņš: “Vēl cīņa nav galā…” . Memento, Stockholm 1983, ISBN 0-946666-00-8 , in it chapter 7: Neatkarīgās Latvijas proklamēšana - Tautas Padomes Nodibināšana (Latvian).
  5. ↑ Sigurds Ziemelis: Pīlādzis. Jāņa Krūmiņā-Pilāta dzīves apraksts . Liesma, Riga 1967.
  6. ↑ a b И. И. Минц u. a. (Red.): Борьба за советскую власть в Прибалтике , Moscow 1967.
  7. ↑ a b Ojārs Niedre, Viktors Daugmalis: Slepenais karš pret Latviju. Komunistiskās partijas darbība 1920. – 1940. gadā . Totalitārisma seku dokumentēšanas centrs Rīga, Riga 1999, ISBN 9984-9327-1-0 (German translation of the Latvian title: The secret war against Latvia. The activities of the Communist Party 1920–1940).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Krūmiņš, Jānis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Krūmiņš-Pilāts, Jānis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1894
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1938