Activities and affiliations

Literature and arts Affiliation unconfirmed 1871–1942 ○ Died

Pastor and writer who headed Latvia's pro-German government of 1919

"Not clever speeches or treaties but force decides a nation's fate," he declared at his 1924 treason trial.

A leading Latvian novelist and Lutheran pastor, he headed the pro-German government backed by von der Goltz after the Liepāja coup of 1919. His regime fell after Cēsis, he fled to Germany and, returning in 1924, was tried for treason and expelled.

Government and administration Latvia state institutions 1877–1942 ○ Died

Latvia's prime minister in the war of independence, later dictator after the 1934 coup

On the day of the occupation his radio address ordered no resistance: "I will remain in my place and you remain in yours."

Prime minister of Latvia's provisional government from November 1918, he survived the Soviet army, a German coup and Bermondt's army in turn and led the Riga peace and land reform of 1920. He set up a dictatorship by coup in 1934 and, deported by the Soviets in 1940, died in prison in 1942.

Government and administration Latvia state institutions 1942–

The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence

On 14 January 1991, General Kuzmin's ultimatum to the chairman of the Supreme Council was simple: repeal the laws Latvia had adopted, or the army would act. Gorbunovs did not repeal them, and a week later flew to Moscow to face Gorbachev.

A farmer's son from Pilda in eastern Latvia, he graduated from construction college, Riga Polytechnical Institute, and the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences, then rose through the Latvian Communist Party apparatus to become Central Committee secretary for ideology. He broke with the party's hard line in 1988 by backing the Latvian Popular Front, and as Chairman of the Supreme Council presided over the 4 May 1990 session that declared the Soviet Union an occupying power and began the transition to restored independence. During the January 1991 Barricades he stood firm against General Kuzmin's ultimatum, then flew to Moscow on 21 January to confront Gorbachev directly.

Government and administration Latvia state institutions 1951–

The physicist who walked Latvia out of the USSR and commanded the nights of the barricades

On the night of 20 January 1991, after Soviet special forces stormed Latvia's Interior Ministry, killing five, Godmanis telephoned Soviet interior minister Boris Pugo, who told him: 'I was not involved.'

A Latvian physicist turned politician, Godmanis earned his doctorate in solid-state physics and taught at the University of Latvia before joining the Latvian Popular Front in 1987. After the Front's victory in the 1990 Supreme Council elections, he became the first prime minister of a Latvia that had declared the restoration of its independence, and during the January 1991 barricades he coordinated the defense of strategic sites and personally telephoned Soviet interior minister Boris Pugo, who denied any involvement in the OMON attack. He returned as prime minister in 2007, steering Latvia through the global financial crisis until his resignation in 2009.