Jānis Kalnbērziņš

Kalnbērziņš Jānis September 17,1893 near Katkalns(near Riga), 04.02.1986 Riga, politician of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. Member of CPSU (1917.) Worked in Riga port.Fought for Soviet rule in Latvia ,1919 withdrew to Russia.1919-20 Participant in the Russian Civil War.1923-25 and 1928-28 studied at the Western National Minorities Communist University in Moscow. Sent by Komintern in 1925-28 and 1936-39 he worked in illegal party work in Latvia. In 1931-33 he studied at the Red Vocational Institute in Moscow. In 1938 he was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the underground Communist Party of Latvia. 1939 arrested and imprisoned. 1940 Released after the occupation of Latvia by the USSR. 1940-59 Secretary I of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party. From 1941 he was a candidate for the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik). 1952-71 Member of the CPSU Central Committee. During 1940-41 and 1944-53 many people were deported from Latvia to the depths of the USSR and Sovietisation was carried out. 1959-70 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1960-70 and Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.