Hugo Celmiņš

Hugo Celmiņš
Prime Minister of Latvia
In office 19 January 1924 – 23 December 1925
Preceded by	Voldemārs Zāmuēls
Succeeded by	Kārlis Ulmanis
In office 1 December 1928 – 26 March 1931
Preceded by	Pēteris Juraševskis
Succeeded by	Kārlis Ulmanis
Personal details
Born	30 October 1873 Lubāna, Russian Empire
Died	30 July 1941 (aged 67) Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Political party	Latvian Farmers' Union

Hugo Celmiņš (30 October 1877, Lubāna – 30 July 1941, Moscow) held the office of Prime Minister of Latvia twice from 19 December 1924 – 23 December 1925 and 1 December 1928 – 26 March 1931.

Life

Celmiņš studied economics at the Polytechnic Institute of Riga from 1899 to 1903, where he joined the student corporation Talavija in the 1900's. During the period, 1903-1904 he completed a degree in mathematics at the University of Bern. After research trips and study visits in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland, he worked as an economist. During the First World War he served as a volunteer in the army.^[1]

After the independence of Latvia on 18 November 1918, Celmiņš was Deputy of the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia and then the First Saeima, where he represented the Latvian Farmers' Union. On 12 June 1920, he was appointed by the Prime Minister, Kārlis Ulmanis, as a Minister of Agriculture for the first time in a cabinet, an office he held until 18 June 1921.^[2]

On 19 December 1924, Celmiņš succeeded Voldemārs Zāmuēls as the Prime Minister. From the beginning of his acting until December 23, 1925, he also took over the Cabinet until March 5, 1925, the office of the Minister for Agriculture. He was also the Foreign Minister from August 22 until the end of his tenure, after the previous incumbent Meierovics was killed in a car accident, whose successor was Kārlis Ulmanis.

On 1 December 1928, he was again the Prime Minister, succeeding Pēteris Juraševskis. His office until 26 March 1931 Government included the already part of the longest governments of the pre-war Republic of Latvia. Celmiņš was dated 4 February 1930 to the end of the reign beyond again foreign minister. On March 27, 1931 he was succeeded in turn of Ulmanis in the premiership.

Celmiņš was the first mayor of Riga, and in 1935-1938 he was the Latvian envoy to Nazi Germany. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, he was arrested and deported to the Soviet Union, where he was shot on July 30, 1941. ^[3]

References

1. http://www.mfa.gov.lv/ministrija/arlietu-dienesta-vesture/latvijas-republikas-arlietu-ministri-un-latvijas-diplomatiska-dienesta-vaditaji-kops-1918-gada/hugo-celmins
2. https://www.president.ee/et/vabariik/teenetemargid/kavaler/16596/*
3. Maris Ruks: Arāja komandas Lettonia:no arhīvu materiāliem. Riga 2011 passim.