 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Pērkonkrusts" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Thunder Cross Pērkonkrusts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Gustavs Celmiņš |
| Founded | 12 May 1933; 92 years ago (1933-05-12) |
| Dissolved | 1944; 82 years ago (1944) |
| Split from | National Union[1] |
| Preceded by | Latvian National Association "Fire Cross" [lv][2][3] |
| Newspaper | Pērkonkrusts |
| Paramilitary wing | Greyshirts[4] |
| Membership | approx. 5–6,000 (1934est.) |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Dievturība[6] |
| Colours | Red Grey (customary) |
| Slogan | "Latvia for Latvians! Work and bread for Latvians!" |
| Anthem | "We Want to Be Lords in Our Native Land"full songⓘ |
| Party flag | |
 | |
Pērkonkrusts (Latvian pronunciation:[ˈpæːr.kuɔn.krusts], "Thunder Cross") was a Latvianultranationalist,anti-German,anti-Slavic, andantisemitic political party founded in 1933 byGustavs Celmiņš, borrowing elements ofGerman nationalism—but being unsympathetic toNazism at the time—andItalian Fascism.[7] It was outlawed in 1934, its leadership arrested, and Celmiņš eventually exiled in 1937. Still-imprisoned members were persecuted under the first Soviet occupation; some collaborated with subsequently invading Nazi Germany forces in perpetrating theHolocaust. Pērkonkrusts continued to exist in some form until 1944, when Celmiņš, who had initially returned to work in the occupying German administration, was imprisoned.
Following the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991, a new radical nationalist movement, also calledPērkonkrusts, was formed in 1995. The organization espouses many of the same values as its predecessor. Members have participated in efforts to bomb theMonument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders several times, leading to the arrest, trial and imprisonment of many of its members. Since around 2000, the group has become almost inactive.
Pērkonkrusts has been categorised by scholars as either representing theradical right[8] or fascism.[9][10][11] Fascism researcherRoger Griffin describes Pērkonkrusts as having been a "small but genuine fascist opposition" which "pursued a revolutionary solution to the [economic] crisis and which would turn Latvia into an authoritarian state based on a new élite with a new corporatist economy", with its politics defined by "integralist nationalism".[10] Building on Griffin's definition of generic fascism, a categorisation of Pērkonkrusts as "anti-German national socialism" has also been proposed in an article from 2015.[2]
Aside from the party's newspaper,Pērkonkrusts (1933–34), the main source of information on the political platform of Pērkonkrusts can be found in the 1933 brochure,Pērkonkrusts: What Is It? What Does It Want? How Does It Work? (Latvian:Kas ir? Ko grib? Kā darbojas? Pērkonkrusts). This publication not only outlined the movement's political programme, but also included the complete party statutes.
With its slogan "Latvia for Latvians! Work and bread for Latvians!" (Latvian:Latviju latviešiem! Latviešiem darbu un maizi!), Pērkonkrusts wished to place all political and economic control of their country exclusively in the hands of ethnic Latvians. As a result, the party rejected the existing legislation that gave national minorities cultural autonomy. Pērkonkrusts aimed its propaganda against minorities who supposedly had taken over the Latvian economy (i.e.Baltic Germans,Jews) and the contemporary parliamentary politicians, whom it accused of corruption.
In a Latvian Latvia the question of minorities will not exist. ... This means that once and for all we renounce unreservedly bourgeois-liberal prejudice on the national question, we renounce historical, humanistic, or other constraints in pursuit of our one true aim—the good of the Latvian nation. Our God, our belief, our life's meaning, our goal is the Latvian nation: whoever is against its welfare is our enemy. ...
We assume that the only place in the world where Latvians can settle is Latvia. Other peoples have their own countries. ...
In one word—in a Latvian Latvia there will only be Latvians.
— Gustavs Celmiņš, "A Latvian Latvia"[12]
Pērkonkrusts rejectedChristianity as a foreign influence and suggested instead adoptingDievturība, which was an attempt to revive an assumed pre-Christian Latvian religion.[6]
Despite its rural ideals, Pērkonkrusts gained most of its support in the urban areas likeRiga,Cēsis,Valmiera,Jelgava, more specifically among students at theUniversity of Latvia.
"Thunder Cross" is one of the names for theswastika in Latvian, which was used as a symbol of the organization.
The group used a variation of theRoman orHitler salute, and greeted with the Latvian phrase "Cīņai sveiks" ("Ready for battle"[11] or "Hail the struggle").
According to Latvian historianUldis Krēsliņš [lv], although the party used both the swastika and the Roman salute, it was neither affiliated with, nor a copycat of GermanNazism— as was the case with theUnited Latvian National Socialist Party [lv] headed byJānis Štelmachers [lv].[13]
Theuniform of Pērkonkrusts was a grey shirt andblack beret.
The fascist groupUgunskrusts (Fire Cross), one of the Latvian ethnic symbols as well as a sign which is a mirrored image of a swastika, was founded in Latvia in 1932 by Gustavs Celmiņš, but was soon outlawed by the government of Latvia. The former Ugunskrusts organisation reemerged immediately under the new name of Pērkonkrusts. By 1934, Pērkonkrusts is estimated to have had between 5,000 and 6,000 members, although the organization maintained that it had more.
Kārlis Ulmanis, leader of the conservative nationalistPeasants' Union Party and then Prime Minister of Latvia, proposed constitutional reforms in October 1933, which socialists feared would target the left more than the right. In November of the same year, seven communist deputies were arrested, while Pērkonkrusts officials were left alone. Because of political unrest, stemming partially from the growing power of the right, Ulmanis staged a bloodlesscoup d'état in May 1934, banning not only theCommunist Party and Pērkonkrusts, but all parties and theSaeima (Parliament). Following the coup, Pērkonkrusts leader Celmiņš was imprisoned for three years and then banished from Latvia.
Although Pērkonkrusts did not exist officially after 1934, many former leaders and members acted with a degree of unity in subsequent years.
In the late 1930s, Celmiņš set up a 'foreign liaison office' of Pērkonkrusts inHelsinki,Finland. During his peripatetic exile, Celmiņš had established personal contacts with the representatives of other fascist groupings in Europe, most notablyRomania'sCorneliu Codreanu.[8]
Not long after theMolotov–Ribbentrop pact in 1939, Latvia wasoccupied by the Soviet Union. Whereas the Soviet regime released the Communists imprisoned by Ulmanis with great ceremony, political prisoners from Pērkonkrusts were not freed. Instead, more members of Pērkonkrusts were arrested by the Soviet authorities during 1940–1941,some of them being deported toSiberia.[14]
When the Germans invaded Latvia in late June 1941, Celmiņš, who had moved to Germany following Latvia's occupation in 1940, returned to Latvia as aSonderführer in the service of the GermanWehrmacht.[15]
In early July, Pērkonkrusts was briefly permitted to operate openly again. Former Pērkonkrusts members were actively sought by the German authorities as volunteers for theArajs Commando. According to research by historian Rudīte Vīksne, however, there were only a handful of members of Pērkonkrusts who played a role in theHolocaust in Latvia,[16] their activities focused more on propaganda.
During the early phases of the Holocaust in Latvia, Mārtiņš Vagulāns, whom historian Valdis Lumans describes as a member of Pērkonkrusts, led a killing squad attached to theSicherheitsdienst (SD) in the town ofJelgava.[15]: 243 HistorianAndrievs Ezergailis has countered that Vagulāns was not in fact a member of Pērkonkrusts, between whom and the Nazis existed "a wall of suspicion."[17] Ezergailis has also argued, "I do not think that among the killers of the Jews there were more than ten Pērkonkrusts members, if that. They played a more significant role as purveyors of anti-Semitism in Nazi press."[17]
The German authorities decisively banned the organization for good in August 1941. Some former Pērkonkrusts members collaborated with the Germans, while others maintained an anti-German sentiment and joined those groups subversively opposed to German occupation.[15]
Celmiņš continued his outward collaboration with the Germans in the hopes that sizable Latvian military formations would be created. From February 1942, he headed the Committee for Organising Latvian Volunteers (Latvian:Latviešu brīvprātīgo organizācijas komiteja), the main function of which was the recruitment of Latvian men for the Latvian Auxiliary Police Battalions, known in German asSchutzmannschaften or simplySchuma.[18][19] Aside from front-line combat duties, these battalions also participated in so-called anti-partisan operations in Latvia and Belarus that included the massacres of rural Jews and other civilians.[20]
Pērkonkrusts members working within the SD apparatus in occupied Latvia would feed Celmiņš information, some of which he would include in his underground, anti-German publicationBrīvā Latvija. This eventually led to Celmiņš and his associates being arrested, with Celmiņš ending up imprisoned inFlossenbürg concentration camp.[21]
.svg)
A radical group claiming Pērkonkrusts's name emerged in the 1990s as an organization whose stated goal was the overthrow of the current unsatisfactory government and the establishment of a "Latvian Latvia".[22] In 1995, three former members of the group "Rība's Defenders" - Valdis Raups, Aivars Vīksniņš and then-68-year-old Vilis Liniņš - joined up with martial artist Juris Rečs to reconstitute Pērkonkrusts.[23] "Rība's Defenders" was an unregistered splinter group from the self-proclaimed successor organization of the pre-WWIIAizsargi, led by Jānis Rība.[23] Members of the group were assigned code names, swore loyalty oaths, and senior members wore masks to initiate recruits.[23] The organization was explicitly militaristic and considered itself a "Latvian fighting unit" pursuing a "holy liberation struggle."[23]
The ideology of the group was primarily characterized by ethnic and racial nationalism, anti-semitism,anti-communism,anti-liberalism and opposed to free markets.[23] Among the goals of Pērkonkrusts were a Latvia where the "Latvian would be the lord and master in his Fatherland... not in those of Latvian-speaking cosmopolitan bastards," and "racial purity of the Latvian people." Pērkonkrusts has opposed "Jew neo-Communists... half-Jews and their allies... enemy number one of the Latvian people."[23]
Members of the reconstituted Pērkonkrusts tried three times to bomb theMonument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders. In one of the most serious incidents on the night of 5 June 1997, two of the members, Valdis Raups and Aivars Vīksniņš, were killed in the explosion.[24] Another nine members were prosecuted for the bombing and received sentences ranging from a year and a half of probation to three years in prison. In 2000, most of the leaders of the current Pērkonkrusts were arrested and tried.[25][26] The group ceased organised activities or was banned around 2006.[27]
One of the previous leaders of the organizationIgors Šiškins has tried to re-activate Pērkonkrusts again. He has claimed to represent Pērkonkrusts at various events, such as the marking ofRemembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires[28] andSoviet Victory Day (9 May) in Riga. On 9 May 2007, Šiškins was arrested for wearing forbidden symbols in public.[29] Šiškins was similarly detained for displaying forbidden symbols on 9 May 2009.[30][31] In 2006 a similar organization, the Gustavs Celmiņš' Center (Gustava Celmiņa centrs), which used the same symbols as Pērkonkrusts and also claimed to promoteDievturība, was registered with Šiškins becoming one of its leaders until the organization was dissolved by the Riga Regional Court in 2014.[32][33]
In its relations with Latvia, theForeign Ministry of the Russian Federation at times brings up the history of the Pērkonkrusts movement as evidence of present-day Latvia's "fascist" heritage.[34]
In 2016, blogger Jānis Polis reported that the owner of the former GCC website is linked to purported fake news websites.[32]
... fascist Italy ... developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples wereEstado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the AustrianStandestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,
{{cite web}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)