Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Zvārde parish, Latvia | 9 March 1907
Died | 1941 (aged 33–34) |
Sport | |
Sport | Sports shooting |
Club | ASK |
Kārlis Kļava (9 March 1907 – 1941) was a Latvian military officer and sports shooter. He placed 23rd in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event at the 1936 Summer Olympics. [1] Next year he won that event at the 1937 World Championships, [2] becoming the first Latvian athlete to win a world title, and was selected as Latvian Sportspersonality of the year. [3]
After graduating from the Liepāja State Technical College in 1928, Kļava served in the Latvian army. In 1931, he graduated from the Latvian War School, and from 1932 to 1940 he was a lieutenant of the Riga Infantry Regiment. In parallel with his military career, in the late 1930s he studied engineering at the Faculty of Mechanics of the University of Latvia. Kļava died in 1941 in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp. [4] [5]
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population.
Riga is the capital, primate, and the largest city of Latvia, as well as the most populous city in the Baltic States. Home to 609,489 inhabitants, the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga metropolitan area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 860,142. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m (3–33 ft) above sea level on a flat and sandy plain.
Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis was a Latvian politician and a dictator. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from November 1918 to June 1940 and served as the country's first prime minister.
Salaspils is a town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Salaspils Municipality. The town is situated on the northern bank of the Daugava river, 18 kilometers to the south-east of the city of Riga.
The Latvian War of Independence, sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles or the Latvian War of Liberation, was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.
Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols was a Latvian lieutenant in the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police and a member of Heinrich Himmler's SS during WW2. After later migrating to Australia, he was recommended to be charged under that country's War Crimes Act for helping oversee the mass-killings of Jews and anti-fascist insurgents in both Latvia and Belarus, but this was not pursued to prosecution. Ozols was also a champion Latvian-Australian chess player.
Kārlis Goppers was a Russian and Latvian military officer, veteran of World War I and the Russian Civil War and the founder and President of Latvijas Skautu un Gaidu Centrālā Organizācija.
Jānis Balodis was an army general, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Latvia (1919–1921), Minister of War (1931–1940), and a politician who was one of the principal figures during the Latvian War of Independence and the dictatorship of Kārlis Ulmanis, when he was officially the number two of the regime as the Minister of War, Deputy Prime Minister and Vice President.
The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and its Secret Additional Protocol signed in August 1939. The occupation took place according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the United States Department of State, and the European Union. In 1989, the USSR also condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and herself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries, including Latvia.
Arvīds Brēdermanis was an official of the foreign service of Latvia between the World Wars, and was also a founder of the Latvian Scouting movement.
Arturs Alberings was the 6th Prime Minister of Latvia. He held office from 7 May 1926 to 18 December 1926.
The timeline of the occupation of the Baltic states lists key events in the military occupation of the three countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – by the Soviet Union and by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Salaspils camp was established at the end of 1941 at a point 18 km (11 mi) southeast of Riga (Latvia), in Salaspils. The Nazi bureaucracy drew distinctions between different types of camps. Officially, it was the Salaspils Police Prison and Re-Education Through Labor Camp. It was also known as camp Kurtenhof after the German name for the city of Salaspils.
Kārlis Lobe was a Latvian officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Latvian Army and the Latvian Legion, recipient of the Order of the Three Stars.
Kārlis Prauls was a Latvian general, and from 1930 to 1940 a commander in the Aizsargi home guard.
Kārlis or Karlis is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Vilis Arveds Hāzners (1905–1989) was an officer in the Latvian army and Latvian Legion, and a recipient of the Nazi German Ehrenblattspange des Heeres.
Mārtiņš Grundmanis was a Latvian basketball player. Grundmanis won a gold medal at the 1935 EuroBasket competition, becoming the first European champion. He also participated at the 1936 Summer Olympics and at the 1937 EuroBasket.
Kārlis Eduards Bone was a Latvian footballer. He played four matches for the Latvia national football team between 1920 and 1924 and competed in the men's tournament at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Valdemārs Klētnieks, also known as Voldemārs Klētnieks and Valdis Klētnieks, was a Latvian writer and national Scout Commissioner for Latvia before World War II. When the Soviet Union occupied Latvia in 1940, the Latvian Scout Organization was banned. Klētnieks eventually fled Latvia for a displaced persons camp in Germany, where he remained for five years following the end of World War II. In 1950, he settled with his wife and children as refugees in the United States, where he continued to write books in the Latvian language and joined the Boy Scouts of America national staff.