Aleksandrs Grīns (15 August 1895 – 25 December 1941) was a Latvian writer, translator and army officer. He has written many novels and stories, many of them historic. Most of his works were banned in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

from 1945 until 1991. He was awarded the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

(IV and V class) and

Order of Viesturs The Order of Viesturs () is a Latvian state order (honour), order founded in 1938, which was temporarily discontinued in 1940 by the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Soviet occupation of Latvia, but was re-established in 2004. The order is nam ...

(III class).

Biography

Aleksandrs Grīns was born as Jēkabs Grīns on 15 August 1895 in Birži parish,

Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...

. He has studied in a local parish school and later also in

Jēkabpils Jēkabpils () is a state city in Jēkabpils Municipality in southeastern Latvia, located roughly halfway between the capital Riga and Daugavpils, and spanning the Daugava River. The name of the city literally translates into "Castle of Jacob". H ...

Merchant school and Rūjiena Gymnasium. In 1914 he graduated

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

Cēsis Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to b ...

. He wanted to study medicine at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

but due to the start of

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he went to Moscow to study at . After a few months, he was sent to the front with the rank of

praporschik (, , ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in the corresponding navies. It is usually equivalent to warrant officer class 1 or serge ...

. In 1916 Grīns managed to get permission to join a

Latvian Riflemen The Latvian Riflemen (; ) were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic governorates against the German Empire in World War I. Initially, the battalions were forme ...

unit. He was first deployed to a Reserve battalion in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

, but was later sent to the front lines near

Olaine Olaine (; ) is a city in Olaine Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Olaine gained town rights in 1967. The population in 2020 was 10,668. History The name comes from the (), built by the stream, a Misa River, Misa river tributary, ...

. During this period, he changed his name from Jēkabs to Aleksandrs. In 1917 Grīns was seriously wounded during the

Battle of Jugla The Riga offensive (), also called the Jugla Offensive or the Battle of Riga (), took place in early September 1917 and was the last major campaign on the Eastern Front of World War I before the Russian Provisional Government and its army bega ...

in the first days of September, and he was evacuated to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. After treatment, he was demobilized in April 1918 and returned to his native homestead in Latvia. Later he went to study medicine at the University of Tartu. While in Tartu, he was mobilized into the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in the beginning of 1919. When the Red Army was retreating from

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

, Grīns deserted in

Bauska Bauska () is a town in its Bauska Municipality, eponymous municipality, found in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. Bauska is located from the Latvian capital Riga, 62 km (38.5 mi) from Jelgava and from the Lithuanian border on t ...

and joined a Latvian brigade under Colonel

Jānis Balodis Jānis Balodis (20 February 1881 – 8 August 1965) 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 ...

. After the liberation of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Grīns resumed his medicine studies at the newly established

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

in autumn 1919. In 1924 Grīns was demobilized from the

Latvian army The Latvian Land Forces () together with the Latvian National Guard form the land warfare branch of the Latvian National Armed Forces. From 2007 to 2024, the Land Forces were organized as a fully professional standing army until the re-introduct ...

with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. After 1920 Grīns worked as a journalist, first in the military newspaper '' Latvijas Kareivis'', and later in ''Latvis'' and ''Brīvā Zeme''. In addition, Grīns started to write historical novels and stories. In autumn 1939 Grīns returned to active military service. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in June 1940, Grīns was sent to a military camp in Litene parish. In June 1941 several hundred Latvian officers from this camp, including Grīns, were arrested by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. Grīns was imprisoned in

and interrogated. After

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

started, Grīns was sent to Russia and imprisoned in an

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

prison. In October, he was sentenced to death, and on 25 December he was shot dead in prison.

Literature

Aleksandrs Grīns is known for several successful historical novels. Most notable is the novel "" (''Dvēseļu Putenis''), where the main protagonist is a young Latvian schoolboy who enlists in a Latvian Riflemen battalion and participates in battles in Latvia and, later, the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. In this novel, he used his own experiences and memories during the First World War. Other notable works are '' Nameja Gredzens'' (Ring of Namejs), about ancient Semigallian duke Nameisis, and ''

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

'', about Courlander colonists of the island in the 17th century. Besides novels, he has also translated into Latvian

Erich Maria Remarque Erich Maria Remarque (; ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German novelist. His landmark novel '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during World War ...

's ''

All Quiet on the Western Front ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' () is a semi-autobiographical novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma during the war as well as the detachme ...

'' and L. Renn ''War'.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grins, Aleksandrs 1895 births 1941 deaths People from Jēkabpils Municipality People from Courland Governorate Latvian writers Latvian journalists Latvian Riflemen Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Latvian military personnel killed in World War II Latvian military personnel of the Latvian War of Independence Latvian people executed by the Soviet Union Executed military personnel 20th-century journalists Executed writers People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm