Krišjānis Berķis was a Latvian general. Rising to prominence as an officer of the Latvian Riflemen

Latvian Riflemen

This article is about Latvian military formations in World War I and Russian Civil War. For Red Army military formations in World War II see Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions....

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he was later one of Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis

Karlis Ulmanis

Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis was a prominent Latvian politician in pre-World War II Latvia during the Latvian period of independence from 1918 to 1940.- Education and early career :Ulmanis studied agriculture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and...

' principal conspirators in the coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

of May 15, 1934. He served as Commander of the Army from 1934-40 and became Minister of War in 1940. He died in a prison hospital in Russia in 1942. He was married to a Finn, Hilma Lehtonen (1887-1961), whom he met while serving in the Czarist army in Finland. Their only child, Valentins, died in Russia, and their grandson went missing. Berķis is recipient of the Latvian military Order of Lāčplēsis

Order of Lacplesis

The Order of Lāčplēsis, the first and the highest Latvian military award, was established in 1919 on the initiative of the Commander of Latvian Army, during the Latvian War of Independence, Jānis Balodis. The Lāčplēsis Order is awarded in the first, second and third class. Initially, a holder of...

, 1st and 2nd class.

Sources

• Rislakki, Jukka: Latvian kohtalonvuodet. Krisjanis Berkiksen ja Hilma Lehtosen tarina. SKS, Helsinki 2005. (With English summary)
• Rislakki, Jukka: Kur beidzas varaviksne. Jumava, Riga 2004.