Landers was born in the Vērgale Parish in a peasant family and was raised by his grandparents after the death of his parents at a young age.

[1] In 1905, Landers joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and was involved in revolutionary activities in Latvia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Samara.

In October 1917 he became the Chairman of the Minsk Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies and a delegate to the Constituent Assembly from the Western Front.

[3] During his service in the Cheka he created many tribunals to carry out the Red Terror, most notably against the collaborators of Pyotr Wrangel and the region's Cossack population.

[5] According to official Soviet newspapers, Karl Landers died on 29 July 1937 from tuberculosis,[6] however some later sources claim he was executed during the Great Purge.