Vilhelms Munters

Munters was the signatory on behalf of the Latvian government in a number of important international agreements with the Baltic states, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1939.

On May 22, 1917, Munters was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army, where he served in the 1st Preparatory Training Battalion in Nizhny Novgorod and from August 8 to October 26 studied at the Vladimir Military School in Saint Petersburg.

He, together with other cadets, took part in fighting during the Bolshevik October Revolution and was shortly imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, but released thanks to an acquaintance.

Munters fought in North Vidzeme, served as the Estonian Army Command team leader and the aide-de-camp of the Viljandi Garrison of the 6th Infantry Regiment until October 17, 1920, when he was retired from active service with the rank of lieutenant.

On November 22, 1920, he was drafted into the Latvian Armed Forces and assigned to the 6th Riga Infantry Regiment, but was discharged with the rank of virsseržants (staff sergeant) on December 20.

[3] In addition to his posts, Munters was a member of various high-rank committees in the ministry and took part in drafting important economic and political agreements with foreign nations.

After the Soviet occupation of Latvia, he was de facto replaced by Augusts Kirhenšteins, and the Munters family was deported on 16 July 1940 in the presence of the collaborationist Minister of the Interior Vilis Lācis.

In the meantime, Munters wrote multiple requests to Soviet People's Commissar for Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria, sharing detailed information on many contemporaries.

In 1958 he together with his family was finally permitted to return to occupied Latvia, where in 1959 he started to work as a translator in the editorial board of the official newsletter of the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences, with contributions to other scientific publications.