Arais-Berce, Avgust

Arais-Berce, Avgust Iur’evich 

Born Mar. 20 (Apr. 1), 1890, in Riga; died June 11, 1921, in Riga. Latvian writer and public figure.

A Communist, Arais-Berce was subjected to arrests and exile. In 1919hebecameamember of the central committee of the Communist Party of Latvia and people’s commissar for social welfare of Soviet Latvia. In 1920 he returned illegally to Riga to work in the Communist underground. In 1921 he was arrested and tortured to death in a Riga prison. His best story, The Death of Menus (1921; Russian translation, 1925), tells about heroes of the revolution. His verse collection, Red Road, and the collection Short Stories appeared in Pskov in 1922.

WORKS

Raksti. Riga, 1941.
Stāsti un dzejas. Riga, 1951.
Izlase. Riga, 1964.
In Russian translation:
Smert’ Menusa. Riga, 1948.

REFERENCES

Kalve, M. “Avgust Arais-Bertse.” In Latyshskie revoliutsionnye deiateli. Riga, 1958.
Latviešu literaūras vēsture, vol. 5. Riga, 1959.