Augusts Voss

Augusts Voss (Август Эдуардович Восс; 30 October 1919 in Omsk Governorate – 10 February 1994 in Moscow) was a Soviet politician and party functionary of Latvian origin. Before World War II he worked as a school teacher. In 1940 he was mobilized into the Red Army and served as a politruk. From 1945 he served as a party apparatchik in Latvia. From 1966 till 1984 he was First Secretary (later: General Secretary) of the Communist Party of Latvia and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1971 till 1990. From 1984 till 1989 he was Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities (of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR). Voss understood Latvian, but did not use it publicly. He did not return to Latvia and died in Moscow in 1994, where he is also buried.