Gustavs Celmiņš (April 1, 1899 – April 10, 1968) was a Latvian based politician, who was the founder of the Pērkonkrusts (Latvian pronunciation: , "Thunder Cross"). Biography He was educated at the commerce school of the Riga Stock Exchange, and graduated in Moscow. In 1917, he began studies at the Riga Polytechnical Institute which had been evacuated to Moscow. After the October Revolution, he returned to Latvia. In 1918, Celmiņš enlisted into the newly created Latvian Army, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year, and was then appointed Latvian military attaché in Poland. In 1921, he was awarded the Order of Lāčplēsis. Retired from army in 1924, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1925 to 1927. Celmiņš became the secretary of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently worked in the Finance Ministry. On 24 January 1932, the Latvian nationalist group Ugunskrusts ("Firecross") was founded, and Gustavs Celmiņš was elected as its leader. After Ugunskrusts was banned, he founded the organization Pērkonkrusts ("Thundercross"). Common for both organisations was that they advocated a national revolution for a radical re-organisation of society, politics, and the economy in Latvia. Following Kārlis Ulmanis' 15 May 1934 coup d'état, Celmiņš was arrested and imprisoned for three years. He was exiled from Latvia in 1937. Celmiņš moved to Italy, then Switzerland. While in Zürich, he was arrested and then banished from Switzerland. He later lived in Romania, where he had contacts with the Iron Guard, and then moved to Finland. In 1938, he became the leader of Pērkonkrusts''' "foreign contacts office". After the Soviet Union invaded Finland, Celmiņš enrolled as a volunteer on the latter's side. When the conflict ended, he moved to Nazi Germany. In July 1941, after Operation Barbarossa, he, together with Nazi officials, returned to Latvia and regained leadership of Pērkonkrusts. After the occupation authorities once again banned Pērkonkrusts in August 1941, Celmiņš continued his outward collaboration with the Germans in the hopes that sizable Latvian military formations would be created. From February 1942, he headed the Committee for Organising Latvian Volunteers (), the main function of which was the recruitment of Latvian men for the Latvian Auxiliary Police Battalions, known in German as Schutzmannschaften or simply Schuma. Aside from front-line combat duties, these battalions were also deployed in anti-partisan operations Latvia and Belarus that included the massacres of rural Jews and other civilians. This situation was not what Celmiņš