Ansis Kaupēns was the leader of the best-known criminal gang of interwar Latvia. Between 1920 and 1926 he and his accomplices committed robberies and killings in the countryside around Jelgava, in the Zemgale region, and in the neighboring Bauska and Jaunjelgava districts. A deserter from the Latvian army, he lived in Jelgava under a registered name and worked at a trade. He was arrested in June 1926, tried by a military court in the spring of 1927, sentenced to death on April 3 and executed on May 6, 1927.
His name is spelled Kaupēns in Latvian, with the genitive Kaupēna; English-language records also give Kaupens without the macron.
The court file is held in the Latvian State Historical Archive, in the fund of the Latvian Army Court.
Kaupēns was born on November 2, 1895, in Vecplatone parish in the Jelgava district; some records give Zaļenieki or Bukaiši parish instead. His parents were Lutheran farm servants. He had an older sister, Anete, and he attended the parish school at Svēte.
In the spring of 1916 he was conscripted into the Russian imperial army and served in the Caucasus, and later in the army of the Provisional Government. On December 17, 1919, he enlisted in the 11th Dobele Infantry Regiment. In January 1920, after a period of leave, he deserted and did not return.
He gave different reasons for leaving at different times. At first he spoke of a misunderstanding with his officers that threatened a demotion; later he said he left to avoid punishment and added a fondness for revelry.
In 1921 he crossed the Latvian-Soviet border illegally. He came back in 1922 under the name Alberts-Ansis Kaupēns, son of Jānis, and settled in Jelgava. There he worked as a craftsman and saddle maker. Over some six years he was a steady, trusted worker in town by day, and the press later returned again and again to the contrast with the robberies and killings committed in the countryside.
The gang's offenses run from 1920 to May 29, 1926. The first robbery is dated January 29, 1920 (also given as November 29, 1920), between Jelgava and Tukums. Kaupēns often acted alone. His accomplices, as he described them, were mostly people who passed on word of likely targets or who kept and sold stolen goods.
Those later convicted with him were Voldemārs Piebalgs, born in 1897 in the Bauska district, whom Kaupēns described as a wartime comrade who identified targets; Jānis Staņķis; Jānis Vālodze, born in 1864; Jānis Rubenis, born in 1891; and his sister Anete Bubelte, born in 1894. Another man, J. B., was tried and acquitted. The robberies were committed in the countryside across the three districts; the last on record was on May 29, 1926.
Kaupēns admitted at trial to 19 murders committed for gain, and to several attempted murders. The known killings were these.
June 23, 1921: the killing of a woman in Svēte parish.
October 13, 1921: the killing of a man.
May 1922: five residents of one household were killed in Vecsaule parish, two women, one man and two children. The date is also given as the night of June 5 to 6, in Bruknas parish. Kaupēns said the idea came from Piebalgs and later said Piebalgs had taken an active part, a claim that was never confirmed.
May 25, 1922: a murder for which another man, P. S., was tried; he was acquitted by the military court on August 30, 1927.
May 9, 1925: three people were killed in Taurkalne parish.
The dates of the remaining murders among the 19 are not on record. The sentence is also given as passed for more than 35 murders, robberies and other offenses together; the two figures count different things.
For some of these crimes other men had been prosecuted first. Kaupēns's part was established only after his arrest.
Kaupēns was arrested in Jelgava on June 8, 1926. He was taken by the Jelgava city police. Between June 8 and November 29, 1926, he was questioned at least 38 times: 14 times by Vilis Virziņš, head of the Jelgava criminal police, 20 times by investigating judges in Jelgava and 4 times by judges in Jaunjelgava.
His statements changed often. He tended to reduce the roles of his accomplices, and some of the changes may have aimed at a lighter sentence. In August 1926 he named a further man, A. V., in connection with a robbery of September 1924, and later withdrew the statement.
The open trial before a military court was held in Jelgava, in the Officers' Club, from March 21 to April 3, 1927. The gang was charged with 40 serious crimes. Almost all Latvian newspapers reported it. A book about the robber Kaupēns, self-published in Jelgava in 1927, appeared the same year on an official list of publications restricted for minors.
The verdict was announced on April 3, 1927. The sentences were:
Ansis Kaupēns and Voldemārs Piebalgs: death.
Jānis Staņķis: death; what became of this sentence is not on record.
Jānis Vālodze: life at hard labor. President Alberts Kviesis pardoned him in 1936.
Jānis Rubenis: eight months in prison, equal to the time he had already spent in custody.
Anete Bubelte: three years in a correctional facility; she was released about a year later.
J. B.: acquitted.
The sentences of Kaupēns and Piebalgs were carried out on May 6, 1927. No appeal or petition for clemency by Kaupēns is on record.
The sentence was not the end of the public's interest. Kaupēns became a folk figure in Latvia, and the gang later inspired a rock opera, a novel and a documentary film, as well as a scholarly study of how recent Latvian literature treats him. Later writing has also rejected the legend, presenting him as a brutal robber rather than a romantic figure.
The number of killings: 19 admitted murders against more than 35 murders, robberies and other offenses together. The number of killings stated in the verdict is not on record.
The first offense: January 29, 1920, also given as November 29, 1920.
The household killings of 1922: May 5 in Vecsaule parish, also given as the night of June 5 to 6 in Bruknas parish.
Piebalgs's part in the 1922 killings: Kaupēns's later claim is unconfirmed.
Kaupēns's birthplace: Vecplatone, Zaļenieki or Bukaiši parish.
His workplace in Jelgava: a craftsman and saddle maker, also given as an employee of a furniture store.
November 2, 1895: Ansis Kaupēns is born in the Jelgava district.
Spring 1916: conscripted into the Russian imperial army.
December 17, 1919: enlists in the 11th Dobele Infantry Regiment.
January 1920: deserts.
January 29, 1920 (or November 29, 1920): first robbery on record.
June 23, 1921: killing of a woman in Svēte parish.
October 13, 1921: killing of a man.
1921 to 1922: crosses the border illegally and returns under a registered name.
May 1922: five residents of one household killed in Vecsaule parish (also given as June 5 to 6, Bruknas parish).
May 9, 1925: three people killed in Taurkalne parish.
May 29, 1926: last offense on record.
June 8, 1926: arrested in Jelgava.
June 8 to November 29, 1926: questioned at least 38 times.
March 21 to April 3, 1927: trial before a military court in Jelgava.
April 3, 1927: death sentences for Kaupēns and Piebalgs, among others.
May 6, 1927: Kaupēns and Piebalgs are executed.
August 30, 1927: P. S. acquitted of the 1922 murder.
1936: Vālodze pardoned by President Kviesis.