Voss, Avgust

Born Oct. 17 (30), 1916, in the settlement of Saltykovo, in present-day Omsk Oblast. Soviet state and party figure. Candidate of economics. Joined the CPSU in 1942. Born into the family of a peasant.

After graduating from the Tiumen’ Teachers’ Institute in 1939, Voss worked in ft secondary school. He joined the Soviet Army in 1940 and during the Great Patriotic War did political field work in the army. In 1945 he was an instructor of the Central Committee of the Latvian CP. From 1945 to 1948 he studied at the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1949 he was chief of the sector of science and of higher educational institutions of the Central Committee of the Latvian CP, and then he became secretary of the Party organization of the P. Stuchka Latvian University. From 1950 to 1953 he was in the graduate school of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1953-54 he was chief of the science and culture department and from 1954 to 1960 chief of the department of Party bodies of the Central Committee of the Latvian CP. From 1960 to 1966 he was secretary of the Central Committee of the Latvian CP. From April 1966, Voss has been first secretary of the Central Committee of the Latvian CP. He was a delegate to the Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses of the CPSU; at the Twenty-fourth Congress he was elected to the Central Committee of the CPSU. He was a deputy to the seventh and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and also medals.