Pērkonkrusts (Thunder Cross) was a Latvian Ultranationalist, anti-German and anti-Slavic party established by Gustavs Celmiņš in 1933.
Pērkonkrusts adopted aspects of German Nationalism, despite being an anti-German party, and sought to bring all national economic control solely within the hands of ethnic Latvians, the motto of the party was "Latvia for Latvians– Work and bread for Latvians!"
The party wished for the nation to become a corporatist authoritarian state as a means of solving the economic crisis in the nation, with all power in the hands of a racially pure native elite - for this reason the ideology of Pērkonkrusts has been described as "anti-German National Socialism".
The party rejected Christianity as a foreign influence and instead recommended Dievturība, which is basically Latvian neo-Paganism, re-adopting the Pagan pantheon followed by ancient Latvians prior to Christianisation in the 13th century. Two gods of this religion are mentioned in the song, Dievs, the main God in the religion, and Laima, the goddess of fate, marriage, childbirth, and death.
Pērkonkrusts was fairly swiftly banned by the Latvian government in 1934, with members arrested, and Gustavs Celmiņš eventually exiled to Germany in 1937. Imprisoned members of the party found themselves punished by the Soviets following their takeover of Latvia in 1940.
When Germany occupied Latvia in June, 1941 Gustavs Celmiņš returned from Germany as a Sonderführer (a non-combat specialist role) in service to the Wehrmacht.
In early July Pērkonkrusts was allowed to operate again for a short time, whilst the Germans actively sought former members to serve in the Arajs Kommando, SS collaborationist unit.
The Germans finally did away with Pērkonkrusts for good in August, 1941, following which some members continued to operate as collaborators, whilst those who maintained an anti-German sentiment joined groups subversively opposed to German occupation.
Celmiņš was eventually imprisoned in Flossenbürg concentration camp for secretly publishing "Brīvā Latvija", an underground anti-German newspaper. He survived, and eventually found his way to the US, where he died on the 10th of April, 1968 in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 69.
The name of Pērkonkrusts re-emerged in 1995 as the name for a Latvian nationalist party. The ideology of this new Pērkonkrusts was ethnic and racial nationalism, anti-Communism, anti-Liberalism and opposition to Free Markets. The party called for Latvians to be the lords and masters in their own Fatherland. as well as racial purity of Latvians.
Much of the leadership of the modern Pērkonkrusts were arrested and tried in 2000, following which the party went mostly silent, finally either ceasing operations or being banned in 2006. However, there have been attempts in recent years to re-activate party, though none have been all that successful so far.
