Lukss, Valdis

(Vol’demar Kristapovich Luks). Born June 8 (21), 1905, in the village of Smārde, present-day Tukums Raion. Soviet Latvian poet; Honored Cultural Worker of the Latvian SSR (1955). Member of the CPSU since 1944. Son of a tailor. Graduated from the Latvian University in 1937. He took part in the Great Patriotic War (194-45). He was first published in 1925.

In 1941, Lukss published Severity, a collection of poems. In collections entitled Snow Was Falling (1943) arid Soldier’s Tankard (1945) and the narrative poem Father and Son (1945), Lukss revealed the patriotism of Soviet soldiers defending their homeland from the fascist invaders. The narrative poem Rita Starts to Live (1948) glorifies socialist labor, a theme that is also heard in the collection March (1962). The poet addresses himself to his people’s revolutionary past: the narrative poem Glory (1958) is dedicated to the Baku commissar Eizhen Berg, who was of Latvian nationality, and the narrative To the 4,001st—Yield the Road! is dedicated to the Red Latvian rifles. Lukss has also written poetry for children.

Lukss was secretary of the Writers’ Union of the USSR from 1959 to 1971 and first secretary of the Writers’ Union of Latvia from 1950 to 1965. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia from 1956 to 1960 and a deputy to the fifth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded the State Prize of the Latvian SSR (1958), four orders, and medals.