Jānis Mendriks

Who is Jānis Mendriks?

Jānis Mendriks, was a Latvian Catholic priest killed in a Soviet Gulag.

He was born in Logocki, Kalupe Parish near Aglona and shot in the Vorkuta Gulag, in the Komi Republic, part of the Siberian region of Russia.

Inmates at Vorkuta who were forced to work in the region's coal mines went on strike during the Vorkuta uprising in July 1953. The mostly passive strike was put down on 1 August, when troops were ordered to fire at the strikers resulting in the deaths of at least 42 prisoners including Mendriks.

He was a member of the congregation of Marian Fathers. Mendriks has been honoured by the Roman Catholic Church as a Servant of God since 2003.