Jānis Pīnups

Jānis Pīnups (; 10 May 1925 – 15 June 2007) was the last of the Forest Brothers to come out of hiding, in 1995, at the age of 70.

Biography He had been conscripted into the Red Army in August 1944 and was sent to the front, where he participated in two battles. A concussion rendered him unconscious in the second battle. When he awoke, he saw that no one was left on the battlefield and seized the opportunity to desert, finally managing to return home on 7 October 1944.

From that moment, he spent more than 50 years hiding from the authorities and strangers. Only his brothers and sister knew he was even alive. At first, he lived in the forest, but with cold weather setting in, he fitted out a hidden underground bunker for himself on the farm of some relatives. In the 1950s, these relatives built a new house, leaving their old one derelict, that becoming another sanctuary for hiding from strangers.