Personalities and Trends in the History of Latvia and Austrums

Personalities and Trends in the History of Latvia and Austrums

Jānis Stradiņš This article is an extended version of the academic lecture delivered by the author during a meeting of the academic organization Austrums on its 125^th anniversary (October 25^th, 2008). Austrums was founded in 1883 (as Moscow Latvian Students’ Evenings – Maskavas Latviešu studentu vakari) by Latvian students at Moscow University during the reactionary regime of Emperor Alexander III. This academic circle, started by the law student Jānis Čakste (1859–1927), championed the ideas of the most prominent Latvian public figure Krišjānis Valdemārs (1825–1891) who lived in Moscow at that time. Thus J. Čakste may be regarded as the ideological successor of K. Valdemārs. At that time Moscow was one of the leading centres of Latvian ideological thought and social activities. The views of K. Valdemārs and J. Čakste, with their emphasis on education, material prosperity, cultural nationalism, however were soon challenged. In the early 1890s, after the emergence of left-wing ideas popularized by Janis Jansons-Brauns and others who emphasized social problems instead and spread modern Western European ideas into Latvian society, the Moscow student circle split. As a result many of the more nationalistically oriented members of the student circle left and formed the core of the student society Fraternitas Moscoviensis. At the beginning of the 20^th century (1912), Fraternitas Moscoviensis split again into two different organizations – a student fraternity of the German type (Burschenschaft), later called Fraternitas Lettica (1902, 1912), and a student group with a more democratic orientation, Oriens (later Austrums) (1914–1915). The leading personalities and ideological principles of Austrums are delineated in the article. The origin of the name Austrums, during World War I, is also discussed. Austrums has played an important role in the history of Latvia. The first two presidents of the Republic of Latvia (J. Čakste, G. Zemgals) both belonged to Austrums. National resistance against totalitarian regimes during World War II was organized by the members of Austrums (Professor K. Čakste and others). The article emphasizes the historical heritage and democratic value system of this academic organization, its role in formation of the Latvian academic elite and its participation in the resistance movement.