Suchergebnisse

When the majority of Baltic Germans left Latvia in the fall of 1939, Margarete von Pusirewsky (1872–1948) stayed behind in her home town Riga. Together with her family – her mother Ludmilla Goegginger (Gēgingers) and her sister Marta Busz, as well as her two daughters and a son, they decided not to follow the mass exodus of Germans. In her life, Margarete von Pusirewsky had already experienced several episodes of self-imposed exile from her hometown and Baltic Heimat, firstly, as the wife of a military doctor post ed to different places around the Russian Empire, and secondly, during the First World War, when she and her family had fled to Helsinki. After these longer periods spent in other parts of the Russian Empire, she always returned to Riga. Even when she left Riga for the last time in 1944 to flee the approaching Red Army, she hoped to be able to return soon. Based on primary sources, in particular the memoirs of Margarete von Pusirewsky, this paper discusses the connectedness with one's home town, the experience of exile, the longing for "being home" again during and after episodes of exile and in the context of flight, (forced) resettlement, and deportation.

For the new states that emerged as a result of the First World War, ensuring the internal political security in the early 1920s was a fundamentally important issue. In the case of Latvia, potential security threats were exacerbated by the country's geopolitical position – a direct border with Soviet Russia – which made Latvia a protective barrier against the spread of the Communist movement. The aim of the study is to characterize Latvia's role in the political security system of Western democracies in the early 1920s based on the materials of the Latvian security service, focusing on Latvia's relations in the field of political security with three Western democracies – United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.

Among the bronze items dating to Latvia's Late Bronze Age (1100–500 BC) and the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 BC) there are rings with open ends that resemble bracelets or necklaces by size. The number of bronze rings and their fragments is not large – 57 units, but that of fragments of casting moulds is much higher – 856. The article deals with the data of both these rings and the respective castings. The main focus is on the problem of the function of these rings: whether they were ingots or jewellery. The author argues that, although bronze rings were used as jewellery, it was probably not their only or even their main function. Bronze rings were used for more convenient storing and transporting of metal, but also as a value equivalent in exchange operations.

In early 1939, after retreat from Catalonia, more than 50 Latvians, former participants of the Spanish Civil War, crossed Spanish–French border and ended up in internment camps in France. The aim of the current article is to give an overview and analyse the experience of Latvian men in internment camps. The article focuses on social activities and mutual relations, living conditions and their differences in internment camps in Saint-Cyprien, Argelès-sur-Mer, Gurs, Le Vernet etc., considering the beginning of the Second World War and the establishment of Vichy regime. Furthermore, the attitude of Latvian authorities towards Latvian citizens and possibilities for Latvian men to depart from the internment camps in France have been considered.

Contemporary public sport governance takes place in a very different context than that of past decades. The public sport governance is comprised of a variety of basic aspects that build its managerial basis - legislative base, funding allocation and long-term strategic development. The research problem presented is the seeming ambiguity of the variety of theoretical aspects of public sport governance that define the real-life practice of various public sport governance systems across countries. The aim of research was to examine and analyze the theoretical aspects of public sport governance and to determine the practical differences through the comparative analysis of the public sport governance systems of the Baltic States and Scotland. The research was conducted using monographic and content analysis method to research the variety of theoretical aspects, while the comparative analysis method was applied to compare the public sport governance cases of the chosen countries. The main results of the research present that the available theoretical aspects of public sport governance enable a practical research to be conducted on a wider and detailed scale. The results proved that even the slightest difference between countries within their legal framework could prove its intention in furthering sport sector's promotion. A definition of the term "public sport governance" was developed and proposed. It could be used in further research of the conceptual and practical understanding within the public governance, policy, sport management, economics and sport law fields as crucial part of the overall public sport governance within the national, regional and international economic framework.

The article focuses on the phenomenon of queer domesticity in Latvia in the 20th century, analysing evidence of a homosexual couple living together in a house they built in Rīga. Adapting to different political regimes, two men who met while working in the theatre could maintain their lives together for about twenty years. To do this, they had to use various adaptation tactics and subterfuge and create their own concept of family in their daily lives. Their subterfuge tactics have been so successful that their queerness and cohabitation are forgotten today. This case study adds to the knowledge of queerness during the Soviet era by highlighting the complex relationship between personal freedom and conformism concerning state power in the artistic environment.

The research aims to analyse oral history interviews of heterosexual people about their experience with homosexuals during the Soviet times. Eight interviews were selected for the analysis based on two criteria – the research participant belongs to the Soviet generation, and he/she has personally known homosexuals during the Soviet times. The paper presents interviews as a primary source, illuminating several challenges with obtaining the interviews and their interpretation. In addition, common narratives of communicative memories' evidence and their influence on current views of homosexuals in Latvian society, including its historical metanarrative and historical record, which relies on the nation's victimisation during the Soviet times, are analysed.

This article comprehensively analyses Gunārs Piesis's diary, providing a complete reconstruction of its content. Historical and literary discursive practices have been employed to examine the material. The central point of the argument is that the diary illuminates Piesis's personality, his queer feelings, and mental health struggles, particularly his battle with depression, which had been previously dismissed as mere moodiness rather than a genuine disability. Furthermore, the diary confirms rumours surrounding Piesis's homosexuality, an important part of his identity, which he tried to suppress and emancipate. The diary offers valuable insights into his personal history. It serves as a testament to the controlling and repressive mechanisms employed by the Soviet authorities during that time. These mechanisms significantly impacted Piesis's sexual life and artistic freedom, and this article is the first to discover and analyse their effects.

The article focuses on male same-sex subculture in public space in Riga during the Second World War and late Stalinism. It analyses the performance of same-sex desire through which the public space was appropriated for male same-sex purposes. The article argues that during the period under discussion, same-sex loving men, who socialised in Riga, perceived themselves as recognisable and positive agents in urban life, thus creating the vibrant male same-sex subculture of the public sex culture. The key source of the article is a diary, whose author both observed his contemporaries performing samesex desire in public space and practiced it himself.

The collection contains SCIENTIFIC articles on the topics of the LU 79 conference reports. The main focus is on innovative and applied research in biology and interdisciplinary fields. ; The project "Evaluation of the cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus L.) genetic resources of Latvia and Belarus as a background for the breeding program and conservation" (2019–2021) (project No. in Latvia LV-BY/2020/4, project No. in Belarus B19LATG004). Project No. 19-00-A01612-000004 "Obtaining of bio-degradable polymers from renewable resources for the production of protective coatings and packaging materials for fruits" is co-financed by the European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD) and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Support Service of the Republic of Latvia. The Landscape area "Augšdaugava" protection and management plan for period 2022–2034 is financed by the project 'Preconditions for better biodiversity preservation and ecosystem protection in Latvia', and co-funded by the European Union Cohesion Fund. UL research project "Biological diversity – impacts, functions and protection", subproject "Biological research of living organisms in urban, rural and aquatic ecosystems", No ZD2016/AZ81.

This paper deals with the identification and comparison of dietary practices and their changes from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age in two different ecosystems – the lower reaches of the Daugava river and Lake Lubāns wetland. Zooarchaeological, palaeobotanical, and stable isotope evidence of chemical elements were used. The obtained results show that the beginning of early farming in Latvia can be observed in the late Neolithic period, especially for the Corded Ware Culture people. However, the consumption of freshwater fish also remains significant during this period. Farming, as the main form of food provision, became established in Latvia in the Middle Bronze Age.

This article employs narrative analysis to examine three testimonies provided by individuals who were contemporaries of lesbians in Soviet Latvia. The author's research is based on two oral history interviews and the diary entries of a homosexual man, dating between the 1950s and 1980s. The research was carried out in four stages: (1) story analysis; (2) identification of main topics and characters; (3) identification of main terms and tone; and (4) extraction of three key narratives. The findings demonstrate, firstly, the lack of terminology to describe homosexual/non-heterosexual relationships between women when referencing the Soviet time. This indicates that contemporary terms used by the LGBTQI+ community may not be valid for analysing the experiences of non-heterosexual people in Soviet Latvia. Secondly, the testimonies described in this article view same-sex women's relationships through heteronormative lens as deviating from the norm. Thirdly, the article highlights how rigid expectations of "manly" and "womanly" behaviour and traits are used to judge compliance with or deviation from societal norms. The understanding of non-heterosexual relationships between women, as evidenced by the sources, cannot be standardised. While the testimonies reference non-heterosexual relationships between women, they also mention same-sex relationships, which may have formed due to socioeconomic conditions and different intimate bonds.