Daugavpils – „Sarkanā Verdena”: 1919–1920

Abstract

The battles near Daugavpils had an important role during the war for Latvia’s independence. Since 1918, the Soviet literature predominantly offered a version about Daugavpils as “Red Verdun” which had fought defence battles (for 129 days) against “the joint forces of Polish and Latvian white guards”. Objectively evaluating the historic events, the primary sources – Latvian press publications play an essential role. In this article, the materials from seven press editions have been employed. Regarding the press development, a new feature was the foundation of the Latvian Press Bureau (LPB) in March, 1919, and later – of Latvian Telegraph Agency (LETA). The task of the bureau was to inform the world’s news agencies and local media about the events happening in the territory of Latvia. The Soviet literature does not mention anything about the Red Terror which was carried out by so called commissioners for maintaining the order. On March 28, 98 people were shot dead near Daugavpils Fortress. This was the bloodiest crime committed by the Bolsheviks during the time of P. Stuchka’s Soviet government. These crimes became known to the wider society from the publications in the press only after Daugavpils was set free. The fight for Daugavpils took place in three phases: fights on the left bank of the river Daugava, capturing the outskirts of the town (August, 1919); the use of French tanks, Polish and Bolshevik armoured train, capturing the fortress bridgehead (September, 1919); Daugavpils occupation by Polish army and arrival of Latvian army (January 3, 1920). The press regularly published reports from the General Headquarters of Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish armies. When Daugavpils was set free, there were special correspondents of several newspapers who informed about the situation in the town. Though maintaining a lively interest in the events taking place in Daugavpils, in some cases the newspapers published unverified and false information, then trying to correct it or call it off.