Mazāk zināmais par Ulža Ģērmaņa publikāciju tapšanu un likteņiem

Abstract

The records on writer and historian Uldis Ģērmanis (1915–1997) at the Academic Library of the University of Latvia reveal the origins of the most important publications, as well as their resonance in the exile community and later also in Latvian society. The documents that can be found here and in other repositories allow following the creation of Uldis Ģērmanis’s works and their echoes in the exile community. The essay Latviešu strēlnieku vēsturiskā nozīme (The Historical Significance of Latvian Riflemen) written by Jukums Vācietis and commented by U. Ģērmanis that was published in the book Pa aizputinātām pēdām (1956) gave rise to intensive exchange of ideas for the opportunity to publish a text in exile written in the Soviet Russia and to the debates on the role of Latvian riflemen in the fight for the statehood of Latvia. Furthermore, the book by U. Ģērmanis Latviešu tautas piedzīvojumi (The Adventures of Latvian Nation, 1959) offers a new approach in attracting the interest of youth to the history of Latvia. The correspondence of U. Ģērmanis shows a dilemma of a Latvian intellectual between the desire to have an academic career and the necessity to get actively involved in the social life in exile. It shows the different opinions of U. Ģērmanis and other intellectuals in exile concerning the contacts of Latvian cultural and academic circles with the exile community that were controlled by the Soviet security institutions, which led to tensions in their relationship or even the loss of contact with several friends and colleagues of U. Ģērmanis. The research of the epistolary heritage of U. Ģērmanis attests to his long-term engagement in the creation of monthly magazine Brīvība, as well as provides so far unknown information about the circulation of information between Latvia and exile communities in the years of the Soviet occupation.