The Translation Scene in Latvia During the German Occupation

Abstract

The German occupation period in Latvia followed the twenty years of Latvian independence and a year of the Soviet occupation. The shifts in the translation policies at these critical junctions were incredibly fast. The independence period saw a developed translation industry. The source language variety was growing; the variety of literature translated and the quality of translations was broad. The communist system quickly nationalized the publishers, ideologised the system and reshaped the translation pattern. Russian was made the main source language and other languages minimized. The share of ideological literature grew exponentially.
 Soon after the German invasion the publishers regained their printing houses and publishing was renewed. During the German occupation around 1500 books were published. Another reorientation occurred, with German literature taking around 70 per cent of the source texts. Most of the other source texts were Nordic. No pulp literature was produced. Translation quality was generally high. The focus was on literary classics, travel literature and biographies (many German musicians). There are few ideologically motivated translations. 
 The official policies of the regime as regards publishing in Latvia appear to be uncoordinated and vague, with occasional decisions taken by ‘gate-keepers’ in Ostministerium and other authorities according to their own preferences. There was a nominal pre-censorship, but the publishers were expected to know and sense what was acceptable. In their turn the latter played safe sticking to classical and quality translations. Yet the statistics of what was published reflects the general drift. Some high class translations into German of Latvian classics were published.