Editorial

Abstract

The spring of 2025 has arrived with the uncanny and rather persistent feeling that we are now “living the history”, having a first-hand experience of a time that someday will be analysed in detail by future historians. The war of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine still continues, and, although it seemed that during these more than three years of war we had seen every form of atrocity, the bloody Russian missile attacks on civilians on Palm Sunday in particular, with their cynicism and senseless atrocity, are deeply disturbing. On the other hand, the statements made by US politicians appear to have exceeded all possible levels of absurdity and can no longer surprise us at all. Unfortunately, these statements, which would cause a light chuckle in the rhetoric of the politicians of a minor country, do not sound at all amusing coming from a world power like the USA. Only time will tell how this situation will develop further.

While we observe the emerging field of work for future historians with some concern, this issue of the journal offers the reader a variety of content produced by today’s historians. Two articles in this issue are devoted to ethnographic themes, two – to the history of military conflicts, and one – simultaneously to the history of Latvian civil society and cities.

This issue of the journal is opened by a research paper dedicated to the 19^th century runner-based transport in Zemgale by Una Bērente, a doctoral student of history and archaeology at the University of Latvia. Based on examples of various sleighs and sledges preserved in accredited museums in the Zemgale region, and making extensive use of primary ethnographic documentation and written sources, the author analyses the terminology of the parts of runner-based vehicles, describes the materials and tools used in their manufacture. Of particular interest is the description and analysis of the development of sleigh decorations and paintwork. The study is enriched by the illustrations drawn by Jānis Zemgus Jātnieks.

The history of ethnography as a branch of science during the Soviet period is the subject of a study by Ilze Boldāne-Zeļenka, a leading researcher at the University of Latvia. The subjects of the study are publications of Latvian Soviet ethnographers in the most important scientific journal in the field, Sovetskaja Etnografija, published in Moscow. Based on the example of ethno­graphers’ publications, the author illustrates a broader trend in science in Soviet Latvia, namely, not only the formal structural incorporation but also substantive inclusion of research conducted in Soviet Latvia in the system of relations between centre and periphery established by the Soviet colonial power.

On the other hand, each of the two articles exploring the history of military conflict considers separate, distinct groups of people in two different conflicts. Ginta Ieva Bikše, research assistant at the University of Latvia, analyses the formation, composition and participation of the Latvian group named after Leons Paegle in the Spanish Civil War. Of particular interest is the insight into the relationships and leisure activities of the members of this unit – the largest Latvian group in the Spanish Civil War, including the frequently excessive drinking habits of the its members.

The study by Latvian War Museum historian Jānis Tomaševskis focuses on events that took place only a few years later, namely, the beginning of the German-Soviet War in the summer of 1941, one of the phases of the Second World War, particularly – the armed anti-Soviet movement during this period. Using data from a survey conducted by the Latvian Statistical Office in 1941–1942, Tomaševskis thoroughly and comprehensively analyses the social portrait of the resistance fighters: their age, gender, nationality, religion, education, occupation, military experience. The analysis of these data also enables the author to draw some conclusions about the motivations of the resistance fighters to to challenge Soviet invasion.

The research of Ieva Sila, the historian of the Liepāja Museum, focuses on the history of the city of Liepāja in the period from 1920 to 1934, specifically – on the manifestations of civic participation by its citizens, such as taking part in municipal elections and submitting various requests and recommendations to the municipality. The article also delves into the principles and trends of municipal functioning in general during this period. Considering that in Latvian historiography the study of urban history is mostly, with rare exceptions, focused on the history of Riga, the importance of this study should be noted and one could only wish that urban history would be studied more extensively in the future. This article, considering Liepāja, is based on the research carried out for the master’s thesis of the author and continues the current journal’s tradition of publishing one such study in each issue, based on a master’s thesis defended in recent years.

In the section of reviews, four books published in recent years are presented, which, like the articles, encompass a wide range of topics. All the works reviewed in this issue have been published in Latvia. The first book is a compilation of biographies of the Constitutional Assembly deputies, edited by Ē. Jēkabsons, V. Ščerbinskis and G. Zelmanis, followed by a book on the queer community in Soviet Latvia, edited by I. Lipša, K. Vērdiņš and K. Zellis. Then, a survey of the history of the Latvian economy over the last 150 years, edited by G. Krūmiņš is analysed, and finally, the section offers a concise but significant review of the study dedicated to Ivars Smilga and his life in the Soviet Union’s corridors of power, written by Y. Slezkine.

Kristīne Beķere