Hi all,

I wonder if anyone remembers, or has heard of, a Latvia actor called Karl Osokalj?

My great grandmother lived in Riga and in 1914 she attended many parties held by her brothers.  One of the many frequent guests was this actor.  He had a wife who was a dancer?

If anyone could enlighten me about this fellow, I would be very appreciative.

Cheers
from Australia
Michelle M

It was a really good puzzle to decipher who was hidden under this seriously corrupted name. In reality the orthography of this actor’s name in 1914 was Osolkaj and now it is Ozolkāja.

The actor Kārlis Ozolkāja (1888-1980) is rather well forgotten. I am not sure I have heard about him frequently, otherwise I should have remember him much faster, because his name is very easy to recall. It means - Oakleg. From family history point of view it can be decided that the first holder of this name was a retired soldier, who lost his leg in a battle and was provided with a wooden leg made from oak. Oak is a rather hard material and fits well for this goal, though is rather heavy. (Another material could be ash-tree and the appropriate name Oškāja can be easily found in Latvia, similarly also lime-tree – Liepkāja.)

The internet presents some material about this actor. Evidently he worked in one of several Latvian theatres in Riga. In 1912 he participated in the first movies shot in the region of Latvia. These were “Hear O Israel” and “Leiba, a shoemaker”. As the titles show, the movies could have some Jewish trend. I suppose, it is not known who financed the production of these movies, maybe here this trend could be understood.

The photographs of K.Ozolkāja regarding this period may be found in
http://www5.acadlib.lv/PVP/0000000379.htm
Because relatively many photographs of him were made, one may conclude that at that time he really could be a famous actor, after all not so many “movie stars” one could meet in Riga in 1914. In any case as these photographs are kept in the Theater museum, K.Ozolkāja belongs to the history of Latvian theatre. By the way, the last photograph of this collection was made in many copies for selling to theatre lovers, which I conclude from the white inscription of the name on it.

After the WWI he continued his theatre activities. In 1930s he worked in Zemnieku Drāmas teātris. This theatre was established in 1929 and was a kind of itinerant theatre. Its name can be translated as Drama theatre for Peasants (farmers). This theatre had several troupes and travelled around Latvia and performed in small towns. Their mission was to bring theatre to the masses. No doubt that the stationary Riga theatres hired the most famous actors, not this theatre.

After the WWII he stayed in Latvia and maybe continued to work in a provincial theatre, in any case he was not in the staff of any Riga theatres, or maybe he retired because he was not so young for performing nice fellows. It is known that in 1959 he participated in a film of Riga studio “The story of Latvian riflemen.” This film never was considered as a successful one, and his part was very small – in a list of the participants he is mentioned as the 16th.

He is buried in Riga, and a picture of his grave is available in the Internet.
http://mezakapi2.bravehost.com/actors/actors.html

I could find nothing about his wife.

Who were the brothers of your great grandmother you mentioned?

Sincerely.

Bruno Martuzans
http://www.roots-saknes.lv

ALexandra Linde was a young girl of sixteen when her older brothers started introducing her to their friends at various parties in Riga.  She had three older brothers:-

Johann Arnold Linde - born 18.6.1888 in Riga.  He became a locksmith like his father.  At 19 he was arrested for being part of an underground political group which she called ‘Geheime Verschworung’ (not 100% certain of spelling: her writing is hard to read).  He was arrested, sent to prison somewhere on the outskirts of Riga for a year before being sentenced to lifetime exile in Siberia (1911).  After two years he arrived on the doorstep of his aunt in Riga, starved, lice ridden and on the run.  He had somehow escaped and returned home!  His brothers arranged false papers for him and smuggled him into swtizerland.  We would love to know more about this story…..

He was not one of the brothers that partied with Alexandra.  She also had a brother called

Wilhelm August Linde - born 24 December, 1893 in Dorpat, Estland. (the family lived there for a few years before returning to Riga).  Willy became a mechanical engineer in Riga.  He worked for the Baltic Wagon Factory.  I believe this factory was moved to St Petersburg in 1915, so he went with them. (incidentally, their father, Johann had worked there too, a few years earlier).  He also spent time travelling all over Russia during the war.

The other brother was Hermann Friedrich Linde - born 15.2.1895 in Riga.  He completed an apprenticeship in business commerce with a wholesale greengrocer in Riga.

ALexandra wrote that one evening in 1914, she was invited to an apartment where she was introduced to the Lentzkow family: Eduard, Johann and Lilly, along with their mother.  They danced and sang all night.  This became a regular form of entertainment and apparently Karl Osokalj and his wife were frequent visitors.

At the time, Alexandra worked for C Goerke in a building in the Altstadt - on the corner of Marshall Strasse and Sunder Strasse (sorry I don’t know the Latvian names of these streets).

By the way, I visited the link and saw the photos of Karl - a very nice looking young man!  To think that he knew my family is wonderful!

Cheers
Michelle

Hi Bruno,

Just discovered that I am related to Karl Osolkaj by marriage!  Makes me very excited.