Here is Ulmanis’s notorious last speech. For Māris, et al. I don’t see the ‘sacrifice’.

„Pilsoņi, pilsones! Pēdējo 24 stundu notikumi ir saviļņojuši visus prātus, un es tādēļ uzskatu par savu pienākumu, kā es to arvien svarīgos momentos esmu darījis, jums visiem pateikt, ko valdība šajā brīdī domā un dara.

Mūsu zemē kopš šī rīta ienāk padomju karaspēks. Tas notiek ar valdības ziņu un piekrišanu, kas savukārt izriet no pastāvošām draudzīgām attiecībām starp Latviju un Padomju savienību. Es tādēļ vēlos, ka arī mūsu zemes iedzīvotāji ienākošās karaspēka daļas uzlūko ar draudzību. Tai pašā laikā jums jāzina, ka karaspēka kustībai jānorit bez traucējumiem, un to jūs varat veicināt, ierobežojot pārlieko ziņkāri un atturoties no kārtības traucējumiem.

Šorīt jūs dzirdējāt ziņu par to, ka valdība pilnā sastāvā man ir pieteikusi savu atkāpšanos un ka es esmu uzdevis ministriem palikt savās vietās līdz jaunās valdības sastādīšanai. Pirmais uzdevums mums visiem ir līdzšinējā vienprātībā un darba gribā palikt savās vietās un turpināt kalpot tai lietai, kas mums ir augsta un svēta – Latvijas un mūsu tautas interesēm.

Ir neizbēgams, ka pārdzīvojamie notikumi ienes zināmu satraukumu un traucējumus mūsu līdzšinējās mierīgās dzīves ritumā. Bet tās ir pārejošas parādības, kurām mēs pēc dažām dienām tiksim pāri. Šinī brīdī es jūs aicinu – pierādiet domās, darbos un stājā tautas dvēseles spēku, ko izraisījuši atjaunotās Latvijas ziedu gadi. Tad es būšu drošs, ka viss, kas tagad notiek, nāks par labu mūsu valsts un tautas nākotnei un mūsu labām un draudzīgām attiecībām ar mūsu lielo austrumu kaimiņu – Padomju savienību.

Tas ir pats galvenais mūsu kopējais uzdevums, kas stāv pāri visiem ikdienišķiem sīkumiem, un tam veltīsim šajās dienās savu labāko gribu un savus labākos centienus.

Bet šis moments prasa arī daudzu jaunu praktisku uzdevumu kārtošanu, un pie tam steidzīgu jautājumu kārtošanu. Arī šajā brīdī es runāju valdības sēdes pārtraukumā, kur mēs apspriežam neatliekamus tekošus jautājumus. Esmu pārliecināts, ka jūs sapratīsiet rīkojumus, ko valdība devusi un dos, kaut arī tie vienā otrā gadījumā būs stingri un pat bargi. Pildiet tos apzinīgi, jo tiem nav cita mērķa, kā jūsu pašu miers un labklājība. Pienākuma apziņa un neatlaidība darbā lai vada jūs visus.

Mana sirds ir ar jums un es jūtu, ka arī jūsu sirdis pukst man pretī draudzīgā atbalsī. Tā iesim uz priekšu un veiksim savu darbu.

Es palikšu savā vietā, jūs palieciet savās.”

Fast forward to 2012 Latvia, population 2,220,000

From Gundega Saulite’s review of “Gusteknis Pili.”  (Laiks 2012, 11-17 aug.)
“Paradot sis dokumentalas ainas, izrades veidotaji ne vien parcila senu notimumu faktus un atgadina vesturisko personu ricibas argumentaciju tik sarezgita situacija, bet rosina skatitajiem meklet atbildes uz loti svarigiem jautajumeiem, kas skar ari sibriza Latvijas un latviesu tautas problemas.  Piemeram - cik viegli, bez mazakas pretestibas esam gatavi atdot svesiem savus iekarojumus?  Vai musu lemumi, kas pienemti, aizbildinoties ar mila miera saglabasanu vai situacijas spaidiem, nav drizak kapitulesana sava personiska glevuma un neizlemibas prieksa?  Lidz ar to “Gusteknis Pili” skatitajiem Latvija ir nozimigs ne tikai ar vestruisko notikumu izklastu.  Si izrade aktivize skatitaju apzinaties, cik svarigi ir aizstavet savus dargumus, jo ta piekapjoties, itin nemanot varam nodot vissvarigako - savu valsti. ...”

Ulmanis was born in 1877.  In 1905 he was imprisoned in Pleskavas prison for writing an article “krievu valdibas briesmu darbus.”  His political career on behalf of Latvia’s independence continued from that early time.  The details of his political career are too numerous to list.  He was murdered by the Soviets in Krasnovodskas prison in 1942 at the age of 65.

Hmm, I didn’t know Laiks wrote without diacritics.

Fast forward to 2012 Latvia, population 2,220,000

Currently CSB has calculated population gender and age structure on 1 January 2011, and the obtained information shows that at the beginning of 2011 Latvia was resided by 2 074 605 persons. In comparison with the number of population published prior (based on the Population Register data), the number of Latvia population has reduced by 155 thousand.

Source

Ulmanis was born in 1877...

Gee, Parsley—you sound like a yucky Soviet-deformed teacher (except that her or his Latvian wouldn’t be so bad, and he or she would write Krasnovodsk in the nominative). How ‘bout addressing the issues? Any issues.

/P

I have an issue with Krasnovodsk(as). It’s now called Turkmenbashi, which I found a bit ironic.

Two points (not quite ON point, but…)

First, the sentence “Bet tās ir pārejošas parādības, kurām mēs pēc dažām dienām tiksim pāri.” took me a bit by surprise.  Had I read it without knowing the context, I would have thought it was somebody translating too literally - “we will get over it”  and I would have thought that excerpt was much more recent.  Latvians “got over” things back in the early 40s.  Who knew.

Second, I don’t see why the declination would be in the nominative.  I think it odd that ambersun only tried to Latvianize that one word, but had she Latvianized the next as well, wouldn’t the genitive form be correct?

Yeah, but I didn’t wanna get that deep. Baby steps for Ambi.

/P

In Latvian, the genitive would be correct, of course. But she isn’t writing in Latvian.

/P

In 1905 he was imprisoned in Pleskavas prison for writing an article “krievu valdibas briesmu darbus.”

Heck, the same could be said about Vladimir Lenin, who spent years in exile and in prison for doing the work against the Russian government. So what? Does it excuse the Red Terror?

So do Charles’ accomplishments excuse his cooperation with the Soviets?

PS By the way, Pleskava is called Pskov in English.

Got it.

I do doubt that the title of any Ulmanis article was “krievu valdibas briesmu darbus” - any idea if such an article/writing existed and if so, what the real title was?

According to Lettish wiki:

1905. gada revolūcijas laikā Kārlis Ulmanis par savu sabiedrisko darbību no 1905. gada decembra līdz 1906. gada maijam bija ieslodzīts Pleskavas cietumā.

I think it’s more than just an article.

My question about Ulmanis is this: he is considered to be the president of Latvia, but who elected him? There was no legitimate Saeima by the time Kviesis’ term expired. Is it fair to then consider him as a president, even though he essentially appointed himself?

President’s Web site says, “1905.gada 21.decembrī par piedalīšanos 1905.gada revolūcijā tiek arestēts un nosūtīts uz Pleskavas cietumu. ”

With all due respect, you language experts are indeed going over-the-top with your language declination opinions. My school teacher mom woulda been cheering you on, but I think the rest of us are yawning. Go attend a good free-style Rap Concert. I personally hate Rap….but, that’s entirely besides the point.

Al

Al, with all due respect, I’m not writing to amuse you, much less “the rest of you.” Your yawns are your problem, not mine.  It’s a Latvian forum, and I had a question about a statement regarding the Latvian language.  Why, exactly, should I ask it elsewhere?

Sveiki Anita!

I could have just let this pass un-commented upon, but that would be a bit too trite for your lofty expectations.

Humor serves multiple purposes. Lack of humor reveals a lot, as well.

I didn’t personalize any of my observations, but you did. To use your own language, “Your yawns are your problem, not mine.”, I continue to not have a problem with my yawns and others will have to decide for themselves whether they have problems with theirs. I get it quite clearly that you’re having a problem with this at this particular moment and hope sincerely that you find a way to get over it. Meanwhle, I found nothing at all objectionable about what you said, but to quote Shakespeare “There is nothing like….”

Regards,

Al

When Parsley Embersunītis addresses things substantively, I’ll stop ragging on her Latvian skills (I didn’t even bother to parse the article title; I simply said ‘bad Latvian’ and left it at that… as to Krasnovodsk/Türkmenbaşy—look, how would you feel about an article in English on jazz in Jaunorleāna, utilizing Latvian spellings for every weirdly [mis]pronounced street name?).

I think it’s strikingly odd for a woman ostensibly devoted to ‘defending Latvian’—and incessantly blaming russophones growing up and living in areas where the linguistic environment isn’t Latvian and never was—not to bother writing properly. It is a lot harder for many Russians to learn Latvian than it is for her, who is ethnically Latvian and assumedly grew up with the tongue, but she can’t even be bothered to acquire diacritics (or, since she’s such an expert at cutting and pasting, to cut and paste them). And the people who never take note of this will rag on me for my tongue-in-cheek ‘Dvinsk’.

I will also point out that the trimda did make contributions to our language, once upon a time. If you can get your hands on it, try the selected works of Jānis Steiks (it’s out of print and hard to come by). Mixing Steiks’s hilarious etymologies with the deadly serious entomology of Jaņdžs could be a lot of fun… one was aware of what he was doing, and the other isn’t.

Visu gaišu,
/P

Thanks PC!

That was the type of an answer that I was hoping for. There are many “right” answers to this issue of proper “tautas valoda” and I’m sure this is just one of them - and it does get complicated for the trimdinieki/diasporan readership for whom it is not second-nature - but the dialogue is not enhanced by a painfully obvious case of taking yourself “too seriously”.

Paldies par atbildi,

Alberts