Valdemars, Crisjanis

He was born on December 2, 1825 in the Vecjunkuri manor of the Arlavsky volost of the Talsi district (now Valdgal volost, Talsi region ) into a wealthy peasant family. His father Martins Valdemars was the owner of the estate, and later became an assistant priest in Arlava. Together with his wife Maria Martins, he gave birth to ten children, 7 of whom died in childhood, before they reached the age of 15. The older brother of Krishjanis, Johann Heinrich (Indriķis) Valdemar (1819-1880) is a Germanized historian and archivist ^[2] , the sister Maria Medina-Valdemare (1830-1887) is a writer.

Krishyanis learned to read at the age of five. After graduating from school in Lubezere (1840), he worked at Sasmaki school (now Valdemarpils ) as a teacher, then as assistant clerk in Rundale , then as clerk in Lielberstel and Edola , where he organized the first Baltijas jūras izsmelšanas biedrība rural intelligentsia (Society for the Exhaustion of the Sea) ») And the first Latvian public library ^[3] .

With the support of the Governor-General of the Livonia Province A. A. Suvorov, at 24, he entered as a volunteer at the Higher School of Liepaja County and graduated in 1854. During his studies, he published the book “300 stāsti, smieklu stāstiņi un mīklas ..” (“300 stories, humor stories and riddles”, 1853); in the preface to it, “Vārdi par grāmatām” (“Words about the books”), the goal is mentioned - to raise the self-awareness of the peasants, to encourage them to read books and develop the mind. The book contains poems and prose by K. Valdemars himself. The poem “Natur und Mensch” (“Nature and Man”), written in German in 1854, was published in the collection “Daiļliteratūra latviešu grāmatniecībā” (“Fiction in Latvian Book Publishing”, in the series “Bibliotēku zinātnes aspekti” Science, 1991). The fragment “Das Gewitter” (“Thunderstorm”) with the signature CW-r was published in the collection Museenalmanach der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands (1856), in the Latvian language in the journal Burtnieks, 1933, No. 11.

In 1854, Valdemars entered the University of Derpt at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, at which time business was studied. In 1857 he became one of the founders of the student corporation Fraternitas Academica Dorpatensis. He organized a circle at the university, the purpose of which was the free development of the Latvian language and culture, which later developed into the movement of young boys . He published articles on the need to collect Latvian folklore ^[3] and establish marine schools for Latvians and Estonians (“On the attraction of Latvians and Estonians to navigation” - “Uber die Heranziehung der Letten und Esten zum Seewesen”, 1857).

While studying marine affairs, he attracted the attention of the Russian government and received an invitation to work in St. Petersburg, becoming an employee of the newspaper of the Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburgische Zeitung and official of the Ministry of Finance . With his work, he earned the respect of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich (son of Emperor Nicholas I , Admiral-General of the Fleet and Minister of Marine Affairs ). In 1860 and 1861, on behalf of the Grand Duke, he traveled around the coast of the Baltic Sea and submitted to the government proposals for the development of seafaring in the Baltic. By 1860, there was a program letter to K. Valdemar Konstantin Nikolaevich on this subject, in which he argued: “This land by nature itself was created in order to provide large-scale sea trade in Russia in the future” ^[4] . With the direct participation of Valdemars, starting in 1864, eleven nautical schools were created (ten of them in the territory of modern Latvia, the eleventh in Palanga ), the first of which was the Ainaži Naval School.

In 1862, in Leipzig, he published an anonymous pamphlet “The Situation of the Baltic, especially Vidzeme Peasants” (“Baltische, namentlich livlandische Bauernzustande”), where he praised the works of G. Merkel and drew attention to the disenfranchised position of peasants ^[5] .

From 1862 to 1865, together with other members of the movement of young boys, including Krishjanis Baron , he published a newspaper in Latvian, Petersburgas Avises (Petersburg Newspapers). He called for the development of education in the Latvian language, to collect and process folklore, and called for the strengthening of national self-awareness and the study of independent management. In his articles he made fun of fawning before the Germans (“Shameful Latvians”, “Howl of the Spit”, both in 1862).

Already in the first year of the newspaper's work, it gained great popularity and 4 thousand subscribers, overtaking the previously existing Latviešu Avīzes and Mājas Viesis. However, the German barons did not like this, so Valdemars was constantly forced to refute their complaints about the harmful nature of his publication ^[4] . At the beginning of 1865, he wrote to the chief of staff of the gendarmerie N. Mezentsev that his newspaper was “the most cautious in all of Russia,” however, despite this, it was subjected to severe censorship and the editor had to defend himself on 10-15 complaints, the authors of which an intelligent Latvian newspaper seems degrading and deserving every struggle.

In 1865, criminal proceedings were launched against K. Valdemars in the so-called Novgorod case: he suggested that the Latvians buy up land around Novgorod because they could not do this in the Baltic states, but the idea failed. As a result, Valdemars lost all his savings and career opportunities, his property was arrested and put up for auction. In order to hide from creditors, in 1867 he moved from Petersburg to Moscow, which from that moment began to attract Latvian youth who went to the ancient capital of Russia “to Valdemars” ^[6] .

Initially, Valdemars was in great need, earning money as a journalist in the newspaper M. Katkov “ Moscow Gazette ”. He even settled in the building of the newspaper on Strastnoy Boulevard . He was the actual editor of the German-language Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung (1870-71).

In Moscow, Valdemars became close to the Slavophiles, wrote articles on economics, the merchant fleet, on maritime affairs and education. Published a collection of articles "Vaterlandisches und Gemeinnutziges" ("Domestic and Universal" (1-2; 1871, in German; in Latvian in 2 volumes in 1937).

Under the direction of Kr. In 1872, Valdemarsa was prepared for publication “Russian-Latvian-German Dictionary”, in the compilation of which F. Brivzemnieks, A. Spagis, I. Laube participated. In 1879, the Latvian-Russian-German dictionary was also published, and in 1890 , the abridged and edited Russian-Latvian Dictionary, with the name Kr. Valdemars on the title page.

On the initiative of Valdemars, Fricis Brivzemnieks began to organize Latvian readings in Moscow, which grew into the Austrums academic association. From the beginning of 1885, his literary and popular science magazine Austrums began to appear ^[5] . Until 1887, it was listed as a university periodical, printed in a university printing house, and its editor-in-chief was Valdemars junior associate - German language lecturer at Jekab Velme University. The official address of the editorial office was Velme’s apartment in 4th Syromyatnichesky Lane near Kursky Station, behind the Garden Ring ^[6] .

From 1871 until his death in December 1891, Valdemars lived in the house of Sytin on the street. Myasnitskaya , 22, in the outbuilding that overlooked Krivokolenny Lane with one facade. For almost twenty years, Valdemars’s apartment was also a kind of “headquarters” of the Imperial Society for the Promotion of Russian Merchant Shipping , which played a huge role in the development of the merchant fleet and maritime education in Russia. K. Valdemars was the initiator and permanent (1873-1891) secretary-clerk of the Company. His board included F. Brivzemnieks .

In 1873, at the suggestion of Valdemars, the first maritime partnership in Russia was created.

Valdemars died in Moscow, buried in the Big Cemetery in Riga .

On February 18, 1864, Krishjanis Valdemars married the daughter of a Baltic German merchant from Riga, the writer Louise Johann von Ramm (1841-1914). They didn’t have their children, they took three foster children: the Latvian Anna (née Stig), the English women Esther and Francis (née Clark). Anna died at the age of 9, Esther in 1893, Frances (after Ertling's marriage) left for Germany in 1939.

• During the first Republic of Latvia (until 1940), the icebreaker “Krishjanis Valdemars” was part of the fleet. After Latvia was included in the Soviet Union, in 1940 it was included in the USSR Navy. He died on August 28, 1941 during the Tallinn Baltic Fleet transfer to Kronstadt .
• In Riga there is Krishyan Valdemara street ; streets of the same name are also in other cities of Latvia.
• From May 20, 1986 to October 27, 1989, AB dam was called the Krishjanis Valdemara Dam ^[7] .
• On Cape Kolka , wooden poles with a photo, a brief biography and a map of the Latvian coast with nautical schools founded by Krishjanis Valdemars are installed.
• In 1926, in honor of the centenary of the birth of Valdemars, the city of Sasmak, in which he lived and worked for some time, was renamed in his honor and is still called Valdemarpils .
• In 2000, in Ventspils, on the boardwalk of Ostas (Portovaya) street, on the shore of the port canal, a bronze monument to K. Valdemars by artist Miervaldis Polis was erected. It is cast in Germany and is a full-length figure sitting on a bench and looking towards the sea ^[8] .
• In 2001, a Latvian postage stamp dedicated to Krishjanis Valdemars was issued.
• In March 2006, the Bank of Latvia issued the Krishjanis Valdemars single-laced silver coin, which was produced using a unique technology developed by the Royal Netherlands Mint - a coin image minted in coin. The coin was issued in a print run of 5000 copies ^[9] .

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  Postage stamp Latvia, 2001

• L. Āronu Matīss . Krišjānis Valdemārs savā dzīvē un darbā. Jelgava, 1892;
• Līgotņu Jēkabs . Krišjānis Valdemārs. Riga, 1923;
• Krišjānis Valdemārs . Raksti, (t.) 1-2, Riga, 1936-37.
• Jakovļeva M., Kvaskova V., Pētersone P., Pijola S., Zelče V. (compiled), Zelče V. (scientific editor). “Krišjānis Valdemārs. Lietišķā un privātā sarakste: Divos sējumos. " ("Krishjanis Valdemars. Business and private correspondence, in two volumes) 1 volume: Krišjāņa Valdemāra vēstules. (" Letters of Krishjanis Valdemara "). Riga, Latvian State Historical Archive, 1997.
• Birkerts A. “Kr. Valdemars un vina centieni ", Riga, 1925;
• Niedre J. “Krišjānis Valdemārs”, in book: Latviešu literatūra, (t.) 2, Riga, 1953.
• Against the idealization of the Young Latvian movement (collection of articles). Riga, 1960.

• Krishyanis Valdemar
• Krishyanis Valdemars