"French group" ( Latvian. Franču grupa ) - a circle of Latvian intellectuals, gathered in 1945 - 1950 . in private apartments in Riga to discuss French culture, which was one of their main professional interests: Eva Lase , Maya Silmale , Mild Greenfeld , Mirdza Ersa were translators of French literature into Latvian, Alfreds Sausne - author of the biography of Auguste Rodin , etc. The result of the meetings was numerous translations: in six years, 54 notebooks of translated texts were compiled [1] , among which, for example, the Latvian translation of The Little Prince (Eva Lase, 1946).
On January 4, 1951, the members of the group were arrested by the KGB , and during the investigation they were called the “French group”. Recognized organized group Lase, the artist Kurts Fridrihsons , poetess Elza Sterste were sentenced to 25 years in prison, Sausne, Silmale, Greenfeld, philologist Skaidrite Sirsone , actors Miervaldis Ozoliņš , Arnolds Stubavs and Irina Stubava - to ten years, Mirdza Ersan - to seven years. All sentenced were sent to the Gulag , were serving sentences in Mordovia and Siberia. In 1956 , they were amnestied and returned to Latvia.
In 1992 , during the state visit of French President Francois Mitterrand to Latvia, he met with two participants of the “French group”, Eva Lasa and Mirdza Ersoy, and invited them to France to celebrate Bastille Day [2] .
In 1994 , a documentary film “Paying for a dream” ( Latvian. Sods par sapni ) was filmed about the case of the “French group”, directed by Andris Rosenbergs by Inta Gale .
In 2001 , the “French group” was dedicated to the publication of the issue of the magazine “Carogs” [3] .
In 2004 - 2005 The exhibition “Artist Kurts Friedrichsons and the French Group” was held at the French Cultural Center in Riga and at the Museum of Occupation [4] .
Notes
- ↑ M. Laurent. De l'importance existentielle de la littérature française // Traduction littéraire et littératures européennes. La littérature française en traduction. - Paris, Numilog, Collection Le Rocher de Calliope, 2010. - P. 14. (Fr.)
- ↑ Undīne Adamaite. Franču grupa. No Sibīrijas lēģera līdz Miterāna rokasspiedienam // Diena , 2012. gada 11. maijs. (Latvian.)
- ↑ Karogs. December 2001 : Summary
- ↑ Atklās izstādi 'Mākslinieks Kurts Fridrihsons un franču grupa' // DELFI , 03. februāris 2005. (Latvian)