Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics

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Zigfrīds anna meierovics (born January 24, jul. / 5. February  1887 greg. In Durbe ; † 22. August 1925 in Tukums ) was the first Foreign Minister of Latvia and later during two terms of office and the Prime Minister . He was a co-founder of the Latvian Farmers Union .

Life

Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics was born into the family of a Jewish doctor and his Latvian wife Anna. His mother died two days after he was born. Because his father suffered from a mental illness, Meierovics grew up in the family of an uncle in Kabile . He studied at the Riga Polytechnic . In 1911 he graduated with the degree of candidate in commercial science . Then he taught commercial geography at the Commercial School in Riga .

After 1911 Meierovics was involved in various Latvian organizations, including the Latvian Society in Riga . During the First World War he worked in various Latvian refugee committees and in the organizing committee of the Latvian riflemen . After the February Revolution of 1917, he went to Riga and became a politician.

In negotiations with the provisional Russian government and with representatives of the Entente in London , he tried to secure Latvian independence. On November 11, 1918, it was he who, as a member of the provisional Latvian National Council ( Latviešu Pagaidu Nacionālā Padome ), received the written confirmation with which the United Kingdom de facto recognized the statehood of Latvia .

Meierovics became the first foreign minister of the Republic of Latvia on November 19, 1918, which had declared its independence the day before. He held this office until January 25, 1925. The fact that he came from a Jewish family on his father's side did not prove to be an obstacle to his career in Latvia - in contrast to other countries in Eastern Central Europe. Between 1921 and 1924 he was Prime Minister of his country twice: from June 19, 1921 to January 26, 1923 and from June 28, 1923 to January 26, 1924.

His merits include the peace treaties with Germany and the Soviet Union of 1920, the de jure recognition of Latvia by the Allies, the preparation of a defensive alliance with Estonia and the accession of his country to the League of Nations .

Meierovics was also a member of the Latvian People's Council ( Latvijas Tautas Padome ), the Latvian Constituent Assembly ( Satversmes Sapulce ) and later in the Saeima , the Latvian parliament.

Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics died at the age of 38 on August 22, 1925 in a traffic accident near Tukums .

honors and awards

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Kai von Jena: Polish Ostpolitik after the First World War. The problem of relations with Soviet Russia after the Riga Peace of 1921 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-421-01965-7 , p. 204.
  2. ↑ Benjamin Conrad: Loyalty to a Latvian State? Baltic German politicians and the founding of Latvia 1918–1920 . In: Svetlana Bogojavlenska, Jan Kusber (ed.): Tradition and a new beginning. Research on the history of Latvia at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Small commemorative publication for Erwin Oberländer . Lit, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-12732-7 , pp. 33-53, here p. 49.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Meierovics, Zigfrīds Anna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian politician, member of the Saeima
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Durbe
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1925
Place of death at Tukums