Russian Press in Latvia:1917-1944

The historiography of the „Russian question” in Latvia would not be developed so fast without Yury Abyzov’s „Russian printed word in Latvia : 1917-1944”, which was created in 1970-s and 1980-s, under such conditions with almost no hope to publish it. The work was successfully (secretly ) taken out of the USSR, and in 1990-1991 the Stanford University (USA) published it28. If not for the bibliography of Yury Abyzov, researchers would have to spend much more time doing the routine research work. This opinion of mine is based on my own experience while working at the monograph „Russians in the Pre-war Latvia”, which covers three aspects: Russians in the political life of Latvia, Russian societies and Russian education. Y.Abyzov not only completed the bibliographical listing of all the periodical editions and books, printed in the Russian language in Latvia in the period from 1917 till1944 (and preserved by libraries), but also given short biographical data about authors, and has unveiled many pseudonyms. The work turned out to be outstandingly well-timed, because Yuri Abizov even managed to meet a number of former editorial workers of the of the pre-war editions (A.Formakov, A.Perov, K.Verhovskaya and others) and to receive invaluable information from them. Most probably, a great deal of the most interesting and valuable information Y.Abyzov has got from Ivan Zavoloko, whom he kept in touch with after the latter had returned from exile. The work was well-timed also due to the fact, that its publication coincided with the large-scale political changes: the downfall of the USSR, formation of new independent states, including reestablishment of the independence of Latvia, and, as a result, a splash of interest about the life in the pre-war Latvia.

Tatyana Feigmane. Latvian Russians in Historiography of Latvia from 1990-2010