Evening star., 1944-10-17
Letters to The Star
Latvian Minister Says His People
Want Atlantic Charter Freedom

Latvian Minister Says His People
Want Atlantic Charter Freedom
To the Editor Of The Star:
In Sundays Star, Joseph H. Baird
states that "the fundamental dificulty
of any Just and lasting territorial ar
rangement In Eastern Europe :.
Is. an impossibility to draw territorial
lines which will include exclusively
Liths, Latvians, Estonians or Baltic
Germans"
Concerning the latter, would like to
recall that In 1939-40 all Baltic Ger
mans were repatriated to their father
land. Even during the Nazi-German
"Ostland" episode in the Baltic States
they were not permitted to return to
their fieshpots in the Baltic, at least
not to Latvia, which I have the honor
to represent in the United States.
AS regards territorial lines, all Latvia's
frontiers. except for the 80 miles Of
its Baltic coastline, were settled: with
Lthuania and Estonia by arbitration
procedure, and with the U. S. 8. r. by
the peace treaty Of August II. 1920. Ar
ticle OF this treaty describes the state
frontier between Latvia and Soviet Rus
sia in detail and stipulates that the
decisions of the frontier commission
shall be based on ethnographic con-
siderations. These stipulations scrupul-
ously were observed and the frontier
was drawn to the satisfaction Of both
parties. The final protocol confirming
this frontier between Latvia and the
Soviet Union was signed on April 7,
1928. The respective text of the treaty
may be found in the League Of Nations
Treaty Series, 1920-21. No. 81.
The next agreement concerning Lat
Was frontiers with the U. S. S. r. was
signed on July 10, 1926, and registered
in the League of Nations Treaty Reg
1stry under No. 1888. On April 8, 1887,
a special agreement regarding boundary
work was signed between Latvia and
Soviet Russia and registered at the
League Of Nations in 1898. incidentally,
at that time the U. 8. s. r. already was
. member OF the League and did not
raise any boundary disputes with Lat
via. The Latvian-Soviet frontier line
was to be found on oficial Russian maps
published by the Soviet State Cartho-
graphic Institute and also on the map
published by the Department Of State
in international Transfers of Territory
in Europe" Washington, 1887, plate 3.
Argues Border Is Ancient.
Actually the Official frontier line be-
tween Latvia and the u. S. S. r. COIN
cides with the ethnographic and natural
border line which has existed for more
than 1000 years between the Latvian
and Slavic inhabited territories, sepa-
rated by swampy forests. rivers and
lakes, over which run several narrow
ridges used as passways by the brown
bear and the grey wolf.
During the centuries a small Russian
minority Q0.58 per cent? mostly Old Be-
levers, tnf1ltrated into Latgale, the Lat
Wan province bordering on Russia.
However, unlike the Great Russians,
who formed only 43 per cent OF Czarist
Russias population. the Latvians al
ways have been in the ma ajority in their
country -.
To be Just, Latvia racially is one Of
the most homogeneous countries in Eu-
rope. When granting recognition to
Latvia in 1922. Secretary of State
Charles E. Hughes in his telegram to
Commissioner Young in Riga stated that
the government of Latvia has been set
up and maintained by an indigenous
population" The Latvians have in
habited their country from time imme-
mortal. They speak their own language,
which is neither Germanic nor Slavonic
-. They are Lutherans and Roman
Catholics by faith.
The national autonomous movement
for freedom OF the Latvians is tradi-
tional. During the first World War
the Russian Gar permitted them to
organize their own army, and the Lat
Wan Rifle Regiments fought on the
side of the Allies. losing $4,000 from
contingent of 10000. AS a reward,
on June %, 1917 the Russian provisional
government of Prince Lwow granted the
Latvians territorial autonomy. On No
vember 18, 1917, the Latvian Provisional
National Council, firmly adhering to
democracy and the Allied cause, de-
clared Its separation from Bolshevik
Russia and also condemned the Brest-
Litovsk Treaty, by which Soviet Rus
sia renounoed sovereignty over Latvia
In favor Of Germany. -.
Pleads for Independence.
The LAtvians, a nation of peaceful
farmers, can only rely upon justice,
moral rights and the sanctity of in
ternational treaties, as do all other
small European countries. If Belgium,
the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzer-
land can live freely side by side with
France and Germany, why cannot Lat
via exist beside Russia, particularly II
Germany is disarmed and pacifled?
The Latvian nation rejects its en-
forced incorporation into Soviet Rus
sia by brutal force, and in result of
unprovoked military aggression in 1910,
when by illegal and falsified elections
in the presence of overwhelming Soviet
military forces, -Bolshevik majority
was engineered into the Saeima (par-
liament), which unconstitutionally de-
cided to join the U. S. S. r. The United
States Government Immediately on July
%, 1910, condemned such devious
processes.
The Latvian nation earnestly expects
that after liberation from terroristic
Nazi- German domination 1t will regain
its sovereign rights and self-government,