The fate of Garlība Merķelis' book "Vannem Imanta"
The deepest essence of Latvian Army General and Chief Military Prosecutor Werner Toepfer was not connected with war or legal matters, but with art and various branches of the humanities. He had amassed an extensive library in Riga before World War II, containing around 3,000 rare books.
In 1944, he moved his library to the “Auči” house in Zemgale, hoping that it would be better preserved there from the ravages of war. The opposite happened, and almost all of this irreplaceable collection perished in flames as the front passed.
Among other things, his library also contained a bibliographical rarity - the book "Vannem Imanta" by Garlībs Merkelis, published in Leipzig in 1802, in German. Inside the book was a bookmark made by the painter Niklāvas Strunke with the text "The Book of General Werner Tepfer".
Living in exile in Stockholm, in the late 1950s, W. Tepfer received a letter from Strasbourg. The writer was a French doctor named Pierre Merklen, who, while serving in the German army during the war, had ended up in “Auči”. Pierre Merklen told the Latvian writer Arnold Apse about this event, who in turn described it in his book “Klosterkalns”.
Merklen: “During the war, I was a medical student, and I was drafted into the German army. In the summer of 1944, I was in Jelgava, Iecava, and Riga. I was at the front for the longest time, not far from Jelgava, on the banks of the Lielupe River at “Auči”. I heard that “Auči” was the home of your president. There was a large park, many buildings, and a palace. My superiors, the headquarters of the German army, lived in the palace. I often had to go there with a report. Once, I saw large bookcases in a room. They had been broken open, and many books were lying on the floor. I leafed through some of them, found some that I could read, and saw that a valuable library was being destroyed here. I became sad. I found an old little book in leather covers in German: Merkel’s “Vannem Imanta”. I took it with me as a souvenir. I think I didn’t commit a crime, I didn’t steal. When we left “Auči”, I saw that the books were already completely trampled… “Vannem Imanta” is with me, I have read it several times. What does “General Toepfer’s book” mean? Is General Toepfer your president? If he is alive, if you know the address, then he can receive his book now. And who was Merkel?”
Arnold Apse explained to him: “Merkel was not Latvian, but he was the first major fighter for Latvian rights, the first to say that Latvians enslaved by foreign masters were people. General Tepfers was not our president, but the husband of the daughter of a deceased president, and some of his books seem to have been in “Auči”, the president’s family home. I think the general is alive. He could be in Stockholm. The general’s brother in Sweden is our former envoy to Finland. I will correspond with him and get his address.”
After correspondence, this kind doctor sent General Werner Toepfer this only book, miraculously preserved from the great library.
After the death of General Werner Tepfer, the book remained with his widow Aldona Tepfere (née Čakste), and after her death it was inherited by their eldest daughter Barbara Tepfere Radinga. The book returned to Latvia, to her family home “Auči”, after the restoration of Latvia’s independence, but is now in the Riga History and Maritime Museum.
The story was told in 2006 by the daughters of General Werner Toepfer - Barbara Toepfere Radinga (living in Sweden, deceased) and Aldona Toepfere
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The family home and memorial museum "Auči" of the first president of Latvia, Jānis Čakste
Auči is the property of the Čakste family in Zemgale, in the Salgale parish of Jelgava region. The farm is located on the banks of the Lielupe River, approximately 18 km from Jelgava.
The Čakste family acquired the house in 1871, when it was bought by Krišjānis Čakste, the father of Jānis Čakste, the owner of the Čaksti-Zirņi houses in Sesava parish. He added three more houses to it – Ramaņi, Pudžūs and Guleniekis. The total area of the property at that time was 214 ha.
When the Germans occupied Jelgava during World War I, Jānis Čakste and his family fled, first settling near Tērbatas, and later in Kazan. The family returned to Auči in 1918. The houses were destroyed, the fields were unsown, and the livestock was scattered. Auči also suffered seriously in the battles with the Bermontites – the houses were vandalized, the apple trees were cut down, and trenches remained in the forest.
On November 11, 1918, J. Čakste returned to his father's house from his refugee journey in Russia, where he received news that at the meeting of the People's Council on November 17, he had been elected its chairman. Since J. Čakste had other duties at that time, he persuaded his son Gediminas to stop his chemistry studies to become the landlord of Auči. During this time, extensive construction took place and a large residential building with a tower was built according to the sketches of architect Roberts Legzdiņš.
According to historical evidence (J. Čakste family archive / data from the museum "Auči"), when in 1944 the Red Army advanced along the left bank of the Lielupe towards Jelgava, the owners of Auči again fled. For a few months, the front stretched along the Lielupe - the Red Army was on the left, the Wehrmacht on the right. The houses were often shelled, especially the tower suffered from heavy artillery shells. Immediately after the Second World War, only a few families of servants remained in Auči. Due to the difficulties with food, such farms left without an owner were set up as auxiliary farms of factories and factories, i.e. people who grew vegetables, cereals, livestock, etc. were placed here, the prepared products were taken to the relevant factory and distributed to its workers. Auči was apparently an auxiliary farm of the Riga Wire Factory, and the large house housed 6 immigrant families who worked on the farm.
Around 1949, due to collectivization, such auxiliary farms were liquidated and so-called state farms (sovkhozes) were formed on their basis. Since the Auči farm was not that large, it was simply attached to the Bauska district state farm Zālīte as a separate section, quite far from the center (they even built a straight road through the forest and a bridge over the Garoza river). The Auči manager at that time was Nadježda Arsjanovna. At this time, a consumer association store was also set up in Auči, which existed there for about 10–15 years (at that time, where the billiard room is now). It was in the early 1960s that the Auči territory was attached to the Brīvais Vilnis collective farm established on the Emburg side.
In 1995, Jānis Konstantīns Čakste, the eldest grandson of President J. Čakste, regained the family property and began the restoration work of Auči.
After the end of Konstantin's life, the property came into the hands of Kristīne Čakste. There are 3 free rooms in the residential building, which are allocated to the J. Čakste Memorial Museum. The rest of the building is inhabited by people who manage and maintain the Auči farm.
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