Latvian Provisional National Council (LPNP)
I World War I, I Wars of Independence
The Latvian Provisional National Council (LPNP) is a Latvian political representation organization founded in November 1917 in Valka (English Latvian Provisional National Council, German Lettlands Vorläufiger Nationaler Rat, Russian Латышский временный национальный совет).
The LPNP was delegated by Latvian political parties and public organizations. This organization internationally defended the right of the Latvian people to self-determination until the meeting of the Latvian People's Council (17.11.1918). The goal of the LPNP was to advocate for a Latvian people united in a single and ethnographic territory, to represent its interests at the next peace conference and to ensure the convening of the Constituent Assembly. Its tasks were to convene the Constituent Assembly of Latvia, which would decide on the internal system of Latvia and “external relations”; to ensure the return of the dispersed people to their homeland; to protest against any annexation of Latvia to Germany; to demand the separation of Latgale from the Vitebsk Governorate and its annexation to Latvia.
On November 17, 1917 (local time 30.11.) in Valka, the LPNP was founded by 29 delegates from 13 civic parties and organizations. After its establishment, the 1st session of the LPNP began, which lasted until November 19. (local time 02.12.) 1917. Several resolutions and declarations were adopted, the most important of which was the declaration “To Foreign Countries and Nations”: “Latvia, which includes Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale, is an autonomous state unit, the status of which, in its relations with the outside world and internal system, will be determined by its Constituent Assembly and a plebiscite of the people.”
19.11. (j.st.02.12).1917. elected the board of the LPNP. Attorney Voldemārs Zāmuelas was elected as chairman, attorney Kārlis Pauļuks, second lieutenant Jānis Rubulis and soldier Jānis Palcmanis as members of the chairman; notary Kristaps Bahmanis as secretary, secretarial members – writers Kārlis Skalbis and Jānis Akurateras; treasurer – cooperator Vili Siliņš, and commercial engineer Eduards Laursons as treasurer’s member.
25.11. (j.st. 08.12.) 1917. The LPNP issued the appeal “To all Latvians!”, which was distributed in 30 thousand copies in the non-German occupied part of Latvia and in Latvian refugee centers in Russia. In the appeal, the LPNP informed about its establishment and called on Latvians to exercise their right to self-determination. 19.12.1917. (j.st. 01.01.1918.) The Bolshevik Iskolat banned the LPNP's activities and its board continued to operate illegally. The organization's Foreign Affairs Department operated in Petrograd, where the 2nd session of the LPNP also met on 28-30. 01.1918., in the adopted declaration of which the goal was set for the first time that “Latvia should be an independent democratic republic that would unite Courland, Vidzeme and Latgale”.
In October 1918, discussions began between the LPNP and the Democratic Bloc founded in German-occupied Riga about the establishment of a Latvian Pre-Parliament. The last LPNP board meeting was held on November 17, 1918, at which it was decided not to obstruct the establishment of the Latvian People's Council, which would proclaim the Republic of Latvia on November 18. The LPNP thus ceased to exist.
More information sources
Jānis Tomaševskis. Whispers of Independence: The History of the Latvian Provisional National Council, Riga, Jumava, 2017.; Jānis Tomaševskis. Latvian Provisional National Council. National Encyclopedia. https://enciklopedija.lv/skirklis/27579-Latvie%C5%A1u-pagaidu-nacion%C4%81l%C4%81-padome
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Related objects
Exhibition “Valka - the Cradle of Latvia’s Independence”
The Valka Local History Museum is located in Valka, on the right side of Rīgas street, in the historical building of the Vidzeme Parish School Teacher Training Seminary. From 1853 to 1890, the building was home to the Vidzeme Parish School Teacher Training Seminary. Until 1881, it was led by Jānis Cimze, a teacher and founder of Latvian choir culture. After the School Teacher Training Seminary was closed, the building served various educational, cultural and household needs for 80 years. The building has been home to the Valka Local History Museum since 1970. The museum’s permanent exhibit – ‘Valka, the Cradle of Latvia’s Independence’ – has been set up as a story about social and political events in Valka from 1914 to 1920 when Latvia became an independent state. The exhibit reflects the preparation leading up to the establishment of the Latvian state and the formation of the North Latvian Brigade in Valka. Through four senses, namely, the Road, the Council, the Headquarters and the Home, the exhibit focuses on topics related to the city of Valka, refugees, the founding of the Latvian Farmers’ Union (1917), the
Latvian Provisional National Council (1917), the Latvian Provisional National Theatre (1918), the Provisional Government of Soviet Latvia known as the Iskolat, the North Latvian Brigade (1919) and General Pēteris Radziņš. In addition to the traditional ways of showcasing collections, the exhibit makes use of interactive multimedia solutions.
Monument "Dedication to the Latvian Provisional National Council"
The monument “Dedication to the Latvian Provisional National Council” is located in Valka at the intersection of Rīgas and Raina streets (address Raina street 9A).
The monument was unveiled on December 2, 2017, as part of Latvia's centennial program, in honor of the meeting of the Latvian Provisional National Council in 1917.
The author of the ensemble idea is the sculptor Arta Dumpe, the stonemason – Ivars Feldbergs, the architectural planning was carried out by SIA "Architectural Office Vecumnieks & Bērziņi".
The base of the monument is formed by a large millstone – like a circle of life, time and events. The names of the LPNP board members are engraved on its sides. From the millstone, like the paths of fate, three regions – Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale with their historical coats of arms – rise up into the sky. The composition is concluded by the Bethlehem star, which transforms into the sun of the new Latvian state. Latvian poet, prose writer and politician Kārlis Skalbe /1879-1945/ wrote: “Latvia also had its own Bethlehem, little poor Valka...”.
The monument to the Latvian Provisional National Council is a kind of debt repayment to the people who, risking their lives in Valka in 1917, guided by ideals, laid the foundations of the Latvian state in a virtually impossible situation.
At that time, Valka was the city with the largest Latvian population in the territory not yet occupied by Germany. After the fall of Riga, it became the center of Latvian social, political and cultural life. Those who were united by the desire to implement the right of self-determination of the Latvian nation gathered here. From November 29 to December 2, 1917 (according to the new style), the 1st session of the Latvian Provisional National Council was held in the Valka City Hall (now the building at Kesk Street No. 11 in Valga), in which representatives of almost all the most influential Latvian public organizations and political parties participated. For the first time, they officially declared the goal of their activities - the creation of an independent national state, and adopted a declaration on the creation of a united and autonomous Latvia in the Latvian districts of Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale.
Berth of the ship "Saratov" in Liepaja
The berth of the "Saratov" is located in Liepaja, at 59 Old Harbour, near the boat docks.
Built in 1888 in Copenhagen by the shipyard Buvmeistar & Wain under the name "Leopold II", in 1911 it was bought by the joint-stock company Russian North-West Shipping and renamed "Saratov", with the Latvian Aleksandrs Remess becoming the ship's captain.
In May 1915, when Liepaja was occupied by German troops, the Saratov was in a damaged state in the harbour.
On 10 January 1919, the steamship Saratov was taken over by the Latvian Provisional Government. From April to July 1919, after the "16 April coup d'état", the Provisional Government headed by K. Ulmanis was on board the Saratov and was forced to take refuge under the protection of the Allied fleet.
On 8 July 1919, after the delivery of the Provisional Government of K. Ulmanis to Riga, the steamers were used for traffic between Riga, Ventspils and Liepaja.
Under the terms of the Peace Treaty of 11 August 1920 between Latvia and Soviet Russia, the steamship Saratov had to be returned to the Soviet side. On 2 January 1923, the steamship was handed over to a Soviet Russian representative. On 15 January 1923, the steamship "Saratov" was wrecked off Akmenrags.
In 1936 the Latvian Maritime Department sold the wreck to a company, which scrapped it and handed it over to the Liepaja Cloth Factory.
Rubenis' battalion museum
Rubenis’ Battalion Museum is located in Ugāle. It is dedicated to the Battalion of R. Rubenis, who served and fought under General J. Kurelis in Kurzeme in 1944, the activities of the Kurelians and the national resistance movement. Museum has an exhibit on the activities of the Latvian Central Council (LCC) and its Ventspils group, as well as the LCC Memorandum with 188 signatures and photographs of signatories that is included in the Latvian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. The LCC was a joint centre of Latvia's highest political leadership with an underground government that operated during the occupation of Latvia from 1943 to 1994. It was formed with the aim of coordinating the activities of various Latvian resistance movements in order to restore Latvia's national independence. The museum also offers a trip to places significant to the history of the battalion (settlement with a reconstructed bunker in the Usma parish, battlefields in Renda and Zlēkas parishes, etc.).
Related stories
March 1917 - an important month in the history of Valmiera and Latvia
In March 1917, more than a year before the proclamation of the state of Latvia, the Vidzeme Provisional Land Council was founded in Valmiera, which adopted a resolution on the autonomy and self-determination rights of Latvia. On the day of the founding of the Council, the red, white and red flag was raised for the first time at the meeting place.
Artūrs Ozols' memories of the ship "Saratov"
Artūrs Ozols graduated from Riga Polytechnic and served as a naval officer (midshipman) and engineer in the Russian Black Sea Fleet aboard the warship Panteleimon. During the Latvian Liberation Struggle, he joined the Student Company. In Liepaja he put the ship "Saratov" into service. Arthurs Ozols' memoirs about the ship "Saratov" were published in the Dauagava Vanagi monthly
From Ádolfs Ers' book "Vidzeme in the Struggle for Freedom" about the refugees' journey in Valka
Starting from the time of the refugees, Valka was given a more important role than other cities in Vidzeme, because it was home to the politically active newspaper “Līdums”, where Latvia’s spiritual and political weapons were forged, and also because it was a crossroads where roads from three sides of Latvia converged: from Riga, Alūksne, Mozekile, and also from Estonia and Russia. It had connections with refugees from all sides – Tartu, Pliska, Moscow and St. Petersburg. There was a large refugee center here.
Cape and the ship "Saratov"
It can be assumed that Liepaja was the capital of Latvia for a short period of time, because during the Freedom Struggle the Provisional Government was stationed on the ship Saratov in this very city. The Saratov took the Provisional Government to Riga after its liberation, but many people do not know that the history of such an important ship for us ended at sea at Akmenrags.
Akmeņrags Lighthouse and Shoal - one of the largest ship graveyards in the Baltic Sea
It was in the Akmensrags lighthouse area that, on January 13, 1923, the steamer Saratov , on which the provisional government led by K. Ulmanis took refuge when the independent state of Latvia was established, tragically ran aground and crashed.