On August 28, 1991, the freshly reunited Germany was one of the first Western countries to recognize Latvia's, regained independence which had occured only a week earlier.
However, 1991 was not the beginning of diplomatic relations, but a continuation, as they were first established between Germany and Latvia 100 years ago. Therefore, in 2021, both countries will celebrate not only the thirtieth anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations, but also the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries.
In this book, contributors include Kristaps Celmiņš, Jurģis Kalniņš, Gints Kapteinis, Lora Egle, Nils Mosejonoks, Signe Viška and Aleksandrs Mironovs, who provide an insight into the historical and cultural ties between the two nations.
"It was really fun browsing through the book. What I loved about the whole project is that it is young people describing particular aspects of the relations between Latvia and Germany from all kinds of perspectives and personal interests“, German ambassador Christian Heldt said at the book presentation hosted at his residence in Mežaparks.
"This is an amazing diversity of subjects which you have dived into", the German envoy praised the young authors that are scholarship holders of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Representation in Latvia for their work, adding that it shows the "natural curiosity in things happening between our two countries."
"I must admit that I was particularly touched by the article about the Latvian Gynasium in Münster, especially with the photos seen there where there were a lot of people I have came across here in todays Latvia“, Heldt said.
Signe Viška, one of the authors who contributed an essay on Latvian Literature in Germany said "My aim was to discover how available Latvian literature is in Germany. The goal of the essay was also to provide a general and hopefully valuable insight into Latvian literature in the German culture space."
Jurģis Kalniņš' contribution is titled Biases Against Socially Marginalized Groups: Case Studies of Latvia and Germany, and he said "It all leads back to early spring this year when I was casually browsing through some Eurobarometer, as one does... Long story short: Latvia still has a lot to do. With the help of Germany we will get there."
The book is available electronically in English on the KAS website: www.kas.de/lettland
