Politics and Society in the Baltic Sea Region 4 Catherine Gibson Borderlands between History and Memory Latgale’s Palimpsestuous Past in Contemporary Latvia Politics and Society in the Baltic Sea Region 4 Politics and Society in the Baltic Sea Region is a series devoted to contemporary social and politi- cal issues in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. A specific focus is on current issues in the Baltic states and how these relate to the wider regional and geopolitical challenges. Open to a wide range of disciplines in the social sciences as well as diverse conceptual and methodological approaches, the series seeks to become a forum for high-level social science scholarship that will significantly enrich international knowledge and understanding of the Baltic Sea region. All books published in the series are peer-reviewed. Series Editor: Dr. Eva-Clarita Pettai, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia. Address: Lossi 36, 51003 Tartu, Estonia. Email: [email protected] Editorial Board: Daunis Auers (University of Latvia, Latvia), Li Bennich-Björkman (University of Uppsala, Sweden), Bernd Henningsen (Humboldt University Berlin, Germany), Rasma Karklins (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA / University of Latvia, Latvia), Ene Kõresaar (University of Tartu, Estonia), Marju Lauristin (University of Tartu, Estonia), Lauri Mälksoo (University of Tartu, Estonia), Michael North (University of Greifswald, Germany), Tiiu Paas (University of Tartu, Estonia), David Smith (University of Glasgow, UK), Linas Venclauskas (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania), Ramūnas Vilpišauskas (Vilnius University, Lithuania), Henri Vogt (University of Turku, Finland). The publication of this series is supported by the University of Tartu. Cover & layout: Kalle Paalits Copyright: University of Tartu Press, 2016 Home page of the series: www.tyk.ee/psbsr ISSN 2228–4451 (print) ISBN 978-9949-77-296-4 (print) ISSN 2228–446X (online) ISBN 978-9949-77-297-1 (online) Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................. 7 Figures .................................................................................................. 9 Abbreviations ....................................................................................... 10 A Note on Multilingual Names ............................................................ 11 Preface: The Palimpsestuous City of Dünaburg/ Dyneburg/Dvinsk/Daugavpils ............................................................ 13 Introduction ......................................................................................... 17 I. Framing the Subject ....................................................................... 32 II. Latgale’s Migrating Borders in History and Historiography ....... 61 III. Borderlands in National History: Latgale in the Latvian National Museum .................................... 87 IV. Re-shaping Latgale’s Past as a Tool for Region-Building in Rēzekne ......................................................... 112 V. Memory in the Margins: Daugavpils and the Traces of Former Histories ..................................................... 127 VI. Transnationalising Borderland Histories ................................... 139 Conclusion: The Palimpsestuous Memories of Latgale’s Past ............ 151 Borderlands between History and Memory Appendix .............................................................................................. 159 List of References .................................................................................. 166 Summary in Latvian and Russian ....................................................... 185 6 Acknowledgements I wish to thank the many people without whose support and encouragement this book would have never seen the light of day. The monograph began life as a thesis for a double degree Masters programme run by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London and the University of Tartu. The thesis was written under the supervision of Eva-Clarita Pettai (University of Tartu). I am extremely grateful for her invaluable critical and moral guidance, both as my supervisor and editor as I navigated the processes of researching and writing the thesis and then revising the manuscript for publication as a book. Her passionate commitment both to Baltic Studies and to pedagogy is inspirational. The other formative figure in this project has been Tomek Kamusella, who first kindled my interest in Latgale – and indeed introduced me to the wonders of the lands between Germany and Russia – as a wide-eyed undergraduate in St Andrews. His commitment to intellectual inquiry, and resolute encouragement and friendship over the years, has greatly shaped my development as a researcher. I am very appreciative of the generous financial support for my stud- ies during this period provided by the Gay Clifford Award for Outstanding Woman Student at University College London (2013–2014) and the European Commission in the form of an Erasmus Mundus Studentship (2013–2015) and Erasmus Mobility Bursary (2014–2015). The opportunity to spend the second year of my Masters studying in Estonia was a life-changing experience and I hope that many future generations of students will be able to benefit from a similar opportunity. This book has been greatly enriched both in its content and structure by critical comments from Uilleam Blacker, Linda Kaljundi, Siobhan Kattago, Heiko Pääbo, Heloisa Rojas Gomez, and Inese Runce at various stages in the project. I also wish to thank Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski, Aleksandrs Borderlands between History and Memory Ivanovs, and Ligija Purinaša for their inspiring conversations over the years on the topic of Polish Inflanty and Latgale. The organisers and the participants of the 7th International Conference on Latgalistics at Rēzekne Higher Education Institute warmly welcomed me into their midst, especially Ilga Šuplinska, and shared their local knowledge with me. Papers feeding into this book were pre- sented at the Conference on Latgalistics in Rēzekne in November 2014 and at the Summer School on Borders in Post-Socialist Space: Past, Present and Future in Chernivtsi in July 2015. I wish to thank the participants of both conferences for their stimulating discussions and for helping me to rethink some of my ideas about regional studies, borders, and memory. I also wish to thank the group of Baltic Sea Region Studies Masters students at the University of Latvia that I had the pleasure of teaching in Spring 2016 for their animated seminar discussions on the topics of this book. I am greatly indebted to Ira Tretiakova, Galyna Lipelis, Svetlana Poleschuk, Alexander Polianichev, Lauma Krūvēvere, Rūta Liepiņa, and Krista Strode for proofreading and refining my translations from Russian and Latvian – спасибо and paldies to you all. Thank you also to Maryna Batsman for helping me with the transliteration of Yiddish place names. I also wish to thank the wonderful library staff at the European University Institute in Florence, where the manuscript was revised, especially Serge Noiret for his generous support in procuring books for this project and to Pernille Kjeldsen at the ILL desk for your diligence and ingenuity in sourcing publications in different languages for me. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to Ostap Maliuvanchuk for his unwavering love, support, and patience, and for being my wingman on numerous research trips to off-the-beaten track places. I am also eternally grateful for the constant encouragement of my parents Fiona and Paul to ‘keep digging’, wherever it may take me, and to my sisters Martha and Isla, who help me to maintain a sense of perspective on life. Special thanks also go to my mum for her diligent eyes in proofreading my manuscript. Despite all the abovementioned input from different people into this project, any errors that remain are my own. Catherine Gibson Tartu, August 2016 8 Figures Figure 1. Poster depicting the First Congress of Latgale in Rēzekne, 1935 18 Figure 2. Overview of museums in comparative analysis 24 Figure 3. Analytical framework 56 Figure 4. CDA framework for analysing museum exhibitions 58 Figure 5. Timeline of the main geopolitical border changes in the history of the three historical territories which make up present-day Latvia 73 Figure 6. Aleida Assmann’s ‘formats’ of Transnational Memory 140 Figure 7. Overview of Functional Memory of the History of Latgale in Museums 164 Abbreviations DNMM Daugavpils Novadpētniecības un Mākslas Muzejs (Daugavpils Local History and Art Museum) DU Daugavpils University LU University of Latvia, Riga LNVM Latvijas Nacionālais Vēstures Muzejs (Latvian National History Museum) LKM Latgales Kultūrvēstures Muzejs (Latgale Cultural and History Museum) N.S. New Style (Gregorian Calendar) O.S. Old Style (Julian Calendar) RA Rēzeknes Augstskola (Rēzekne Higher Education Institute) A Note on Multilingual Names As is increasingly becoming the convention in historical works on Central and Eastern Europe, the way in which this book deals with the region’s multilin- gualism requires explanation at the outset. The names of places and people were known by different names to different people at different times. Latgale is no exception and in eastern Latvia today the particular uses of different names in different contexts continue to carry a strong emotional as well as political significance. This study follows the approach of using the version of the name used by the people