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— 37 —
any compensation, the intention being to further destroy the economic
resources of the Baltic minorities. But, especially malign is the
confiscation of private property under the pretext that their owners are
guilty of political crime. Those who were in sympathy with the
Conservative government of Needra, or with the Bermont raid, are branded
as traitors*). A special commission of political inquiry, under the
Latvian Constituent Assembly is empowered to arrest and intern
anyone, such inquiry being conducted much on the same lines as the
Bolshevik „Tcheka". There is also a plan for the creation of a special
political court to punish those who have opposed the formation of the
Latvian Republic. Lettish subjects of non-Lettish extraction, are often
only permitted to return from abroad under the express condition that
they do not leave the country again, although there may be no legal
proceedings of any kind instituted against them. Surely, this is nothing
more than taking advantage of and engineering for party purposes
past political enterprises. The so-called Russian North-western
governments aim was to resurrect Russia by suppressing the Bolsheviks.
To form a clear idea of the position in which citizens of
non-Lettish and non-Estonian origin now find themselves in Latvia and Eesti,
it is worth while to refer to Baron W. Fircks very appropriate speech
in the Latvian Constituent Assembly on the 11th October 1921.
On the 11th October, 1921, Baron W. Fircks said: — „Under this
government which has been founded with the express intent and
purpose of doing away with the minorities, attacks against them have been
so much intensified, that an almost unbearable atmosphere has been
created. The German-speaking peoples in the small towrns and scattered
around the ccuntry-side, are especially severely affected, and, if one
happens to own an estate and belongs to the Nobility, he may be
subjected to persecution and oppression in any form! Yet, a few
months ago, it was not so. Then the landowners who returned to their
places, had nothing to complain of in their parishes, and they were
unmolested in the work in which they were occupied. However the
position is very different today. Fostered ill-feeling among the various
races has so grown apace, that peaceful co-operation has become almost
impossible. Lately the newspaper „Talsener Anzeiger", which is
published by the administration of the district under government
control, gives prominence to an article calculated to stir up strife, in which
there is an attack on the Jews demanding that they be driven out of
the country, and then an onslaught is made against four Baltic
gentlemen living in Talsen and the surrounding neighbourhood. These
gentlemen are accused of treason and their expulsion is demanded: they
are Latvian subjects, their documents are in order, and no legal
proceedings have been made against them. Two of them, Baron Fircks
(„Okten") and Count Lambsdorff („Klahnen4 ) were at one time accused
of having supported the Bermont enterprise; a judicial inquiry was
intended, but, on the demand of the Procurator the charge was
withdrawn. The third gentleman, Mr. Pop, a hair-dresser, who was abroad
during the whole of the period of national upheaval, cannot be accused
*) Vide Chapter I
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