October 23, 2020
The information was prepared by the Communication Group.
On October 23, 2020, a solemn ceremony was held in Liepaja in honor of the handing over of the tombstone of the first Minister of the Interior, diplomat and statesman Michael Walter to the Liepaja Museum for storage. Ilmārs Jānis Miķelis Jēkabsons, the grandson of M. Valters, donated a tombstone to the museum, which has been in the Eastern Cemetery of Nice since 1968. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took care of bringing this plate from France to Latvia and today it was delivered to Liepaja.
Dace Kārkla, the director of the Liepāja Museum, Atis Deksnis, the Deputy Chairman of the Liepāja City Council, and Valdis Jēkabsone-Valtere, the wife of M. Valters, addressed the solemn ceremony at the Liepāja Museum.
Gints Jegermanis, Director of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke about the contribution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Embassy in France during the preparation of M. Walter’s reburial, the memorial ceremony at Riga Castle and the reburial at the 1st Forest Cemetery.
Deputy Director of the Latvian National Museum of History in scientific work, historian Toms Ķikuts described M. Walter’s connection with Liepāja – childhood, youth and activities in 1919.
In the ceremony several 20th century. Compositions typical of Latvia in the 1920s and 1930s were played by the NAF Naval Forces Orchestra Quintet.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Embassy in France, in close co-operation with the Ministry of the Interior and relatives of M. Walter, started work on the reburial of M. Walter from France in Latvia in early 2018.
On 11 August 2020, M. Walter was exhumed in the Eastern Cemetery of Nice, France, and on 14 August, M. Walter’s ashes were delivered to Latvia for reburial on an airBaltic flight from Nice.
On September 23, a memorial ceremony of Michael Walter took place in Riga Castle and his ashes were buried in the 1st Forest Cemetery.
The statesman Miķelis Valters (1874-1968) was the first Minister of the Interior in Latvia, a politician, diplomat, journalist and writer. He played an important role in formulating the idea of Latvia’s independence and in founding the state. From October 1919, Walter was the diplomatic representative in Italy, in March 1921 – the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Italy, and from November 1921 – also the non-resident Minister in Spain and Portugal. Walter has also been Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France, Poland, Hungary, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as Consul in Royal Prussia (East Prussia).
Assessing Michael Walter’s contribution to the formation and founding of the Latvian state, as well as to the development of Latvian-French relations, a conference “Latvia’s Centenary in Europe” (Un centenaire à l’heure de l’Europe. La Lettonie) was held in Nice on March 22, 2018.
Additional information:
Communication group
Phone: (371) 67016 272;
Fax: (371) 67828 121
E-pasts: [email protected]
Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street 3, Riga, LV-1395
Website: www.mfa.gov.lv
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