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Copyright Latgale Research Center
Note: The information contained here may not be copied or reproduced without permission. For permission contact latkovski@hood.edu. Use of the material for citations or references is permissible.
the preservation of memories and then passing them on to subsequent generations.
That, also, is an expression of love for one’s native land. To know one's ancestors
through their work, virtues and language...is the strongest means of preserving
that tradition.
L. Latkovski, Sr.
Professor Leonard Latkovski, Sr. (1905-1991) had a long and distinguished career of scholarship, teaching and research. Over the course of six decades he produced thousands of writings in many languages on a wide variety of subjects. The areas include philology, history, religion, church history, folklore, etymology, politics and philosophy. He was completely and unfailingly a Latgalian, a patriot, an unrelenting defender of the Latgalian language and culture.
From his early life he was interested in learning languages. In the early 1920’s at the Varakloni gimnasium he already was learning (besides Latgalian and Latvian) Latin, German, Russian, and English. In 1926 he enrolled at the State University of Latvia in the Department of Classical Philology. He studied Greek dialects, Latin literature, Greek philosophy, art, architecture, antiquities, and paleography. When asked later in life why he had chosen the classics as his field of study, he answered that they are the key to all knowledge – philosophy, history and medicine. At the university he increased his command of languages by learning French, Spanish, Italian, and Lithuanian. He also researched local Latgalian dialects through field studies.
His first writings appeared in print in 1926, beginning a prolific career of
research, writing, commentary, and analysis, that would eventually total
several thousand publications in periodicals such as Zidunis, Latgolas
Vords,
Katolu Dzeive, and Filologu Biedribas Raksti. During this time
he
established
himself as a prominent Latgalian cultural activist, taking part in Latvian Catholic youth
organizations, and literary groups, giving lectures at teacher training seminars and working
in other ways to promote the spread of culture and education in Latgale.
In January 1935 he received his diploma of Master of Philology, with the distinction summa cum laude. His dissertation subject was “Comparationes Virgilianae” (Comparisons of Virgil), written in Latin. He continued studying for his doctoral degree and was writing his dissertation, entitled “Appolonius Rhodius Argonautica”, as World War II broke out. He had also been studying in two other departments and was just a few academic credits short of completing master’s degree in both history and Baltic and Slavic languages.
He began his teaching career in August 1928, at the gimnasium at Plavinas, while still a
university student. He taught Latvian, Latin, German, Russian, history and other subjects
until 1933, when he accepted a teaching position at the Aglyuna Classical
Gimnasium for males. Working with Director Aloizs Broks, Latkovski
established a reputation as a teacher, mentor and classical scholar. Aglona (Aglyuna) had become a Latvian Catholic religious and Latgalian educational center. Here Latkovski worked closely with the leading Latgalian figures of this century. Among his students were a number of future priests and lay Latvian leaders.
He also took opportunities to travel to put his languages to the test. He visited neighboring Lithuania, Estonia and Finland as well as traveling to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy.
He fled Communist rule in Latvia with his family during World War II and spent the immediate postwar years as a displaced person in West Germany. He served as the principal of the gymnasium for Latvians in Neuoetting as well as translator and camp liaison for the American military and was a member of the teaching staff of the International Relief Organization. Later at Ingolstadt he taught in a high school for refugees of fifteen different nationalities. Because there were no language texts for learning English, he wrote one himself, entitled, Do You Speak English?.
It was during this time that Latgalian refugees scattered throughout the different refugee camps established contact with one another and renewed their cultural work, scholarly efforts and publications. Latkovski was a major figure in that group which became the core of the worldwide Latgalian émigré community. For the next four decades, this remarkable nucleus of Latgalian activists would publish newspapers, journals, books, and monographs for Latvians all over the world. Latkovski was the editor of the journal, Latgola and news bulletin Atbalss as well as the scholarly journal Dzeive. He wrote many essays, commentaries and research papers for these publications.
The importance of this émigré cultural activity increased dramatically in the late 1940’s when the Soviet Communist regime in Latvia began to suppress the Latgalian language and culture. It closed theatres, schools, and newspapers and banned all publications in Latgalian.
In 1950 Latkovski emigrated to America with his family. He began a teaching career at
Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky. He became a mainstay of the Department of Foreign Languages and a popular figure on the college campus where he was referred to as “the Professor”. Over the course of teaching at Bellarmine College for 25 years he taught languages, both modern and classical – Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, and Polish -- as well as world history. He also served as an instructor at the University of Louisville where he became a sought-after interpreter and translator for the university’s International Center. He became a prominent figure in the Louisville community as a frequent speaker giving public lectures as well as radio, television, and newspaper interviews.
Active in professional associations, he was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, the Kentucky Classical Association, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, the Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Association and others, and held administrative positions in many of them.
Even more extensive was Latkovski’s work in Latvian scholarly, social, and cultural activities. He produced an almost endless series of writings on a broad range of topics: philology, language, linguistics, etymology, folklore, philosophy, history, religion, and politics for Latvian and Latgalian émigré publications on several continents. He was also a frequent speaker at Latvian seminars, conferences and cultural events and feasts. He was the organizer and long-time President of the Kentucky Latvian Club, and a member of the American Latvian Catholic Association.
Latkovski also was a religious scholar, possessing a comprehensive command of the classical Judeo-Christian religious texts. He knew the Bible in Greek and would read the Old Testament in Hebrew (he also knew Aramaic) and would recite key passages from memory from either work. He was thoroughly familiar with the classical Greek and Roman writers and philosophers as well as the early figures of the Christian church. His knowledge of classical philology, early religious texts, and history and philosophy enabled him to give penetrating explanations of religious practices, symbols, and concepts. Some of his religious works are published in Essays on Religion, Faith and Values, (1995) compiled and edited by Leonard Latkovski, Jr. The book can be ordered from this email address: latkovski@hood.edu.
In his “Essay on Religion” he states that “religion is the basic attribute of humanity th at has kept pace with the growth of society and the evolution of human nature and, like speech, it expresses itself in an endless variety of forms. It never exists in the abstract, but always in the concrete, conditioned by the life of its people by such factors as geography, climate or economic conditions”. He also states that “religion represents the feelings, acts and experience of individual humans in their solitude as far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.”
Latkovski was founding member and president of the Latgalian Research Institute, which was formed in 1960. This became the leading Latgalian scholarly organization worldwide. Its work included the publication of books, monographs, and the scholarly Acta Latgalica series, as well as the holding of scholarly conferences. This institution has been recognized as being crucial in keeping Latgalian scholarship alive during the years of repression of Latgalian culture in Communist Latvia. Latkovski established himself as perhaps the pre-eminent expert on Latgalian language and culture. His books include Direktors Dr. A. Broks (1954), Dzymtos zemes laudis I (1966), Dzymtos zemes laudis II, Latgalu uzvordi, palames un dzymtas (1968) and Latgalu uzvordi, palames un dzymtas II (1973). These books can be ordered from this email address: latkovski@hood.edu.
After retirement from full-time college teaching Latkovski was granted emeritus faculty status
and given an honorary degree of Doctor of Languages by Bellarmine College. He continued teaching part-time at various schools including Indian University Southeast and kept busy with his private tutoring, free-lance translation. He was a distinguished polyglot, fluent in 18 languages and able to translate 32 languages.
His main focus in his “retirement” remained writing, research and teaching of the Latgalian language, culture and history. In 1983 he initiated a world-wide correspondence course of the Latgalian language which had a dedicated following of subscribers in the United States. Canada, England, Germany, Sweden and Australia. This work was not only an instruction course of Latgalian but consisted of a multi-disciplinary combination of Latgalian history, culture, philosophy, religion, folklore, philology, and etymology. The integration of all of these elements was typical of the scope and breadth of Latkovski’s knowledge and teaching style. By the time of his death the correspondence course had reached 27 volumes (1300 pages).
Latkovski’s stature in Latvia increased through the decades. During the years of Latgalian suppression his pre-war works were recognized and respected while his continuing work in exile was also able to at least slightly penetrate the Iron Curtain. In the mid-1980’s his writings were quietly brought into Latvia from abroad and copies of his correspondence course also reached his native land, initially through private, secret channels. But by 1989, with the advent of a greater openness in Soviet Latvia and the beginning of a Latgalian cultural awakening during the “glasnost” period his writings were openly circulated.
When the Soviet Latvian government dropped the ban on the Latgalian language, it was a great satisfaction for Latkovski to live to see this development. It was also very gratifying for him to see, in his lifetime, his books openly displayed, his writings published and tributes to him appear in the Latvian press. He still had an extensive following in Latvia among his colleagues, and former students, as well as by a younger generation of Latvians who were becoming acquainted with his works. His stature was characterized upon his death in 1991 by Professor Piters Laizans of the University of Latvia: “he is regarded as one of the most distinguished Latgalian scholars, cultural workers and activists – an encyclopedist and polyglot – ever to exist. In Latgalian philology his contributions are no less important than those of Janis Endzelins.
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