Gustavs Zemgals (12 August 1871, Džūkste parish,

Courland Governorate The Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland (german: Kurländisches Gouvernement; russian: Курля́ндская губерния, translit=Kurljándskaja gubernija; lv, Kurzemes guberņa; lt, K ...

– 6 January 1939) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n politician and the second

President of Latvia The president of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Valsts prezidents ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, National Armed Forces of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it w ...

. He also was twice the mayor of

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. Zemgals was born in Džūkste, Latvia. He attended elementary school in a small

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Saka, and later continued education in

Nikolai Gymnasium. He graduated from

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 1899 with a degree in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. He then returned to

and was a lawyer, a newspaper editor and a political activist. In 1904, during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, Zemgals was mobilised and sent to the front, where he spent a year and a half and was promoted to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. After his return to Latvia in 1905, Zemgals became one of the creators of a new liberal newspaper "Jaunā Dienas Lapa" (New Day's Page) and proceeded to become an editor of this paper. He was also an editor in the newspaper that succeeded "Jaunā Dienas Lapa" -"Mūsu Laiki" (Our Times). In July 1907, the Riga district

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

sentenced Zemgals to a three months long arrest for his work at "Mūsu Laiki". Soon after that, Zemgals created the Latvian democratic party together with some other political activities. In the time period between 1912 and 1914 Zemgals also worked on a magazine "Domas" (Thoughts). When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

began, Zemgals was once again mobilised and initially assigned to an infantry division in the middle part of Latvia, but later he was sent to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. After his return to Riga, Zemgals was elected as the chairman of the city on 23 April 1917. In autumn 1917 the Riga Temporary Council repeatedly elected Zemgals as the chairman of the city. At this time, he was active in the Latvian radical-democratic party. From 1918, Zemgals became active in the

Latvian Provisional National Council Latvian Provisional National Council (, LPNP) was a political organization established on November 29, 1917 (November 16 in the Julian calendar) in Valka, Governorate of Livonia by the Latvian Refugee Support Central Committee, Latvian political p ...

, where he worked on matters related to occupied Latvian territories. As a member of the Latvian radical-democratic party, he became the second deputy of the chairman of

Tautas Padome The People's Council of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Tautas padome, LTP) was a temporary council which declared Latvia's independence on November 18, 1918 and then acted as the temporary parliament of the country until a Constitutional Assembly was elec ...

(People's Council), a representative body (council) of Latvian political parties and organizations. Holding this office, he chaired the 18 November 1918 meeting of Tautas Padome, which declared the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

of Latvia. On 3 December 1918 he was elected as the chair of Riga City Council. When the

bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

were gaining power and approaching Latvia, the Tautas Padome sent

Jānis Čakste Jānis Kristaps Čakste (14 September 1859 – 14 March 1927) was a Latvian politician and lawyer who served as the first head of an independent Latvian state as the Chairman of the People's Council (1918–1920), the Speaker of the Constitutio ...

and Zemgals abroad to represent Latvian interests. Cakste, Zemgals and several other people from the government went to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on a British warship, but Zemgals returned to Latvia just two months later, where he tried to restore the Tautas Padome, but Zemgals along with a group of loyal politicians was arrested by the German army. Later, he was a member of Latvian

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the po ...

) from the Democratic Centre and a minister in several governments. In 1927, after the death of

he was elected the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of Latvia. As the president, he interfered very little with the Saeima's work on laws, only returning a law for review to the Saeima once; Zemgals, however, frequently used his rights to grant

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

. During his time as president, Zemgals granted amnesty to 648 persons, 172 of which received complete amnesty. He served as president until 1930, when his term expired, and he refused to run for a second term, despite having been asked by many to do so. After his presidency ended, Zemgals continued his political activities and was elected in the fourth Saeima where he was a member of the foreign and finance, trade and industry commissions. From 1931 to 1932 he was also the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. In 1924, the French government awarded Zemgals the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

(the highest French order of merit), Commander cross (Commandeur). In 1926, he was awarded the

Three Star Order Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra", meaning "Thr ...

(the highest Latvian national award), Third or "Commander" class (Fifth class being the lowest and First class the highest). In 1929, he was awarded the Three Star Order, First class with chain or "Commander Grand Cross with chain", a distinction only awarded 14 people in the pre-World War II era. During the thirties, Zemgals published articles in the newspaper "Jaunākās Ziņas" (Latest News). On 6 January 1939 Zemgals died and was buried in Riga. In 1990, a monument to Zemgals was constructed in Džūkste, place of his birth.

References

External links

Gustavs Zemgals
– biography in Latvian {{DEFAULTSORT:Zemgals, Gustavs 1871 births 1939 deaths Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga People from Tukums Municipality People from Courland Governorate Workers' Party (Latvia) politicians Democratic Centre (Latvia) politicians Presidents of Latvia Ministers of Finance of Latvia Government ministers of Latvia Members of the People's Council of Latvia Deputies of the 1st Saeima Deputies of the 4th Saeima Lawyers from Riga Moscow State University alumni Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian military personnel of World War I Mayors of Riga Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 20th-century Latvian lawyers