Vilis Olavs (born ''Vilis Plute''; 18 May 1867 – 29 March 1917) was a Latvian political theorist, writer, and humanitarian who participated in

the First Latvian National Awakening The First Latvian National Awakening or the First Awakening ( lv, Pirmā Atmoda) was a cultural and national revival movement between 1850 and 1880 among the Young Latvians, a group of well-educated Latvians, who, opposed to the Baltic German dom ...

of the 19th century.

Biography

Vilis Olavs was born as Vilis Plute on 18 May 1867 in

Bauska Bauska () is a town in Bauska Municipality, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. Bauska is located from the Latvian capital Riga, 62 km (38.5 mi) from Jelgava and from the Lithuanian border on the busy European route E67. The to ...

, Latvia, which was then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, to local farmers. His surname changed to Olavs in 1890. Olavs graduated from the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

in 1892 with a degree in theology, and from 1895 to 1897 he taught in Riga, but was banned from lecturing after expressing his liberal views. In the meantime, he continued his studies for several years at the

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) ( lv, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as 'Riga Polytechnical Ins ...

, until founding his own private school of commerce for young women in Riga, 1904. Olavs was very active in Latvian politics, especially well known for his writings and social commentary on Latvian society and

. In the National Awakening, Latvian nationalism and the desire for

self determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

began to emerge. Against them stood the German gentry, who had controlled all social and economic affairs in the Baltic since the 13th century. As a student, Olavs published a prize-winning essay in which he called for ''peaceful'' opposition of the German gentry. Further writings and editings of his included "Latvju vēsturi līdz 12. gadsimta beigām" ("Latvian History up to the end of the 12th century") and "Sēta, Daba, Pasaule" ("The Farmstead, Nature, and The Earth"). In the 1890s, Olavs was an active member of the Latvian Society of Riga, and in 1896 he organized the first-ever, Latvian ethnographic exhibit. As the editor of several journals, such as "Baltija" (published in St Petersburg), his commentary was widely read by the Latvian population. For his support of the 1905 Russian Revolution, the Russian Imperial government tried Olavs and sentenced him to endure a year in prison. Olavs wrote "Galvenos virzienus ētikā" (Today's Trends in Ethics) while in prison (1908–1909), a sharp jab against those responsible for his incarceration. During

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 ...

Olavs helped the Latvian nation in the time of its greatest need. As the war rolled over Eastern Europe, Olavs organized and assumed chairmanship of the Latvian Refugee Central Committee, giving aid to hundreds of Latvian refugees in Russia. Olavs died in sanatorium in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

, Finland in 1917, and was re-buried at the Forest Cemetery in Riga in 1921, where a monument was built in his honor in 1927.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olavs, Vilis 1867 births 1917 deaths People from Bauska Latvian writers University of Tartu alumni Riga Technical University alumni Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga