Anatols Dinbergs
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
occupied Latvia, serving in the Latvian Legation in Washington D.C. after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended. Dinbergs assumed the highest diplomatic post, that of chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
, in 1970 and represented Latvia's sovereign interests in exile until Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991. As head of the Latvian diplomatic service
Latvian diplomatic service
The Latvian Diplomatic Service maintained representation of independent Latvia during the Soviet occupation of their homeland .Latvia was occupied on June 17, 1940 by Red Army troops and officially annexed to the Soviet Union on August 5, 1940...
abroad, Dinbergs was appointed Latvia's first ambassador to the United Nations and subsequently Latvia's first ambassador to the United States. After retirement, he served as Counselor to the Latvian Embassy in Washington D.C. until his death in 1993.
Background and career
With the upheavals of the Latvian War of Independence, the Dinbergs family fled Latvia, living as refugees in VitebskVitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
from 1914-1918.
Returning to a newly independent Latvia, Dinbergs' father, Alfrēds (1878–1941), was hired in 1919 as an engineer in Latvia Railway's technical directorate, later promoted to head its maintenance division. As a candidate for parliament, he was also elected to the Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the 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 popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
from 1931–1934, representing the Railroad Worker's Association.
Anatols Dinbergs graduated from the Riga State Gymnasium No.1
Riga State Gymnasium No.1
Riga State Gymnasium No.1 , the oldest school in the Baltic states, offers secondary education in Riga, the capital of Latvia....
, from the French Institute, and obtained his degree in law from the University of Latvia
University of Latvia
University of Latvia is a university located in Riga, Latvia. Being established in 1919, University of Latvia is the biggest university in the Baltic states.-History:...
.
Dinbergs entered service in Latvia's Foreign Ministry in 1932 while still completing his studies. His first post abroad was a junior position at the consulate in Łódź, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, from 1933 to 1934. From 1934 to 1935, he worked as correspondence secretary for the Western and Legal sections. In June 1937, he was appointed as assistant to the secretary in Latvia's New York consulate and promoted to attaché in September of that year.
Dinbergs declined to return home after the Soviet invasion of Latvia
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers, according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the State Department of the United States of America, and the European Union, to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union ostensibly under the...
in June 1940 and was subsequently relieved of his duties by the Latvian SSR. With the emergency vesting of Latvian sovereign authority in the chief of the Latvian diplomatic service, Kārlis Zariņš
Karlis Zarinš
Kārlis Reinholds Zariņš was Ambassador and Consul General of Latvia in the United Kingdom. Shortly before the Soviet occupation of Latvia, on 17 May 1940 the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers granted Ambassador Zariņš extraordinary powers...
(Charles Zarine) in London, the Latvian diplomatic corps continued to function in exile. U.S. envoy Alfreds Bīlmanis, head of the Washington, D.C. consulate, promoted Dinbergs to vice consul in September 1940, then transferred Dinbergs to Washington, D.C. in 1941, where he served as diplomatic attaché and head of the consular section.
After the death of Bīlmanis, Dinbergs served as chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
ad interim from July 1948 to June 28, 1949 when Kārlis Zariņš
Karlis Zarinš
Kārlis Reinholds Zariņš was Ambassador and Consul General of Latvia in the United Kingdom. Shortly before the Soviet occupation of Latvia, on 17 May 1940 the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers granted Ambassador Zariņš extraordinary powers...
formally appointed Julijs Feldmanis to the post of chargé d'affaires of Latvia. Dinbergs continued on as first secretary. Upon Feldmanis' death in 1953, Dinbergs again served as chargé d'affaires ad interim until Arnolds Spekke assumed the position of chargé d'affaires of Latvia in 1954. Meanwhile, Dinbergs also completed graduate studies for his doctorate in political science at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in 1953, defending his dissertation "Latvia’s Incorporation Into the Soviet Union, 1940-1941."
With Arnolds Spekke
Arnolds Spekke
Arnolds Spekke received a doctorate in philology from the University of Latvia in 1927. In 1932 he received a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship and went studying in Poland and Italy...
leading the Latvian diplomatic service after the death of Kārlis Zariņš
Karlis Zarinš
Kārlis Reinholds Zariņš was Ambassador and Consul General of Latvia in the United Kingdom. Shortly before the Soviet occupation of Latvia, on 17 May 1940 the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers granted Ambassador Zariņš extraordinary powers...
in London 1963, Latvia's diplomatic and consular headquarters shifted to the Legation in Washington, D.C. Dinbergs succeeded Spekke on October 1, 1970 upon Spekke's retirement (Spekke died in 1972). Dinbergs became general consul to the United States in March 1971. Later that year, on September 17, the Latvian diplomatic corps met in Paris and unanimously elected Dinbergs chief of Latvia's diplomatic service. Dinbergs led Latvia's diplomatic service as chargé d'affaires until the restoration of Latvia's independence.
The Latvian Legation in 1940-1991 did not maintain any contacts with the foreign ministry of the Latvian SSR
Latvian SSR
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Latvian SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied by...
. It received its first visitors from Latvia (representatives of Latvian Popular Front) in December 1988. After the independence declaration
On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia
The Declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia" was adopted on 4 May 1990, by the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR...
of May 4, 1990, Dinbergs established unofficial contacts with the new leadership of Latvia. That year he also arranged for the visit to the U.S. by Latvian prime minister Ivars Godmanis
Ivars Godmanis
Ivars Godmanis is a Latvian politician and currently 1 of the 8 Latvian MEPs in the European parliament. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country became independent from the Soviet Union, and he became a Prime Minister for the second time in December 2007.Godmanis served as...
and foreign minister Jānis Jurkāns
Jānis Jurkāns
Jānis Jurkāns is a Latvian politician, one of the leaders of the Latvian Popular Front, who served as foreign minister .- Biography :...
.
In the spring of 1991, a working arrangement was agreed to among the Latvian foreign ministry, the legation in Washington, D.C., and the unified foreign diplomacy service which had been formed. At Dinbergs' initiative, a policy meeting was held in Washington, D.C. on April 14–15, also attended by Jurkāns.
The legation in Washington, D.C. played a key role in January 1991 and August 1991 when Dinbergs, together with Estonian and Lithuanian diplomats, apprised the U.S. State Department of the course of events in the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
and their drive to independence. On August 21, 1991, the day Latvia regained its independence, he dispatched a telegram to Riga, congratulating the government on its "declaration of renewed State independence based upon the foundation of the 1922 Constitution," promising an even closer partnership between the legation in Washington, D.C. and the parliament and Council of Ministers to achieve their common goals.
Symbolizing that partnership, acting Latvian president Anatolijs Gorbunovs
Anatolijs Gorbunovs
Anatolijs Gorbunovs also formerly known as Anatoly Valeryanovich Gorbunov is a Latvian politician who served as the parliamentary speaker during the last years of Soviet regime in Latvia and during the first years after the country regained its independence...
visited the U.S. and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Headquarters in September 1991. As of that September, Dinbergs was officially appointed both as head of Latvia's diplomatic service and as U.S. envoy.
In a letter to the General Secretary of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
of September 6, 1991, the Latvian government authorized Anatols Dinbergs with plenipotentiary powers to represent the interests of the Latvian nation. Dinbergs was officially appointed on September 17, becoming Latvia's first Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, having the honor of presiding over the first raising of Latvia's flag as a UN member. Dinbergs retired from his U.N. post that same year, on December 5, while continuing on in his positions of head of the diplomatic service and U.S. envoy.
On September 18, 1991, the Latvian government had also petitioned the U.S government to promote the Legation to the highest rank of Embassy and to accept Dinbergs as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador. The U.S. acceded to the request, and so on March 11, 1992, Anatols Dinbergs submitted his credentials of accreditation to U.S. president George H. Bush. Bush expressed his particular happiness to see Dinbergs in this post, who for so long and so ably filled his duties, and that it was gratifying to work with such an eminent diplomat. Latvian diplomatic representation in U.S. during 1922-1948 had been vested in envoys, since the Latvian government only created the post of ambassador in 1991, Dinbergs thus became Latvia's first ever ambassador to the United States.
For the most part, Dinbergs' appointees abroad, in the U.S., France, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and Germany, continued on in their positions in Latvia's diplomatic and consular services.
Dinbergs retired from active diplomatic duties in December 1992 and continued to serve as Counselor to the Embassy until his death, on November 9, 1993.
Dinbergs bequeathed his property to the Fraternitas Lettica, one of the oldest Latvian student fraternities, of which he was a member, to be used to fund a scholarship fund for Latvian students. The first scholarship given out by the Fraternitas Lettica Senior Association Anatols Dinbergs Fund was awarded to Aleksandrs Demčenkovs, a first-year student at the Riga School of Economics, in June 2005.
Tributes
Dinbergs' services to the Latvian nation were acknowledged by Latvian foreign minister Māris RiekstiņšMāris Riekstiņš
Māris Riekstiņš is a Latvian politician and diplomat with an extensive experience in the foreign service, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Latvia...
on November 17, 2007 as the Foreign Ministry returned its offices to its home at 3 Valdemara Street, Riga, where the MFA was located during Latvia's first period of independence (1918–1940).
- "This building embodies memories of both the founder of the Foreign Service of Latvia, Zigfrids Anna Meierovics, and the legendary envoy Karlis Zarins, whom the Latvian government authorized to represent the Latvian state prior to the occupation years. [And] Ambassador Anatols Dinbergs, who as a young diplomat was stationed in New York, declined to return after the events of 1940, and worked during the many long years for our diplomatic service in exile, living to witness the renewal of independence in 1991."
Legacy
Sandra KalnieteSandra Kalniete
Sandra Kalniete is a Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader. She served as Foreign Minister of Latvia 2002–2004 and as European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries in 2004...
, foreign minister at the time, said the following of Dinbergs at the opening on January 28, 2004 of the exhibition "Latvijas valstiskuma sardzē: Latvijas diplomātiskā un konsulārā dienesta darbinieki okupācijas gados trimdā no 1940.gada 17.jūnija līdz 1991.gada 21.augustam" ("On Guard for Latvia's Statehood": Latvia's Foreign Service Staff in Exile During the Years of Occupation, June 17, 1940 to August 21, 1991):
- "In August, 1991, when Latvia had regained its state independence, the honor fell to me, as one of the senior Foreign Ministry staff, to receive Anatols Dinbergs' letter with the confirmation that he submitted himself into the service of the Foreign Ministry. I would ask you of the younger generation who have gathered here in this hall, to play in you minds, what that moment meant to Anatols Dinbergs, that he could hand in his letter of accreditation to the President of the United States. ..."
Ojārs Kalniņš, Director of Institute of Latvia, who had participated actively in organizations of Latvian emigres in US in 1980s and in January 1991 started to work in Latvian legation in Washington, D.C., and later, in 1993, succeeded Dinbergs in the post of Latvian ambassador in U.S., said the following of Dinbergs at the above mentioned opening of the exhibition:
- "Growing up in America, these Latvian diplomats were our heroes. Legends, who during the years of occupation embodied the Republic of Latvia in our minds. I learned Latvia's history from Arnold Spekke's and Anatols Dinbergs' books. We called Anatols Dinbergs our chief, but I also think of him as my diplomatic foster father and teacher. All that is the most important that I have learned about diplomacy, has come from Anatols Dinbergs. He has reached singular achievements in his lifetime. I would also like to emphasize that Anatols Dinbergs was not only Latvia's first ambassador to the United Sates, he was, in fact, the first Latvian ambassador in history (until Latvia's occupation in 1940 our country had emissaries; it was only with the restoration of state independence in 1991 that the position of ambassador was created -J.Ū.). The task of diplomats in exile was to preserve Latvia's sovereignty. Our diplomatic mission today is to preserve the Latvian state, so that no Latvian ever has to flee into exile."
During the ceremony of official unveiling of the new building of the Embassy of Latvia in the U.S. on March 1, 2006 in Washington, D.C., the President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, and Ambassador of Latvia to the U.S., Māris Riekstiņš, stressed the symbolic importance of the Embassy of Latvia in the United States. According to the President, Washington, D.C. was where the independence of Latvia continued, reminding the world of the Soviet annexation and occupation of Latvia. Ambassador Riekstiņš congratulated Dinbergs' wife, Mrs. Ruth Dinbergs, who was in attendance, in gratitude for Anatols Dinbergs' long-time service to Latvia.
Heads of Latvian Diplomatic Service in the West
Heads of Latvian Diplomatic Service (1940–1991) were vested with authority to represent the sovereign Republic of Latvia and its interests:- Kārlis ZariņšKarlis ZarinšKārlis Reinholds Zariņš was Ambassador and Consul General of Latvia in the United Kingdom. Shortly before the Soviet occupation of Latvia, on 17 May 1940 the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers granted Ambassador Zariņš extraordinary powers...
, 1940 to 1963 (Envoy; Legation in London; UK) - Arnolds Spekke, 1963 to 1970 (Chargé d`affaires; Legation in Washington, D.C., U.S.)
- Anatols Dinbergs, 1970 to 1991 (Chargé d`affaires; Legation in Washington, D.C., U.S.)
Latvian ambassadors to the United States
- Anatols Dinbergs, credentials presented March 11, 1992 to December 1992
- Ojārs Kalniņš, January 1993 (credentials presented April 4, 1993) to December 1999
- Aivis RonisAivis RonisAivis Ronis is a Latvian diplomat and politician and was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia from 29 April 2010 to 3 November 2010.-References:...
, 2000 to September 2004 - Māris Riekstiņš, December 2004 to January 2007
- Andrejs Pildegovičs, July 25, 2007 to current
Latvian diplomatic representation in US during 1922 - 1948 was by the envoys, during 1948 - 1991 - by chargé d`affaires. The post of ambassador was created in 1991.
Latvian ambassadors to the United Nations (New York)
- Anatols Dinbergs, September 17, 1991 (credentials presented October 8, 1991) to December 5, 1991
- Aivars Baumanis, December 5, 1991 (credentials presented) - 1997
- Jānis Priedkalns, November 3, 1997 (credentials presented) - 2000
- Gints Jegermanis, May 12, 2001 (credentials presented) - 2005
- Solveiga Silkalna, August 6, 2005 (credentials presented) to ?
- Normans Penke