Andrievs Niedra ( old orthography: ''Andreews Needra''; 8 February 1871 – 25 September 1942) was a Latvian writer, Lutheran pastor and the Prime Minister of the German puppet government in Latvia between April and June 1919, during the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence (), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invade ...

. Niedra's first collection of poems was published when he was only nineteen years old, and he was still in his teens when his stories based on history and folklore began to appear in the newspaper ''Baltijas Vēstnesis''. Between 1890 and 1899 he studied theology at the University of Dorpat (now

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

). Aesthetically blending realistic fantasy with idealism, his stories, criticism and plays often treated the formation of the Latvian intelligentsia and the situation of the peasantry with regard to the dominant

Baltic Germans Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...

. Believing that society can only develop through evolution rather than revolution, Niedra was a fierce opponent of

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and came to be seen as a reactionary in an increasingly revolutionary society. After collaborating with the German military authorities and their defeat, Niedra fled Latvia. Returning in 1924, he was tried for treason and banished. In exile, the pastor of a German congregation in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, Niedra took German citizenship and penned a lengthy work entitled ''Tautas nodevēja atmiņas'' (''The Memoirs of a Traitor to the Nation''); the first edition of the first part was destroyed by the dictator

Kārlis Ulmanis Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis (; 4 September 1877 – 20 September 1942) was a Latvian politician and a dictator. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from N ...

after the 15 May 1934 coup d'état, and his works were banned. Niedra returned to Latvia during the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany and died in Riga.

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* 1871 births 1942 deaths People from Gulbene Municipality People from Valka county Latvian Lutheran clergy Latvian anti-communists 20th-century Latvian writers 20th-century Latvian politicians Members of the clergy convicted of crimes University of Tartu alumni {{Latvia-writer-stub People deported from Latvia Prisoners and detainees of Latvia

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