''Segodnya'' (, ) was a

Russian-language Russian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russians. It was the ''de facto'' and ''de j ...

newspaper published in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

from 1919 to 1940. It was founded and owned by Yakov Brams (Jakovs Brams) and Boris Polyak (Boriss Poļaks). Its editorial line was liberal and democratic. It had a comparatively well-developed network of foreign correspondents and extensive analysis of European affairs, making it accessible amongst Russian émigrés and was the most significant Russian newspaper with circulation outside the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the 1930s. The newspaper was the most popular daily periodical among the Russian speaking population of Latvia at the time. From 1924 an evening edition, ''Segodnya Vecherom'', was published. Material was sent to the newspaper from famous Russian writers and poets –

Arkady Averchenko Arkady Timofeevich Averchenko (; 27 March 1881 – 12 March 1925) was a Russian playwright and satire, satirist. He published his stories in the journal ''Satirikon'', of which he was also an editor, in the series of ''Novyi Satirikon, New Sati ...

Konstantin Balmont Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont ( rus, Константи́н Дми́триевич Ба́льмо́нт, p=, a=Konstantin Dmitriyevich Bal'mont.ru.vorb.oga; – 23 December 1942) was a Russian symbolist poet and translator who became one of ...

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953)Alexander Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''Alexander Kuprin'', calls ''The Duel'' his "greatest masterpiece" (ch ...

, Nadezhda Teffi and

Ivan Shmelev Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelyov (, also spelled ''Shmelev'' and ''Chmelov''; – 24 June 1950) was a Russian writer best known for his idyllic recreations of a pre-Revolutionary past spent in the merchant district of Moscow. He was a member of t ...

. In the words of a researcher of the Russian press, Yury Abyzov: 'the newspaper was not émigré, or anti-Bolshevist, or European. It was considered itself Latvian, inasmuch as it catered for the multi-ethnic society of the republic, which had grown in an atmosphere of Russian culture'. The newspaper was shut down by the Soviet authorities following the occupation and annexation of Latvia by the USSR in 1940 with the last issue being released on 21 June 1940. The editorial board tried to preserve the paper by renaming it to ''Russkaya Gazeta'' (), but it was closed by the Soviets after its 5th issue on July 2. After the removal of the chief editors and arrests of most of the contributors, the remnants of the paper became the ''Trudovaya Gazeta'' () from July 4. Ultimately, it also was banned on November 9 and merged into the newly established newspaper ''Proletarskaya Pravda'' (). Due to the paper's editorial line critical of Soviet

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

, many people connected with ''Segodnya'' were singled out for persecution by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. Both owners of the paper managed to flee to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A number of its staff and contributors came from Latvia's Jewish community and were also murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

during Latvia's occupation by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in 1941–1944, while some perished in the Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

(e.g. ).

Sources

Literature

* Abyzov, Iuriy (ed.), ''Gazeta "Segodnia", 1919–1940: rospis. Riga: Latviiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka, 2001. 2 v. (ch. 1) (ch. 1) (ch. 2) (ch. 2) * Равдин Б., Флейшман Л., Абызов Ю. ''"Русская печать в Риге: из истории газеты "Сегодня" 1930-х годов"'', Stanford 1997.

External links

Part of newspaper's archive available (until 1940)
–

National Library of Latvia The National Library of Latvia (), originally known as the State Library of Latvia, is a national cultural institution under the supervision of the . Its current main building is known as the Castle of Light ().There is also an old library repo ...

A series of articles on the history and centenary of the newspaper
from 2019 by the

Public Broadcasting of Latvia Public Service Media of Latvia ( – LSM) is a publicly funded radio and television organization operated by both of Latvia's public broadcasters – Latvijas Televīzija, Latvian Television and Latvijas Radio, Radio Latvia. LSM provides news, a ...

* https://forum.myriga.info/lofiversion/index.php/t598.html
Letters by A. Milrud
* Feigmanis A

Defunct daily newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Latvia Russian-language newspapers published in Latvia Mass media in Riga 1919 establishments in Latvia 1940 disestablishments in Latvia Newspapers established in 1919 Publications disestablished in 1940 {{Latvia-newspaper-stub