''Segodnya'' (russian: Сегодня, links=no, lit=Today, ) was

Russian-language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living Ea ...

newspaper published in

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 B ...

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 ...

from 1919 to 1940. It was founded and owned by Yakov Brams (Jakovs Brams) and Boris Polyak (Boriss Poļaks). Its editorial line was

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **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 Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

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 (russian: Арка́дий Тимофе́евич Аве́рченко; 27 March 1881 in Sevastopol – 12 March 1925 in Prague) was a Russian playwright and satirist. He published his stories in the journal ''Satir ...

Konstantin Balmont Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont ( rus, Константи́н Дми́триевич Бальмо́нт, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bɐlʲˈmont, a=Konstantin Dmitriyevich Bal'mont.ru.vorb.oga; – 23 December 1942) was a Rus ...

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953) was the first Russian writer awarded the ...

Alexander Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''A ...

Nadezhda Teffi Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi (russian: Наде́жда Алекса́ндровна Тэ́ффи; , Saint Petersburg – 6 October 1952, Paris) was a Russian humorist writer. Together with Arkady Averchenko she was one of the prominent authors of t ...

and

Ivan Shmelev Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelyov (russian: Иван Сергеевич Шмелёв, also spelled ''Shmelev'' and ''Chmelov'') ( – 24 June 1950) was a Russian writer best known for his full-blooded idyllic recreations of the pre-revolutionary past ...

. 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 (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society ...

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

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. Both owners of the paper managed to flee to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

during Latvia's occupation by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1941–1944, while some perished in the Soviet

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

(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 ( lv, Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka) is a national cultural institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture of Latvia. Its current main building is known as the Castle of Light ( lv, Gaismas pils) ...

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

Public Broadcasting of Latvia Public Broadcasting of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas sabiedriskais medijs, lit=Latvian Public Media – LSM) is a publicly funded radio and television organization operated by both of Latvia's public broadcasters – Latvian Television and Radio Latvia ...

* http://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