10.12.2019

Par globālo latvieti Helmaru Rudziti

Ievads grāmatai „The Adventures of My Life“

The history of Latvian entrepreneurship cannot be written without mentioning Helmars Rudzitis! If you say that Latvians are not good businessmen, that they only sing and dance, then Helmars Rudzitis contradicts this myth. He not only had a knack for business, but also vision. This he combined with a through cultural foundation and a deep understanding and knowledge of literature, music and performing arts. Each situation or individual whom he encountered became part of his personal journey.  

Being a caring person, Helmars knew how to help and support everyone. For that reason, he was respected and recognized by people throughout his life.

After World War II, in the Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Esslingen, Germany, Helmars started publishing a monthly journal called Laiks, in which he published literary works written by Latvian refugee writers and illustrated by refugee artists. He also continued publishing books drawing from the list of the books that his firm Grāmatu Draugs had published in pre-war Riga.

Helmārs and his family arrived in the U.S. in April 1949. Immediately he started a new project, the American Latvian newspaper Laiks. The first issue was published seven months later on November 8, 1949.

In 1951 the first Laiks Art Calendar was published. Each year a new calendar still arrives in nearly every Latvian home. The plan was not just to earn money, but also to carry on Latvian culture so that it would never be forgotten.

This book tells the exciting adventure, of a young man with ideas, who navigated through the dramatic 20th century and establishing going businesses and at the same time preserving some of the greatest treasures of the Latvian nation.

It is very fashionable to call someone “global Latvian” today. Helmars Rudzitis was one already in the last century.

Ligita Kovtuna