Alfred Valdmanis and the Politics of Survival / / Gerhard P. Bassler.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Bassler, Gerhard P.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Alfred Valdmanis is best known in Canada for his infamous role in Premier Joey Smallwood's scheme to industrialize Newfoundland. A Latvian immigrant, he was appointed Director General of Economic Development in 1950 with the understanding that through his connections to Europe he could entice German and Baltic industrialists to the isolated, rural island. His influence was brought to an abrupt end when, in 1954, he was charged with defrauding the government. The media, latching on to his murky past and his possible affiliation with war criminals, made him the scapegoat of Newfoundland's problems, painting him as part comedian, part sinister villain.This was not the first time his name was connected with controversial issues. Valdmanis's wily political manoeuvring is more the stuff of fiction than history. Between 1938, at age 29, and his ironic downfall in the safe haven of Canada, he was a finance minister of pre-war Latvia, a government official during the Soviet invasion, a shrewd collaborator under the Nazi occupation, then, a friend to the Allies, a spokesman for Latvian POW and displaced persons, and an adviser to the government of Canada. In this first serious biography of Alfred Valdamis historian Gerhard Bassler casts the story of this political manipulator and chameleon in new terms: the often tragic consequences of the will to survive.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Spelling and Translations -- Abbreviations and Glossary -- Introduction -- 1. Wunderkind in Reborn Latvia: Background, Education, and Civil Service Career, 1908-1938 -- 2. 'The Most Active and Influential Member of the Cabinet': Minister of Finance, 1938-1939 -- 3. 'Better to Die Standing Up Than to Keep on Living on Your Knees': War, Resignation, and Soviet Occupation, 1939-1941 -- 4. 'Elected to Lead and Manage Latvian National Affairs': The Janus Face of Collaboration, July 1941 to November 1942 -- 5. 'Made No Bones about His Antipathy to the German Regime': The Janus Face of Resistance, November 1942 to May 1945 -- 6. 'I Had Committed All My Heart and My Efforts to Latvian Exiles': Refugee Politics, 1945-1948 -- 7. 'Starting Anew Like Our Fathers Did after the First World War': Immigrant in Canada, 1948-1950 -- 8. 'Develop or Perish': The Challenges of Newfoundland, 1950-1953 -- 9. 'The Past, Instead of Helping to Rebuild, Denies Itself: The Latvian Refugee Community and the Shadows of the Past, 1950-1954 -- 10. 'Only One Could Topple Him from His Height - Himself: Newfoundland's 'Economic Tsar,' 1952-1954 -- 11. 'Something Had Happened and a Culprit Had to Be Found': Con Man or Scapegoat? 1954-1957 -- 12. 'Maybe My Luck Is Used Up Already, Maybe Not': Epilogue, 1956-1970, and Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Index