Durbe Celebrates Meierovics’s Birthday

The birthday of the prominent local figure will be commemorated on Saturday, 9 February, in Durbe, the hometown of Latvia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics. At the Durbe Museum, visitors will be able to watch the film "Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics" by director Tālivaldis Margēvičs, museum director Reinis Bahs said.

The tradition of honouring the memory of Z. A. Meierovics—the graduating class of Ata Kronvalds Durbe Elementary School visiting the museum—already took place on 6 February. "The students come to the museum with an assignment given by their teacher. I tell them about Meierovics and preserving his memory, and we also make use of online reference resources," R. Bahs says. At the end, the students walk to the cemetery, where Anna Meierovica, the mother of the diplomat and politician, is buried.

The film screening will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and admission is free. The film "Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics" premiered in 2018 and tells the story of the life and work of Latvia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, while also recounting significant events that made it possible to establish and safeguard the Latvian state. The film combines dramatised episodes with edited historical testimony. The leading role is played by actor Andris Gindra.

Some sources state that Z. A. Meierovics was born in Durbe on 5 February 1887, while elsewhere 6 February is given. R. Bahs says that the date of birth was 24 January according to the old style: "There must have been different ways of calculating it. In funeral notices in old newspapers from 1925, 5 February is mentioned," the museum director says.