Paul Schiemann

Paul Schiemann (Latvian: Pauls Šīmanis; 17 March 1876 – 23 June 1944) was a Baltic German journalist, editor and politician who was known for his commitment to minority rights.

Biography

Schiemann was born in Mitau in Courland, then part of the Russian Empire. He grew up in Estonia, was educated in Germany, and served his army training in Lithuania. He came from a wealthy and conservative family (his uncle Theodor Schiemann, was a prominent supporter and historian to the German Empire), but his own political views were very liberal, and "made him an equally ardent opponent of both German National Socialism and of Soviet socialism."^[1]

During World War I Schiemann fought in the Russian army, although his brother fought for the German army. During the buildup to the war, he was strongly against it, but was quoted as saying "War can only be objected to during times of peace".^[2] After the war he moved from theatrical journalism to political journalism, and later formed his own party, the Baltic German Democratic Party (DDP). This was often referred to as "Schiemann's Party" and was famed for practising 'above party' politics, most notably his constant fight for minority rights in post-war Latvia, particularly education. Schiemann led a coalition of Baltic German parties, the Committee of the Baltic German Parties, for most of the inter-war period.

During the buildup to World War II, Schiemann came under pressure from Baltic German society to abandon his uncompromising defense of the minorities, in particular the Jews. Schiemann dismissed this, and was one of the few voices in power that argued for the rights of Jews. This led to him having some quite vocal critics in Baltic German society.

Schiemann suffered from tuberculosis throughout the 1930s, and frequently visited Davos to recover. He started to refuse to cover the politics of Germany as a protest, and as a result the readership of his newspaper started to decline. However, a few years after that decision, he started to cover German politics by writing anti-Nazi articles. During the late 1930s he was quite unwell, but with war looming and minority rights becoming worse, he refused to leave his country - and campaigned for other Baltic Germans to remain, where he felt their country needed them.

During the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, Schiemann was confined to his house. It was surprising that he did not suffer a worse fate. Some theorize that this was perhaps due to his political opponents still holding him in high regard - but more likely his drastically failing health had much to do with it.

During the last two years of his life, and despite him suffering from severe tuberculosis, Schiemann hid a young Jewish girl called Valentina Freimane in his house. She credits him with saving her life, saying that she probably would not be around today if it were not for him.^[2] Schiemann died in Riga shortly before the Soviet Red Army took control of Latvia for the second time. In 2000 he was posthumously bestowed the title of the Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli institution Yad Vashem.^[3]

References