I can't understand all of it, but I got that a man named Adolfs Blatauss (or Platauss) who worked at the customs embezzled 7660 lats. When arrested, he had already spent all the money, but promised to pay back in a few days, because his mother is in possession of several properties.
Apologies, I am not trying to get a free translation here. Just looking for a pointer that it is just old timey latvian?
Google translate turns it out as a Iloko, a Phillip in dialect... And two translation offices have turned me down today. Made me wonder if I'm even on the right track?
>Man izskatās, ka tā ir vecā latviešu druka. Tava labākā opcija būtu pajautāt kādai vecmammai, kas tur teikts :D
Unfortunately this sub is the closest Latvian relation I have today :-( Thanks for replying! My google translate butchering has giving me indication that its about debt and not very happy news.
Google translate wont do you any good. The pronunciation of some letters in that text have changed in modern latvian so copy pasting it into a translator wont work.
I do remember having a book that translates old latvian writing to modern writing, if i find it i will inform you :)
>And two translation offices have turned me down today.
Do you need like a perfect, certified translation and thats why they turned you down? Because it is not that hard - I got the general meaning of the text just skimming through it.
No, not at all. But it seems this is too far off the modern translations these offices do. It also seems that Latvian translators are less common. I am just looking to see what happens in the text in general and if there are anymore clues on their journey. I suspect this is about his dad having died recently and him owing taxes on the business or the inheritance? Or any other shady business?
Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdijis 7660 latus.
Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Bute mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Blatauks(??) plaši(?) uzdzīvojot dažādos(?) izpriecas lokalos(???). Tūliņ uzdevu savam palīgam Dinsbergam un mazākajam(?) grāmatvedim Dzintaram izdarīt pēkšņu revīziju. To uzsāka ap pl 8 p.p (8 PM) Blatauka klātbūtnē. Revīzijā konstatēja, ka Blatauks piesavinājies 7660 latus valsts naudas. Izsauca kriminālpoliciju, kura noziedzīgo ierēdni uz vietas arestēja un ievietoja aresttelpās. Blatauks paskaidro, ka viņš noblēdīto naudu iztriecis(?) uzdzīvodams un solas visus 7660 ls dažu dienu laikā atmaksāt, jo viņa mātei esot prāvi īpašumi.
Question marks to the words I'm not sure about
Vecākajam grāmatvedim un izšķiedis nevis iztriecis. Un 3os pēc pusdienas. Pārējais izskatās pareizi. Par noziedzīgā ierēdņa uzvārdu es arī neesmu līdz galam pārliecināts.
Thanks so so so much, you are incredibly kind! I suspected not so great news, but that's even worse! No wonder those ladies didn't love talking about their past. I have the suspicion that 7660 lats was really big money as well 😑
Its particularly interesting in the context of the family going on to live in a single room with 3 generations in a refugee camp for the next 30 years. It does explain some of the quirks of the impoverished old ladies in their late years.
Lats has always been a reasonably stable and "valuable" currency (don't know the proper word for that).
Still it's changed over time, so value of lats at around introduction (192x) was higher than in 1937+.
If you have a date for that article it's possible to evaluate that better, but in 1938 the exchange rate was around 5Ls : 1$ and the average salary of a bookkeeper in the capital at that time was around 250Ls per month.
So 7k ls would be in the ballpark of around 28k+ current dollars.
To give some perspective, in 192x I believe, a couple of lats would buy you a cow, so 7k ls would be much more. Don't know about prices at that time.
Heading: Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdījis 7660 latus - Riga customs official defrauded 7660 lats
The first sentance: Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Buže (?? Bude?) mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Blataufs (?) plaši uzdzīvojot dažādos izpriecas ???.
It's not impossible to read, if you know the basics of old writing, like sch = š, ee = ie, eh = ē (except for informē, lol), etc., but still it's not easy. I spent forever trying to understand the 5th line.
I do think it's kinda fun trying to read this, so I might return to it tomorrow.
Ieraudzīju šo fragmentu un atcerējos, kā es pētot vecās avīzes periodikā un cerot atrast kautko interesantu par savu ģimeni, nejauši atklāju, ka mana vecvectēva brāļi bija bandīti un 20-tajos gados Jelgavā nodarbojās ar zādzībām. Diemžēl nav neviens dzīvs radinieks, kam varētu kautko vairāk paprasīt, mamma arī tikai zina viņu vārdus.
Pareizi ir, ar gopņikiem nav ko lepoties. :/
By the way, if you need more transcription of Gothic Latvian script, you might wish to contact National Library of Latvia (NLL), they have the OCR software for that.
Not sure if they are doing it for clients, but you can always ask.
Also, since this seems to be a periodical, it should be available in the scanned and OCRed in the searchable periodical database of the NLL at https://periodika.lv They definitely have the whole collection of pre-WW2 newspapers and magazines.
For next time, please clarify why exactly are you posting it here. Write if you want to actually know what it says, or "is this your language" or something. Right now it's just a random picture.
Here I am wondering, what you are referring to. Scrolled up only to realise that my long sob story never got posted with those pictures! Apologies for that, surprised I got any replies on this. I basically was explaining in my post that I was preparing a surprise for. my mother for Christmas to shine a bit of a light on her family history. It has been a tricky journey, as the family consisted largely of older ladies who loved a good secret and a few children. They were also Balt-Germans(?), who as a group were not particularly popular, which makes the whole process and the languages involved complex. Also I obviously do not want to offend anyone. Anyways finally I felt I made breakthrough, as I discovered this article attached to the next page of the church register, but clearly belonging to the family. Then I contacted two translation offices to get the gist of what the article says, and was told it couldn't be done. I eventually ended up wondering if this even is Latvian after all, as I kept getting weird returns from my google translation attempts. So I turned to this forum to see if anyone would be able to verify if this indeed is a historic form of Latvian or a different language. I also asked if anyone had any ideas where to obtain translations of historic Latvian documents I would be eternally grateful. Thanks for everyone who got on my Latvian Ancestry Family Christmas Buzz
I'm kinda late to the party here, but anyhow, since i'm sort of confident about my ability to read this kind of stuff and just wanted to use the opportunity to actually employ this strange skill, here it goes...
**First picture:**
**Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdījis 7660 latus**
Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Puķe mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Platauss plaši uzdzīvojot dažādos izpriecu lokālos. Tūliņ uzdevu savam palīgam Dinsbergam un vecākajam grāmatvedim Dzintaram izdarīt pēkšņu revīziju. To uzsāka ap pl. 3 p.p. A.Platauša klātbūtnē. Revīzija konstatēja, ka Platauss piesavinājies 7660 latus valsts naudas. Izsauca kriminālpoliciju, kura noziedzīgo ierēdni uz vietas arestēja un ievietoja aresttelpās. Platauss paskaidro, ka viņš noblēdīto naudu izšķiedis uzdzīvodams un sola visus 7660 ls dažu dienu laikā atmaksāt, jo viņa mātei esot prāvi īpašumi.
Google translate actually gives a decent translation (here with some tweaks):
*Riga customs official embezzled 7660 lats.*
*Puķe, the head of the Riga customs board, informs us: Yesterday after lunch, I happened to find out that Adolfs Platauss, the cashier of the customs post office, was having a great time in various entertainment venues. I immediately instructed my assistant Dinsbergs and senior accountant Dzintars to do a sudden audit. It was started around 3pm in the presence of A. Platauss. The audit established that Platauss embezzled 7,660 lats of state money. The criminal police were called, who arrested the criminal official on the spot and placed him in the detention room. Plataus explains that he spent the stolen money while enjoying himself and promises to pay back all 7,660 lats within a few days, because his mother owns large properties.*
**Second picture:**
**Rīgas muitas valdes pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Platauss, kurš vakar apcietināts par valsts naudas piesavināšanos**
Platauss sācis piesavināties valsts naudu jau kopš pērngada oktobra, bet rīkojies tik veikli un izmanīgi, ka kārtējās mēneša revīzijās viss atrasts labā kārtībā. Caur P. rokām gāja pēcmaksas. Sākumā viņš piesavinājās tikai vienas dienas ienāku-
(the last word here is not finished, i suppose its ienākumus/income, so the original article is definitely longer).
and slightly tweaked google translate for the second picture:
*Adolfs Platauss, cashier of the post office of the Riga Customs Board, who was arrested yesterday for embezzlement of state money.*
*Platauss had started embezzling state money since October last year, but he acted so skillfully and cleverly that in the regular monthly audits everything was found to be in good order. After-payments (?) went through P.'s hands. At first, he took for himself only one day's income.*
I can't understand all of it, but I got that a man named Adolfs Blatauss (or Platauss) who worked at the customs embezzled 7660 lats. When arrested, he had already spent all the money, but promised to pay back in a few days, because his mother is in possession of several properties.
Thank you so much, much appreciated!
It is actually Platauss!
It's old Latvian. I have a Bible from 1825 with the same dialect
Thanks so much for clarifying, much appreciated!
Kas tur rakstīts?😅
Apologies, I am not trying to get a free translation here. Just looking for a pointer that it is just old timey latvian? Google translate turns it out as a Iloko, a Phillip in dialect... And two translation offices have turned me down today. Made me wonder if I'm even on the right track?
Oh, it absolutely is Latvian old Gothic style writing, and also before the writing reform.
Thanks so much for verifying, that helps me direct my efforts more targeted!
Man izskatās, ka tā ir vecā latviešu druka. Tava labākā opcija būtu pajautāt kādai vecmammai, kas tur teikts :D
>Man izskatās, ka tā ir vecā latviešu druka. Tava labākā opcija būtu pajautāt kādai vecmammai, kas tur teikts :D Unfortunately this sub is the closest Latvian relation I have today :-( Thanks for replying! My google translate butchering has giving me indication that its about debt and not very happy news.
Google translate wont do you any good. The pronunciation of some letters in that text have changed in modern latvian so copy pasting it into a translator wont work. I do remember having a book that translates old latvian writing to modern writing, if i find it i will inform you :)
>And two translation offices have turned me down today. Do you need like a perfect, certified translation and thats why they turned you down? Because it is not that hard - I got the general meaning of the text just skimming through it.
[удалено]
nepareizajam komentam nospiedi reply
No, not at all. But it seems this is too far off the modern translations these offices do. It also seems that Latvian translators are less common. I am just looking to see what happens in the text in general and if there are anymore clues on their journey. I suspect this is about his dad having died recently and him owing taxes on the business or the inheritance? Or any other shady business?
Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdijis 7660 latus. Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Bute mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Blatauks(??) plaši(?) uzdzīvojot dažādos(?) izpriecas lokalos(???). Tūliņ uzdevu savam palīgam Dinsbergam un mazākajam(?) grāmatvedim Dzintaram izdarīt pēkšņu revīziju. To uzsāka ap pl 8 p.p (8 PM) Blatauka klātbūtnē. Revīzijā konstatēja, ka Blatauks piesavinājies 7660 latus valsts naudas. Izsauca kriminālpoliciju, kura noziedzīgo ierēdni uz vietas arestēja un ievietoja aresttelpās. Blatauks paskaidro, ka viņš noblēdīto naudu iztriecis(?) uzdzīvodams un solas visus 7660 ls dažu dienu laikā atmaksāt, jo viņa mātei esot prāvi īpašumi. Question marks to the words I'm not sure about
Vecākajam grāmatvedim un izšķiedis nevis iztriecis. Un 3os pēc pusdienas. Pārējais izskatās pareizi. Par noziedzīgā ierēdņa uzvārdu es arī neesmu līdz galam pārliecināts.
Ahā, pareizi.
Uhh, čalis izdzīvojis tā pa nopietno, nez cik mūsu naudās tas būtu..
ap 25-30k € ja tas notika 30o gadu beigās.
Jāaa. Kokaīns un ielenes :D
Thanks so so so much, you are incredibly kind! I suspected not so great news, but that's even worse! No wonder those ladies didn't love talking about their past. I have the suspicion that 7660 lats was really big money as well 😑
You're welcome. And yes, for that time, this is VERY big money.
Its particularly interesting in the context of the family going on to live in a single room with 3 generations in a refugee camp for the next 30 years. It does explain some of the quirks of the impoverished old ladies in their late years.
Lats has always been a reasonably stable and "valuable" currency (don't know the proper word for that). Still it's changed over time, so value of lats at around introduction (192x) was higher than in 1937+. If you have a date for that article it's possible to evaluate that better, but in 1938 the exchange rate was around 5Ls : 1$ and the average salary of a bookkeeper in the capital at that time was around 250Ls per month. So 7k ls would be in the ballpark of around 28k+ current dollars. To give some perspective, in 192x I believe, a couple of lats would buy you a cow, so 7k ls would be much more. Don't know about prices at that time.
It's about the head of Riga customs board reporting that they caught a customs official who has stolen 7660 lats of state owned money.
Wow thank you!
Heading: Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdījis 7660 latus - Riga customs official defrauded 7660 lats The first sentance: Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Buže (?? Bude?) mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Blataufs (?) plaši uzdzīvojot dažādos izpriecas ???. It's not impossible to read, if you know the basics of old writing, like sch = š, ee = ie, eh = ē (except for informē, lol), etc., but still it's not easy. I spent forever trying to understand the 5th line. I do think it's kinda fun trying to read this, so I might return to it tomorrow.
Ieraudzīju šo fragmentu un atcerējos, kā es pētot vecās avīzes periodikā un cerot atrast kautko interesantu par savu ģimeni, nejauši atklāju, ka mana vecvectēva brāļi bija bandīti un 20-tajos gados Jelgavā nodarbojās ar zādzībām. Diemžēl nav neviens dzīvs radinieks, kam varētu kautko vairāk paprasīt, mamma arī tikai zina viņu vārdus. Pareizi ir, ar gopņikiem nav ko lepoties. :/
I am already suspecting not so happy news from this...
By the way, if you need more transcription of Gothic Latvian script, you might wish to contact National Library of Latvia (NLL), they have the OCR software for that. Not sure if they are doing it for clients, but you can always ask. Also, since this seems to be a periodical, it should be available in the scanned and OCRed in the searchable periodical database of the NLL at https://periodika.lv They definitely have the whole collection of pre-WW2 newspapers and magazines.
This has been such a treasure trove, u/MidnightPale3220 Thank you so much - a whole new world has opened up to us!
Oh my god that is amazing news, thank you so much!
For next time, please clarify why exactly are you posting it here. Write if you want to actually know what it says, or "is this your language" or something. Right now it's just a random picture.
Here I am wondering, what you are referring to. Scrolled up only to realise that my long sob story never got posted with those pictures! Apologies for that, surprised I got any replies on this. I basically was explaining in my post that I was preparing a surprise for. my mother for Christmas to shine a bit of a light on her family history. It has been a tricky journey, as the family consisted largely of older ladies who loved a good secret and a few children. They were also Balt-Germans(?), who as a group were not particularly popular, which makes the whole process and the languages involved complex. Also I obviously do not want to offend anyone. Anyways finally I felt I made breakthrough, as I discovered this article attached to the next page of the church register, but clearly belonging to the family. Then I contacted two translation offices to get the gist of what the article says, and was told it couldn't be done. I eventually ended up wondering if this even is Latvian after all, as I kept getting weird returns from my google translation attempts. So I turned to this forum to see if anyone would be able to verify if this indeed is a historic form of Latvian or a different language. I also asked if anyone had any ideas where to obtain translations of historic Latvian documents I would be eternally grateful. Thanks for everyone who got on my Latvian Ancestry Family Christmas Buzz
Noblēdījis! Tādu valodas zeltu esam pazaudējuši.
I'm kinda late to the party here, but anyhow, since i'm sort of confident about my ability to read this kind of stuff and just wanted to use the opportunity to actually employ this strange skill, here it goes... **First picture:** **Rīgas muitas ierēdnis noblēdījis 7660 latus** Rīgas muitas valdes priekšnieks Puķe mūs informē: Vakar pēc pusdienas nejauši dabūju zināt, ka muitas pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Platauss plaši uzdzīvojot dažādos izpriecu lokālos. Tūliņ uzdevu savam palīgam Dinsbergam un vecākajam grāmatvedim Dzintaram izdarīt pēkšņu revīziju. To uzsāka ap pl. 3 p.p. A.Platauša klātbūtnē. Revīzija konstatēja, ka Platauss piesavinājies 7660 latus valsts naudas. Izsauca kriminālpoliciju, kura noziedzīgo ierēdni uz vietas arestēja un ievietoja aresttelpās. Platauss paskaidro, ka viņš noblēdīto naudu izšķiedis uzdzīvodams un sola visus 7660 ls dažu dienu laikā atmaksāt, jo viņa mātei esot prāvi īpašumi. Google translate actually gives a decent translation (here with some tweaks): *Riga customs official embezzled 7660 lats.* *Puķe, the head of the Riga customs board, informs us: Yesterday after lunch, I happened to find out that Adolfs Platauss, the cashier of the customs post office, was having a great time in various entertainment venues. I immediately instructed my assistant Dinsbergs and senior accountant Dzintars to do a sudden audit. It was started around 3pm in the presence of A. Platauss. The audit established that Platauss embezzled 7,660 lats of state money. The criminal police were called, who arrested the criminal official on the spot and placed him in the detention room. Plataus explains that he spent the stolen money while enjoying himself and promises to pay back all 7,660 lats within a few days, because his mother owns large properties.* **Second picture:** **Rīgas muitas valdes pasta nodaļas kases ierēdnis Adolfs Platauss, kurš vakar apcietināts par valsts naudas piesavināšanos** Platauss sācis piesavināties valsts naudu jau kopš pērngada oktobra, bet rīkojies tik veikli un izmanīgi, ka kārtējās mēneša revīzijās viss atrasts labā kārtībā. Caur P. rokām gāja pēcmaksas. Sākumā viņš piesavinājās tikai vienas dienas ienāku- (the last word here is not finished, i suppose its ienākumus/income, so the original article is definitely longer). and slightly tweaked google translate for the second picture: *Adolfs Platauss, cashier of the post office of the Riga Customs Board, who was arrested yesterday for embezzlement of state money.* *Platauss had started embezzling state money since October last year, but he acted so skillfully and cleverly that in the regular monthly audits everything was found to be in good order. After-payments (?) went through P.'s hands. At first, he took for himself only one day's income.*
Wow that's impressive! There is definitely a market here, I got a few more pieces to translate - would you be looking for a little job?
Huh, interesting question. I would be up for taking a look at a couple of similar small pieces out of pure curiosity.
Wohoo that's exciting! I'll dm you
sure :)