On the Tukums–Brizule road, 22 August was Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics’s last journey. In 1925, Latvia’s first foreign minister was on his way to visit his children at “Druķi”; on an uncompacted stretch of road, the car tilted and overturned. His wife Anna, the children, and the driver got out alive, but Meierovics remained in the seat, shielding little Gunārs on his lap. He was only 38, and Latvian diplomacy suddenly lost the man who had carried the young state’s name to London and the League of Nations.

Meierovics was one of the chief builders of Latvia’s foreign policy after 1918, securing international support at a time when the state’s survival was not yet taken for granted. His death in August 1925 came while Latvia’s diplomatic system was still young and heavily dependent on a small circle of experienced figures.