PSRS Literatūras fonda Latvijas republikāniskās nodaļas poliklīnika: ieskats atmiņu mantojumā un funkcijās
The Polyclinic of Latvian Republican Branch of the USSR Foundation for Literature: Insight in the Legacy and Functions

Summary/Abstract: Respecting the ideological aspects of the totalitarian regime and interpreting the most significant functions of the institution, the article provides an insight in one of the institutions under the supervision of the Latvian Republican branch of the USSR Foundation for Literature—the Polyclinic of Latvian Republican Branch of the USSR Foundation for Literature—locally the most important medical institution for the representatives of creative professions and related persons. This polyclinic was one of the most prestigious medical institutions in the entire Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and was commonly referred to as the Polyclinic of Writers or the Polyclinic of Lit-Foundation. In the framework of the functions of this institution, the article sheds light on various memories of the previous employees and patients looking into their memoirs, memory literature and interviews. The article briefly examines the importance of the two leading or key persons—the Director of the LSSR Foundation for Literature Elvīra Zaķe (1909–1992) and the Head of the Polyclinic, Head Doctor Vitāls Oga (1924–1984), as well as their role in the domestic lives of the creative individuals and cultural history of the Soviet period. The most essential five functions, which characterise the activities and existence of the Polyclinic are the following: 1) basic—service or treatment function; 2) the psychological support function; 3) (LSSR) the ideological-prestige function; 4) the function of sustaining Latvian cultural environment; 5) the function of a cultural sign (entails the processes of the respective period and the history of literary circles).

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