Roze, Jānis (1878 - May 1942)

Jānis Roze (1878 - May 1942) was a Latvian bookseller and publisher active in Riga during the early to mid-20th century. Roze founded his business, which operated as J. Roze during World War I (1914 - 1918), when rent in Riga reached an all-time low, allowing him to economically lease a large space in a premium location at K. Barona Street 3. In 1923, shortly after the war, he also acquired the stock and premises of the long-established but by that time defunct bookseller D. Golt. He published his first book in 1918, a self-compiled dictionary of foreign words. The firm prospered, publishing nearly 750 different books, as well as maps and other documents. When the Soviets occupied Latvia in 1940, the firm was nationalized, and Roze was sent to Siberia, where he died of starvation in 1942. Today, a new bookseller has emerged named in honor of J. Roze.