[1] Haralds Fritz Theodor Biezais was born on 10 July 1909 in Lestene, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire), into a poor evangelical peasant family.
During the academic years 1934–35 and 1936–37, he pursued postgraduate studies in Zürich (where he was a student of Carl Jung) and Strasbourg at his own expense.
[1] From 1945 to 1980, Biezais taught at Uppsala University, where he obtained a PhD in 1955 with a dissertation on the "main goddesses of the Ancient Latvians", and was appointed professor in 1961.
Later on, he felt confirmed in his views by Christian anti-Semitism (...) However, Biezais can certainly not be counted among the friends and allies of National Socialism.
With regard to the role of the Latvian legionnaires who had been called up to the Wehrmacht in the Second World War and fought alongside it, he took an intermediate position.
He did not want to elevate them to the status of freedom fighters of the Latvian people or defame them as mere partisans of the Nazis.
His assessment was based on the fundamental assumption that under the pressure of the occupying power, the intentions and goals of those affected by it were irrelevant.