Fraternitas Baltica

Fraternitas Baltica was a Baltic-German fraternity founded at Rīga Polytechnic Institute in Riga, Latvia in 1865. It was established as a collegiate fraternity but decided its members had to belong to Baltic-German military units after World War I. It was a member of Fraternity Presidium Convent (P!K!).

History
Fraternitas Baltica was founded by students at Rīga Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Riga, Latvia as Fraternitas Polytechnici Baltici. In 1867, Fraternitas Baltica founded the General Polytechnic Convention (APC), which led the social life in Polytechnic Institute.

In 1869 after disagreements, many students left the fraternity and founded Concordia Rigensis, which is still active today. During World War I, RPI evacuated to Moscow, and the fraternity suspended activity. In 1918, Fraternitas Baltica restored operations as a part of Baltic Technical College. Later that year, a decision was made that all of the active members had to belong to a Baltic-German military units.

In 1920, Fraternitas Baltica was registered as a fraternity of University of Latvia and was admitted to Fraternity Presidium Convent (P!K!). The fraternity left P!K! in 1932 in protest of the decision to use only Latvian language in their meetings. After leaving P!K!, Fraternitas Baltica ceased being a collegiate fraternity but continued to operate as a society that still used the name fraternity.

In 1938, Fraternitas Baltica ceased operations in Latvia and closed completely in 1939 with all the forced removal of its members to Germany. In 1959, Fraternitas Baltica members and other Baltic-German non-student fraternities founded Curonia Goettingensis, which is a continuation of Baltic fraternity traditions.

Symbols
The colors of Fraternitas Baltica were red, green, and gold. Its mottos were "In Treuen fest" or "Strong in confidence" and "Freundschaft, Frohsinn, Tugend, Wissen soll man nie bei den Balten missen" which translates as "Friendship, Happiness, Virtue, and Knowledge are the things that none of Balts should miss"