tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9676764049368102302024-03-05T08:01:58.635-08:00The Cirksis FamilyMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-45579938721770781142019-12-16T03:27:00.004-08:002019-12-16T03:27:56.903-08:00Still Live!Hello everyone.<br />
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Time really does fly! It turns out it has been 4 years since my last post! For any new comers, I am still monitoring the comments and I can be contacted on twitter @Cirksis. I moderate all the comments to filter out spam so if you don’t see your post straight away, be sure to check back in a few days.<br />
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I always intend to post more information and then find myself too busy to make time. 4 years has been too long though so I will make a special effort to update and refresh things in January!Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-2086781822067589742015-12-09T01:31:00.001-08:002015-12-09T01:31:14.932-08:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 5th of June 1955<p>Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. To see the other letters in the series click <a data-mce-href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters">HERE</a>.</p><p>For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a data-mce-href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html">Latvian Translations</a> page.</p><p>This is the 20th Letter in the series.</p><blockquote><p>A sincere greeting from the shores of the Amber Sea!!!</p><p>Dear Janis, I want to write a few lines to you today and also send best wishes for your namesday. I think you will receive them in time.</p><p>Here in your Homeland the spring is really starting now, which as you will remember, is late this year and made us wait quite long for its splendour and warmth. Only this morning can you feel that the buds on the cherry trees are opening, a few petals are showing. Last week the weather warmed up, but is still not really summery. You still can’t sunbathe or swim. I did start going barefoot yesterday though. The leaves on the birches have opened, on our birch by the barn too. That has now grown so big that it is twice as high as the buildings, and the larch the same. The buds on the other trees are still only swelling and opening. The oak tree by the well, which has the little linden tree next to it, has grown full and strong, in a few decades it will be really mighty. Yesterday and today the first buds of the jonquils and tulips are opening too, the bleeding-hearts are flowering. The early potatoes, which we had sprouted, are poking out of the ground too now, the carrots, beetroot, beans and peas are shooting. The strawberries are not flowering yet though. The gooseberries, the black and red currants are flowering. I have also finished weeding the garden. It will be a bit easier now, when I come back from the kolkhoz fields, I will not have to work in the garden. When it gets warmer, Mum will help with weeding our vegetable beds, those that we have now. She is looking after both piglets now, she gathers grass from the garden for them, she milks the goat and feeds the milk to the lambs, she cooks and so she is also quite busy at home. Also, when it was cold and she could not go outside yet, she knitted gloves. Dad and I go to work in the kolkhoz almost every day. It’s a struggle at the moment to finish the spring sowing, which is dragging on this year too, but we hope to finish next week. Last week we girls, such as we are here, spread the artificial fertiliser on the ploughed fields. The men sow and harrow. The tractors are a great help to us too, although there could be more of them, there are only a few for each kolkhoz. This year we will be growing a wide area of a new crop – corn. According to the plan it should grow here, but this year we have had an unusually cold and late spring… They have dug a big drain through the Ezerins’ meadows from the Kristus creek by the Kaupelis’ place right up to our place along the old meadow ditch, which has been straightened out though. The small excavator finished digging this morning. They are digging a river too, through the meadows that are on the sea side. So you see we have major land amelioration works happening!... And such, my dear brother, is the face of the locality and place of your birth, as far as it can be described in a letter. Spring, our most beautiful time of year, is beginning, summer will come soon, but you, on the other side of the globe, will have winter…This morning is especially beautiful and sunny, the air is full of fragrance and the twittering of birds. Mum has gone for a nap, father had to go help mark out the land for the corn, there will be people from Liepaja here today to help sow. And me – at this moment I am with you in my thoughts, my dear brother, and with all you others. We will wait eagerly for a letter from you! Sincere and loving greetings to you and all the others from me, mum and dad!!!</p><p> – Kate.</p><p>PS Mrs Kaupelis keeps asking and asking if you might know anything about her Janis. There are a few women here asking questions like that. If you are able to contact anyone, tell them that their families here are waiting for them to write. </p></blockquote>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-53724696376036648432015-11-16T23:53:00.001-08:002015-11-16T23:53:26.591-08:00More to come!<p>It’s that time again. The time I promise to post some more content. As always life gets in the way of blogging for me but I have recently purchased some software that should make posting more convenient. </p><p>This is a quick update to let you know that I am still monitoring this site and that I have HEAPS more information that I intend to post. </p><p>It is also a bit of a test to make sure this software will publish photos, videos etc the way I want it to. SO here goes…</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsdH8HBeFWBwjW41Qtcu1v1EJEEZaVmn2SxD2Z6PbJydOsUvZmShr1mNk5B-gW9rpaqP4tg825s6-uY_rmDwzBeMWEn-d3nH8hBddUrC12uwD0hR_hmJ8__s5tJEWVM45wzRFHv_ACwk/I/JanisCIRKSISscannedphotos9.jpg" width="509" height="509" style="margin: 5px; max-height: none; max-width: 100%;" data-mce-style="margin: 5px;" data-position="3" title="A horse"></p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Will youtube embedding work?</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usdXbeGHi8</p><p>or this</p><p>https://youtu.be/-usdXbeGHi8</p><p>or this?</p><p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-usdXbeGHi8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-40088649210936261562015-06-12T00:37:00.000-07:002015-06-12T00:37:00.555-07:00Letters from Latvia - Nīca 30th of April 1955<div class="tr_bq" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">
Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. To see the other letters in the series click <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(77, 70, 156); color: #4d469c;">HERE</span></a>.</div>
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For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(77, 70, 156); color: #4d469c;">Latvian Translations</span></a> page.</div>
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This is the 19th Letter in the series. </div>
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You might notice a little paranoia in this letter - not unfounded I might add. You will note a lack of full names. In this letter, Kate refers to "Uncle P". I believe this refers to Peteris PIRTNIEKS, Janis's uncle who was deported to Siberia - see the post <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/2013/08/postcards-from-sibirija-siberia-2581950.html" target="_blank">Postcards from Sibīrija</a>. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nica, 30.4 (1955)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincere and loving greetings to you, dear brother, from - me, mum and dad!!!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a week now since mum greeted me on my arrival home from work with the words that today is again a very happy day, we have received a letter from Janis. We read the lines you had written with indescribable joy and emotion, for which we say thank you, but even more so for the photos, which gave us great pleasure. It seems to me, my dear brother, that you have not changed very much – your features are just as dear and familiar as before – long ago….. Also I would not say that you look older. Your goddaughter has grown a lot though, become much taller over these years. And, dear brother, it made us very happy and reassured us to see that you have settled in so nicely and I must say prosperously, that at least materially you are not poorly off, and have been able to settle in so nicely and well through your own efforts! – On Sunday I took the atlas again and traced place by place where you travelled till you got to the shores of your present place of abode. We thank God that you got there safely! You, dear brother, as I remember, used to admire the life of a sailor, now you have been able to experience a long sea voyage.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Next Sunday I am going to the cemetery to plant jonquils and tulips on grandma’s grave, and I will then give her your love, from you, her grandson far away…</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mum and dad were very moved by your words of gratitude for the care they gave you, and that for now is the most beautiful and the biggest gift that you can give them and also the knowledge that in exile you have kept your sense of honour, a pure heart and your health.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">You, dear brother, speak of repaying your parents in some way now. We know that it would be as great a joy for you to send something as for us to receive from you. Not because of the material value or need, it would give more pleasure as a proof of love. Still, dear brother, better not to do it now! Not because anything bad would happen to us because of it, but we are afraid that it might be noticed, or possibly cause envy and that then our contact through letters might be stopped. That is for now the most precious and joyful thing to us, that we can communicate. We are not in poverty, dear brother, we do not lack anything. We are a small family and know how to manage and to work. Last summer we bought furniture for me as well, a wardrobe, couch, bookcase, table, bedside cabinet, we only didn’t have enough money for chairs, we will get those later on. We sold the smoked bacon from one pig, were able to save a bit from a heifer and the strawberries, and that is how we were able to do it. That’s how mum wanted it and it’s not bad. At least for now….. The furniture is really nice. You say, dear brother, that we should not deprive ourselves and save for you. But we have sheep, mum knows how to weave cloth herself, knit gloves and socks, we can’t wear it all out ourselves. And it gives mum pleasure and comfort that she can put aside something useful while waiting for you (pl.). – You say, dear brother, that you would like to exchange letters at least a couple of times a year. I think that that would not be quite often enough, we would have to wait too long. In my opinion five or six letters would not be a lot and not conspicuous, nobody will forbid us that, and we can permit ourselves that much. Better not the parcels, though. The greatest joy to us, to our parents, will be you yourself, when fate permits it!... I could have taken the easy road in life, as they say, but have never wanted to do that, and the illness that mum had assisted me in that, as if by fate. “Smoke-filled and dusty work, but let the sky remain bright.” We have helped uncle P.’s family a lot with parcels. Dainis has now grown into a good-looking and strapping lad, 18 years old. Little Janis with diabetes is now resting in the earth over there. Peteris S.’ father and young brother as well, we still correspond with his mother now and again and send a parcel. It is better for them all there now. Some have returned. Old Mrs Str. asks if you know anything about her V. With loving greetings and all the best! Until we meet!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> - Kate</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS. I am enclosing two photos. In one mum and dad by the veranda, in the other cutting the rye at the kolkhoz by our house. Mum had brought out the afternoon snack, we were reaping by the edge of the field and so she is with our group. Pretending we are having our snack. </span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTStIpyu9Tk1ILG2eSrz-qO9v1hKM4o97IFbFVdlPYwKDivWm1m0DTgebwo1noZ1xqFGAE7G18VzVHt194sFznY9ZGuIVTUnJQyn3AilquSc6t2gbYo4jKPi7ZV-Oz3IisWdo0HEumyI/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTStIpyu9Tk1ILG2eSrz-qO9v1hKM4o97IFbFVdlPYwKDivWm1m0DTgebwo1noZ1xqFGAE7G18VzVHt194sFznY9ZGuIVTUnJQyn3AilquSc6t2gbYo4jKPi7ZV-Oz3IisWdo0HEumyI/s640/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+26.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katrine and Mikelis standing by the veranda</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4_yzlI4Su1_bIl9NXFzXsnXgmHPEpfqLB4hjtbejqDboLhSIQC1W3aYadY0udas_fTX-4voqvdk-QVUjZCB-lnXAsIr_VuXhIWH9WnlRlyP1Tjj1vTFVuZzb1qih1ghBtMVegLVdx4o/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4_yzlI4Su1_bIl9NXFzXsnXgmHPEpfqLB4hjtbejqDboLhSIQC1W3aYadY0udas_fTX-4voqvdk-QVUjZCB-lnXAsIr_VuXhIWH9WnlRlyP1Tjj1vTFVuZzb1qih1ghBtMVegLVdx4o/s640/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutting rye at the kolkhoz near the family house. The workers pose for the camera pretending to have a snack. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS. When the apple trees are flowering, we will get our cousin Peteris K. to take photos of us all. – The spring is late this year. A few days ago there was a wild snowstorm, it stopped the car traffic. Now the snow has melted. The winter flowers are showing above the ground. I have a lot of jonquils and white and red tulips.</span></blockquote>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com2Nīca Municipality, Latvia56.3575181 21.10352155.7940436 19.8126275 56.9209926 22.3944145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-85331539761784960142015-06-06T02:46:00.000-07:002015-06-06T02:46:00.931-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 15th of March 1955<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. To see the other letters in the series click <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is the 18th Letter in the series. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A long break between this letter and the last and how things have changed for both Janis and Kate and the family in Latvia! The family farm had been seized by the Soviet government and turned into a collective farm. It would take about another 50 years before the family could claim part of their hard earned land back - and give it away again to a deserving family as it turned out. Will the Cirksis family ever return to Latvia? Who can say - certainly Janis would never have guessed where life would take him! Again we are confronted with the mystery of what ever happened to Peteris CIRKSIS?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A happy and bright Easter to you all! </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please send us a photo or two, we are longing for your reply.</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nica, 15.3. (1955?)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our dear brother and son!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincere greeting to you from mum, dad and your little sister at home!!! </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday we had such a happy day, we received your letter! It was such an immeasurably happy surprise for us, at first we could only cry, even now, as I am writing, I can’t help it. But that’s nothing, those tears are not harmful, for they are tears of joy. Yesterday because of the great, happy surprise, mum already had to take some drops. All this time, even though we knew and believed that you are alive somewhere in the wide world, still we worried and sometimes had doubts. Our only comfort was knowing that the flow of letters from over your side had stopped altogether. Now, in the last couple of years, we have heard from here and there that someone has received a letter, especially lately. And now we have also experienced this enormous joy, my dear brother, of receiving a letter from you from so far away! Truly, where has fate not scattered Latvians now? ... I took a small atlas and geography book straight away and looked for the place and read about the country where you are living now. I found the port city Melbourne, which is not mentioned in your address though, but clearly legible on the stamp. Then I read that it has a hot, mostly dry climate, and the sun doesn’t even shine from the south there, but from the north. – You are so far from us, I can’t even imagine by what route your letter came to us. I think possibly by air, for it has reached us in 20 days, that seems to me unexpectedly fast for that distance!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">First of all, my dear brother, we would like to know if your family is as before, or has it had some addition? If that has been possible in your difficult circumstances. What are you working at, what are your wife Lida and son Ilmars doing? Are you living in the country or in the city? Have you got a job that is suited to your education or a manual job. – We just wonder if you have not had too hard a time all this time? …Still, your energy and understanding have always helped you, dear brother. Are there still, and have you been able to see, the real original inhabitants of Australia?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">You will want to know, dear brother, how we are living and how we are, here at home? The main thing is that we are living in our own home. We are kolkhoz workers. Father and I are working in the field brigade. The kolkhoz was founded in the spring of 1949. The first summer mum and I milked cows. Then in the winter she looked after the young cows and I worked as a bookkeeper for the neighbouring forestry. Then in the summer I was free, mum from the cows as well, then we both went to work in the fields again, father too. In the autumn I did not do bookkeeping again, for the working hours there were unlimited and too long, so I could not help at home. Then that winter I worked as a domestic at the school. In the summer I started to go to work at the kolkhoz again. Father was then for several years the miller at the stock feed mill set up in the granary of the manor house. – Then - in February 1952, mum fell ill, it started with pneumonia and then she was bedridden for four months. After that she almost had to learn to walk again like a child. Thanks to a good doctor, whom we called out from Liepaja, she gradually got better. And this winter she is quite fit again. We don’t let her go to the kolkhoz, but she busies herself at home again now. She has woven cloth, in preparation for her sons. Just this winter she wove blankets. The cardigans have been ready for a long time already. She makes everything for Peteris as well. We don’t know anything about him but we hope. Oh yes, I have to tell you now that I have been an old maid for 3 years now. I still haven’t had any serious thoughts about marriage yet and I don’t know when I will have. I don’t regret this yet. – There would be a lot more to ask and to tell you, but there will be another time. – Still, it is very painful, dear brother, that we have to be apart so long and that you have to be so far from your homeland and your own people. Oh that fate would let us meet again soon! Sincere, warm greetings to you and your dear ones, health and strength!!! – your little sister Kate.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS Father is guarding the shop at night now, starting from the autumn. He was sick as well for about a month with pleurisy. He is well again now. Grandmother died on the 20<sup>th</sup> April, 1951 – on Peteris’ birthday.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS We are fed and clothed. We have half a hectare. We keep one cow. We have a little one as well now, when it grows, it will have to be sold. We keep 2 pigs a year. We keep and then take to the market some cream and cottage cheese. I make clothes myself. Only not coats and jackets. Yes, we can live. There is more work to do because the fields of the kolkhoz are extensive. In the winter we are at home.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS I am enclosing a four-leaf clover, I remember you used to like such greetings from home. – Kate.</span></blockquote>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca Municipality, Latvia56.3575181 21.10352156.3575181 21.103521 56.3575181 21.103521tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-17940530505826374552015-05-30T01:18:00.000-07:002015-05-30T01:18:00.078-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 5th of August 1949<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. <b>To see the other letters in the series click</b> <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">This is the 17th Letter in the series. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">PS Greetings from old Mr Meiers)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nica, 5.8.49</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Very loving greetings from home!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We received a letter from you again, dear Janis, about which we were again so very happy, for we had been waiting for a long time. But now we know that they won’t come so often and we don’t worry in vain about why you are not writing. Thank you so much for the letter and the greeting cards for Whitsun and Jāņi! You have such pretty, typically Latvian postcards there. I am glad that it is possible for such cards to be made there. – I haven’t written to you for such a long time either. We were waiting for a letter from you but maybe could write a bit more often. I will now tell you briefly how things have been for us, how our work has gone, what your birthplace looks like now. – Weeding time is finished, and our Latvian Jāņi came. We passed them fairly quietly. There was a ball at Reingals on Līgo night, our new brass band played for the first time. The weather was fine and it could be heard beautifully over a wide area. I was late with my jobs and did not want to go in the dark, but I was sorry about that. But still, it was maybe even better at home – in a room decorated with birch-boughs and flowers with the window open to feel the spirit of Līgo night and be with you in my thoughts and with all Latvians in exile – don’t your hearts ache also, and even more so, that you cannot be in your homeland and each in your own place and celebrate happily…the day of Jāņi after that was rainy, the firefighters had planned an event at the manor house, but it didn’t happen, because of the rain. Mr Pirtnieks had come with his family as he is a firefighter and the forester’s children came and we played games inside – after that it was very rainy and cool till the middle of July. We managed to get the clover in fairly well before the rainy period really started. It finally ended with rain and thunder that lasted more than a week nonstop, several hours every day. After that the weather cleared again and only then did the summer show its real warmth and loveliness. There wasn’t a drop of rain while we were getting the hay in. Now it’s beginning to rain again on and off, but it doesn’t matter so much now. Soon everyone will have cut their rye. We would have finished by tonight but there was a bit of rain after lunch, we will finish tomorrow. Tomorrow we will go and help the foresters, there will be more reapers there. We did ours by ourselves this year. – We have made quite a lot of jam as well, only the red currants still to pick and preserve. - I went to Liepaja too to take part in the song festival, even though our choir has petered out, nobody went to the rehearsals, but we had to go to Riga for our national costumes, I didn’t go there as a participant, Vera went too and the forester couple. Vera and I stayed with Baris’ sister. Baris is back home now and working as a gardener. It was lovely and very worthwhile to see our Riga, since I had the chance. We visited all the most notable places, cemeteries and monuments. Vera went to see the school she will be teaching at as well in Zemgale and so I got to see Jelgava too and go on the Lielupe in a boat. In short, it was a worthwhile excursion, even though I was away from home for a week. On account of the singers, they didn’t issue train tickets for two days. So I have seen a part of our Homeland again. In the end though, I wished to be home and it was so good to return there, when you return from being away you feel the love that binds you to your home, your birthplace. I can better understand now what you feel, being far away…Thank God that you are doing reasonably well, you are all fed and clothed, that you can study and achieve something and have achieved something already and can thus live better while you are away. We are also glad that you have your own little plot of land, small garden and chickens. I’ve also got quite a lot of cucumbers and tomatoes and they have grown well, and will start to produce soon. Only no one had much joy with their strawberries this year. But other berries and apples were plentiful. I don’t know if I have told you everything now but if not, then we’ll tell you when you come home. It’s a pleasant evening at the moment, calm and dark already. There are yellow dahlias by the window and the grasshoppers are chirping. I will enclose some aster and phlox petals. Give our love to Lidija and Ilmars, and all our love to you. All the very best! - Kate</span></blockquote>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca Municipality, Latvia56.3575181 21.10352155.7940436 19.8126275 56.9209926 22.3944145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-23427790546222696302015-05-23T01:44:00.001-07:002015-05-23T01:44:25.420-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 2nd of February 1949<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. <b>To see the other letters in the series click</b> <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">This is the 16th Letter in the series. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is worth noting that in 1949 Kate still believes that Peteris CIRKSIS may still return home. It is a puzzle I am yet ot solve: Where and when did Janis find out his brother's death? I never asked him for any </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">details</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> about it. All I was ever told was that Peteris was shot by the Nazis. I had always assumed either he or a family member witnessed this event but it seems not...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /><div style="text-align: right;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Nica, 2.2.49</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Let the storm rage, let the north wind howl,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Only upwards, upwards will go my road!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincere greetings to you, dear brother far away!</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Janis, I am writing these words of our national poet Pludonis at the beginning of the letter, for you could say these same words about yourself, the road of your struggle is similar to that of the “Widow’s son” described by the poet. We were again so very happy when we received another letter from you. Mum and I sat down on a heap of hay in the barn straight away to read it – and then this happy, heart-warming surprise, our dear Janis - has struggled and triumphed in a foreign place, has already reached the top of the mountain, become an engineer. Just like the “Widow’s son” was called by the white swan at the palace gate:</span></blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Come, come with me, you winged spirit,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There beyond the mountains is the smiling spring!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And what you have achieved can of course give you a lot more brightness in your life, as the spring does. And what we are the happiest about is that you have been able to forge a way through for yourself in a foreign place and achieved something that cannot ever be taken away from you. You can lose everything in life but intellectual values can be carried with you through fire and water. And I was moved to tears by what you said about how you strive in exile to raise the good reputation of the Latvian name. I don’t think that we, living here at home, could show such determination and tenacity. I think the strongest will to overcome everything is formed in the most difficult circumstances and against the greatest obstacles, so that in spite of everything you want to show that you can achieve what you want to achieve. But how you could achieve this in such a short time is something to marvel at and we can imagine that it was definitely not easy. And we are proud that you have shown this. I think it’s no use at the moment thinking about how our life will turn out, that will become clear when we are all together again, it is enough that we know that it will be much, much happier. Some of the people in Nica are also striving harder now to achieve the heights of knowledge and are doing tertiary study. The daughter of Glamsts, the forester, is now already working in Liepaja as a dental technician. Janis Kamens is studying to be an architect, I think, and Ausma Silts and the Sprincis’ son are doing veterinary medicine in Perkongale, Klucis, who finished school at the same time as me, is doing forestry, Mum’s godson Fricis Eks is studying mechanics and Mirdza Br(?) agriculture. And some of the youngest ones, after finishing primary school, go on to secondary studies. And as for me, I hesitate and can’t decide what road I will start on when you return and maybe Peteris as well. I would probably like to study further but I feel that at my age I should be working at some productive job, but that will become clear when we are all together again. – For now it is not possible for me to leave the farm and my parents and I am content, although sometimes, when a good book turns up, then I will be absorbed in reading all evening, even over a number of days, even though I know there is a lot of work to do. But when I have no book to read, I get on with all the work with the same enthusiasm and speed, I make bed-linen, some item of clothing, I have made my first “best“ blouse and I can say that it turned out well. Mum is knitting socks for you, combing the remains of the wool, most of it was combed and spun in Liepaja. This year we will knit more, instead of weaving cloth. We want to knit gloves for you. So we spend our days now doing ordinary, everyday jobs with the animals, the food, in the house and doing handiwork. We are all fit and well, only Vilnis the foal had a skin complaint, not mange, we called the vet and now he is alright again, he’s grown a lot, he will be big. He is affectionate, although he likes to nip, but we don’t let him do that and will break him of the habit. He’s only a foal after all. – And I can tell you the sad news that old Straupenieks, Valdis’ father, has died and won’t see his son come home…We went to his funeral on Sunday. They say he cried because he would not see Valdis again. He had some kind of spasms, a paralysis. Old Mrs Sipols died as well before Christmas. But the younger generation is growing strongly and multiplying. Mrs Pavils has had a daughter. – I am enclosing a leaf for Peteris as well. We will all look forward to letters from you. Sincere greetings to you and yours from your family, relatives and friends in your Homeland.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS We received your letter on the 20<sup>th</sup> January, that is unusually quickly.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The last ones we sent you were on 18.11, 2.1 and now this one. Kate</span></blockquote>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3464983 21.0654930000000656.3464983 21.06549300000006 56.3464983 21.06549300000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-73360897023604588212014-07-27T19:38:00.000-07:002014-07-27T19:38:55.400-07:00Letters from Latvia - Nica 4th of May 1948<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. <b>To see the other letters in the series click</b> <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">This is the 15th Letter in the series. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="letter-spacing: 0px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Nica, 4.5.48</span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A loving and sincere greeting to you far away!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our dear Janis, we received your letter on 30.2 and that was a great joy to us again, for we had not received any news from you for so long, for two and a half months. We wondered if you had moved and were not writing because of that, or if something bad had happened to you. I wrote my last letter in the middle of March and would have liked to write again in April, but I decided to wait in case your address had changed. But we were so happy again now, for on receiving your letter we knew that things are the same, and happy that you have a better job and that you can study as well and get such good experience. So that you will have been able to achieve something during the time you are away, which could be useful for the whole of the rest of your life. We are also glad that your food situation is not too difficult, which is the main thing. I myself was happy to learn that you have become a silversmith and can make nice Latvian jewellery. Those things are so nice and I have been thinking of trying to order one of those interesting brooches with dangles which we are occasionally starting to see here, but I will be patient and wait till you return home and can make one for me yourself. I would like that much more. We also rejoiced to learn that you are making your own gardens there. So you have each got something like a small farm there, your own property, which is something to hold on to in exile and while working there, it would seem like the work that you did in your homeland, at home. I hope everything grows well for you there, it would be a help with food after all and grown with your own hands.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Are there our own Latvian children living in the kindergarten where my sister-in-law Lidija is working, or are there all sorts of children? So you each have your own employment, and your son Ilmars wants to start learning a trade. In a foreign place, where you don’t own anything, you have to study and use your abilities to provide for your existence by the work of your own hands and you are making use of every opportunity to learn something. We wish you all the greatest success from our hearts in your work and your achievements! And you have been able to celebrate Easter properly too, with painted eggs and surprise gifts for each other. - We celebrated it well too, quietly. On the first, the Sunday, we went to church, where I am still singing in the choir and intend to continue doing so. We usually exchange gifts at each festival with our neighbours, the forester family, with whom we get on well and whose children, little Ilze and Andrejs, are both little rascals but keen students and good friends to me. I have ten or so new books, some of which are really beautiful and worthwhile.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The real spring has started now here at home. The grass and the rye fields are bright green, so too the berry bushes and the birch tree by the barn, although the birches in the forest are still in bud only. Father has already sowed all the fields. We have only got to sow the vegetables still and plant the potatoes, and take out the manure. We are going to plant the first potatoes this afternoon.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mum was still weaving, mending socks, chopping up the branches of the berry bushes again, that I had sawn off in the garden. I have also planted 26 new cherry trees and 8 plum trees behind the barn at the edges of the ditches, we will be able to plant apple trees in the middle of the plots. It looks like they will all grow well, also the ones planted in the previous two springs, along the roadside and at the end of the house. Today I was hoeing the strawberries, I might be able to finish once we have planted the early potatoes. Mum and Dad are having a nap after lunch, and I am quickly writing you some little bits of news from your home. I have also already dug over the flower garden and rearranged it, I sowed the summer flowers yesterday. The bleeding hearts, tulips and peonies already have visible buds. Inside the house, on window boxes which I put outside during the day, some tomato seedlings which old Meijus brought me are growing strongly. He is still the caretaker at the school. This Whitsunday I think you graduates of the technical college had arranged to meet at the school building, which is still active, but how many of you former members will meet there? Mum ran into Murnieks’ mother in Liepaja and she asked to give you greetings from her son, who is in Narva. Do you know anything about Horsts now or not? – I am enclosing photos of mum, dad and myself, although my hair is not tidy, for I had left my comb in the pocket of my coat. I had the idea of having some photos taken, and we are sending these three newest ones, such as they are. Best wishes from us, Lidija, Ilmars, and all our love to you yourself from us all.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">PS I will write when we receive a letter from you again, but I think that could be a bit more often. Though the postman told us during a friendly chat that you write most often. They are both our own people.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kate</span></blockquote>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3464983 21.0654930000000656.3288988 21.025152500000061 56.3640978 21.10583350000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-34783880949709067622014-04-02T06:46:00.000-07:002014-04-02T06:46:00.101-07:00Letters from Latvia - Nica 17th of March 1948<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. <b>To see the other letters in the series click</b> <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">This is the 14th Letter in the series. </span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOoPWntFb9mo3ELErhrPbNygoJycQWfAbjAWzvQq2QdvRDaJi7Yd-kGswDf0UPnEHXj9NjIJxTXHKv4WxcASzlDiqDc4x6DBPUp6wRNoVd6ZpTV25p5pG3wAaOZ3jb5eSruFITnqUs8Q/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+65.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOoPWntFb9mo3ELErhrPbNygoJycQWfAbjAWzvQq2QdvRDaJi7Yd-kGswDf0UPnEHXj9NjIJxTXHKv4WxcASzlDiqDc4x6DBPUp6wRNoVd6ZpTV25p5pG3wAaOZ3jb5eSruFITnqUs8Q/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+65.jpg" height="640" width="393" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Katrine<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;"> ČIRKŠIS, my grandmother.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">In this letter two people are mentioned that I will have to dedicate a post to </span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">eventually: My grandmother Katrine ČIRKŠIS and her mother Maiga LAPI</span></span>ŅŠ. I don't know a lot about Maiga at the moment but if she was anything like her daughter or granddaughter, I have no doubt that there will be stories of her out there.<br />
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<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Nica, 17.3.48</span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our dear Janis in a foreign country!</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We send you loving greetings from your quiet birthplace!</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We received the last letter from you about a month ago, to which we then replied straight away. Now we are again waiting for a letter from you and I’m sure it will come, but every day, even if the postman has brought a letter from you the evening before, we quickly look between the pages of the newspaper, to see if there is a letter from you. …. But of course we don’t live so close and your situation is not so normal that we might correspond too often. Other families from over your way have not received even a line, they k</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">now only indirectly that they are alive and where they are. There are also still those who don’t know anything about their sons, where they are and if they are alive and they wait, and hope, and doubt. So we can be happy that we are among the lucky ones that receive lines written by your own hand fairly often. So is there something bad in that for us? – I will write once a month from now on. The last letters I wrote were on 27.1 and 19.2 and now this one, the latest. Although there is nothing we can do to help you, my dear brother, with a letter we can send you in a faraway foreign place a bit of the warmth of our love, which we have for you, our son and brother, for whom fate has decreed such a long exile and the hardship of that, the separation of a hot heart from its homeland. Even though our letters cannot give you any material benefit, you have to bear that and struggle for it on your own, but at least they can maintain a bond with your homeland, with everything old and past, that is connected to your free childhood and youth and that might give you a bit of joy, strength and maybe energy for life in exile. And your mother’s heart prays most fervently that God stand by you, protect you and lead you back home one day. And always at church in the resounding quiet there, prayers are also said about those of you who are far away and I am almost certain that it is then that every Latvian heart prays most fervently and most sincerely.</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here at home we can sense that the new summer will be here soon, the cold and the darkness will recede again and leave room for the warmth and brightness of the sun, which will make everything shoot anew, grow, blossom and be fragrant and bear ripening fruit, as a blessing and a joy for humanity. The roads had thawed completely already, and the highest ones dried out as well, the sun was smiling so warmly and lovingly, that you could, you wanted, to stand in the sun at lunchtime and surrender to its caress. We couldn’t make the chickens stay in the shed and Pidriķis the cat was snoozing cosily in the warm sun. Even the pale green and pink shoots of the phlox and the peonies have already appeared above the ground. The lark is trilling high up in the skies towards the sun and the blackbirds are starting to nest at the edges of the forests. I have already seen the wild geese arriving in formation, cackling – from the distant, warm south, they are again traversing the great distance to their northern birthplace, now the summer is approaching there. – But yesterday we had cold of -5⁰C again and the ground became hard once more and towards the evening tiny snowflakes started to fall from the dark sky, that the wind was buffeting about with his unruly steeds. It is still snowing this morning and you can hardly get to the cattle-shed in your clogs. But that is sure to be the last “skylark” or Lenten snow, which can’t go on for long and the spring will be the nicer for it and it will be more pleasant for starting the spring jobs. The yard has been piled full of firewood again, yesterday an old man came to help saw it up. Mum and I are taking turns in weaving cloth. After that we will weave towels, they will be much quicker. We will need to hurry up with the indoor jobs, so our hands are free when the earth calls for the seed to be spread. – This morning our young cow Rasa gave birth to a bull calf and her udder is now so big, that she looks like being a good milking cow. So I am writing and telling you things and it seems to me that we are living peacefully and well, but you over there are having such a hard time, don’t you have to worry and think hard if you can even have your daily sustenance, and what will your life’s tomorrow bring. But truly I don’t believe that anybody could ever take away our hope and faith in a brighter, happier future for us all! - Give our love to your wife Lidija and to Ilmars. Our love to you yourself too – your family at home.</span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyiEeZATRzZTj5qlVASNZaxrZINzEuNHpusrgQfnyiTdIEDBfSDd-Q0Deb0dMIHG4G6vUxpQvZfWODGAkHDSYVuh1iMklwHp8-XCBV9pfeMpmMOb4463vHdfM4cdDmWDs842WXNOB1Ig/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyiEeZATRzZTj5qlVASNZaxrZINzEuNHpusrgQfnyiTdIEDBfSDd-Q0Deb0dMIHG4G6vUxpQvZfWODGAkHDSYVuh1iMklwHp8-XCBV9pfeMpmMOb4463vHdfM4cdDmWDs842WXNOB1Ig/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+17.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #444444; text-align: start;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Maiga LAPI</span></span><span style="text-align: start;">ŅŠ, my great grandmother</span></span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">(In Janis’ mother Katrine ČIRKŠIS's writing)</b><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Greetings, my dear children. I am happy and thank you so very much for the namesday greeting. I will tell you that I am now spinning wool for the warp of the cloth and I have almost finished. Katy is doing the wool for the coloured threads and when that is done we will set up the looms for weaving cloth, because we know that when you are able to return home you will need it and we will be able to clothe you, so that you can rest from the hardship of exile. I’ve got a bit of wine ready too, which we are saving for you to refresh your exhausted hearts. And grandma is waiting for you more than anyone, for she has become like a small child. She stands outside and waits for cars for when Peteritis and Janitis come home. We are having a really hard time with her because she goes up the road to wait, this morning I caught up with her again near the Pavils’ place. So I will finish and may this page be a caress and a blessing to you far away. Greetings from Dad.</span></span></blockquote>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3464983 21.0654930000000656.3464983 21.06549300000006 56.3464983 21.06549300000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-16113194754476869542014-03-27T06:20:00.000-07:002014-03-27T06:20:00.516-07:00Letters from Latvia - Nica 19th of February 1948<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. <b>To see the other letters in the series click</b> <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br />For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;">This is the 15th Letter in the series. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Before the next letter I must say that given Latvia's history it is hard not to mention how scary the current events in the </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Ukraine</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> are for Latvians. Now more then ever I feel the need to continue publishing these letters. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">For those who are unaware, after WWII an iron curtain went up around the Soviet Union - which at the time included Latvia. Those behind the curtain watched </span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">their countries and way of life be destroyed slowly by the imperialistic Communist system. The Latvian language itself was nearly made extinct through mass immigration and language policy.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">When the Soviet Union disintegrated, many people who considered themselves ethnic Russians decided to stay in Latvia. Because most Latvians spoke Russian but few Russians spoke Latvian, the Lativan language laws were introduced in order to protect our heritage. Today, there is a large minority of people who identify themselves as Russian still living in Latvia. Some Russians feel that these laws discriminate against them since they are not allowed to become citizens unless they speak Latvian (or are born in Latvia). Of course, if they took the time and effort to learn they could become citizens but still, many whinge about discrimination.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It should be noted here that I consider myself an ethnic Latvian however since I cannot speak Latvian I am not allowed to become a Latvian citizen. The language requirement has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. The argument that a language requirement for citizenship is made even more absurd when viewed from countries such as Australia and America which have basic history tests, in English for citizenship - and English unlike Latvian, is in no danger of extinction!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Since the restoration of Latvian independence, there have been many veiled (and explicit) threats from officials in the Russian government and military aimed at Latvia. Many Russians are unhappy that their old empire is aligning itself with Europe.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">With regard to the so called election in Crimea in which the citizen </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">exercise</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> their right to self determination (if you believe that is really what happened) I will only say this: If Russians want to live in Russia, there is a </span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">place that they can go - Russia. Let us pray that there will always be a Ukraine for Ukrainians to live in (and a Latvia for Latvians to)!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Here is the next letter in the series:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nica 19.2.48</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincere greetings to you, our dear Janis, Lidija and Ilmars!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dear Janis far away, yesterday we received your letter, which we had so been waiting for, and we were again all so very happy about it. It was written on the 20</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><sup>th</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> January and so reached us in one month, which is 2 weeks faster than usual. And since the letter we received before that was written on the 25th November, I think there must be some letter written in between which is still on the way and will arrive, because the letter you wrote before that took 2 months. That doesn’t really matter, as long as it does reach us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear brother, you have written so much about yourself again, your life in a distant place, and it is so lovely to read words written by your own hand about how you are doing there far away. So we can be closer to you in our thoughts and to what you are doing, for we are always concerned about you, and with you about your wife Lidija, and Ilmars and everyone close to you and to us. But naturally, and how else could it be, our hearts feel more for you, and pray for fate to be kind to you and bless you. But we would like to wish the same from our hearts to each and every one who is struggling to exist in exile and may they all be able to return safe and well to their homeland and experience happier times. Do you eat at a communal kitchen? We are happy that you are clothed and are not cold, but how can you manage on your pay? I am glad also that you have a radio and a lot of books. Is that the radio that you “manufactured” yourself? So you should be able to listen to broadcasts from Latvia too, from Liepaja, which is so close to us? … The radio and books are like friends, aren’t they, which strengthen the spirit and the soul? I hope your studies go well, dear brother. It may be that all knowledge can be usefully employed in life. – Everything at home is the same, the days are getting noticeably longer and make it seem that a brighter time is coming, the dark winter will soon have passed, the happy, light spring will come again! – Father has been going to the forest, bringing back firewood, Mum is knitting, I am embroidering a blouse for myself with national designs. And when our wool has been spun in Liepaja, we will start weaving, which Mum might let me have a go at too this time. We are all fit and well, we live and work and hope to see you come home also fit and well! We do not doubt that. May God stand by you now and help you! Our very, very loving greetings from your family here - at home.</span></span></div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3464983 21.0654930000000656.3288988 21.025152500000061 56.3640978 21.10583350000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-17006701240487912752014-03-26T05:34:00.001-07:002014-03-26T05:34:14.728-07:00New posts coming soon!It's been a while since my last post. As per usual, life or in this case death gets in the way of things. My mother Christel CIRKSIS passed away late last year and it has taken a while deal with everything.<br />
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Having said that, the research has continued even though I haven't been posting which means I have a massive back log of letters and other information to post! Expect the next letter to be posted early tomorrow and I should be able to have them posted regularly every week shortly.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-14289913094948424082013-11-25T06:32:00.000-08:002013-11-25T06:32:00.558-08:00Basket of Songs 10<h2>
Staburadze (Staburags)</h2>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 10 in the book is titled: </span></span><i>Staburadze or Staburags</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A high cliff on the banks of the Daugava culturally significant to Latvians but now completely submerged by a Soviet era Hydroelectric dam.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Page 9 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945</td></tr>
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A rendition of this song can be found on Youtube:<br />
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-91074028766984413372013-11-18T06:20:00.000-08:002013-11-18T06:20:00.677-08:00Basket of Songs 9<h2>
Lēni Lūdzot - Gently Pleading</h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 9 in the book is titled: </span></span><i>Lēni Lūdzot - Gently Pleading</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">My heart is troubled, I wish my love was here to comfort me.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwoSKrt8CzWk8c40n0QXsfErGOJwYq96-nzOo0iWsBEtp_xURQQYXQafKVZrcvVdiF7JKAkw8SBP2WWpV3iBDu-erKgUP197HNGlZ_TjsitBWwl4RN3bwtZb7MsGxTaeHvjho-QJ5mCY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.21.31+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwoSKrt8CzWk8c40n0QXsfErGOJwYq96-nzOo0iWsBEtp_xURQQYXQafKVZrcvVdiF7JKAkw8SBP2WWpV3iBDu-erKgUP197HNGlZ_TjsitBWwl4RN3bwtZb7MsGxTaeHvjho-QJ5mCY/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.21.31+PM.png" width="454" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 8 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A basic (google) translation of this song can be found at <a href="http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=lv&u=http://dziesmas.lv/d/1660&prev=/search%3Fq%3DL%25C4%2593ni%2BL%25C5%25ABdzot%26biw%3D1390%26bih%3D1197" target="_blank">Dziesmas.lv</a> along with the original text. Again, no Youtube version. We need more Latvian singers to upload songs!!</span></span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-55674554184106047852013-11-11T06:14:00.000-08:002013-11-11T06:14:00.540-08:00Basket of Songs 8<h2>
Dzimtenes Meitenes Dziesma - Song of the Girl at Home</h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 8 in the book is titled: </span></span><i>Dzimtenes Meitenes Dziesma - Song of the Girl at Home</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A real Latvian rushes to defend this most beautiful land on Earth and his girl is wondering where he is now.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAA_oPXcFn1VXWUZND_JMrwdRST7dz6UdyTp6lqsyMjNFhYLTuBiJ8fS00Vwu2cfT5ifH8gsj_Z8uYsPTNTAShf9FbpH38oTNTPVxoa2qBgUga-5_P0RqTek9Cns0Zy3m1J2pgkENIY0I/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.09.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAA_oPXcFn1VXWUZND_JMrwdRST7dz6UdyTp6lqsyMjNFhYLTuBiJ8fS00Vwu2cfT5ifH8gsj_Z8uYsPTNTAShf9FbpH38oTNTPVxoa2qBgUga-5_P0RqTek9Cns0Zy3m1J2pgkENIY0I/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.09.47+PM.png" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 7 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;">Again, I have been unable to find a rendition of this song on Youtube. I have been able to find a transcribed version of this song and I ran it through google translate (clink on the link below) - not the best but it will do for the time being...</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=lv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dziesmas.lv%2Fd%2F1322" target="_blank">Dziesmas.lv</a></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-5077535948014387152013-11-04T06:04:00.000-08:002013-11-04T06:04:00.186-08:00Basket of Songs 7<h2>
Bakarolla</h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 4 in the book is titled: </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><i>Bakarolla</i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A humorous song about love</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyUb7g9Wokajmv2sdSWqrCv3fs1Op8L5TR1VwLFx6TyCFwopOigk91yV3jdb8Hm1hnH33680-HKZcrP4S-oOKuMJDQlR5mEEaLH664pm0udoF0Z2ZOoZhPH-I8jb43Up_f9zlMInYyeBw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.04.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyUb7g9Wokajmv2sdSWqrCv3fs1Op8L5TR1VwLFx6TyCFwopOigk91yV3jdb8Hm1hnH33680-HKZcrP4S-oOKuMJDQlR5mEEaLH664pm0udoF0Z2ZOoZhPH-I8jb43Up_f9zlMInYyeBw/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+11.04.14+PM.png" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 6 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></td></tr>
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Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck recently locating versions of these songs to link. I have a heap of audio cassettes of my father singing and I may search them for matches at a later date (and post some audio recordings). In the mean time, if you find a version (or translation) of this song online, feel free to post it in the comments below.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-65761485637754532062013-10-28T05:59:00.000-07:002013-10-28T05:59:00.276-07:00Basket of Songs 6<h2>
Rudzu pukes - Cornflowers</h2>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 6 in the book is titled: </span></span><i>Rudzu pukes- Cornflowers</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Cornflower blue is the sky of my country, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">cornflower blue are my girl's eyes.</span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1hyOPyo_kUk3jg9axHm6kn9FPPgmcqRkD_Zy1xcGsimPvqCJgm0hHRMtnYgUmKqas2zHVUZEOAzyEov7Egmrvvsl66tMZTkDA3Rynn9FbPe4ScQ83-Fk14dVB-uzxXf0x9NBNqiH1Kk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+10.53.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1hyOPyo_kUk3jg9axHm6kn9FPPgmcqRkD_Zy1xcGsimPvqCJgm0hHRMtnYgUmKqas2zHVUZEOAzyEov7Egmrvvsl66tMZTkDA3Rynn9FbPe4ScQ83-Fk14dVB-uzxXf0x9NBNqiH1Kk/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+10.53.25+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Page 5 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">There are other songs by the same name on Youtube however the lyrics do not match... If you can find a version of this song online anywhere, please post a link below!</span></div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-74651797738696195462013-10-23T22:34:00.000-07:002013-10-23T22:34:00.742-07:00Letters from Latvia - Nica 27th of January 1948<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. </span><b style="background-color: white;">To see the other letters in the series click</b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is the 14th Letter in the series. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Nica, 27.1.48</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We greet you with lots of love, Janis, Lidija and Ilmars!</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yesterday we received your letter written on 25.11 with namesday greetings for mum and me and a few days ago, your greeting for Christmas and the New Year. Thank you so very much for these greetings. We had been waiting for some lines from you for quite a while and had almost begun to worry, but we still thought they’d come. And now they have come! The letter written on 25.11 had taken two weeks longer than usual and came later than the greeting written on 9.12. But now we are so very happy again that everything is well with you, as well as it can be in a foreign place. – We sent our last letter to you on Christmas Eve and a greeting at the New Year. Before that on 28.11 and 16.12. It appears that we have received all of each other’s letters up to now and they have not been lost, which is so good. The postman tells us that you, dear Janis, write to us most often of all of the people over there to their relatives at home. Thank you so much for that. It is so good to receive even a line from you, then we know that you are not lost to us and unknown and our minds are then much more at peace. As long as we know that you are well and have enough for the needs of daily life. </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Although it is sad to be far away, we can hope and believe with certainty that you will return home and be alright. – Brother dear, don’t feel guilty that you cannot help us. It is not your fault, it is fate, which is making you suffer more than us. I think that we here at home can still be happier than you in exile and so it should sooner be us who feel guilty, that life is being kinder to us than to you. And we can imagine that your Lidija has a lot to reflect on about your fates. And are women not more sensitive to everything than men? May God help you, Lidija, in your work and may it distract you and help you forget, to some extent, but I think that in a foreign place you cannot work with such love as at home. However, work with sick people is good work, isn’t it and it seems to me that it suits you. And while I am at it, I am curious to know what town or hospital you worked in when you were in Latvia? And where do your parents live? So you were happy too, when you received news from your own parents.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Everything is fine here at home, we are all well and pass each day little by little with the ordinary everyday and winter jobs. The weather this winter has been very changeable. Now it snows and freezes, then again there is a snowstorm and then it is thawing again. The last two weeks we have had more serious winter weather with good sleighing conditions and in the daytime minus 4-8⁰C. But now it is gradually starting to thaw again. But maybe it will hold and snow again. Father goes to the forest now for firewood. He did not have to do woodcutting work in the forest, he was assigned as a saw sharpener to other woodcutters and I was spared that work as well. Mum is spinning wool again now, we are preparing to weave cloth, we will also weave towels and a few other things. I am also making up some wearable items of clothing on the sewing machine and doing some mending. I have learnt to make up some simple items of clothing quite well, although it is still not so easy for me. Sometimes I stop working for a while, read a good book, strum the mandolin, which I like to do and am getting better at, although not really good yet. It is a pity that there is no other instrument in our house. Last winter Baris left his small accordion for me to play, which I then strummed quite often, but only without the base of course. I am still singing in the church choir as well. At Epiphany we choir members arranged our own Christmas celebration at the Pavils’ place, which was really lovely and I will not forget it for a long time. We recited, sang to a set program, and we girls together had provided a nice festive table. After the program we just spent time together. We sang, danced, played games, danced folk dances too and all felt like members of one family. – There are choirs forming in the school too now – men’s and women’s, which might later form into a mixed choir and go to Riga in the summer for the song festival. I have also started to attend, there is a large number of singers. The new men’s choir performed on Sunday already and properly outsang the women. We now want to practice to pay them back. We are learning mostly folk songs, also patriotic songs about the Fatherland, the homeland. If you go out somewhere, life seems brighter, not so grey and dull, more stimulating. – So now I have said everything again that was on my mind.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">– How did you, our dear ones, spend Christmas? </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">With very, very loving greetings, your family at home.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span></span></span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3476279 21.06994489999999656.330028399999996 21.029604399999997 56.3652274 21.110285399999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-34292570299873377192013-10-22T05:53:00.001-07:002013-10-22T05:53:43.156-07:00Basket of Songs 5<h2>
Lietus Lāses - Raindrops</h2>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 5 in the book is titled: </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Lietus Lāses - Raindrops</i></span><span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;">. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px;">When raindrops knock on your window, that will be like a quiet greeting from me.</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiXq6fYIjWih12puCTPGJTje1MGeDkP9cPZXjdniXZwzTcoaXQAH2AfIKDgPGKHXjrliTigWdpQGn5A4hFMlkiDmNlm59Ez-4b9lmUnyBvv26V1MYbXLmzdqCsxd7-g0dfsRBkCHOWIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+10.53.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiXq6fYIjWih12puCTPGJTje1MGeDkP9cPZXjdniXZwzTcoaXQAH2AfIKDgPGKHXjrliTigWdpQGn5A4hFMlkiDmNlm59Ez-4b9lmUnyBvv26V1MYbXLmzdqCsxd7-g0dfsRBkCHOWIU/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-10-22+at+10.53.41+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 5 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945</td></tr>
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The renditions of this song found on youtube seem too Jazzy to be likely (contemporary) renditions of this song... If you find a good rendition online somewhere post a link in the comments and I will update this post.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-57114442251533749482013-10-16T22:13:00.000-07:002013-10-16T22:13:01.717-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 24th December 1947<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. </span><b style="background-color: white;">To see the other letters in the series click</b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HH2otB66MNYI4rtrTOVJo_acOiH7w2HjvGGPFzqHPTxSuo7wrMvhnhcsFihns_EuDNtnLxmWQCNTSgsFB1YNPkwxQ_TvimBZDWs56FOvI6s34Sr0-L4CQ6yL6naukBCBeHMCUggOePI/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+37.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HH2otB66MNYI4rtrTOVJo_acOiH7w2HjvGGPFzqHPTxSuo7wrMvhnhcsFihns_EuDNtnLxmWQCNTSgsFB1YNPkwxQ_TvimBZDWs56FOvI6s34Sr0-L4CQ6yL6naukBCBeHMCUggOePI/s320/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+37.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A blanket of snow covers the Čirkšis family farm.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Christmas time in Latvia, 1947: The tree decorated is decorated on Christmas eve with candles, the </span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">temperature</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> is -15 degrees, the church bells are ringing and snow blankets cover the land. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Christmas time in Australia 2013: Christmas decorations are on sale in supermarkets starting in October already! No one would dream of attaching a candle to tree outside let alone inside your house and Christmas is </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">characterised</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> by 30 degree + </span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">temperatures</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and total </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">fire bans.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Despite all of the differences, I remember reading Latvian poetry at christmas time, a tradition that connected me (as much as possible for a non-latvian speaker) to the country of my ancestors. I was a good tradition that fell by the wayside over time. Perhaps this year, I will read Latvian poems to my children and maybe one day, we will experience a white christmas in Latvia.... But now I am dreaming so here is the 13th letter in the series:</span></span></div>
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<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Nica, 24.12.47</span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our dear Janis, Lidija and Ilmars!</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is Christmas Eve and we are missing you and yours most, dear Janis, so we want at least to send you our very loving festive greetings. – We have already finished all the jobs. Mum, grandmother and I have already been to the sauna to bathe, now father and the foresters are there. Everything is clean and tidy, yesterday we decorated the tree, which is a bit more colourful this year. And I have to think about you so much, my dear brother, you are away, you are not in our midst and have spent so many Christmases already far away, in foreign places. We wish that Christmas will be as happy and as bright as possible for you, mummy wishes that for you from her heart and hopes so much that we will be able to celebrate next Christmas all together, much more happily. This year we will stay strong in our hope and be patient, we will send you the most loving greetings and good wishes in our thoughts. Tomorrow night we will light the candles on the tree – then the foresters will come over, they are our nearest neighbours. We will be with you in our thoughts and I will try to imagine that you are in our midst even for a moment….</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The church bells are ringing – they are ringing in the Christmas Eve. It is so lovely and festive. I have to go to the church tonight to sing, our choir will sing at the service. Nature too is clad as for a festival, in a white coat of snow. The road is good for a sleigh ride. The cold at night at about -15⁰C, in the day the cold eases up and then there is a snowstorm, at the moment the weather is fine.</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Otherwise we are alright. We are working and living as of old, all just as before. – Here in the Soviet land we have new money, more valuable. The prices for farmers’ produce are not fixed. There is a lot of produce at the market, the farmers go to the market at Christmas to trade and to buy clothes. - Our very, very best wishes to you, our dear Janis, Lidija and Ilmars and have a happy, bright Christmas! We will be with you in our thoughts! </span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mummy, grandma, dad and Kate.</span></span></blockquote>
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It's a little early in the year but if you have a Latvian Christmas tradition or story post it below!<br />
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3476279 21.06994489999999656.330028399999996 21.029604399999997 56.3652274 21.110285399999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-35466146541289678732013-10-14T20:58:00.000-07:002013-10-22T04:57:39.329-07:00Basket of Songs 4<h2>
</h2>
<h3>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mirdzot šķēpiem - Gleaming Spears</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved. T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Song 4 in the book is titled: </span><span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Mirdzot šķēpiem</i><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i> - Gleaming Spears</i>. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Latvian Riflemen enter a town, the girls’ eyes gleam, next morning they go to battle, and the girls then weep and tend the graves.</span></span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkhjo-3LID_FCBeG411glKrvsV1FwzvQoCa5xZFf0Xy4eW3__uP9RQYlN3rYp1HOYR9H8MNI88P0i5cG0ukBcnZn9_pQB8GXMSTH1iYu5LG9cD-kI0fcbr_2CUaGMqARl1yYukpAdxOo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.12.48+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkhjo-3LID_FCBeG411glKrvsV1FwzvQoCa5xZFf0Xy4eW3__uP9RQYlN3rYp1HOYR9H8MNI88P0i5cG0ukBcnZn9_pQB8GXMSTH1iYu5LG9cD-kI0fcbr_2CUaGMqARl1yYukpAdxOo/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.12.48+PM.png" width="454" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 4 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Latvian Riflemen are renowned for their valour in WWI. Largely they fought on the Communist side of the war however they were really fighting against the German Barons in the hopes of a free and equitable Latvia - little did they know what Russia had in store for them. A brief history of the Latvian Riflemen can be found at the <a href="http://latvianhistory.wordpress.com/tag/latvian-riflemen/" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Latvian History Wordpress page</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">A rendition of this song can be found on Youtube:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FZxUmLquHYk" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-79977989273446722702013-10-09T21:46:00.000-07:002013-10-09T21:46:01.147-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 16th of December 1947<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. </span><b style="background-color: white;">To see the other letters in the series click</b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The 12th instalment of the Letters from Latvia series is a little soapy. It deals mostly with Janis' breakup with Vera (the girl at home) and his decision to marry Lidija. This appears to be a little less scandalous now that Janis has apparently explained the circumstances of their breakup. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The themes to the letter are interesting but even more interesting to me is the subtext. If we look at this letter, and the other letters more broadly we may notice that Katrine's language is deeply philosophical and somewhat poetic. I can't help but think that the original Lativan would be even more so.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincere greetings to you, our dear Janis, Lidija and Ilmars!</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Janis, we recently received your letter written on 3.11, which was so long, you told us so much about yourself and so I was so very, very happy when we received one from you again. Some such explanation, our dear Janis, we would have been happy to receive from you sooner. Everything that you say about your first love, about being disappointed in it and that you had already broken up with Vera when you left, lifted a weight from the heart, as if lifting some guilt from you. Dear brother, I know that you were already kind of “disappointed” in Vera, but I did not know it all nor that you had already broken up. I know and understand how it is in the teenage years when a young person “searches on earth for that which does not exist on earth”. It seems to me that it is not exactly due to not knowing, not understanding life, but more because then you really don’t want to believe that the things we aspire to, that we dream about, might not happen, not be fulfilled. Then adult life seems like something that can grant everything. For me it was not in matters of the heart, but in the ordinary course of life. Home life seemed to me so empty, silly, bad and everything, and in my faith in goodness I imagined that the good and noble things, which I saw in my mind, existed only somewhere else, and I wanted to be there and I tormented myself with these delusions. Now I could almost laugh about it, for I have almost forgotten those thoughts and I wonder how could I not see the reality of life. People are the same everywhere. Good and evil are found everywhere. And no one, it seems to me now, can be completely bad or good. Reading about your disappointment because of your ideals, what I just told you comes to my mind, which was something similar to your disappointment that happened to me in those years and I can completely understand you, my dear brother. Now we have both grown older and become a bit wiser. You have found your real, human earthly love in your dear life partner Lidija and I no longer make my soul flee or shrink in front of everything that is around me and live in non-existent far places but am learning to experience life as it really is, to experience it as deeply as possible and that is where the real joy of life is to be found, life’s meaning and reality and beauty and fulfilment. I know what it is to love, even though I have not yet loved, or found my real destiny. I don’t like to just trifle. You can have friendship, but once there is talk of love – then it is all over. So I am telling you this, dear brother, so that you and Lidija will know something about me too, we are so far apart that we can only know about each other through what we tell each other, or what we can tell from photographs. Dear Lidija, I am sorry that I have caused you a bit of pain, but I could not do otherwise than to write that. I couldn’t know you well enough yet, to think that I was wrong. I seemed as if you had sort of taken away all Janis’ rights even to speak about his own heart and that could be hurtful us too. That is why it is so good that you have now written everything yourself, which is what I wanted to suggest by what I wrote. So now our doubts have gone and we believe much more in your life’s happiness together. We believe and it is much easier. Don’t fear, Lidija, that we might scorn you. No, we could never do that, when you are Janis’ life’s happiness. I hope and believe that we can all have a harmony that will not stand in the way of your happiness together but will add to it. We are not the kind of people that like to be on bad terms with others. </span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We celebrated cousin Anna’s wedding very nicely, and are gradually preparing for Christmas. How happily will you celebrate it? …We will at least be together in spirit, in one Homeland. – Live well! With very loving greetings to you all - your family at home.</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PS Old Mrs Straupenieks has asked us to ask about Valdis.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">She has not received any letters for a really long time.___ </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></blockquote>
As always, I welcome your comments below!</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3476279 21.06994489999999656.330028399999996 21.029604399999997 56.3652274 21.110285399999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-86078479205103295852013-10-07T07:24:00.000-07:002013-10-07T20:25:50.380-07:00Basket of Songs 3<h3>
Laša kundze - Mrs Salmon</h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes inv<span style="font-family: inherit;">olved. T</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 18px;">Song 3 in the book is titled: <i>Laša kundze -Mrs Salmon. </i>It is a humorous song.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 18px;">Great excitement in the deep because the eel is going to marry the salmon.</span></blockquote>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iJ_qHK0BtI2U9227h45AFPdF8G_O5CyDMSBkO5NVAVC5BANqWGOVZq1i1ks6KSl195ozqr9m3dshepk8nEo7P0kt3ggn-_1YWsz6TfYUACOGl61k5i9_wP1DraV67wHTyBvhzlxQHa8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.12.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iJ_qHK0BtI2U9227h45AFPdF8G_O5CyDMSBkO5NVAVC5BANqWGOVZq1i1ks6KSl195ozqr9m3dshepk8nEo7P0kt3ggn-_1YWsz6TfYUACOGl61k5i9_wP1DraV67wHTyBvhzlxQHa8/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.12.18+PM.png" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 3 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">A rendition of this song can be found on Youtube:</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pFxtrJirfEc" width="420"></iframe>
</div>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.1421779 3.1368396000000303 51.1421779 3.1368396000000303tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-27942171501061623492013-09-30T07:00:00.000-07:002013-09-30T07:00:02.667-07:00Basket of Songs 2<h3>
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Neskumsti meitene - Don't be sad, girl.</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">In this series, I have been posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. The book is titled <i><b>Bakset of Songs: Let our Songs Ring out, </b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i><b>Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp </b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>December 1945</b>. </i>It is also labeled with my father's initials J Č. Click on the following link : <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Basket%20of%20Songs" target="_blank">Basket of Songs</a> to view the rest of the series.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> series has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes inv<span style="font-family: inherit;">olved. T</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he songs individually over the coming weeks and where I can, I will link to a performance of the melody. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 18px;">Song 2 in the book is titled: <i>Neskumsti meitene - Don't be sad, girl.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Don’t be sad, girl, that I have to go away. Remember our times together. If you are feeling sad, go to our special place and you will hear my voice, which will not let you be sad.</span></span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_b4z_AnxiZWGaFuEC9DpWEFhxcP3PeUN-E0TJDFK9VfA1LMaG0BnaEWYxye_flWem9ibTNe20yOljZfUoD3WkNm6TsXj4jXasLH-HefF3eI_PAQTxkBjRYxQDceMMW6UmKnsr05bqPo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.11.51+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_b4z_AnxiZWGaFuEC9DpWEFhxcP3PeUN-E0TJDFK9VfA1LMaG0BnaEWYxye_flWem9ibTNe20yOljZfUoD3WkNm6TsXj4jXasLH-HefF3eI_PAQTxkBjRYxQDceMMW6UmKnsr05bqPo/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-09-27+at+11.11.51+PM.png" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page 2 of Basket of Songs - Brussels Prisoner-of-war camp, December 1945.</td></tr>
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A rendition of this song can be found on youtube:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jbq1wpwsOFY" width="420"></iframe>
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<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-61762785854675347882013-09-24T07:45:00.000-07:002013-09-24T07:52:10.276-07:00Basket of Songs<h3 class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Let our Songs Ring Out!</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">J Č</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Brussels Prisoner-of-War Camp</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">December 1945</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In this series, I will be posting pages from a hand written song book left to me by my father. Actually I never knew it existed until he died so I never had to opportunity to hear many of these songs. Ilze, who has been doing an incredible job of translating the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" target="_blank">Letters from Latvia</a> has been kind enough to provide a translation of the song titles and a summary of the themes involved.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Music has always been an important part of Latvian culture. I say it a lot and it is mentioned in may of the letters my father received from Latvia but it really can't be overstated. I did a quick google search and I was pleased to find that this isn't the only songbook to survive the post WWII POW camps. <a href="http://www.latvians.com/">www.latvians.com</a> has an introduction to the Zedelgem POW camp<a href="http://www.latvians.com/en/Exile/Zedelgem/envelope-ZB.php" target="_blank"> here</a> and they have preserved another Latvian Songbook <a href="http://www.latvians.com/en/Exile/Zedelgem/envelope-ZB.php?./Cinitis/sp-009.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I will be posting the songs individually and where I can I will try to post a link to a performance of the song. Some of them are popular songs about love and the homeland, others are less well known soldier's songs, at least one appears to be unique to the camp. At this time, I won't be posting full translations for most of these songs -the Leters from Lativa series will be taking priority. If I happen to find a translation online however, I may post a link to it...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The first page is the cover:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUn5nb-XIXBz5TVyjxaeezbabBolWO7YqAM-m2UvkKRcUXaZ5fGb2FJFWRIpm_oG6hZf-gTWolx92vIpiYWNlSwQ6jOeV4PiXIPkuDZRj-3Bj56SEiCv9WgPzGUml1SeWNr5_qYolNK9I/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+12.03.05+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUn5nb-XIXBz5TVyjxaeezbabBolWO7YqAM-m2UvkKRcUXaZ5fGb2FJFWRIpm_oG6hZf-gTWolx92vIpiYWNlSwQ6jOeV4PiXIPkuDZRj-3Bj56SEiCv9WgPzGUml1SeWNr5_qYolNK9I/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+12.03.05+AM.png" width="458" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front cover of "Basket of Songs" handwritten by my father at the POW camp in Zedelghem, December 1945</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The first song in the book is titled "New Year 1946", it was written about the hardships endured by the Latvians at the Zedelghem POW camp in Belgium where Latvian soldiers were held by the Western Allies. The song is hopeful for a better new year. This would appear to be a unique song and I wonder if anyone has sung it since new years 1946...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKS0g5ZGiB72zzgwBMs7F6OsAmWN7fkP-ReIOfFCgFZgWfIpG3LUrWxtl1v_YeWb-f88wxm29j8qMu8vtFMONcsOYEbEzByIkz82kcAT-LsU0GmPhAciLo5Jcb8T3iafQcTc8WqCC4GqI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+12.03.26+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKS0g5ZGiB72zzgwBMs7F6OsAmWN7fkP-ReIOfFCgFZgWfIpG3LUrWxtl1v_YeWb-f88wxm29j8qMu8vtFMONcsOYEbEzByIkz82kcAT-LsU0GmPhAciLo5Jcb8T3iafQcTc8WqCC4GqI/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+12.03.26+AM.png" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Song 1: 1946. gads Jaunais gads - New Year 1946</td></tr>
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<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; min-height: 17px; text-align: left;">
As per usual, please feel free to post comments below. If you know of any recordings of this song, let me know!</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Zedelgem, Belgium51.1421779 3.136839600000030351.0624524 2.9754781000000303 51.2219034 3.29820110000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967676404936810230.post-70868166565099648792013-09-06T18:31:00.006-07:002013-10-07T21:11:22.268-07:00Letters From Latvia - Nica 28th of November 1947<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Janis CIRKSIS was a displaced person (DP) after the Soviet union annexed Latvia and the Baltic states during WWII. This is a continuation in the series of letters that he received from his homeland, translated into English. </span><b style="background-color: white;">To see the other letters in the series click</b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.cirksis.com/search/label/Letters" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">For more information on Latvian translations please see the <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/p/translations.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Latvian Translations</a> page.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Just a quick post today to keep the letters coming. Again, in this letter are many names of the people who lived near my grandparent's farm in Latvia at the time. It could prove useful to others searching for </span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">their</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> family origins. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Of particular note to me personally, is the mention of Peteris CIRKSIS by my grandmother Katrine CIRKSIS (she shared her name with her daughter, Janis' sister). It is difficult to tell at this point if she has been informed of Peteris' fate however it appears that there is still hope that he is still alive. She also mentions a lighthouse which may turn out to be the final resting place of Peteris. For more information on Peteris CIRKSIS and his story as I know it see my post on <a href="http://www.cirksis.com/2013/08/who-is-peteris-cirksis.html" target="_blank">Who is Peteris CIRKSIS?</a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZcDird6cWLRdvpFPFFHBBktpgHy9uS-eupl1L1V2DHrn0_WJGhYDo3b14JWE3fGsx_mqbuk1z7_8nzaCPOWANoVzghaqOzLKS9Evg1M7xlWbBEB3lJdPRtJmXXgxVxiqHnrqF2AAg5Q/s1600/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZcDird6cWLRdvpFPFFHBBktpgHy9uS-eupl1L1V2DHrn0_WJGhYDo3b14JWE3fGsx_mqbuk1z7_8nzaCPOWANoVzghaqOzLKS9Evg1M7xlWbBEB3lJdPRtJmXXgxVxiqHnrqF2AAg5Q/s320/Scanned+Janis+CIRKSIS+leather+album+34.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Family home in Nica during winter.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Sincere greetings, our dear Janis and Lidija.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">About a week ago we received your letter, in which Lidija wrote as well, and the photo of you two together, about all of which we were again very happy in our hearts. We can then picture you much better and your life far away. – Lidija, you have doubts about the future, whether we will want you as a member of our family, whether we will like you. For myself I can say already that I really like you and if you are dear and pleasing to Janis and you both get on well together and have no doubts in the future, then there is nothing else for us to say and we can only be happy about it. If Janis is happy, then we are even happier and we have no reason or wish to bear any malice towards you, dear Lidija, and to think of you as a stranger. I hope that this will reassure you both once again. Our mother would also like to write something to you, which we will enclose. Life here at home goes on as usual in a regular work rhythm, the autumn jobs are gradually giving way to the indoor winter jobs, although the real winter has not started yet. We did go to Liepaja on the sleigh once though, but past the Krumi dune there was not much snow left. On the way there in the morning, when there was frost, we got there very well, marvellously, but on the way home as far as Bernati at a walking pace only. After that, by Katrina’s day, the snow had melted completely and there was rain but now there has been a bit of snow again and the daytime temperature is around 0⁰ C. There are dark snow clouds along the sea, if it snowed we could go to cousin Anna Zutis’ wedding tomorrow by sleigh. She will be married tomorrow to a Rudis Puris from Otanki, he has his own small farm. So you see here in old Nica many couples are again joining their hands for a lifelong commitment. We’ve got two weddings to go to in one month. And, dear Janis, we also celebrated Katrina’s day on Monday night. We ourselves have been invited out so often and attended so many celebrations of our friends and neighbours that we could not do otherwise, it would have been shameful if we had not invited people to our place in return. And generally speaking everyone really celebrates their “special occasions” hard these days. This is something similar to what Mum talks about – the “dance parties” of her youth during the First Wold War. And on such evenings there is much more closeness and comradeship than at official events, which is good for me and for everyone now. The forester.couple came, the Pavils couple, Kate Murens, Valdis, the pharmacist with her husband, Peteris Kaupelis, Zanis Jurmalis, also Peteris Melveris had come home on leave after six years in Narva and so we invited him. Vera and Zigrida came too. So we sang and danced at bit, musician - Janis Pavils, who is a farmhand there. Yes, we are living well here in our country, we try and have a good time, but can you do so, in a foreign place? I wish that once and for all the burden was lifted from you and you could return to us – to our beloved Homeland! May God help you all! For now, with a sincere, loving greeting! - your family at home.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Next part in Janis’ mother’s writing)</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Greetings from mammucite to you in distant exile. May the hand of God guide you in the future as it has up to now, for I feel that I have not prayed to God in vain even though I knew nothing about you and I don’t know anything about dear Peteris, but still a quiet voice in my heart said that they will be alive for you. And truly I was picking berries when Anna Ruskis came around and said that you are alive. And I can’t describe it to you, my whole body started to tremble and the tears started to flow, for a great joy had happened to me and I am still hoping for such great mercy from God for dear Peteris. I don’t know if I will be around to experience that or not. I cannot yet believe that he is dead. I received the news that they are digging out by the lighthouse and I should go there, but I had to fall on my knees and pray to God so hard that the last words that pass my lips are God stand by him today and in my dreams I am always finding three little things, like my three children. So I will tell you how it was about Katrina’s day, for there would be no joy in my heart for it without you two but you know, dear son, how Katrina was when you were here on leave. On fleeing from home she said no matter if we lose the home as long as health is alright and now she sings in the choir, goes to namesday parties, so I invited her friends over to have a good time, because I was convinced that that was the best medicine for her health. So, dear son, lead your present life in your own way, if you are well, I will be even better, I will be alright as long as I live I just worry that I might live to see unpleasantness between you and may God grant that you live your life quietly and peacefully. I had a free day today so I have told you a bit about the burdens on my heart. When you come home we will talk for 7 days without stopping. I embrace you in my arms with so much love.</span></span></blockquote>
As per usual, <b>if you know any of the people mentioned in this post</b> or if you just want to talk about live in Latvia during the Nazi or Soviet occupations please post a comment below. I will be glad to hear from you.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07877754742513974091noreply@blogger.com0Nīca, Nīca parish, LV-3473, Latvia56.3476279 21.06994489999999656.330028399999996 21.029604399999997 56.3652274 21.110285399999995