Latvian Translations

For those who are looking to have Latvian documents translated to English, I would like to recommend Ilze Thomas, the lady who has been translating the letters in the "Letters from Latvia" series. Not only has she translated the letters but she has also provided me with invaluable contextual backgrounds to many of them. For further enquiries please type the following address into you email client (I have posted the address as an image in order to reduce spam):


Comments

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

Displaced Person Camps After WWII - Photos

Image
Edit: New information from the International Tracing Service suggests that the photos contained in this post may actually be from Barum DP Camp in approximately 1948. If you are able to confirm this or otherwise identify the location pictured, please leave a comment below and I will amend the captions.


I have been busily scanning photos and documents for the past several weeks so unfortunately I haven't been updating this site as much as I would like. On a positive note, just as I think I have nearly scanned everything, I find more documents and photos. This meaning that once I have finished scanning, I will have a heap of material to post from. In the mean time I will try and post a few bits and pieces as I scan them. Unfortunately, because I am busy scanning at the moment, I won't have much time to research and write about what I post so my intention is to update some of these posts in the future as more information comes to light.

In the mean time here are some photos from …
Read more

Postcards from Sibīrija (Siberia) - 25/8/1950 From the Pirtnieks

Image
Finally, the digitising project is finished! I have had about 1500 family photos digitised over the last year or so - several technical problems plagued the project, which is why it took so long. Not all of them relate to this blog but there are several photos that are important to the Čirkšis family history.

One of the benefits of digitising photographs - and publishing a blog about them - is that you take a closer look at things. Many of the photos I have, have Latvian writing on the back of them. A lot of the writing is illegible, at least for a non-Latvian-speaker (I know I should learn!) but occasionally I can decipher enough to work out what the photo is of.

This particular photo had been sitting in an album and I had never taken it out to examine it though, I had some idea that it must be the Pirtneiks (my grandmother's) side of the family. Today, while I was checking off the scanned photos to ensure they were all there, I glanced at the back and found some very clearly wr…
Read more

The Australian Latvian Male Choir in Melbourne

Image
While many Western English speaking nations define themselves in relation to their attitudes and there "way of life", Latvian folk song, folk tales and the Latvian language itself is considered fundamental to the Latvian identity. The language itself was born of the peasant farmers and solidified by Latvian academics who studied under Russian rule during the 19th and early 20th centuries.  See my article on  The Latvian Ethnic Identity for an in depth account of how Latvian Ethnic Nationalism came into being.

During the Soviet occupation, the Latvian language became endangered by mass deportations and immigration from the Soviet Union. Today the Latvian language continues to be an endangered language as the Latvians, Latvian Russians and stateless Russians in Latvia attempt to clean up the enthno-social mess left behind by the Soviets.

It is no surprise then, that the Latvian Diaspora considered it vital to maintain Latvian language culture in their new homes. One of the way…
Read more