The Cirksis Family

Over the next few months I intend to post some old photos that my father Janis CIRKSIS kept in various albums. I'll post a couple of photos here with some quick descriptions so you have some idea of what is to come. As I post photos, it is my intention to research them as much as possible. If you can add any information about anything I post please feel free to comment below. Miķēlis ČIRKŠIS, my Grandfather. I believe this photo was taking slightly after or possibly during WWI. Miķēlis was a Latvian freedom fighter. I am hoping to trace some record of where and on which side he fought during the war - before he fought for Latvian independence .  

Presented on the historical  and cultural background of the country and people of his birth. [The following is a short life story written by my father in September 2000. My father, born in Latvia, was a Displaced Person (DP) after WWII. From an Australian point of view, Janis' story shows us how important immigration has been -and in my view, continues to be - for this country. I have used Optical Character Recognition software to transfer the story from hard copy to soft copy. As it turns out this is a far from perfect process and there were many error that I had to correct so please forgive any errors that remain.] My name is Jânis Osvalds Čirkšis (pronounced in English “Yahnis Osvalds Tsirksis"), born on 31" July 1924, in Níca at the South-Eastern corner of Latvia, a small country, the size of Tasmania, adjoining the South-Western shores of the Baltic sea. l was born the second son of my Latvian parents, preceded by a 2 years older brother and subsequently fo

Coming to this space very shortly : The history of the Cirksis family. Of course it is only my branch of the Cirksis family but I will endeavour to find connections with family members all over the world. While physical records deteriorate and are lost, it has been said that once information is uploaded to the net, it stays there. This website forms part of my research into my personal family tree and is intended to preserve the 'narrative' of the Cirksis family for future generations. I will begin with some history on Latvia. I have several essays written by myself and by Janis Cirksis. The first ones I will post are on the history of Latvia and Janis' life story. I will also post essays and letters, written by family members, as a basis for understanding how they thought of the world at various times of their lives. And now the disclaimer: It is important to note that the ideas expressed in this blog are my own and are not associated in any way with any organisati