Leaving Riga

August 7, 2020

In early 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Latvia my grandmother, step-grandfather and mother left Riga to go and live in Tervete, a village south west of Riga…..

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Aug 16, 2020

Alien

Aug 16, 2020

Aged just 20 my mother and her friend Gloria arrived in the UK from Germany on 3rd March 1947…..

Aug 16, 2020

Aug 8, 2020

The Flight from Latvia

Aug 8, 2020

By the autumn of 1944 the Red Army was pushing south and rather than face life under a second Soviet occupation my Latvian family decided to join the many thousands of their compatriots and flee the country……

Aug 8, 2020

Aug 7, 2020

Leaving Riga

Aug 7, 2020

In early 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Latvia my grandmother, step-grandfather and mother left Riga to go and live in Tervete, a village south west of Riga…..

Aug 7, 2020

Aug 6, 2020

Occupation

Aug 6, 2020

In June 1941 Latvia was invaded by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Barbarossa - code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union…..

Aug 6, 2020

Jul 31, 2020

A Second Chance

Jul 31, 2020

After my grandmother’s divorce she met Arturs Abeltins, a young man eight years younger than her….

Jul 31, 2020

Jul 29, 2020

A Lost World

Jul 29, 2020

My mother told me few stories of her life growing up in Latvia……

Jul 29, 2020

Jul 27, 2020

Divorce

Jul 27, 2020

After my grandparents separated my grandmother left the theatre never to return…..

Jul 27, 2020

Jul 18, 2020

Family Life

Jul 18, 2020

There are just a handful of photographs to record my mother’s early years in Latvia…..

Jul 18, 2020

Jul 15, 2020

Young Love

Jul 15, 2020

Some time during her stint at the Liepaja Theatre my grandmother Mirdza met and fell in love with a young actor - Evalds Valters……

Jul 15, 2020

Jul 14, 2020

Treading the Boards

Jul 14, 2020

As a child I remember very little talk about my grandmother’s younger years in Latvia…….

Jul 14, 2020

Jul 10, 2020

A Question of Identity

Jul 10, 2020

In the aftermath of Brexit I have found myself re-examining my European roots even more closely…..

Jul 10, 2020

Dec 13, 2018

A Handful of Photographs

Dec 13, 2018

Orphaned at the early age of eight, my Latvian grandmother was then brought up by an aunt…….

Dec 13, 2018

Nov 27, 2018

The Maternal Line

Nov 27, 2018

It seems that acting runs in the blood in my family as both my great grandparents and grandparents were actors on the stage in Latvia…..

Nov 27, 2018

Nov 19, 2018

To Remember Me By (2)

Nov 19, 2018

Some more recently discovered photographs from my mother’s Latvian archive have come to light……

Nov 19, 2018

Oct 27, 2018

Keeping in Touch

Oct 27, 2018

Fleeing for her life along with thousands of others in the face of the Soviet invasion, my mother left Latvia towards the end of World War 2 in the autumn of 1944….

Oct 27, 2018