My Life and Times (1912–1949)
English translation and edit by her son, Pēteris Danenbergs (2004). The Latvian typescript was typed in 2010 by her friend Aija. Published here with her son's approval.
Elvīra Antonija Sirlaka (1912–2011) wrote down her life from her birth in Rīga to her family's arrival in America in 1949: a childhood in Cēsis during and after the First World War, school and university in independent Latvia, the Soviet and German occupations, the flight of 1944, and four years as a refugee in Germany. She wrote in Latvian; her son translated and edited the text into English in 2004, adding his own notes, shown here in italics.
The English text is complete for 1912–1949. A Latvian typescript of 2010 is shorter but has passages the English lacks, including a postscript about the family's first years in Ohio; they are translated on a page of their own, and the Latvian typescript is given in full.
The text is given as the translator left it, spelling and punctuation included.
Chapters
- A century of upheaval
- Childhood in Rīga and Cēsis
- School days
- Bērzaine high school
- Pharmacy and the university
- Meeting Papa
- Two weddings and the Year of Horror
- Flight from Latvia, 1944
- Refugees in Germany
- The camp and the crossing
Passages only in the Latvian · Latviešu teksts (the Latvian typescript)