My Life and Times · Chapter 1 of 10

A century of upheaval

I was born, grew up and was educated (from elementary school through higher education) in the first half of the 20th century, a period more rich in historical events that affected the fates of nations as well as individuals than any in human history.

First, there was World War I (1914-1918) which brought to a halt the peaceful life of the 19th and early 20th centuries. That war toppled the rulers and governments of both Germany and Russia. Because we Latvians at that time were part of the Russian empire, then our fates were naturally tied to that of Russia and thus were drastically affected by the end of the rule of Nicholas II and the Romanov dynasty. Along with other nations that were under Russian domination, we gained our independence (1918) after hundreds of years under foreign masters.

I had the good fortune to experience these years of Latvian independence. In these 20 years or so (1918-1940), Latvians were masters in their own land. The Latvian language was the national language; for the first time in our history, it was the language of government institutions, schools and the military. In our choirs, we sang the songs of Latvian composers, in our theaters, we presented plays by Latvian authors, and in schools, lessons were presented in Latvian. IN our history lessons, we learned about Latvian heroes, who in the war of independence had defeated the foreign armies and protected the borders of Latvia against invaders, we learned about Latvian authors and analyzed their works, we learned about Latvian politicians who led the nation both in internal matters as well as foreign affairs. All of this was hidden from Latvian school children when Latvia was under the Czar. (Note: During those times, the official state language was Russian and school instruction was in Russian; naturally, the course content emphasized Russian history and culture)*. In the years 1918-1940, we were proud to have our own country. It began to seem natural that Latvians should rule their own land and that it would be that way forever.

Then there appeared on the scene some of the greatest fiends in history, Hitler and Stalin. They secretly signed a non-aggression treaty with each other, which enabled Hitler to start world war II by invading Poland. (Note: One of the clauses of this treaty was an agreement that the Baltic states were in the Russian ”sphere of interest” which meant that Hitler would look the other way if Russia decided to take them over.) As a result we lost our independence in 1940.

In was unimaginable in this enlightened century the terrible deeds that were ordered [by Hitler and Stalin] and moreover that there were people who were willing to carry them out. Even more incredible was that this happened in nations who had given rise to such giants of Western culture as Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Tolstoy, Dostoesvky, Tchaikovsky. One must conclude form these events that the veneer of humanity among humans is very thin.