My grandfather Aleksandrs Francis was born on September 24th, 1920. The first twenty years of his life were, by all accounts, relatively normal for a middle-class Latvian youth growing up in the 20s and 30s. He attended an agricultural high
Wordless Wednesday – Where is This?
Can anyone help identify the building in this photograph? I’m pretty sure it is in Denmark, since it is a photo of my grandmother from her collection of Displaced Persons camp photographs, c. 1945-1949. However, I haven’t been able to
Importance of the ITS
I’ve mentioned the International Tracing Service (ITS) numerous times, as a key resource to finding out information about WW2-era Latvian emigrants who spent the post-war years in Displaced Persons (DP) camps in Western Europe. Despite their important activities, I rarely
Latvians Abroad Museum and Research Centre
I came across this initiative awhile ago, though I can’t remember where: “LatvieÅ¡i PasaulÄ“ – Muzejs un PÄ“tniecÄ«bas Centrs” (Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre in English, LaPa-MPC for short). Their goal is to create a museum in Latvia
Records after 1905
In my last post, a reader requested that I talk about records after 1905. So here we go! There are lots of different types of records available for the post-1905 period – however, as of right now, none of them
War Stories
[This post is for the 28th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, which will be hosted right here. The Carnival post will be up on Friday!] Since I’m hosting this edition of the Carnival, I got
International Tracing Service
I first read about the International Tracing Service about a year ago when searching for more information about post-World War Two Displaced Persons Camps. According to their website, their history starts in London in 1943, as a tracing bureau for
Expanding Family Knowledge
Before I went to Latvia and started conducting my research in the archives, I was purely a genealogist. I wanted names, dates and places. While at the archives, a transformation occured: I became a family historian as well. Rather than
Tombstone Tuesday – Latvian DPs, 1948
My “Tombstone Tuesday” submission isn’t the tombstone for one person, but rather, a memorial to many. I am currently in Copenhagen, Denmark, and one of my main reasons for coming here was to visit this memorial (click on the image
Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven
I’ve mentioned previously that I am currently traveling in Europe. At the moment, I’m in Germany, and two days ago, I paid a visit to the Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven – the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, a port from which