The exile experience

To destinations unknown

While history books outline the major events, the story of the Latvian—and wider Baltic—exile experience during and after WWII is ultimately made up of individual lives. Our narrative follows those personal threads, setting the facts of war, separation, and geopolitics alongside the first-hand journeys of our own families. We share their experiences—life in DP camps in a shattered Germany, survival in the harsh expanse of Siberia—not as scattered anecdotes, but as touchstones of larger forces that shaped a generation.

We also recognize the legacy of the Latvian Legion, not through our families’ direct service, but through the memories of the people who lived through those years and whom we later came to know. By weaving together the personal and the historical, we hope to honor the resilience of the Latvian people—not in the abstract, but through the steady, specific lives of those who endured.

DEPORTĀTIEM CEĻĀ UN SVEŠUMĀ MIRUŠAJIEM LATVIJAS BĒRNIEM 1941-1949. — To the Latvian children who died during deportation and in foreign lands, 1941–1949.

• The Soviet regime carried out ruthless mass deportations. The first occurred on June 14, 1941↗, during the initial Soviet occupation, targeting various groups including those in state, local government, economic, and cultural leading positions, the merchant class, and farmers. Entire families were deported then torn apart, men sent to GULAG↗ hard labor camps and women and children to "administrative settlements". Around 15,000 Latvian residents were arrested and deported without court orders in June 1941, of whom more than 5,000 were women and over 3,000 children. Peters' mother's family and Silvija's great-aunt were among the "oppressed."
  Read historical background on pre-war Soviet relations, the first Soviet occupation, and June deportation in our library at These Names Accuse
• Lost in the history of the Holocaust in Nazi-German occupied Latvia↗ is that Jews had been proportionally hit harder than any other ethnic group in the Soviet deportation — which came only eight days before Hitler invaded↗. Stalin also deported to the harshest conditions.
• With the memory of the first Soviet occupation still fresh, some 170,000–180,000 Latvians fled their homeland as the Red Army re-subjugated — not "liberated" — Latvia, to become post-WWII exiles.

• The circumstances of war meant that escape options were limited and difficult, with destinations — across the treacherous Baltic to Sweden in small boats, down the Baltic in refugee transports or overland to Nazi-occupied Poland — dictated by necessity rather than preference or allegiance.

  The fate of Legionnaires

• At the end of the war, Latvian Legionnaires captured in Courland (Kurzeme)↗ and 146 escaped Legionnaires Sweden forcibly repatriated to occupied Soviet Latvia1 were either executed or deported to the GULAG↗. Legionnaires who surrendered to the Western Allies were incarcerated as POWs, where Allied guards shot them for live target practice until they were told the Latvians weren't Nazis.2
  Estonian refugees split 40-45% to neutral Sweden, 55-60% to Germany, while most Latvian and Lithuanian refugees wound up in post-war Germany. 3

  The fate of those who left behind

• Khrushchev validated their worst fears of Soviet reoccupation when he inflicted additional mass deportations including deporting 42,000 more from Latvia in 1949↗, 90,000 more total from the Baltics.

For most Latvian refugees, including POWs released upon it being determined they were not Nazis, the first collective destination was Displaced Persons (DP) Camps↗ in post-war Germany, serving as a temporary stopping-off point from the end of the war until the early 1950s. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration↗ (UNRRA) was the primary administrator of these camps.

May 1945 orders to repatriate only self-identified and willing Soviet citizens, don't tell the Soviets

Life in the DP camps presented significant challenges and realities despite efforts at self-organization:

• Conditions were often grim and uncertain.
• Overcrowding was rampant; rooms might be occupied by as many as 14 to 19 people or 3-4 families.
• Camps could be dangerous. There was a constant threat of forced repatriation to the Soviet Union. British soldiers, reportedly assisted by Soviet NKVD agents, surrounded and forced away Ukrainian DPs in Flensburg in August 1945. Instances of violence based on mistaken identity occurred, such as when American GIs attacked Silvija's father, Henry ("Heinrich"), mistaking him for a German, slitting his throat and leaving him to die. There were also losses. Peters' godparents-to-be, Atis and Ērika, had fled with their son, Juris. Their son Andris was born in the DP camps. Tragically, their infant daughter fell ill in the camps and died. A nurse sobbed in grief when she found out that just because the baby's parents' names sounded German—Otto and Ērika Grunde — and they could speak German did not mean they were German. She confessed to poisoning their daughter "in retribution" against the Nazis.
• Food could be scarce, as when Peters' parents were told to "eat grass" when rations ran out.

Despite these hardships, education and culture were highly valued and actively pursued within the DP camps. Latvians were largely self-organized and self-managed within the camps, with UNRRA and later IRO oversight.

• DP camps like Esslingen organized a wide range of activities as part of camp life.
• Education was prioritized, with camps featuring schools, including specialized ones like a maritime navigation school in Flensburg.
• Latvians published newspapers and periodicals, staffed medical facilities and schools, and engaged in cultural activities such as art, crafts, literature, and music. Peters' father worked as an art teacher in the camps.
• The preservation of Latvian culture was a communal effort. Anna Apinis, Peters' mother's first cousin, dedicated herself to preserving Latvian weaving, even building a loom from scavenged materials in the Memmingen DP camp.
• Material culture produced during the DP era included calendars, song collections, photo albums, books from poetry to cooking, and arts and crafts exhibitions.

Latvians spread out from the DP camps across four continents and at least twenty different countries.

• Coming to America was a significant journey for many. Both Silvija's and Peters' parents arrived by ship in New York in 1950. The sight of the Manhattan skyline, described as a stark contrast to war-devastated Germany, represented hope for a new beginning. Peters' mother recalled being surprised by the ferry lights crossing back and forth in the dark upon their refugee ship's arrival at night.
  • The transition was aided by support from existing communities, such as the century-old Latvian Lutheran congregation in New York whose pastor greeted arrivals.
  • Church-led refugee services, including Lutheran World Action and the National Lutheran Council, helped secure jobs and sponsors.
  • To enter the U.S., Latvians required sponsors, pre-arranged jobs, and housing, often with rent paid upfront. This support structure meant they often fared better than German post-war refugees who remained homeless in their own homeland.
  • Nevertheless, rebuilding lives involved hardships and sacrifice. Early living situations could be crowded. Finding work was challenging; Peters' mother worked as a maid, while his father, who got terribly ill after two weeks as a hospital orderly, eventually became a scenic artist at NBC. (Peters' parents had been originally targeted for Canada, but were disqualified owing to Peters' father's heart condition preventing his being employed as a lumberjack.) Peters' mother eventually became a skilled sample maker in the garment industry after learning her skills in Germany.
• Leaving the DP camps behind, Latvians also settled in other destinations. Peters' father's relatives emigrated to Canada, Peters' mother's cousin Ervīns Apinis and his wife Anna and many other Latvians emigrated to far-off Australia.

Central to the exile experience is the concept of "trimda" as a place and also a mindset.

• Initially, terms like bēgļi (refugees, literally "the fleeing") and emigranti (emigrants) were used.
• However, trimda (exile) became the dominant term and framework.
• Trimda came to represent a fusion of "not Latvia," an unbounded location, and a state of mind, defining a reality outside the homeland. This represented the reality of post-WWII Latvians living two concurrent lives — one encompassing daily life in svešumā, "in a foreign place", the other as part of a local Latvian community, or if away from any, remaining connected through newspapers like "LAIKS."
• Trimda served as a powerful, unifying framework for Latvians scattered across the globe.

A core mission of the exile community was the existential task of preserving Latvian culture and identity in exile. This was seen as a necessary response to the Soviet Russification of their homeland. Every child growing up in exile was implicitly tasked with ensuring the survival of Latvian identity and culture.

• In DP camps, this involved publishing books and preserving crafts like weaving.
• In host countries, where sufficient numbers existed, Latvians founded churches and built communities around them.
  Read more about Latvian schools and Peters' own attendance at Latvian school - cultural preservation in exile
• Latvian Sunday schools were crucial, focusing heavily on Latvian history, geography, and literature. Peters, for instance, learned about Latvian history dating from the Ice Ages, geography, grammar, literature, and even Latvian penmanship in such a school.
• Cultural events, such as celebrating Latvian Independence Day, featured school participation with speeches, songs, and music.
• Cultural items from the DP era, like calendars, song collections, photo albums, art exhibits, and cookbooks, continued to be valued.
• There were significant successes in transmitting language and culture to younger generations.
• Parents passed down a deep love of their country and heritage, but also the pain of separation and growing belief Latvia would never see freedom again.

The legacy and identity of the exile experience continues today.

• With Latvia's independence in 1991 and the collapse of the USSR, the term trimda became anachronistic for current circumstances.
• The more encompassing term diaspora is now generally accepted for all Latvians living outside Latvia. The WWII refugees and their descendants are referred to as the vecā trimda (old exile) component of the diaspora.

The Latvian exile experience of trimda spans the brutality of war and occupation, the precarious existence in DP camps, the challenges and triumphs of resettlement across the globe, and most of all the singular efforts of an ancient people to preserve their threatened culture. This history continues to impact and shape Latvian identity both at home and in the diaspora — and necessitates ongoing efforts to ensure factual historical understanding amidst persistent attempts at distortion.

Latvians.com is our homage to and continuation of these preservation efforts, evolving from a personal site to a platform sharing Latvian history and culture. Our motivation is our obligation: "Because we can, we must". The concept of Latvian "footprints" (pēdas) symbolizes the enduring legacy of those who came before.

What did exile mean for those who fled ahead of the Red Army, or for those already deported — or destined for deportation — to the vast, unforgiving reaches of Siberia? For Latvian Legionnaires who surrendered to the Americans or British versus those who surrendered to the Soviets? We trace those journeys, weaving historical fact with the lived experiences of our parents and their families, hoping to highlight both the scale of exile and the human endurance behind it.