The exile experience

Paths to exile

Our families' experiences is highlighted below.

Not shown are Latvians whom the Soviets conscripted and who remained in Latvia or elsewhere in the USSR after the war.

Exile experience

The exile experience lies at the intersection of history, post-WWII exile Latvian diaspora, and the personal stories spanning them. At its core is the building of Latvian community in the displaced persons' (DP) camps and then in the diaspora (trimda) — and the self-appointed and existential mission to preserve Baltic culture and identity in response to the Soviet Russification of the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian homelands.