During my travels these past two years, many people ask about my life and connection to Europe. I have to admit that for most of my life, I have been reluctant to mention that I am Latvian by ancestry. I am a first generation American, which means that I am the first generation born of immigrant parents. Most of my life, people didn't know that Latvia existed, let alone where in the heck was Latvia? It's the case even today that in Spain I have to determine how each country refers to Latvia. In Spain, its Lettonia, in Holland, it's Lettland. Why are the Baltics still in obscurity? Now in my adulthood, I find it to be a nice conversation to have with people. An icebreaker, if you will.
The journey began many decades ago when we found our planet in a second world war. The Nazis had invaded the Baltics and established their dominance in Europe. But Stalin would not be undone and began to usurp his power. The Baltics got caught in the middle of this raging battle over territory and world dominance. My mother and father, who at this point did not know each other, independently decided to flee the advancement of Stalin's Red Army. It was choosing between the lesser of two evils at this point and as the Nazis retreated, those Latvian citizens who could retreated with them, under their protection. So, in 1945 my parents found themselves 'displaced persons' in Germany. By the end of the war, the Allies had set up camps in Germany to take care of all the refugees from the Baltics, and elsewhere. My parents met in the camp in Hanau, Germany and fell in love and eventually got married and bore a child, Karina. Meanwhile, they applied for emigration to the US, which at the time had a quota system--they would only accept a certain number of immigrants each year. Five years later in early 1950, they were granted immigration staus and boarded a ship for the US. My sister, Karina, was two at the time.
Growing up as a Latvian was difficult at times. My parents had heavy accents and I was sometimes embarrassed to bring friends home, having to explain their accents and my origins. At that time in my life I just wanted to "fit in". It would be many years later that I'd find myself accepting my heritage and then would eventually embrace it. The pivotal moment was in 2013 when I visited Latvia for the first time and attended the Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga with my dear Latvian friend Alissa and her mother Vija. While there, I really connected with my heritage and had the opportunity to experience this culture of song and dance that has kept the Latvian people connected with their roots, even while under Soviet occupation.
Then in 2013, the Latvian government enacted a law which would enable ancestors of Latvian refugees to apply for citizenship. They had enacted a similar "law" in 1992, shortly after the Soviet bloc dismantled and Latvia once again became a republic. When I heard that I could apply for dual citizenship, I began the process without any hesitation. I didn't know where this would lead me, but I intuitively knew this was something I needed to do. In March of 2014, I received my "personal number" and in September of 2014 I obtained an EU passport. So now I'm travelling under my EU passport while in Europe and enjoying unrestricted travel.
