Finding Our Roots - Latvia 2009

The summer of 2009 we together with cousin Karl decided visit the country of our ancestor's, Latvia. With the help of researcher Rita Bogdanova we were able to find our great-great-grandfather's house together with some other places where great-cousin's had lived. Below is a picture "heavy" summary of the fantastic holiday we had. If you would like to know more then please get in contact.

We boarded the ferry at Travemunde in north Germany for a 33 hour sea journey to Riga. Its about 15 km to the open sea from the port with lots to see on the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are now in the open sea, the Baltic sea and dropping the pilot

 

 

 

So the next day there was nothing to do except eat, talk, sleep and sit on deck.

 

Until in the late afternoon we approached Riga habour. We were probably the first of our early family emigrants to go back since 1913, and that felt quite amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Riga has some wonderful art nouveau architecture combined with Soviet style blocks and wooden huts. This particular block near the centre of town was where cousin Jacob Rodman born 1909 lived. His mother Haja Lea Vinitzky was the sister of Meyer Deitch (my grandfather) and Ruben Winnick who went to America. Jacob fled to Russia during the second world war but returned and documented his family's loss in the Yad Vashem database in 1990 while living here at Gogola eila number 13. I have not yet been able to find traces of him or his family yet.

 

 

 

 

At the back of the building you have a totally different impression of the living conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Riga University building.

 

 

 

 

 

Everywhere the are lovely old wooden houses side by side with big apartment blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Jacob Rodman's brother Meyer lived at this building complex near the river at 48 Maskavas with his wife Cecelia and son David. Meyer was drafted into the red army and killed December 29, 1944 on Latvian territory near Saldus where he was buried. The rest of the family fled to Russia and It is possible that the son David Rodman is still alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

River side view from block

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The architecture and variety of riga is a visual delight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the famous "Cat" house in Riga. A rich merchant was not admitted to the Guild and had his house built with two metal cat figures on towers with their backsides facing the guild building. He was legally forced to turn the cats in another direction but was then allowed to join the guild.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the beautiful orthodox cathedral which was used as an observatory during soviet times. It looks like a fairy tale building.

 

This is just an interesting old building at the junction on the street where some of our relatives lived.

I volunteered to take some photos for other researchers who could not travel to Latvia during our visit. These photos of this street were taken for a lady whose parents lived in this white house. To put the building in context I took photos of the neighbourhood as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to the coastal resort of Jaunjelgava beach. During Soviet times it was apparently one of the favourite haunts of the military elite. Lots of Russians still visit and the security staff openly carry guns. The houses are mostly wooden and beautiful.

Flowers seem to be a very important part of Latvian life and there were flower sellers everywhere, but in the center there is an almost 24 hours flower market with beautiful displays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now a shopping preciect this building was originally a military barracks and is the longest building in riga. It faces the old city wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just round the corner are the "Three Brothers", the 3 oldest houses in Riga.

 

Town hall square is now the tourist info centre and the point to start viewing riga and the street life.

 

 

 

 

This is the parliament building and environs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

On to the friendly Jewish Cultural Centre. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on our way to Dvinsk or as it is known today Daugavpils stopping at several villages on the way to take photos for researchers in the UK, USA (5), Sweden, Israel, and some other places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When we arrived in Daugavpils even though it was rainy and stormy we couldn’t wait to find-gr-gr-grandfather’s house or what might be left of it. We were quite surprised at the condition of the streets outside the town centre.

And bingo there was an old house on the street location that we had. The Vinizky family lived here in 1897 in Dvinsk at Sadovaja Street 20.

What a feeling to be standing where your grandfather was born, your gr-grandfather and gt-gt-grandfather lived and to walk around his neighbourhood.

Then on to Lacplesa 35, where Freide Vinitzky, Meyer & Ruben’s sister lived with husband Zodik Kaplan born in 1888 in Disna, poland. He was a smith and was killed June 25, 1941 by a neighbour 3 days after the German invasion of Latvia. Apparently Freide fled with her childen to Russia. This was documented by historian J. Rochko. In his book, They were our neighbours/Jews in Daugavpils/ Book Four, 2005 but I haven’t found a copy of it yet to look at. Today the empty plot where they lived is beside the current synagogue in Daugavpils.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daugavpils castle was used as a prison camp and is definitely worth a visit as an example of what the Soviets left behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to the cemetery to try and find traces of our relatives. The central cemetery is gigantic and with some friendly help, eventually we found the jewish sections, but no relatives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daugavpils architecture is distinctly different to Riga, much simpler, less restored and overall much poorer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the synagogue beside the plot where our relatives lived once.

 

We were unable to find traces of the other addresses we had, perhaps the streets had been totally rebuilt following the war.

 

 

So off up river to the national park to try and find the observation tower on the river Dauga.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally arriving at Kraslava for lunch. Buying lunch was an interesting process. The plate was weighed and the scales zeroed, the meat added to the plate, plate weighed, price and weight entered into the cash register, ditto for the potatoes, the salad etc. Now this takes a long time for 4 people, imagine what it is like at rush hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course professional interest meant that I had to stop and check out this petrol station containing petrol pumps built by my company in the UK in the 80s.

 

 

 

 

 

After fantastic 8 days in Latvia, we sailed home to Travemunde,