July 4: Riga

Dear Friends and Relatives,

Happy July 4 to all of you!   My roommate Elaine and I toasted the holiday this evening with a small cider—it was an evening of being on our own for dinner.  As we had had an exhausting day today on the sightseeing front, we had dinner on our own.  I had an excellent duck broth, and Elaine had pumpkin soup and kohlrabi ravioli.  She had cherry sherbet for dessert as well.  And now we are back in the room, and today’s blog, though complicated, is waiting to be written.  Even though I am beyond exhausted, here goes!

Our first venue was the incredbly beautiful new library, the National Library of Latvia, which embraces the full gamut of knowledge.  There are 4.5 million books there, embracing all branches of knowledge, the fundamental profile being Social Science and the Humanities. Library readers also have access to special collections – rare books, manuscripts, the Latvian and Baltic Central Library collections, maps, sheet music, sound recordings, graphic publications, ephemera and periodicals. At present, most library activities and events are intended to support higher education, research and life-long learning.

The NLL is a centre of theoretical research into and practical analyses of the activities of Latvian libraries. The Library operates as the centre of Latvia's Interlibrary Loan system, and provides library and information services to the Parliament.

This morning we had a lecture by a university staff member concerning Latvia’s cultural heritage , musical traditions, and national musical instruments, including an instrument called a “kokle” (akin to a zither), and also a set of bagpipes and some recordings of various choirs singing Latvian folksongs.  Fascinating lecture, and one in which I am very interested.  Next choral competition will be in 2023, but even now, tickets are hard to come by.  I would love to be present at it or any Welsh choir competition in the near future.  Anyone interesting in participating in such a venture with me?  

After the lecture we had a tour of the library by a curator there, and the views from the top floor over Riga were unbelievably beautiful!  From there we went to lunch at a restaurant called Forest, where we had white fish on top of flavored rice.  It was lovely to have fish for a change, and the entire dish was splendid.  I had a gluten-free dessert of pineapple, raspberry, and strawberry ice cream.  

From there we had a more sobering afternoon at the Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum.  Its main aim is to preserve memories about the Jewish community in Latvia and the tragedy of the Holocaust during WW II.  We saw photos of Latvian rabbis and models of synagogues; exhibits dedicated to Jewish schools, education in Latvia and to Jewish personalities.  There was a “Ghetto Street”—a memorial wall and exhibit showing the history of WW II; a Large Memorial Wall containing more than 70,000 names of Latvian Jews who died in the Holocaust; and a railroad car exhibit called “Berlin-Riga.  One-way ticket,” which has been installed in a railway transportation wagon in memory of thousands of deported Jews from Nazi Germany to Riga into almost certain death.  Always a difficult, sobering kind of museum exhibit for me to have to come to grips with!

From there, in order to lighten the mood, we cruised through an outdoor/indoor Central Market to feast our eyes on salmon, caviar, catfish, eel, sardines, herrings, all kinds of fruits, vegetables, pickles, cheeses, mushrooms, and fresh flowers such as roses, peonies, day lilies, etc. etc.—a feast for the eyes!  

From there we went to the Zanis Lipke Memorial, a place where Latvian worker Zanis Lipke saved lives of Jews during WW II by hiding them in a pit under a shed.  The memorial building is a symbolic shed in the basement of which the people were hidden and saved.  The image of the building is inspired by old fishermen and sailors’ pitch-black sheds characteristic of Kipsala.  The image of the museum resembles Noah’s ark, an inverted boat which in the same way can be regarded as a shelter.  

Our last venue of the day was the Museum of Latvia’s Occupation.  It is a moving and disturbing display devoted to Latvia’s occupation by the Nazis and the Soviets respectively.  It was the Nazis’ and the Soviets’ decision to parcel up eastern Europe into mutually agreed spheres of influence in 1939 that condemned Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania to the first period of Russian occupation, which began in June of 1940.  Germany’s declaration of war on the Soviet Union a year later ushered in 4 years of Nazi control, after which the Soviets returned in 1944 and stayed for 45 years.  Photographs and propaganda posters recall these events.  The Soviets tried to rob Latvia of its ethnic identity by deporting a large portion of its citizens to Siberia, implementing a first wave of mass arrests in June of 1941, and a second in March of 1949.  The victims were often chosen arbitrarily.  Most of the deportees lived in log cabin work camps that they had to build for themselves.  It was a cruel, gruesome game both Nazis and Soviets played with impunity and extreme cruelty!  

Having come from three such hardhitting exhibits, it was time to leave, and all of us seemed to need a break from the depiction of such incredible sorrow.   This is our last evening here in Riga.  Tomorrow we leave for our third and last city—Vilnius, capital of Lithuania.  On our way tomorrow by bus, we will stop at the Rundale Palace and the Hill of Crosses.  More then!  Right now, must post my photos and then pack for tomorrow’s trek.  As ever, Sylvia.