from Latvia. Latvia is a Western Republic that was not part of the Soviet Union until 1940. It was part of the Baltic States that was annexed in 1940. So when my father passed away, for some reason, we sort of rekindled the connections with his family in Latvia and started spending summers there. And our relatives there were very differently politically inclined, because their parents and they, when they were young, I mean, they were the older generation. I mean, so this was early 70s. Let's say this started in 1970. So they were quote unquote liberated in 1940. Then of course, during the war, they were occupied by the Germans and they were liberated again in the 40s. Some of the members of that distant relatives ended up in Siberia and pretty much spending life there because they were shop owners or whatever. And they were the Soviets took them and send them out there. So they were small business people. I mean, they had a completely different view of the Soviet Union. Some relatives (14/96)
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