THE UNKNOWN WAR

The latvian national partisans’ fight aganist the Soviet occupiers 1944- 1956

The main aim of the book is to highlight the fight of the Latvian partisans. The stories of the partisans are the stories of the brutal Russian oppression of Latvia. The content of the book is concentrated on the years from 1944 to 1956. Latvia was occupaied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and again in 1944.

«… THE PARTISAN’S FORMAL OATH: I, AS A LATVIAN NATIONAL PARTISAN, SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO RESPECT THE STATUTES OF THE LNPA, THE ORDERS AND INSTRUCTIONS(GIVEN) BASED ON THOSE STATUTES, AND TO OBEY MY LEADERS WITHOUT OBJECTION. I PROMISE TO BE JUST TO ALL, TO OBEY THE LAWS OF LATVIA, AND TO FULFILL ALL DUTIES ENTRUSTED TO ME TO THE BEST OF MY CONSCIENCE , FOR THE HONOR OF GOD AND MY NATIVE LAND:A FREE , INDEPENDENT LATVIA…»

LNPA: THE LATVIAN NATIONAL PARTISANS’ ASSOCIATION

The main content of the book is 208 photos of memorial plaques located in different sites in Latvia. Some of the memorial plaques are photographted more than once. Information about the content of the photos are also included. The facts presented are not a nice reading at all. The keywords are: Terror, raping, tortur, deportations to Soviet Union,  imprisonment and killings of Latvians. It is also called « the red terror». The Communist Party and the Soviet Union published infromation about Latvia to the western world that Latvia had been liberated from German occupation by the Army of Soviet union. Photos  of partisans are also published. The stories are tragic. Few of the partisans survived the fightings. Most of them were killed in actions. After having viewed the photos I was fascinated by two photos. One is on page 293: MARTA GROBINA.She lived in  the Kairi family home.The Cheka arrested her on August 13, 1947. She returned to Latvi on July 19, 1956. A photo of her from 1936 is published and a photo of her from 1997. The second photo is from page 339: HILDA MIETZITE. She was a partisan in the Indians- Graversons group. She was the only survivor of the battle on February 25, 1950.

The reports from territorial divisions of Lativa were written by historians: Janis Vilums ( Latgale and Zemgale), Zigmars Turcinskis (Vidzeme), Dr. hab. Ritvars Janssons ( Kurzeme), and Raitis Abelnieks(Zemgale). Historical reports and comments  from historian Gunars Bluzms and Inese Dreimans have been presented too.

WHEN DID THE FIGHTING ENDED IN LATVIA?

On February 13, 1957, Latgale, the last national partisan group – the Miculis family- five members only, finished the fightings.

On May 13, 1957, Vidzeme, the last « Forest brother» , Peteris Sviklans, surrendered to the KGB.

In 1960 in Kurzeme the partisans finished the fightings.

In 1952 the last actions of the partisans were finished.

WHAT IS THE MAIN REASON THAT THE PARTISANS WENT ON FIGHTING MANY YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE SCOND WORLD WAR?

Winston Churchill’s famous speech of 1946 in Fulton, USA, and the Latvian -language Voice of America broadcasts ,gave encouragement  to thousands of fighters in the Baltic countries.Invain.The Latvians believed in the reports about support from Western countries.They were all betrayed again and again. The war lasted for about 12 years. The Latvian people were betrayed by Soviet Union, betrayed by Nazi-Germany and betrayed by Western countries.

The mission of the book is to tell people worldwide that the Latvians do not, and will not, be betrayed anymore. Above All: Support the work of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia where I bought the book in 2019 while making research work.

Copyright: Latvian National Partisan Association, The Power of Thought Society and HPT ltd.

The book was published in 2011.368 pages. Comments of the book must be forwarded to:dslatvia@gmail.com

Tedd Urnes
Board member of Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council(BAAC)

LATVIA HISTORY: REPORT OF RESEARCHING FOR ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE IN AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES  ABOUT NORWEGIAN SOLDIERS LOST AND FORGOTTEN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

 By Tedd Urnes

BALTIC AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVAL COUNCIL(BAAC)

The aim of the paper is to focus on historical events that took place in Latvia and Norway during the Second World War. The report deals with different sources used for the  study. Archival footage, audiovisual archives, libraries document archives, national archives, books, newsletters and papers have been the objects for the research. The main questions asked  were: What happened to the lost, missed and forgotten young Norwegian soldiers who never returned to Norway during the war but were buried in Latvia graveyards unknown?

The report will be presented at BAAC Conference 2019 in Riga October 9. The annual conference of Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council(BAAC) will take place at The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia from October 9- 10, 2019. The title of the conference is: GLAMorous Content and Access.

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia(temporary building) is located at street, Raina bulvaris 7.

THE CITY OF CANNES: THE SUMMER MUSEUM –SERGIO LEONE

…    IL ETAIT UNE FOIS SERGIO LEONE…

On July 28, 2019, I paid a visit to the City of Cannes, France, to enjoy the beaches, the good food of the wine. Splendid time –but the best part of my stay was the visit to the Summer Museum viewing the exhibition of the work of the famous Italian movie producer and director, Sergio Leone. The exhibition is co-produced by the Cinematheque  Francaise and the Fondation Cineteca di Bologna. The title of the exhibition is “ Il etait une fois Sergio Leone “- “ Once Upon a Time Sergio Leone”. The exhibition is the story of the famous artist and film director Sergio Leone.

He was loved by the audiences worldwide for his movies. Sergio Leone ( 1929-1989) was underestimated by critics for many years. He was the first post-modern film director. The exhibition is aiming at paying a homage to Leone’s talent as a film creator and to his capacity to revitalize the cinema by making use of elements from the culture of his times.  The list of movies made by Leone is short one. In Norway he is most known for his new way of presenting the life and the myth of the West: “ The Dollar Trilogy”:A Fistful of Dollars, For a few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The young American actor Clint Eastwood had the leading role of each film.

Leone’s last epic film , “ Once Upon a Time in America  and Once Upon a Time in the West.

After having enjoyed my stay in Cannes I went back to the City of Nice viewing French television in my flat. To my surprise one of the movies of Leone was shown on TV.

The music and the sound made for his movies are an interesting study. Ennio Morricone wrote some of the most original soundtracks for his movies. When I came home to Oslo I viewed the movie , Once Upon a Time in the West, at home. Famous actors like Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Claudia Cardinale and above all: Eli Wallach who I think was the best actors of them all. The movie deals with people who are facing death in one or another way. The movie is killing entertainment of the worst kind:Killing, killing and more killing. Charles Bronson is the good guy aiming at searching for the man who killed his father. He is paying a harmonica all the time. Splendid body language made by Charles Bronson who survived all the killing. The move mentioned is a masterpiece I think. The music is very important to the movie. Harmonica is an instrument important to the plot of the movie.

KAI HOLST og WILLIAM J. DONOVAN

Både Kai Holst og William J. Donovan er navn som for mange er helt ukjente i dag. Aktive leser av historiebøker med hovedvekt på den annen verdenskrig, har nok notert navnene etter hvert. Begge personene deltok aktivt i kampen mot Nazi Tyskland. De ofret tid og krefter i kampen mot Adolf Hitler og den tyske kampen om nazifisering av Europa og resten av verden. William J. Donovan og Kai Host møttes antagelig aldri, men begge hadde personlige interesser i en omfattende og hemmelig militær aksjon som ble kjent under betegnelsen: ” OPERATION CRAW”. På norsk ble aksjonen kjent som: ” LILLEHAMMER-KUPPET”. Kort gjenfortalt: En felles svensk-amerikansk  etterretningsaksjon i 1945 med norsk støtte hvor 35 tyske etterretningsspesialister og teknisk utstyr ble overført til Sverige og deretter sendt til amerikanske leir i det okkuperte Tyskland. Amerikansk etterretning var interessert i de tyske ekspertenes kunnskap om sovjetiske forhold i 1945. Aksjonen ble utført på Lillehammer  like etter den tyske kapitulasjonen. Operasjonen ble organisert fra amerikansk side av generalmajor William J. Donovan som ledet ” Office of Strategic Services (OSS)”. Fra svensk side ble aksjonen ledet av generalmajor Ehrensvard. Den norske legasjon i Stockholm hadde også godkjent aksjonen. ” LILLEHAMMER- KUPPET” ble omstridt fordi amerikanerne begynte å arbeide i et område som var ansett som britisk område.

William J. Dovovan mottok mange utmerkelser under og etter krigen. Han ble spesielt hedret for  denne ene operasjonen.

Hvor kommer Kai Holst inn i bildet? Og hvem var egentlig Kai Holst? Og hva hadde han å gjøre på Lillehammer i 1945? I boken: ” Kai Holsts mystiske død. Historien om en norsk motståndsman i Oslo och Stockholm ” skrevet av Gøran Elgemyr får vi svar på noen av spørsmålene. Kai Holst var en norsk sjømann, pelsdyroppretter og motstandsmann under den annen verdenskrig. Han var født i 1913 og døde i Stockholm i 1945 under meget mystiske omstendigheter. Etter krigen ble han glemt. Ingen utmerkelser ble gitt familien. Saken var den at han hadde oppdaget aksjonen på Lillehammer. Kai Holst var aktiv innen mange ulike miljøer i Stockholm fra 1943 til 1945. Alle som kjente Kai Holst har etter krigen bare gode ord å si om han. I all hast reiser han fra Lillehammer til Stockholm får å rydde opp i diverse saker. Ingen vet helt sikkert hvorfor han reiste alene til Stockholm. I 1945 blir han funnet drept i Stockholm. Den offisielle dødsårsaken var selvmord og overanstrengelse.

Ikke alle aktive motstandsmenn trodde på den offisielle dødsårsaken. Erik Myhre, Erling Mørk Hansson, generalmajor Ole Otto Paus, Ole Borge, Wiggo Ljøner, Odd Feydt, professor Ingvar Bergstrøm og historikeren Per Nystrøm tvilte på påstanden om selvmord som den egentlige dødsårsaken. Flere mente at Kai Holst ble likvidert.

Forfatteren av boken har gjort et grundig arbeid i søken etter et fornuftig svar på dødsårsaken .Boken er lettlest. Dessuten blir den norske legasjonen i Stockholm vurdert med kritske vurderinger. Sagt på en annen måte: Legasjonens arbeid blir sterkt kritisert.

Kan Kai Holsts død skyldes at han hadde involvert seg i en sak som hadde en mye større politisk betydning enn hva han kunne forstå? Agenter som ble en sikkerhets trussel ble også av egne drept for å hindre spreding av informasjon. I 1945 var den kalde krigen begynt. Allerede under krigen ble norske kommunister registrert av den norske legasjon i Stockholm. Kai Holst var også aktiv i dette arbeidet.

Norske myndigheter gav Kai Holst ingen utmerkelse for hans aktive motstandskamp .I 1950 ble han hedret av George VI av Storbritannia post mortem for modig fremferd. Dokumentet er signert statsminister Clement Attlee. Kai Holst var også agent for britene.

Elgemyr,Gøran: Kai Holsts mystiska død. Historien om en norsk motståndsman i Oslo och Stockholm. Jure Førlag AB, Stockholm 2015.

JOHAN TURI –A PLAY

Gunnar Hauk Gjengset and Harald Gaski have managed to produce an interesting play about Johan Turi. The play is not limited to a presentation of the author and the owner of reindeers, John Turi alone. The content of the play is a conversation located in a railway compartment between Johan Turi, Emilie Demant, Elsa Laura Renberg and Hjalmar Lundbohm about the future of making a living as an owner of reindeers, about the hunting of wolves, about the publication of the first book written in the Sami language , about the exploitation of natural resources and about the development of the Sami language. But who are the persons mentioned? Let me give you a short presentation of the main characters of the play: JOHAN TURI was famous for having written the first book in the Sami language:” Muitalus samiid birra”. The book is about the life of the Sami people who made a living of running reindeers. He was a wolf hunter too. No formal education. The book contents also illustrations made by Johan Turi. He was born in 1854 in Kautokeino. In 1936, at an age of 82, he died in Jukkasjarvi in Kiruna in Sweden. “ Muitaulus samiid Birra” has been translated into Danish, English, German, Hungarian, Italian,Swedish, Japanese and Finnish. EMILIE DEMANT HATT made the translation of the book into Danish. She was born in 1873 and died in 1958. The life of the Sami people was of great interest for her. She was a Danish artist, painter, writer and ethnographer. Emilie Demant learned the Sami language at the University of Copenhagen. “ THE BOOK OF LAPPS” – written by Johan Turi was funded by the Swedish mining director, HJALMAR LUNDBOHM. The book was published in 1910 in a bilingual Sami-Danish edition and in 1913 as an English language edition. ELSA LAURA RENBERG was a owner of reindeers. She fought for the rights of the Sami people. She was born in 1877 and died in 1931. In 1904 she was among the founders of the unions of Lapps in Sweden: Lappernas Centralførbund- in Stockholm. HJALMAR LUNDBOHM was born in 1855 and died in 1926. He was a Swedish geologist, chemist and the first managing director of LKAB in Kiruna, Sweden and educated at Chalmers University of Technology. He is regarded as the founder of the town Kiruna. To maintain the future for LKAB, education was important for him.

The plot takes place in a railway compartment which was made in 1904. Sound and images from movies are used in different scenes.

Gjengset, Gunnar Hauk og Harald Gaski: JOHAN TURI. Hauk Forlag A/S. Oslo 2019. 95 pages.

THE DENVER JAZZ CLUB YOUTH ALL-STARS

JAZZ IN KONGSBERG-NORWAY

GULL-JAZZ

The Denver Jazz Club Youth ALL-Stars has made splendid performance on Thursday 4 at the City of Kongsberg in Norway. We all loved the music. The band is now in their tenth year of existence. The members of the band are: Dr. Ed Cannava, Director, Ivan Martin, Clarinet, Nathan Bailey, Tenor Sax/Vocals, Abby Husted, Trumpet, Thomas Neal, Trombone/Vocals, Ben Jablonski, Banjo, Christie Macfarlane, Piano, Ben Husted, Bass/Vocals and Antonio Giovanetti, Drums. Jazz all the way. The titles of the music program are: New Orleans Stomp, All of Me, Ory’s Creole Trombone, All That Meat and No Potatoes, 17 Cherry, Tiger Rag, St.Thomas, Bourbon Street Parade, Maple Leaf Rag and finally: When the Saints Go Marching. The last one is known worldwide, so we have learned the song by heart. Welcome back to Norway, The Denver Jazz Club Youth All- Stars!

 FATHERS OVER THERE

A Documentary Film by Dzintra Geka

The documentary film deals with the stories of Latvians who spent many years in different prisons. They had all a common story tell: The reason for why they were imprisoned by the Russian occupants of Latvia. Some of them spent even 25 years in a prison because they disliked the Russian occupation of Latvia. They were not criminals. Agris Sefers is the first person who is presented in the film. He lives in an unfinished little house in Latvia, and he makes a statement: “…everything for Latvia down to the drop of sweat and blood, everything for Latvia…”. Agris Sefers had spent about 10 years in prison. In 1954 in, Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan , a riot took place. For about 40days the riot lasted. More than 1000 prisoners were killed by the Russian soldiers.  Searching for graves of relatives who had died in the camps is important for many families. The film is a dramatic story of the ruthless methods of the KGB.  The deportation of people from Latvia after the end of the Second World War was a tragic story. About 45,000 people were deported to different prisons where the work was hard. Latvian poets, school children, partisan groups, dissidents and freedom fighters were sent to concentration camps to work as slaves. Consultant for the film is Dr. Hist. Ainars Bambals who works as an archival expert of State archives of Latvia and the National archives of Latvia. I bought the film at the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia on June 18, 2019. The film was released in 2016.