Siberian Children’s Christmas

On December 22, 2022, the Siberian Children’s Christmas and opening of the book “Mothers in Siberia” was held at the Latvian Society House. About 60 people had arrived. Dzintra Geka performed, Jānis Lūriņš read excerpts from the book and Pastor Gunārs Kalme gave a speech. Musicians Raimonds Tiguls – henga, Magdalēna Geka – violin and Jānis Lūmanis – accordion performed. Continue reading “Siberian Children’s Christmas”

New book “Mothers in Siberia” – in eternal memory of Latvian Mothers.

Foundation “The Children of Siberia” has published a new book “Mothers in Siberia”. The book contains interviews with mothers and their children deported on June 14, 1941, fragments of interviews from the memories of children deported on June 14, 1941. In 1941, the children taken to Siberia asked me to publish a book about Mothers. Latvian women, who from a prosperous life, from a prosperous home, ended up in the filth, filth, narrowness, hunger, and cold of Siberia. In chiffon dresses, mothers went to cut trees in the taiga, returning to their huts in the evening with worn-out clothes. Mothers gave the meager ration of bread to their children and starved to death. On June 14, 1941, 15,424 Latvian residents were deported from Latvia. Deportation greatly affected women – being separated from their husbands, taking all care of children, parents. They had to fight for physical survival with all possible means, far away from the usual environment, raise children, be able to create a sense of family, survive many physical and moral hardships. suffering – loss of husband, also children. Research by psychologists shows that the traumas caused by deportation leave 

traces and are passed on to the next generation.
In 1946, when orphaned children were allowed to be sent to Latvia, some mothers committed suicide so that the children could return to their homeland. In 2000, when we started looking for and interviewing Siberian children, we still met some mothers, this book contains their memories. What surprised me the most was the suffering, the pain that had been experienced and was able to remember it without bitterness and malice.
More than 80 years have passed, memories are fading, time is running and there are calls to forget it sooner. Then suddenly war in Ukraine. History repeats itself, fathers have been killed, families destroyed, children deported again. That is why this book is needed. Lest we ever forget…
Eternal memory for Latvian Mothers.”

Māra Eidukas (quote from the book) “Mum was working in the forest, she left this food for us, but it happened that other children ate our food. I got sick… For a month, on my way to work, my mother waited in terror to see if I would be alive when she came home from work. Mom said – it’s better if misfortune comes without knowing, because it’s terrible to go through it. I’m sick from hunger”
Hélène Lacone (quote from the book): “I was 34 years old when I was deported. I work in a collective farm, digging a cellar. There were older wives. I dug up a lot of earth, on the third day I only worked in the corner with a shovel, I was sick. I wanted to earn. We were given a ration of bread. There was a hospital nearby, I went in for treatment. I was investigated. I was all messed up. I wasn’t allowed to do hard work anymore”
Margrieta Silenieks(Otaņķe) (quote from the book): “We believed that we would be together with our husbands. We saw that there were no husbands when we left… We asked, of course , but the communists had their own answer – they didn’t know where our men were.”

The book is published by “Children of Siberia Foundation”, it can be purchased by ordering on the website  https://sibirijasberni.lv/shop/product/mates-sibirija/  or by phone 28647939, we also send by mail and to your home. The book can also be purchased on site at the studio in Zaķusala, LTV building, tel. 28647939 or 29273016.

Road to Siberia, 1941

The film “Road to Siberia, 1941” is an emotional and sad message. It tells about people who return to the places of deportation in Siberia, Yeniseysk, Karaula, Ustjport, Biriliyus, Suhanoy, Penkov. How does it look now? How are these people welcomed and what do the local people in Siberia think? “Don’t forget, don’t betray, don’t forgive in our name,” – so say the children of Siberia.
(c) StudioSB. Latvia, 2021.
Director: Dzintra Geka.
Text author: Valdis Lūriņš.
Cinematographer: Aivars Lubanietis.
Composer: Pēteris Vasks.

The distant land of Siberia. Born there.

We present to your attention the 2022 film “The distant land of Siberia. Born there.”

Continue reading “The distant land of Siberia. Born there.”

The distant land of Siberia Why March 25, 1949?

The film “The distant land of Siberia Why March 25, 1949?” now is available with English subtitles. The film was shown on Latvian Television 1 on March 25, 2021.

Continue reading “The distant land of Siberia Why March 25, 1949?”

Events of 14 June 2022

June 14 marks the 81st anniversary of the deportations of June 14, 1941.

10:00 In the Palace of the President of Latvia, President Egils Levits met with the repressed, winners of the drawing and writing competition. The winners of the drawing and writing competition had arrived from all over Latvia as well as from France, who received cash prizes, gifts from the President’s Chancellery, the book “Siberian Children 1949”, as well as jury prizes. Singers Armands Birkens sang and played a psaltery ensemble. The jury of the drawing competition was chaired by sculptor Regīna Deičmane, the jury of the drawing competition was chaired by teacher Liveta Sprūde.

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Photo from the President’s Photo Archive. 

15:00 at Cinema KSuns and 22:00 LTV1 could watch the documentary film from the cycle “Far Land Siberia. Born There ” can be watched on the LSM portal

18:00 A concert for Deportees took place in Old st. Gertrude Church, the Latvian Radio Choir sang, Kristīne Adamaite, organist, soloist Jānis Kurševs, musicians performed compositions by Latvian composers (J. Ivanovs, L. Garūta, P. Vasks, etc.)

Results of the 2022 essay competition

The number of works submitted for the 2022 competition is indeed a considerable total of 439
paintings and drawings for all age groups. Undoubtedly, students, teachers, including parents,
who have promoted the involvement of children and young people, go deep into the difficult
topics of Latvia’s history. In the continuous and inexhaustible flow of information, it is important
that someone is able to speak more deeply. Looking at the works of children and young people,
it is impossible not to think about the reality that we are all “breathing in the back of our head”
today, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences. It remains
almost physically unfortunate, noticing a frighteningly similar episode, a situation embedded in
the drawing that seems to have just been seen in one of the current news channels.
Even as adults, it is impossible for us to step out to distance ourselves and try to grasp what is
happening so fast. What happens to children, in the minds of very young people, when they
begin to notice a certain “repetition of history” in a geographical area close to them, we can
only guess. The members of the jury are also just people. People who are most addressed in
children’s work by direct emotionality, a confident handwriting and a composition whose
persuasiveness lies in the true desire to tell the “Siberian story” more clearly. When evaluating
the works not for the first year, it must be repeatedly admitted that the works submitted by the
youngest and middle group children are the most disarming. There, the participant has not yet
been overwhelmed by the paralyzing fear of drawing a “wrong” hand, foot or nose, but the main
thing is to feel the “skin” of the event, which opens a living expression. A child’s talent (and
well, if delicately guided by a skilled teacher) then allows for stroke dynamics, saturated active
or restrained coloring – depending on intent. Imaginations created by the imagination of events
that
have come to this day through the stories of eyewitnesses. The children of the older group,
who are naturally expected to have both a more thorough understanding of history and a more
mature focus on the technical performance of their work, can no longer “get through” with the

naive directness of childhood. Painting and graphics also demonstrate not only the
management of means of expression but also thinking. Therefore, the jury is pleased to find a
rather rare, but noteworthy, original view of the topic each time.
The competition is a competition, it highlights the brightest examples, but it should be borne in
mind that behind each of the other works there is a certain young person who has for some
time hindered his or her thoughts on a topic important to the Latvian nation. Probably thinking
about where we come from and where we go.

Ieva Jurjāne, artist

2022 essay competition for students
“Children of Siberia 1941/1949 – Children of Exile 1944”
RESULTS

Winners of the 2022 composition competition
Group 1
1st place. Nellija Tiesnese
2nd place. Elizabete Mieze
3rd place. Elizabeth Vasilyeva

Group 2
1st place. Linda Kalniņa
2nd place. Marianna Laime-Babre
3rd place. Paula Bička

Group 3
1st place. Denise Marta Medinika
2nd place. Klaudija Dembovska
3rd place. Anna Jansone

Special awards
Dzintra Geka-Vaska – Gabriela Misiņa, Emīlija Gūtmane
Ina Druviete – Ilya Alexeyenko
Kaspars Pūce – Amanda Blūma, Līga Zaremba, Evelīna Paula Ķerķe
Aivars Ozoliņš – Ance Luīze Bumbiere, Dita Hadaņonoka
Elita Veidemane – Rēzija Romanovska, Elīza Kurcalte
Valdis Lūriņš – Emīls Zandersons, Loreta Lazdiņa
Undine Adamaite – Eva Evelina Klavina
Liveta Sprūde-Kalme – Everita Lapeško, Alina Maškovska

Results of the 2022 drawing competition

About the Siberian Children’s Drawing Competition.

The number of works submitted for the 2022 competition is indeed a considerable total of 439 paintings and drawings for all age groups. Undoubtedly, students’ teachers, including parents, who have promoted the involvement of children and young people, go deep into the difficult topics of Latvia’s history. In the continuous and inexhaustible flow of information, it is important that someone is able to speak more deeply. Looking at the works of children and young people, it is impossible not to think about the reality that we are all “breathing in the back of our eyes” today, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences. It remains almost physically unfortunate, noticing a frighteningly similar episode, a situation embedded in the drawing that seems to have just been seen in one of the current news channels. Even as adults, it is impossible for us to step out to distance ourselves and try to grasp what is happening so fast. What happens to children, in the minds of very young people, when they begin to notice a certain “repetition of history” in a geographical area close to them, we can only guess. The members of the jury are also just people. People who are most addressed in children’s work by direct emotionality, a confident “handwriting” and a composition whose persuasiveness lies in the true desire to tell the “Siberian story” more clearly. When evaluating the works not for the first year, it must be repeatedly admitted that the works submitted by the youngest and middle group children are the most disarming. There, the participant has not yet been overwhelmed by the paralyzing fear of drawing a “wrong” hand, foot or nose, but the main thing is to feel the “skin” of the event, which opens a living expression. A child’s talent (and well, if delicately guided by a skilled teacher) then allows for stroke dynamics, saturated active or restrained coloring – depending on intent. Imaginations created by the imagination of events that
have come to this day through the stories of eyewitnesses. The older group of children, who are naturally expected to have both a more thorough understanding of history and a more mature focus on the technical performance of their work, can no longer “get through” with the naive directness of childhood. Painting and
graphics also demonstrate not only the management of means of expression but also thinking. Therefore, the jury is pleased to find a rather rare, but noteworthy, original view of the topic each time.
The competition is a competition, it highlights the brightest examples, but it should be borne in mind that behind each of the other works there is a certain young person who has for some time hindered his or her thoughts on a topic important to the Latvian nation. Probably thinking about where we come from and where we go.

Ieva Jurjāne, artist

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2022 drawing competition for students
“Children of Siberia 1941/1949”
RESULTS

Group 1 (6 – 10 years)

1st place Sofia Shabanova
2nd place Timur Lapkovsky
3rd place Emil Kroich

Special awards

Līvija Apsīte (special award presented by Regīna Deičmane)

Matīss Leinis (special award presented by Regīna Deičmane)

Nils and Ieva Mets (special award presented by Dzintra Geka)

Mark Zvejnieks (special award presented by Giors Geks)

Group 2 (11 – 14 years)

1st place Raivis Svētiņš
2nd place Megija LuīzeTūtiņa
3rd place Līva Amberga

Special awards

Liele Dergachova (special award presented by Mara Alena)

Dairis Permanickis (special award presented by Linda Lūse)

Evelīna Neilande (special award presented by Ieva Jurjāne)

Group 3 (15 – 19 years)

1st place Dagmara Dumbra-Dumbrovskis
2nd place Patricia Žaimunde
3rd place Angelika Percova

Special awards

Daniela Ryabova (special award presented by Roberts Muzis)

Rihards Knostenbergs (special award presented by Ieva Jurjāne)

 

Grāmatas “Sibīrijas bērni 1949” atvēršanas videoieraksts

Sorry, this entry is only available in Latviski.

2021. gada 17. decembrī plkst.12.00 notika jaunās grāmatas “Sibīrijas bērni 1949” atvēršana Okupācijas muzejā. Piedāvājam noskatīties šī pasākuma videoierakstu

Ceļojoša izstāde 1949. gada 25. martā uz Sibīriju aizvesto bērnu atmiņas (video)

Sorry, this entry is only available in Latviski.

Fonds “Sibīrijas bērni” ir sagatavojis ceļojošo izstādi video formātā.

 

Ceļojošā izstāde pieejama arī PDF formātā

“1949. gada 25. martā uz Sibīriju aizvesto bērnu atmiņas”.