History in Chains

Riga, Latvia

I stumbled across Jay Nordlinger's "Baltic Journal, Part I" and it captivated me. In one short paragraph, he sums up the hidden history of the Baltic states: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia:

"Everyone in the Baltic states has a story — a story of parents and grandparents, if not themselves. Every family endured horrors — at the hands of Nazis, Soviets, or both. Often both."

I know these stories, and so do my children, because my husband's Latvian family escaped the Soviet devastation of their country following the Second World War. Very few people know this shadowed history, because it isn't taught anymore. What happened to the Baltic people should never be forgotten, but to the world's shame, it's as though the atrocities they suffered never even happened.

I'll be following Nordlinger's journey through the Baltic states with interest and appreciation.