INTRODUCTION
 
Oruro,  June 1940
My dear Nardi!
 
[11]  The world war rages and we are for now cut off from all our loved ones in Europe. Who knows when we will again be able to communicate. In a few months you will be six years old and I fifty three. Who knows whether I will still be there when you are old enough to understand what I want to tell you. And you no longer have any grandparents; from their generation only my uncle Leopold Herzenberg in Libau and few aunts, and on mother's side uncle Edward in Riga and maybe Uncle Jacob. Then mother's aunts Sasha Katz, Lina Shapiro in Riga, Ella Feinberg in Lodz, and Cila Goldstein in Chicago, and an older generation in Latvia. But it is very doubtful that you will ever meet any of them. Hopefully you will have close contact with the younger ones, but they will not be able to tell you anything, since most of them know nothing of the family except for their own close relatives. Thus I will write it all down for you: what I heard from my beloved late father, and what I know otherwise, so that you also get knowledgeable about it and maybe can pass it on. Let's wish that I will still be able to see you mature, and be able to tell you orally what I have summarized here. Otherwise this writing will have to speak for me.[12]
 
 
THE REGION

[13] Our origins are in "Kurland" (Latvia ). At the time of my birth, and until the end of the (first) world war this was a Russian "Gouvernment". Kurland was conquered in the 13th century by the German "Orden". The native Letts, who had  absorbed the original Kurs, were converted to Christianity. The "Orden" collapsed in 1561. Kurland became a duchy under Polish aristocracy. In 1795 Kurland became part of Russia in the third partition of Poland. The most notable duke was Jacob von Kettler, who was an in-law of the great Elector, who in spite of his dependence on Poland pursued his own policy,  had his own fleet, and founded colonies in Guinea and Tobago (Antilles). During the conquest by the German "Orden" Kurland, Livland, and Esthland were Christianized, but by contrast with Prussia, Pommerania, and Mecklenburg, were not Germanized. The landlord spoke only Lettish with his peasants. The Pastor preached in Lettish, and there were Lettish schools for the people. The influx of German lasted for centuries. Not only the 'Barons', i.e. the Aristocracy, who owned the land were german, but everything outside of the peasants was german, such as crafts and commerce. Only the peasant, first as slave, later free, remained Lettish, and subsequently became the industrial worker. Only total Germanization made social upward mobility possible. Therefore the German Baltics slaved away at giving the Letts and Esths the foundations of their culture. They collected their songs and fairy tales, worked on their history and prehistory, worked out the grammar of the languages.

When the Russians started an anti German policy in the Baltic sea  provinces they found a willing ally in the Letts, who possessed a ready cultural scaffold, forged by the german domination, and knew very well how to use it. In any event, as the Letts, with help from the german Baltic troops, chased away the Soviet Russians, they also drove away the Germans, dispossessed the 'Barons', and created their own country of Letltand, where the Letts developed an upper crust for themselves, and more or less forcefully suppressed all other minorities: Germans, Russians, Jews.

At the time of my birth though, Kurland was still German in its entire culture. The Lett people did not count at all. Kurland came into Russia almost 100 years after Livland and Esthland, and the energetic Russification began only under Alexander the Third. Thus the official language, the administration, the schools, and the high schools were all German. As far as I can remember, everyone in our family spoke high German, with a bit of Baltic sing-song, partly reminiscent of East Prussia, e.g., "das Wahser, die Buhter, der Bruhnen", and with many local words, e.g. "der Herd = die Plite, die Decke = die Oberlage, Eimer = Spann, Sahne = Schmand", etc. But it was a pure [reines] German, without Lettish, or Russian loan words, though once in a while spiced with strong German Jewish wordlets [Wortlein]. As I entered the Libau "Realschule" in 1895, exactly two years had passed since it had been Russified. Half the teachers now had to teach  Russian. They had learned Russian quickly and badly, and taught accordingly.

The pronunciation especially contrasted strongly with that of the Russian teachers. At first we imitated the funny pronunciation, then we spoke that way ourselves; since we only spoke German at home, we were handicapped in Russian. Not only with respect to the pure Russians who as children of administrators and officers attended the school, but also compared to the Lithuanian Jews who came into the schools from the neighboring [Komnol. Gouvernment] and who already spoke Russian at home. But one spoke Lettish with the servants, drivers, peasants at the market. I still remember distinctly my astonishment when, as a student, I heard Lettish spoken on the "Kornstrasse" in Libau, turned around, and saw three people in wholly European dress speaking the language.

During my youth Kurland still retained its entire uniqueness. The Russification had only just started. Life was inexpensive, "God's little country" as the Kurlanders called it, was a beautiful and pleasant land. It lies on the Baltic sea, has many ports, and shipping traffic connects it with the entire world. In the harbor of Libau sail and steam ships of many lands were anchored. Not just the Baltic neighbors, but very exotic ships would arrive. Before the world war Libau had a weekly direct connection with North America. The soul of the inhabitants was not narrowly provincial, one had the wide view of the world, representatives of many nations teemed in Libau, and this encouraged stamp collecting among the students. [018]
 
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