Customer Reviews

The Testimony of Lives: narrative and memory in post-soviet Latvia

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This book gives such a deep and often painful look at the horrors of the lives of most Latvians who remained in Latvia after World War II. It becomes easy to understand the bitterness some Latvians still feel towards thosee who stole the land from them. It shows how a small country, torn apart century after century by their bigger and more powerful neighbors, by internal conflicts, by exile, famine and horrors beyond the grasp of most civilized people, continue to to dream and work for independance.

The fact that there still is a Latvia and Latvians is most amazing, even to a Latvian. The horrors of the past must never be forgotten, we must learn from them and work to never allow such atrocities to be tolerated again.

Ms. Skultans writes so eloquently, grasping and sharing with the reader a deep understanding of a culture fighting for survival.

This is a book that should be read by anyone studying anthropology, sociology, psychology, history or humanities. It is also a must read for all displaced peoples and their offspring or anyone searching for understanding of the full range of behavior humans are capable of.

For a mroe complete picture of the full effects of war, with the Testimony of Lives, I recomend also reading, "DPs Europes Displaced Persons 1945-1951" by Mark Wyman who shows the horrors of the "lucky" who escaped.

This book can be interesting for many categories of people. If you want to read more about Latvia and its people, the oral history in the book will give you a good idea of what Latvians were forced to go through in WWII and the second half of the 20th century. The sometimes heart-wrenching stories are a good supplement to political reviews of the events of the time and give a more accurate view of how Latvians survived WWII and the Soviet occupation. If you want to do a sociological, psychological, or anthropological study, the testimonies of the Latvians provides an interesting backdrop to test and evaluate various academic theories or start a new study. Since I am not a researcher or a student of anthropology, the only criticism I have of the book is that it sometimes dwells a bit too much on academic theory. However, I understand that Ms. Skultane meant this to be an academic work, so I just skipped those bits and still enjoyed the book as a whole.