Driven West, Taken East (ePub)
A World War Ii Memoir of the Eastern Front
(Sprache: Englisch)
THIS is a translation of a WWII memoir written by a Latvian who was conscripted into the German army in 1943 at age nineteen during the German occupation of the Baltic states. He was called out of his classes at a teacher preparatory institute, along with...
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THIS is a translation of a WWII memoir written by a Latvian who was conscripted into the German army in 1943 at age nineteen during the German occupation of the Baltic states. He was called out of his classes at a teacher preparatory institute, along with other boys of his age group, and drafted into the newly formed Latvian Legion, created by the Germans after their defeat at Stalingrad as an adjunct force against the Soviets on the Eastern Front.
The memoir, written by Vilnis Bankovics and published in a second Latvian edition in August 2014 (Mansards), provides an eyewitness-participant account of the war in Russia and Eastern Europe that has remained largely unreported in English and American histories focused on Western Europe and the Pacifi c. As such, Bankovicss account is authentic history, told in spare, straightforward prose detailing the unalterable rush of events in the wars latter half and several varieties of captivity in the years afterward.
The events he recounts form an absorbing story with a natural arc: the end of his carefree schooldays, induction, basic training in Germany, battles against the Red army, being wounded several times, losing his girl and his family in the war, being betrayed by the Germans and captured by the Russians. The second half of the book depicts nighttime interrogations; mass burials; a forced march to an overcrowded, typhus-affl icted prison; bodies littering the fields and roadsides and tossed like trash into burial pits; transportation by cattle car to a forced-labor camp in the Gulag above the Arctic Circle; illness and injury and near-starvation; but an ultimate survival and a return to the Baltic states and to Latvia at the end of his ordeal.
The book draws its power from this last circumstance and the gradual revelation of an even more signifi cant kind of survivalpreservation of the authors own integrity and humanity despite the trials he undergoes. As the book shows, Vilnis Bankovics remains the thoughtful, generous, and sociable person he was before his ordeal began.
Maris Roze
The memoir, written by Vilnis Bankovics and published in a second Latvian edition in August 2014 (Mansards), provides an eyewitness-participant account of the war in Russia and Eastern Europe that has remained largely unreported in English and American histories focused on Western Europe and the Pacifi c. As such, Bankovicss account is authentic history, told in spare, straightforward prose detailing the unalterable rush of events in the wars latter half and several varieties of captivity in the years afterward.
The events he recounts form an absorbing story with a natural arc: the end of his carefree schooldays, induction, basic training in Germany, battles against the Red army, being wounded several times, losing his girl and his family in the war, being betrayed by the Germans and captured by the Russians. The second half of the book depicts nighttime interrogations; mass burials; a forced march to an overcrowded, typhus-affl icted prison; bodies littering the fields and roadsides and tossed like trash into burial pits; transportation by cattle car to a forced-labor camp in the Gulag above the Arctic Circle; illness and injury and near-starvation; but an ultimate survival and a return to the Baltic states and to Latvia at the end of his ordeal.
The book draws its power from this last circumstance and the gradual revelation of an even more signifi cant kind of survivalpreservation of the authors own integrity and humanity despite the trials he undergoes. As the book shows, Vilnis Bankovics remains the thoughtful, generous, and sociable person he was before his ordeal began.
Maris Roze
Autoren-Porträt von Vilnis Bankovi?S
The tramp of foreign soldiers’ boots has left a deep imprint on our country’s soul. Still, after the devastation of the First World War, Latvia was able to rapidly achieve a leading position in the economic and cultural life of the Baltic states. After the Second World War, however, we were left in the unenviable role of envying our neighbors. The heroic people of Finland courageously stood up to the mighty USSR, the Estonians with chilly reserve received their eastern “visitors,” and the Lithuanians refused to give their sons for slaughter to Hitler. Latvia is home to many talented and creative people and can be proud of the most beautiful folk songs in the world, yet the Second World War robbed my generation of a vital conviction—that we are a nation that cannot be bent to others’ will. There have been too many foreign influences, too many worthless preoccupations, too little defense of our own values.Perhaps my wartime memories will reveal some of the sources of our current malaise and throw a spotlight on the times when uninvited guests decided the fate of our youth.
About My Family
My parents came from the Ogresgala district (southeast of Riga, on the Ogre River). As a child, I heard many exciting stories from my parents about the roaring of the Daugava River near the power station at Kegums and the beautiful inlets of the Ogre River. These places of my childhood are naturally the most beautiful and most dear for me, and they are also the haunts of my youth. My younger brother and sister and I spent our summers herding animals on my aunt’s farm and helping with other chores. Our parents made sure we were always suitably occupied.
The tramp of foreign soldiers’ boots has left a deep imprint on our country’s soul. Still, after the devastation of the First World War, Latvia was able to rapidly achieve a leading position in the economic and cultural life of the Baltic states. After the Second World War, however, we were left in the unenviable role of
... mehr
envying our neighbors. The heroic people of Finland courageously stood up to the mighty USSR, the Estonians with chilly reserve received their eastern “visitors,” and the Lithuanians refused to give their sons for slaughter to Hitler. Latvia is home to many talented and creative people and can be proud of the most beautiful folk songs in the world, yet the Second World War robbed my generation of a vital conviction—that we are a nation that cannot be bent to others’ will. There have been too many foreign influences, too many worthless preoccupations, too little defense of our own values.
Perhaps my wartime memories will reveal some of the sources of our current malaise and throw a spotlight on the times when uninvited guests decided the fate of our youth.
About My Family
My parents came from the Ogresgala district (southeast of Riga, on the Ogre River). As a child, I heard many exciting stories from my parents about the roaring of the Daugava River near the power station at Kegums and the beautiful inlets of the Ogre River. These places of my childhood are naturally the most beautiful and most dear for me, and they are also the haunts of my youth. My younger brother and sister and I spent our summers herding animals on my aunt’s farm and helping with other chores. Our parents made sure we were always suitably occupied.
Perhaps my wartime memories will reveal some of the sources of our current malaise and throw a spotlight on the times when uninvited guests decided the fate of our youth.
About My Family
My parents came from the Ogresgala district (southeast of Riga, on the Ogre River). As a child, I heard many exciting stories from my parents about the roaring of the Daugava River near the power station at Kegums and the beautiful inlets of the Ogre River. These places of my childhood are naturally the most beautiful and most dear for me, and they are also the haunts of my youth. My younger brother and sister and I spent our summers herding animals on my aunt’s farm and helping with other chores. Our parents made sure we were always suitably occupied.
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Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Vilnis Bankovi?S
- 2015, 286 Seiten, Englisch
- Übersetzer: Maris Roze
- Verlag: Xlibris US
- ISBN-10: 1514403633
- ISBN-13: 9781514403631
- Erscheinungsdatum: 17.09.2015
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- Dateiformat: ePub
- Grösse: 4.30 MB
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Sprache:
Englisch
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