Childhood. Five Stories About. Second Soviet occupation period.

The series of videos “Childhood. Five Stories About” are created, using the testimonies from the Audio-Visual Archive of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. These fragments have been compiled into 5 stories that reveal life in various periods of Latvia's history in the 20th century from a child’s perspective. Family, games, school, and language are a few of the aspects through which life “through a child’s eyes” is revealed.
After the difficulties of war and the post-war period, life in the 1960s and 1970s seemed to return to normal. Children lived their childlike lives, not understanding and knowing about adult life. Sarmīte Ozoliņa (b. 1960) spent her childhood clueless about the true history of her family and nation - at home, nobody talked about it because of the fear of Soviet repressive measures. Soviet ideology influenced children’s lives - Uldis Ābiķis (b. 1956) remembers school and his efforts to get hold of illegal literature. Growing up, several times he was persecuted and forcibly treated in psychiatric hospitals for non-compliance with the Soviet regime. The Afghanistan War veteran Alvils Dumpis (b. 1968) was impatiently waiting for his military service in the Soviet army. Diāna Siliņa (b. 1964) remembers the compulsory military training, and Sandra Cīrule (b.1964) tells how she, although a member of the Pioneer organization, was secretly baptized in the church. Lauma Zušēvica (b. 1954), who grew up in a family of exiles in the USA, stressed the importance of speaking Latvian.
The project “Childhood. Five Stories About” is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.