American Latvians: Politics of a Refugee Community

Synopsis

A Bold Attempt To Synthesize The Latvian Emigre Experience In America.--modris Eksteins, Professor Of History, University Of Toronto. In A History Of The Polish Americans, John J. Bukowczyk Provides A Thorough Account Of The Polish Experience In America. He Explores How Some Cultural Bonds Loosened, As Well As The Ways In Which Others Persisted. Following A Chronological Format, Bukowczyk Explains The Historical Reasons That Led Polish People To Come To America, The Experience Of The First Wave Of Immigrants, The Identity Problem Of Second-generation Poles, And The Kind Of Organizations And Institutions That Polonia Established In America. Throughout The Author Wrestles With The Question Faced By All Immigrant Groups: What Does It Mean To Be A Hyphenated American? And More Specifically: What Does It Mean To Be A Polish-american? The Aftermath Of World War Ii Was A Period Of Massive Jewish Migration. Nearly Two Million Jews Came To Settle In The New State Of Israel. Hundreds Of Thousands Moved To North America, Australia, And France, While Tens Of Thousands Resettled Elsewhere In Europe And The Rest Of The World. Emigration Was, In Turn, Paralleled By Large-scale Movement Among Second-generation Jews From The Great Urban Centers To The Suburbs. Until Recently, It Has Seemed As Through The Jewish People Had, In The Words Of The Bible, Reached A Situation Of Rest And Landed Inheritance. Fifty Years Later, However, Jews Are Still Moving: From The Former Soviet Union, To And From Israel, And Within Nations Where They Have Been Long Resident. Still Moving Examines The Causes And Character Of Contemporary Migration In Israel And Throughout The Diaspora. This Book Analyzes The Political Experience Of A Small And Unique American Ethnic Group--american Latvians. This Community Was Constituted By Post-world War Ii Political Refugees, Who Fled Communism And Arrived In The United States Seeking Safety And Protection. For Decades, They Insisted On Preserving Their Ethic Identity And Therefore Did Not Call Themselves Latvian Americans. Instead, They Formed A Distinctive Double Identity, That Is, They Blended Into American Society Economically And Socially, But Refused To Became Assimilated Culturally And Politically. The Book Offers A Detailed Look Into The Life Of This Community Of Political Refugees, Which Also Provides A Novel Perspective On The Cold War As Experienced By Certain Ethnic Groups. From A Theoretical Point Of View, The Book Makes Two Major Contributions. First, It Reasserts The Need To Understand The Generalized Category Of White Americans Or White Ethnics With More Nuance And Attention To Differences, And, Second, It Strengthens The So-called Realist Claim That Refugees Are Not Like Other Immigrants. In Order To Achieve These Goals, The Book Provides Compelling Descriptions And Interpretations Of The Most Politically Relevant Moments In The Experience Of American Latvians In The Period Between The 1950s And The 1990s. Concretely, The Book Deals With Topics Such As The American Latvians' Anti-communist Activism, The Impact Of The Hunt For Nazis On Latvian Emigres, The Soviet Union's Anti-emigre Propaganda Campaigns, And The Exiled Latvians' Involvement In The Politics Of National Liberation In Latvia. The Author Strives To Reveal The Complexity Of The Refugee Experience In The United States During The Cold War And Its Aftermath. Since Such Aspects Of The Life Of Ethnic Groups In The United States Have Not Been Sufficiently Studied, This Book Makes A Substantial Contribution To A Fuller Understanding Of American Immigration History And Sociology Of Ethnic Groups. It Is Well Written, Expertly Organized, And Will Be Of Interest To A Large Readership At Many Levels Of Academia. --book Jacket. Into Exile -- American Latvians As Ethnic Anticommunists -- Ghosts From The Past -- Surviving The Soviet Pressure -- The End Of Exile. Ieva Zake. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.