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Latvians immigrated to Chicago in the late 19th century, seeking economic and political change from the hardships faced in the Russian Empire. Similar to Latvian communities in other American cities, Chicago's early Latvian settlers were divided between religious followers and political activists. Following an unsuccessful uprising in Russia's Baltic province in 1905, many political radicals sought refuge in the United States.
Approximately 4,000 Latvians live in Chicago as of 2004. [1]
The first Latvians began to immigrate to the United States in the mid-1800s. By the mid-1890s, a small community of a few hundred Latvians had established a mutual aid society (1892), the Zion Lutheran Church (1893), and various other organizations. Initially, the early Latvian community in Chicago was divided between religious believers and political radicals. The Latvian American religious community was largely Lutheran, with a minority of Roman Catholics. It is difficult to determine how many Latvians immigrated during this time, as many of them were grouped with the Russians or Lithuanians until the 1930 Census.
In 1905, another wave of Latvians, many of them political radicals, fled to the US following a failed uprising in the Baltic Provinces of the Russian Empire. Among this group was Christian Rudowitz, whose case helped set a precedent in extradition law protecting refugees from being extradited for political crimes. [2] Rudowitz's extradition case, attempting to return him to Russia for numerous alleged crimes committed in the Courland village of Benen, attracted great attention; the Chicago Daily Socialist organized the Political Refugee Defense League and condemned what they saw as "czarist tyranny." Socialist Eugene V. Debs, a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World and five-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America, was a committed defender of Rudowitz. Many progressives also rallied to his cause. Indeed, Rudowitz's rally was so widespread that Jane Addams and Clarence Darrow became directly involved in the effort toward preventing his extradition. Although his extradition was initially approved, when Rudowitz's attorneys appealed to Secretary of State Elihu Root, the extradition was overturned. [3] Many Latvian radicals sympathetic to the Bolshevik cause returned to their homeland after the Russian Revolution in 1917. After Latvia declared independence in 1918, some nationalists also returned. [4]
The largest population of Latvians came to the United States after World War II. Latvians endured Soviet occupation due to the schemes following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. They were then occupied by Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941 and became part of Reichskommissariat Ostland following Operation Barbarossa. After that, they faced another Soviet occupation. Hundreds of thousands of Latvians fled in the face of the Soviet advance, leaving everything behind. Moreover, about half of Latvians were not repatriated to the newly established Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. Many of those who were not repatriated emigrated to the United States, although some also went to Germany and other Commonwealth nations. [5] Latvians spent years in refugee camps all over Western Europe, many fleeing from their homeland in fear of Soviet reprisals for collaboration with German occupiers. [6] Unable to return to their homeland, many came to the United States, where they built churches, schools, community centers, and other cultural institutions. The first Latvian song festival in the United States was held in Chicago in 1953. This festival upheld the tradition of their homeland, celebrating their national unity, and it has continued to this day. [7]
The Latvian people worked hard and started living productive lives. Many Latvian-Americans hold positions in business, academia, government, and the arts. Additionally, many have also served in the US Armed Forces, fighting in numerous conflicts. [7]
Latvia regained its independence in 1991. Since then, an additional several thousand Latvians have come to the US, either for schooling or to immigrate, while many others have left the US, returning to help Latvia's transition to democracy and a market economy. [7]
Garezers is a 169-acre (68 ha) property on the banks of Long Lake that serves as a cultural, educational, and recreational center for Latvians in the Chicago area as well as from across the country. The property was founded in 1965 after a group of Latvians purchased an old Girl Scouts camp. The community grew around the camp, bringing in Latvians from all over. The property holds an annual summer camp/gathering of Latvians 3x3.
On the property is a small subdivision that is almost exclusively Latvian, with street names named after regions in Latvia. There are 40–50 Latvian families living in this area. In addition to the subdivision, there are an additional 100 buildings on the property, including cabins, administrative buildings, a hall where meals are served, classrooms, a library, and cultural museums. Nearby is Dzintari, named after a Latvian neighborhood in Jūrmala, a resort area that contains a beach, docks, pavilions, and a volleyball court.
On Elston Avenue, one can find a social center. It is at the Latviesu Nams that people host social events and fundraisers. There are also language classes, fraternities and sororities, Scouts, a newspaper, a newsletter, and a Latvian Happy Hour Club. [1]
Areas like Garezers give Latvian-Americans a sense of community and help keep the culture alive through language, music, and festivals.
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a person who has lost the protection of their country of origin and who cannot or is unwilling to return there due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by a contracting state or by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.
The right of return is a principle in international law which guarantees everyone's right of voluntary return to, or re-entry to, their country of origin or of citizenship. The right of return is part of the broader human rights concept freedom of movement and is also related to the legal concept of nationality. While many states afford their citizens the right of abode, the right of return is not restricted to citizenship or nationality in the formal sense. It allows stateless persons and for those born outside their country to return for the first time, so long as they have maintained a "genuine and effective link".
Operation Keelhaul was a forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and members of the Soviet Army in the West to the Soviet Union after World War II. While forced repatriation focused on Soviet Armed Forces POWs of Germany and Russian Liberation Army members, it included many other people under Allied control. Refoulement, the forced repatriation of people in danger of persecution, is a human rights violation and breach of international law. Thus Operation Keelhaul would have been called a war crime under modern international humanitarian law, especially in regards to the many civilians forced into Soviet work camps, many of whom had never been Soviet citizens, having fled Russia before the end of the Russian Civil War.
The pursuit of Nazi collaborators refers to the post-World War II pursuit and apprehension of individuals who were not citizens of the Third Reich at the outbreak of World War II but collaborated with the Nazi regime during the war. Hence, this article does not cover former members of the NSDAP and their fates after the war.
The Crimean Tatar diaspora dates back to the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 1783, after which Crimean Tatars emigrated in a series of waves spanning the period from 1783 to 1917. The diaspora was largely the result of the destruction of their social and economic life as a consequence of integration into the Russian Empire.
Displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe were established in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the former inmates of the Nazi German concentration camps. A "displaced persons camp" is a temporary facility for displaced persons, whether refugees or internally displaced persons. Two years after the end of World War II in Europe, some 850,000 people lived in displaced persons camps across Europe, among them Armenians, Czechoslovaks, Estonians, Greeks, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Yugoslavs, Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Kalmyks, and Belarusians.
Sh'erit ha-Pletah is a Hebrew term for Jewish Holocaust survivors living in Displaced Persons (DP) camps, and the organisations they created to act on their behalf with the Allied authorities. These were active between 27 May 1945 and 1950–51, when the last DP camps closed.
Russian Americans are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to those who settled in the 19th century Russian possessions in northwestern America. Russian Americans comprise the largest Eastern European and East Slavic population in the U.S., the second-largest Slavic population generally, the nineteenth-largest ancestry group overall, and the eleventh-largest from Europe.
The history of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War (1700–1721), which decimated Latvia's population. The Jewish community reestablished itself in the 18th century, mainly through an influx from Prussia, and came to play a principal role in the economic life of Latvia.
Latvian Americans are Americans who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are 93,498 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent.
HIAS is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was established on November 27, 1881, originally to help the large number of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States who had left Europe to escape antisemitic persecution and violence. In 1975, the State Department asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3,600 Vietnam refugees. Since that time, the organization continues to provide support for refugees of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins. The organization works with people whose lives and freedom are believed to be at risk due to war, persecution, or violence. HIAS has offices in the United States and across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its inception, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 million people.
During and after the Greek Civil War of 1946–1949, members and or supporters of the defeated Communist forces fled Greece as political refugees. The collapse of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) and subsequent evacuation of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) to Tashkent in 1949 led thousands of people to leave the country. It has been estimated that by 1949, over 100,000 people had left Greece for Yugoslavia and the Eastern Bloc, particularly the USSR and Czechoslovakia. These included tens of thousands of child refugees who had been forcefully evacuated by the KKE. The war wrought widespread devastation right across Greece and particularly in the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, causing many people to continue to leave the country even after it had ended.
Relations between Laos and the United States officially began when the United States opened a legation in Laos in 1950, when Laos was a semi-autonomous state within French Indochina. These relations were maintained after Laos' independence in October 1953.
The Anti-Fascist Committee of Cham Immigrants was an organization created by Cham Albanians, when they were expelled from Greece, with the help of the newly established communist government of Albania. It was established, during the first wave of refugees, and it aimed to make Greece allow, the returning of Chams in their homes. They organized two congresses, adopted a memorandum and sent delegates in Greece and in European allies. After three years activity, the organization did not manage, neither to re-allocate Chams in Chameria, nor to internationalize the Cham issue. Greece did not acknowledge that EDES had expelled Chams, saying that they fled and that they could return, although this was impossible. The international community did not respond to Chams plea, but they acknowledged the humanitarian disaster. Since 1947, the committee was charged with the normalization of living situations of Cham refugees in Albania. In 1951, Chams were forcibly given the Albanian citizenship and the committee was disbanded. The Cham issue did not regain momentum until 1991, when the communist regime collapsed, and the National Political Association "Çamëria" was established.
The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants.
New York City is home to the largest Russian or Russophone population in the Western Hemisphere. The largest Russian-American communities in New York City are located in Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. Brighton Beach has been nicknamed Little Odessa due to its population of Russian-speaking immigrants from the Former Soviet Union.
The Haitian refugee crisis, which began in 1991, saw the US Coast Guard collect Haitian refugees and take them to a refugee camp at Guantanamo Bay. They were fleeing by boat after Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president of Haiti, was overthrown and the military government was persecuting his followers. The first camp reached a maximum of 12,500 people. It was then reduced to 270 refugees who either had HIV or were related to someone who did. The reduction was the result of the US policy adopting a strict policy of repatriation for both those found at sea and most of those living in Guantanamo. The HIV+ refugees were quarantined in a section of the military base known as Camp Bulkeley and faced human rights violations. They were brought to the United States after US District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. ruled the camp was an "HIV prison camp."
A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of forcibly displaced persons. These could be either internally displaced, refugees, asylum seekers or any other huge groups of migrants.
Valdemārs Klētnieks, also known as Voldemārs Klētnieks and Valdis Klētnieks, was a Latvian writer and national Scout Commissioner for Latvia before World War II. When the Soviet Union occupied Latvia in 1940, the Latvian Scout Organization was banned. Klētnieks eventually fled Latvia for a displaced persons camp in Germany, where he remained for five years following the end of World War II. In 1950, he settled with his wife and children as refugees in the United States, where he continued to write books in the Latvian language and joined the Boy Scouts of America national staff.
