New York Latvian School celebrates its 75th anniversary in May

The New York Latvian School (formerly the Bronx Latvian School) celebrated its 75th anniversary on May 9, 2026.

As part of the anniversary celebration at the Latvian Church in Yonkers, New York, USA, the school prepared a documentary film on the school’s history. Titled Ņujorkas latviešu skola no paaudzes paaudzē (The New York Latvian School through the Generations), the film traces the history of the school from Latvian schools in Displaced Person camps after World War II, to the school’s formal founding on May 5, 1951, to the school as it is today.

The film, developed by Zane Kaljo and Belinda Video Productions can be viewed on the New York Latvian School website.

The full film, in Latvian, is two hours in length, but there is also an abbreviated version available for viewing, in Latvian with English subtitles.

The film includes in-depth interviews with many former teachers and students, and also goes into detail about singing and dancing traditions at the school and discusses the challenges facing diaspora Latvian schools today. Supplemented with many historical photographs, the film is dedicated to all the students, teachers and principals of the New York Latvian School.

Film and event sponsors and supporters

The New York Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Latvian Cultural Society TILTS

The American Latvian Association

Daugavas vanagi USA

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *