A new concept charity shop, Otra elpa, has opened in Rīga’s Berga bazārs retail complex.

The shop, at Marijas iela 13, allows individuals and organizations to donate clothing and other items. These donated goods will be available for purchase at a low cost. Locally made handicrafts by Latvian artists are also on the agenda.

The aim of the shop is to support the efforts of various philanthropic projects organized by the Rīga-based Partners in Ideas Fund (Ideju partneru fonds).

The idea for the store, said Manager Elīna Žagare, came to her after she had jumped off the treadmill of a secure job as a human resources manager. A period of soul-searching while backpacking around Europe and a pilgrimage in Spain led her to the idea that opening a charity shop in Latvia, similar to the dozens of charity shops she saw in London, would be her next step.

Otra elpa is the first local charity shop to open in Rīga. The international organizations Red Cross and Salvation Army have shops in Rīga but the concept for Otra elpa is more than merely the sale of second-hand clothes.

“We plan to have regular auctions of items donated by Latvian celebrities, so the store becomes much more than just a space for customers,” Žagare said. “Saturday mornings are envisaged as a creative workshop for kids and adults to create artwork from recycled materials. The items we plan to sell will be good quality, so the ‘feel’ in the store will be clean and inviting. We want our customers not to feel embarrassed that they’ve come to a second-hand store, [but] that recycled clothes can be ‘cool’ and stylish.”

The shop is also a performance space, a place to hang out and a place to feel welcome. Žagare said a few concerts are already in the pipeline, as are theater performances and auctions.

Sabīne Sīle, director of the Partners in Ideas Fund, said she has been surprised by the positive response toward the shop.

“During these times of economic crisis, people may not have the financial resources to support a charity but you can always donate goods that are no longer needed but may be of use to someone else,” she said.

Otra elpa will accept donations of any kind, Sīle said, but people wishing to give larger items or electrical goods should first contact the store. To make it easy to drop off donations store employees plan to make regular trips to certain pick-up points in Rīga, so people don’t have to venture into the center of town, Žagare said.

Žagare acknowledged the owners of Berga bazārs, Ieva Laukers and Aleksis Karlsons, for giving the Partners in Ideas Fund “a very good deal with regards to the rent for the store.”

In Latvia, Sīle added, charity work as been seen as separate from the business world and social entrepreneurship is a new concept.

“It is only now starting to be taught as a separate subject at university,” Sīle said. “Charity work is often done by enthusiasts who usually lack experience in business. We hope to bring this idea to Latvia and show others that a charity can also be self-sufficient.”

The Otra elpa shop is scheduled to be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 1-5 p.m. Saturdays. Persons wishing to donate goods or volunteer for the store may contact Žagare at elina.zagare@idejupartneri.lv.

A group of about 60 students from Latvia has traveled to Belarus to clean up an old Latvian cemetery and learn something about history, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

The students, public relations majors at the School of Business Administration Turība and members of the Talavija fraternity, spent April 18-19 in the old Latvian settlement of Vaclavov tending to the cemetery.

The settlement, in the northwest part of Belarus, was founded in the late 19th century and at one time was home to about 90 Latvian families. The settlement got its name from its first inhabitant. Before World War II, the area had a Latvian kolkhoz under the name “Celtne” that included a high school, according to Vilberts Krasnais’ 1938 book Latviešu kolōnijas.

The project to clean up the cemetery was called “400 km vēstures virzienā” (400 Kilometers in the Direction of History) and was organized with help from the Latvian Embassy in Belarus, the Latvian Academy of Sciences and the University of Latvia’s Insitute of History.

Although local authorities had already done some cleanup at the cemetery, the students kept busy during the two days tending to graves and their markers, as well as installing a memorial tablet.

The bus trip from Rīga to Belarus included a 2.5-hour delay at the border. Video of the trip is available on the Internet portal atlasface.lv and includes clips of the bus trip and work at the cemetery.

A new online exhibit detailing little known sites in the former Soviet Union where Jews were murdered during World War II—including three locations in Latvia—has been opened by a Holocaust research institute based in Israel.

The Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research unveiled the site, “The Untold Stories: The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Former USSR,” on April 20 to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

From Latvia, sites in Daugavpils, Liepāja and Ludza are included in the online exhibit, which includes a historical narrative, maps, photographs and video interviews with survivors. In the case of Liepāja, video of the shooting of Jews is shown along with an interview with the former German soldier who made the film. Also available are downloadable lists of victims.

A total of 101 sites in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia were chosen for the online exhibit. More than a million Jews were murdered in small towns and lesser-known sites across Europe, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a press release. Better known killing sites, such as the Rumbula Forest near Rīga, are not included in the exhibit.

From the Daugavpils area, the Web site lists three specific sites: the Railroad Public Garden, Pogulyanka, and Zolotaya Gorka or Zeltkalna. From Liepāja included are Rainis Park, the lighthouse south of Liepāja, and Šķēde. From Ludza included are the brick factory, Rezekne Street, Pogulyanka (also listed under Daugavpils), and the Garbarovsky Forest.

In Latvia, many of the deaths are attributed to the notorious Latvian Auxiliary Security Police, or Arājs Commando, led by Viktors Arājs. The killings occurred in 1941 and 1942.

The online exhibit is found at yadvashem.org.