A graduate student from Canada is asking members of the Latvian diaspora to help her research into how Soviet propaganda molded the image of the exile community.

Kristīna Paukšēns, who is pursuing a master’s degree—her second—at the University of Latvia, has been distributing a questionnaire to Latvians outside of the homeland as part of her study.

“My primary goal,” Paukšēns told Latvians Online in an e-mail, “is to examine what sort of negative ‘propaganda’ image the Soviet regime created about the exile community of Latvians; what image the exile community held of Soviet Latvia; and, finally, what image Latvians in Latvia had of their relatives in exile. I am determining if any of these images matched reality, as understood by my questionnaire respondents.”

Paukšēns, who was born in Toronto, has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in history, both from the University of Toronto. It was there that she was exposed to Latvian history.

“I was especially interested in the dainas, folklore, the 1905 Revolution, and in exile memoirs—both exile in Siberia, and in the West,” Paukšēns said.

Her first trip to Latvia was in 2005, when she traveled there with her grandmother, father and aunt.

“We traveled all across Latvia, met many wonderful relatives, and saw all the places related to the history of my family on this very emotional trip,” Paukšēns said. “I became very interested in Latvia’s history, and I decided that I would like to study it more formally.”

That led her to pursue a master’s degree from the interdisciplinary Baltic Sea Region Studies program at the University of Latvia. Paukšēns lived in Rīga for 1.5 years while studying at the university and working at The Baltic Times newspaper. Because she was not taught Latvian while growing up, Paukšēns said, she also used the time to hone her language skills. She also got involved with a folk dance group and a choir, and sang in last summer’s Latvian Song and Dance Celebration in Rīga.

Now back in Toronto, she has become involved with the folk dance troupe Diždancis and is looking forward to participating in the Latvian Song Festival in Canada, set July 1-5 in Hamilton.

She also is continuing her research, which she said was in part inspired by the 1999 novel The Embrace, by Lithuanian-Canadian writer Irene Guilford. The book is about two Lithuanian brothers separated by World War II, one in the West and one in the homeland.

“And also, I was greatly inspired by my elderly aunt in Limbaži, who is a Siberia survivor, and who I got to know very closely during my time in Latvia,” Paukšēns added. “Her relationship with my grandmother—mostly through letter writing—across the Iron Curtain, was nevertheless very powerful and important to both of them, and it drew me to the idea of studying relationships between the two communities.”

Besides the questionnaire distributed to Latvians in the diaspora, Paukšēns’ research also is relying on surveying Latvians in the homeland; examining several newspapers published in Displaced Persons camps in Germany, in occupied Latvia, and in the West; and reading memoirs, a novel and Soviet-era history books. 

Paukšēns asks that responses to her Latvian-language questionnaire be returned by May 10.

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.