Vera Puķe-Puķīte today
Vera moved from Gothenburg to Stockholm in 1985, where she still lives in Stockholm’s green suburb of Kista. Vera lives there alone as her husband and daughter have passed away, but her grandchildren – all grown up and living their lives.
Since 1975, Vera has made the journey to Latvia a number of times:
I travelled to Rīga. Oh! Rīga! How pleasant! A sort of very warm feeling came over me. But then again… No, that isn’t my Rīga any more. It’s different. When I return, I think – well, yes, I must be destined to remain here, in Sweden. Looks like that’s how it is.
Travel map
Further reading
Second World War refugees
Reprisals, arrests and deportations during the first Soviet occupation of Latvia from 1940 to 1941 deeply shocked many Latvian inhabitants.
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The first Latvian immigrants to America
At the end of the Second World War, fleeing from the occupation by the Soviet army, many Latvians were ferried across the sea to Sweden in small fishing boats. These dangerous and secret voyages ensured that more than 3,000 Latvians ended up in Sweden.
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