I write this history of my family’s escape from the horror of life under the Russians during the early 1940s because I feel deeply that Ukraine under the Russians would be tragic. My story begins when I was a little girl in Latvia.
It must have been a traumatic experience in 1944 for my parents, Janis (John) Zeltins, 38, and Alma Asaris Zeltins, 36, to pack what they could carry and with four children, Zigrida Emilija, 12, Rita Olga, 9, Eriks, 5, and Benita Lidija, 1, in tow, to start a journey with destination unknown from their native country, Latvia. It is truly said that the fear of the unknown is really great, but in this case, the fear of the known was greater than the fear of the unknown. To fully understand what might seem like a “foolhardy” decision, some background is in order.
At that time, Latvia suffered under communist dictator Stalin’s ruthless domination. Our father, being a Baptist minister, was scrutinized for his activities and reported to the Russian government during their occupation. Many people during this time mysteriously vanished, especially people with influence, such as teachers, clergy, and other community leaders. Some were killed outright but many were deported to Siberia for hard labor. Families were sometimes separated; children were taken from their parents for indoctrination into the Russian dogma. Our family had been on the list to be deported but fortunately we were able to escape this fate. As a matter of fact, knowing what occupation under the Russian regime was like, one million (half of Latvia’s inhabitants) left the country. To this day, you can find Latvians in every part of the world as a result of WW II and the Russian occupation.
My family was very fortunate to be able to board a train heading toward Germany. Since we were not Jews, Germany was relatively safe for us, although trains were a risky form of transportation during a war. They were used to transport supplies and troops to the fighting armies, so we were in danger of being bombed by both the Russian and American air forces. When airplanes were detected, the train was stopped, all got off and laid in ditches or fields, in case the train was bombed. If we happened to be near or in a potato field, we’d be assured of dinner. So we continued until we reached Germany. Germany was inundated with refugees from every country bordering Russia. It was a mass exodus.
We traveled, by whatever means possible, further and further west. At one point, we were put up at a large well-to-do farm that needed farm hands since all the able bodied German men were serving in their army. Now our father had steady work and ample food for the family. Our mother was able to work in the garden as well. We had a small apartment on top of the animal barn. The heat generated by the animals and feather down blankets kept us warm.
The end of the war came suddenly. One day, the American army arrived at the edge of the village, and before entering, they discharged some tank artillery down the street to see if anyone would shoot back. None did! The American troops peacefully occupied the village by slowly passing through the street in their tanks. People cautiously came out of their houses and greeted the Americans. We were happy and finally felt safe.
The hope was that we’d be able to go back home soon. That hope was short-lived. It seemed that Germany was to be divided among the Allies and whatever else was occupied by Russians would become status quo! That meant that Latvia would remain under Russian domination and the area where we were in Germany would become part of the Russian zone. Our journey, once again, had to continue toward the unknown, as far away from the Russians as possible.
This turned into a trek by foot on the German autobahn, dragging our belongings in a small farm wagon, with Benita and Eriks perched atop our “riches”. While our parents pulled the wagon, Rita and Zigrida trailed behind. We shared the autobahn with the American troops as they moved west toward what was to be the American zone of Germany. So, if we were going in the same direction as the Americans, we should end up in the same place. When the American troops saw the sight of us walking, some of them generously threw some oranges and chocolate bars to us. I remember that sometimes we also got rides in American army trucks or jeeps. So we continued until we arrived in Hanau, a city near Frankfurt, which was definitely in the American zone of Germany. So we sighed a sigh of relief that we had arrived at a safe place.
Housing for displaced people in Germany was the next step in our lives, and from there my family was fortunate to be welcomed into a small town in Pennsylvania where my parents found work and eventually were able to send my sisters, brother and me to college. How different our lives were in America than had we lived under communist rule.
As I think about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I am reminded of the reason my parents chose to endure a very risky journey to the unknown in order to escape Communism. Should Ukraine fall to the Russians will Latvia again in the future suffer its cruel repression? What about Poland and other neighboring countries? The Ukrainians are fighting valiantly to remain free of the evil Russian control. The United States must fund its effort.
Rita Zeltins Heacock
Easton
Bob Moores says
Dear Rita, thanks for sharing your story. Unfortunately, many in the US are not only ignorant of history, they also are too “now-focused”, isolationist, and don’t realize that the Ukrainians are fighting for us!
David A Turner says
“So we continued until we reached (NAZI) Germany. Germany was inundated with refugees from every country bordering Russia. It was a mass exodus.” — Rita Heacock
Ms. Heacock, I’ve never heard of the exodus into Nazi Germany from leftist-controlled nations. This isn’t taught in U.S. schoolbooks about WWII. Thanks for the story of your family’s escape. Your appeal to support the Ukraine comes from a shockingly different perspective than what we’re reading in most of our press right now.
Moreover, you rather do embarrass Americans — left and right. Apparently, Latvians were part of that exodus away from Marxist/Leninist Russia. There’s a new movie, Mr. Jones, online about lessons George Orwell learned from a young Welsh journalist, Gareth Jones, who snuck out of Moscow into the Ukrainian portion of Soviet Union. He witnessed the horrible forced famine caused by that “fair” economic system. The lessons Orwell learned from him morphed into ANIMAL FARM. Of course, the young journalist was murdered by Marxist agents after he went public with his discovery.
Now, regarding your embarrassing point of view. We are taught nothing about anti-communists suffering under Marxism and Leninism prior to and during WWII. I mean, of course, Dr. Zhivago, but little else. And eastern Europe is a blank to us. Leftists and liberals can barely believe human misery always flows from their unfortunate dogma of egalitarianism.
Not satisfied, you rattle the Right, too. You remind the many conservatives wavering on supporting the Ukraine that it’s conservatism and anti-leftist dogma that demand America should wholeheartedly help Velenski against the threat of a still-socialist Moscow. How dare conservatives not boost a free Ukraine? You’ve challenged conservatives who would rather forget their heritage to save a few bucks, and liberals who still won’t believe Russia is/was ever socialist.
Not bad for one day’s work.
James Nick says
Ms Heacock’s story is of her family fleeing a dictator whose ruthlessness resulted in murders, disappearances, deportations, hard labor camps, and forced indoctrination. The intent of her story is to provide a real, first-person view of the fate that is in-store for the people of Ukraine at the hands of a modern-day dictator should we not come to their aid.
But no! Mr Turner sees a wholly different reality through his Fox News filters. He does not see a story of a family fleeing for their lives from the clear and present danger of a dictator hellbent on liquidating any and all threats to his rule but one of a family fleeing an evil communist ideology and social system that, I’m guessing, Ms Heaock’s family could hardly have cared less about at the time. And had they been Jewish, they would have been just as motivated to avoid Hitler’s Nazi Germany that was the rightwing, mirror-image of Stalin’s socialist Soviet Union.
In a day when the hot buttons are democracy vs authorianism, separation of church and state, abortion (and now IVF), immigration, LGBTQ rights, and guns, Mr Turner chooses to demagogue by reaching back and trotting out all the old incendiary trops like Socialism, Marxism, and Leninism. Not wanting to miss yet another opportunity to rile up the MAGA base Mr Turner spins a straightforward and heartfelt plea for aid to Ukraine to things that are now fossilized and encased in 20th-Century amber that most of the base couldn’t even coherently define or care about.
Way to get people to take their eye off the ball, Mr Turner.
David A Turner says
Mr. Nick, I didn’t mean to get so close to such a sensitive point for you. Mine was a simple reminder that what you call an anti-socialist/leftist trope is actually a plea to remember — admittedly with an edge (I can’t help that, sorry). People of your likely political stance really don’t like being reminded that “liberals can barely believe human misery always flows from their unfortunate dogma of egalitarianism.” “Shut up, shut up” is typically y’all’s response. Your labeling Stalin as only “a dictator” leaves out a key point doesn’t it? He was a leftist dictator. Can you see that you’re dissembling, just a little?
The horrors inflicted on eastern Europeans by the doctrines of Marxism/Leninism is much ignored by the Left. Almost totally by our history teachers and journalists. Ms. Heacock’s letter was such a reminder — to me. Her Baptist minister father likely was a target by leftists in Latvia. No one argues about what Jews and Gays faced in Germany, but her story was not about that. It’s about the Left’s threat to humankind. Instead of attacking such reminders — and individuals like me who do so — why not heed our message? That message isn’t locked in amber. It’s as contemporary a threat as today’s “anti-colonialist,” progressive and Chinese Communist movements. They’re real. Why should you make the truth sound distasteful. Finally, I do listen to Fox… also News Nation, MSNBC and, mostly, CNN. I commend them all to you.
David A Turner says
Oh, and if I were reaching out with my message to stir up MAGA Republicans, I’d find a different vehicle than Chestertown Spy.
David A Turner says
Mr. Nick, I didn’t mean to get so close to such a sensitive point for you. Mine was a simple reminder that what you call an anti-socialist/leftist trope is actually a plea to remember — admittedly with an edge (I can’t help that, sorry). People of your likely political stance really don’t like being reminded that “liberals can barely believe human misery always flows from their unfortunate dogma of egalitarianism.” “Shut up, shut up” is typically y’all’s response. Your labeling Stalin as only “a dictator” leaves out a key point doesn’t it? He was a leftist dictator. Can you see that you’re dissembling, just a little?
The horrors inflicted on eastern Europeans by the doctrines of Marxism/Leninism is much ignored by the Left. Almost totally by our history teachers and journalists. Ms. Heacock’s letter was such a reminder — to me. Her Baptist minister father likely was a target by leftists in Latvia. No one argues about what Jews and Gays faced in Germany, but her story was not about that. It’s about the Left’s threat to humankind. Instead of attacking such reminders — and individuals like me who do so — why not heed our message? That message isn’t locked in amber. It’s as contemporary a threat as today’s “anti-colonialist,” progressive and Chinese Communist movements. They’re real. Why should you make the truth sound distasteful. Finally, I do listen to Fox… also News Nation, MSNBC and, mostly, CNN. I commend them all to you.
Oh, and if I were reaching out with my message to stir up MAGA Republicans, I’d find a different vehicle than Chestertown Spy.