Exile from Latvia
by Harry Kapeikis

Summary

Who would you become if at nine years old, you and your family took flight before an advancing army, and you found yourself in a world of hunger, homelessness, air-raids, Displaced Persons' Camp, and presumed guilty, were forced to prove your innocence? Harry Kapeikis' memoir, Exile From Latvia, takes us back to our own childhood and adolescent escapades and dilemmas, as well as opening a window into a life of constant displacement and real danger. Readers will be swept into the life of a child looking for answers in a senseless world.

When Harry Kapeikis' family left Latvia in 1944, they thought they would return soon, expecting the Germans to quickly sweep in and defeat the Russians. Instead began an odyssey which in Kapeikis imbued gratitude for life, along with a desire to be a "creative, kind, and helpful person." As an adult he served proudly in the U.S. Army Reserve for many years and was also a Lutheran minister.

The author was able to rely on his mother's detailed diary, copies of his uncle's magazine for displaced Latvians, and his own diary. The photos scattered throughout the book, combined with the author's memories, make this a lively, child's-eye account of displacement and growing up in the midst of war.

There are light moments as young Harry discovers girls, handling the attraction in awkwardly humorous ways. Harry shares the whole of his growing up with us: laughter, love, boyhood mischief, grief, and longings of the heart. At the end of the day, what triumphs for Harry, and what shines through his delightful memoir, is rejoicing and a hopeful spirit.

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