After writing the final chapter of the story of my great-grandmother’s escape from Russia with her second husband, which you can start reading here, I was curious about her second husband. Where did he come from? Where and how did they meet? What did he do when they finally settled
I have written previously about my grandfather, Peter von Fircks (above), here and here and how he was a follower of Rudolf Steiner. My grandfather’s belief in Steiner and Anthroposophy, the philosophy Steiner founded, were to colour his and his children’s lives. All I know about my grandfather, and his
If I were ever granted three wishes, my first would be to understand every language in the world because I would then be able to comprehend all of the family history documents I have inherited. Not that I would need to know more than German, Russian, French and Latvian, but
My paternal grandparents were born on neighbouring estates in the Talsu District of Latvia. As the crow flies there are approximately 8kms between Nurmhusen, my father’s family’s estate, and Dursupe where my grandmother Sophie Elisabeth Marie von Hohenastenberg-Wigandt, was born on 21 September 1881. I wish I had known that
Once again I find myself spiralling down the rabbit hole of research. This time my curiousity was sparked by a recent conversation about the 1905 revolution in Latvia. I confess I knew almost nothing about it so off I went, two steps down the rabbit hole before plunging head first
The geographical history of Europe often blows my mind. Areas, regions and even entire countries are seemingly juggled between various governments, with borders being drawn and redrawn at will. Both sides of my family have been impacted by the geographical history of the land which is now known as Latvia.