by Betty Luks:

I have had the privilege of knowing and working with a Latvian-Australian lady since the early 1970s. In the years I have known her she has taken a very active part in the League of Rights' volunteer team in Adelaide, South Australia. Not too many years ago ˆ she is now in her late eighties ˆ I asked her why she continued to push herself when she was well past the age of retirement and could be enjoying her old age with those friends she has known since her youth. You know, take part in social activities like visiting friends, enjoying afternoon teas and (maybe) the latest gossip, day-trips to places of interest, etc., etc.

Her answer to me was in effect: "I must do what I can. I know what is happening to this nation, I can and must do something about it. If I didn't, the day would come when my granddaughter would visit my grave and say: 'Grandma, look at what has happened to us. Why didn't you do anything to try to stop it?' And, she would then spit on my grave."

You see, the older Latvian-Australians know what it is like to live under brutal, oppressive regimes. First it was the Russian Soviets who invaded Latvia, then the Nazis during WWII and, because of the betrayal of Western leaders, after WWII the Russian Soviets came once more ˆ this time for decades. In hundreds of years the only real freedom the Latvian peoples tasted was between the end of WWI to the early part of WWII.