Lowry's Latvian DP's

Angelika, Veronika, Anna, Julius & Alberts - Lowry's Latvian Displaced Persons

{Editor note:  During & after World War II, there were millions of people displaced from their homes all over Europe, fleeing advancing armies. 

From Wikipedia:  The United States was late to accept displaced persons, which led to considerable activism for a change in policy. The Citizens Committee on Displaced Persons attracted dignitaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt, David Dubinsky, Marshall Field, A. Philip Randolph, and others. Meeting considerable opposition in the United States Congress with a bias against Eastern European intellectuals and Jews, Truman signed the first DP act on June 25, 1948, allowing entry by 200,000 DPs; and then followed by the more accommodating second DP act on 16 June, 1950, allowing entry for another 200,000. This quota required sponsorship of all immigrants. The American program was the most idealistic and expansive of the Allied programs but also the most notoriously bureaucratic. Much of the humanitarian effort was undertaken by charitable organizations, such as the Lutheran World Federation and ethnic groups. Along with an additional quota granted in 1953, a total of nearly 600,000 refugees into the country, second only to Israel.   

Many people had been in camps for as long as 6 years.

Angie, Anna, Vera in Lowry

[Editor Note: In my experience, the little village of Lowry has always been a place of caring and home to generous folk. This is one more Lowry story I think will warm the cockles of your heart. And if you ever start feeling sorry for yourself, come back and read "Angelika's Story".]

In 1950, the auspices of the Lutheran Immigration Association and American Friends, the sponsorship of St. Pauli’s Lutheran Parish and Pastor Morris Ulring, brought the Jegers, a Latvian family, to Lowry, Minnesota.  (The Lutheran parish consisted of 4 churches:  St. Pauli’s, Farwell, Trysil and Solem churches.) By Congressional Order, DP's could not enter the US without a sponsor.  

The family had escaped from Latvia ahead of the advancing Red Army in 1944 and had spent 5 years in a displaced persons camp in Lubeck, Germany. They arrived at Ellis Island in New York harbor in June of 1950, having departed Bremerhaven, Germany aboard the USS General Stuart Heintzelman and then by train to Lowry, Minnesota.

The family included the mother, Anna; siblings Angelika, Veronica, Julius, and Alberts, an adopted young boy.

Angelika Jegers, b. March 19, 1909 d. 2008

Julius Jegers , b. December 10, 1900; d. November 27, 1954

Veronika Gailitis, b. August 29, 1905; d. September 9, 1999

Anna Jegers , d. 1962

Alberts Vigants b. 1932

Angie & Vera in Riga - post war

Angie Jegers was a pharmacist. Her sister, Vera Gallitis, graduated from the Latvian University in Riga, Latvia in 1932 with a medical degree.  Vera worked as a MD in Latvia until 1944 when the Russians overran the country.  Vera, her sister Angie, brother Julius and mother Anna, fled to the west across the Baltic, along with a young boy, Alberts Vigants, who had lost his family, ending up in a refugee camp in Lubeck, Germany.  They worked in this displaced persons’ camp until they came to Lowry in 1950.  While in Lowry, Vera worked with Dr. Bert McIver and Angie worked at the Glenwood Hospital.  They lived upstairs of what is known as the "Teigen home" on Aurora Ave, now Highway 114.

They became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1954 and the family moved to Minneapolis.  Julius worked as a custodian at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, but suffered a stroke and died in 1954. Vera passed her medical boards in 1956, did an internship at St. Barnabas Hospital in Minneapolis and then worked at Cambridge State Hospital until she retired in 1976.  Vera died on Sept. 9, 1999 in St. Paul at the age of 94.   Angie worked at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Labs for many years before retiring. Late in life she moved to Chicago and lived with Alberts until her death in 2008 at the age of 99. Anna died in 1962.

Julius Jeger pencil portrait of Harold Heggestad

Julius suffered from tuberculosis and his entry to the US was blocked until he could recover, however he did later join the family in Lowry. Julius was a gifted artist but died in 1954 at the age of 53. You can see some examples of his paintings - click HERE.

{Editor note: Angie told me that a museum in Riga wanted her "Julius' paintings" but the cost to ship them was prohibitive.  Her home in St. Paul was filled with his paintings.}

The young boy, Alberts Vigants, graduated from Glenwood High School in 1952.  He was drafted and served in the Korean War. He attended the University of Minnesota and the Milwaukee School of Engineering and worked as an electrical engineer in Chicago, is married with three children.  In 2002, Alberts established a $50,000 scholarship fund for graduating seniors attending Minnewaska Area High School – the consolidated version of Glenwood High School.  

Sunday dinner @ Esthers - on the lower right: Angie, Anna, Vera
 middle left: Julius & Alberts (the cute kid is me)

Ole and Esther Hoplin extended their home to this family.  The Jegers called them Mother & Dad.

1944 Escape from the Red Army

Angelika's Story.  In Memoriam to Angelika Anna Jegere - read at Angelika's funeral service at the Latvian Evangelical Church, Minneapolis , June 28, 2008 

Angelika Anna Jegere was  born on March 19, 1909 on her grandparent's farmstead in Vecpiebalgas County, Latvia, some 40 km north of Riga, Latvia, in the picturesque Orgre River valley.  Her first schooling was at home with her mother and grandmother presiding and then at a local church school. There Angelica was taught by Milda Sliede, the daughter of a well-known educator, linguist and influential leader in the Latvian renewal movement of the 1850's.  Milda Sliede, in addition to the general education subjects, also taught Angelica French and piano. In her early years, her father had built an organ.  He and her mother would play church music and Latvian folk songs every Saturday night and on Sundays. Later the family acquired a piano.

After the Vecpiebalgas elementary church school, Angelica we to high school in Riga and then to the University of Riga where she studied pharmacology.  Her father died while she was at university.  her mother found it difficult to meet the tuition expenses.  Angelica found full-time work at the Pharmacology Administration to support herself.  In 1940, when the Communists occupied Latvia, she was fired from her job. In 1941, after the Communists had been driven out, Angelica was sent to supervise a pharmacy in Latgale and then Liezere in eastern Latvia.  She worked there until August of 1944 when the sounds of fighting on the Eastern Front were within earshot.  The family then gathered at the farmstead and, together with the Vigant family, started their flight to escape the Red Army advance.  Before leaving, the opened all the barn doors allowing their animals to go free.

Often, driving home from school, they had stopped on a hill overlooking their farmstead. The father had said, "Children, never leave this house and these fields".  But in August 1944, in a horse-drawn wagon, with the Vigant family, they were in flight to the West.  A short distance from the farm, the father stopped briefly and said, "Surely the English and Americans will not allow the Communists to advance into Europe very far".

Near Ledurga, in a flurry, we lost Mr. Vigants, Albert's father.  We hurried on and Albert came with us.  We drove through Riga and all of Courland.  Not far from Liepaja, on the western coast of Latvia, we left the horses and most of our possessions. We had prepared backpacks which contained our daily essentials, mainly food stuffs from home, some bread and smoked bacon.

We sailed from Liepaja on the "Bucharest" on November 24, 1944 for Gotenhafen, Germany and the refugee camp there.  We got out of there and went to Rostok where we got a small room.  Angelika worked for a few months at a pharmacy and the University of Rostok.

On the night of May 1st, 1945, our landlady woke us to tell us that the Red Army was just outside Rostok.  We hastily fled, leaving our possessions, including our brother Julius' rolled up paintings.

We ran to the port with only the clothes on our backs and were able to board the last ship. Nobody asked any questions.  Everybody was in a hurry to get away.  The advancing heavy artillery was threatening the ship.  By good fortune, we were able to get out to sea.  We sailed around for 12 days because nobody would allow us to land.  There was no food on board and we managed by sharing our bread and bacon.  On the last day we were given a glass of wine but that was all.

During those 12 days, the war had ended.  We were allowed to disembark near Lubeck and were placed in some army barracks.  Here there were many ill with bronchitis and yellow fever.  After that, we were placed in the Artillery Displaced Persons camp.  Here we worked in the camp office.

After many bureaucratic procedures and with the help of the Lutheran Federation, we arrived in America and settled in Lowry, Minnesota in July, 1950.  Angelika worked at the Glenwood Hospital. In 1952, the family moved to Minneapolis.  In 1953, Angelika began work in the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Medicine physiological chemistry laboratory performing chemical analyses.  She participated in numerous research projects and experiments.

Angie was very successful in her work. She received a number of citations and was promoted to Junior Scientist.  She retired in 1977.  All the family members are deceased: her brother Julius in 1954; her mother Anna in 1962; her sister Veronika in 1999.  

Her adopted son Albert successfully completed his studies in electrical engineering, married and all 3 of her grandchildren have completed college educations.

Angelika had hoped to return to Latvia even though all the buildings had been destroyed even to the extent she could not find any of the building stones.  All the large trees had been cut down, and the hills and draws had been leveled.  Angelika made contributions to rebuild the Vecpiebalgas Church and also helped her beloved Vecpiebalgas school.

{Editor note:  After travel restrictions were eased by the Russians, Angie & Vera made  3 trips to their beloved Latvia}

The Jegers in Lowry - Lorraine's Memories

{Editor note:  What follows are reminiscences of Lorraine Heggestad Drews.  The Heggestads lived on the east side of Aurora St. and the Jegers in the Teigen home on the west side. Martin & Marian were long-time employees of Hoplin & Nelson Hardware, more like 'family' than employees.}

The mother, Anna, was known as "Oma", i.e. Grandma. 

The Jegers beginning history in Latvia is unknown to me but I do know that they buried the family valuables on their farm before they left. As I understood it, Alberts was the son of a hired hand who was gone from the farm and they had nothing to do but to take Alberts (his real name) along with them. They did live at a DP camp in Lubeck, Germany until Lowry provided the sponsorship for them. They had a brother, Julius, who was a fantastic artist. He was unable to come initially with the family because he had TB.  He joined the family in Lowry after he was well enough to travel. (He made pencil sketches of Harold and Merlin that were just perfect. Also, he donated paintings, some of them perhaps to the church at Lowry - unsure.)   His employment upon arriving at Lowry was that of a janitor - can't recall where.

    

Vera was married and she was forced to divorce her husband before she could come to America. She never said anything more than there may have been some security issues with him or whatever. I don't suppose that part of it will ever come to light - just as well.

I don't recall where Vera worked when she first came to Lowry.  {Editor note:  Vera worked with Dr. Bert McIver.}  However she was an MD with some pretty impressive credentials. The last thing that she did was to be Medical Director at the Cambridge Minnesota State Hospital. That was happening when I worked for the State of Minnesota.  {Editor note:  Vera was listed in the 1964-65 Edition of 'Who's Who of American Women'}

Angie was a pharmacist and I don't recall where she worked at first. {Editor note: Angie worked at the Glenwood Hospital.}  Later she had a position as a pharmacist in the Twin Cities.  {Editor note: Angie worked in the Veterinary Department of the University doing research work.}  Mother and Dad (Martin & Marian Heggestad) visited them at one point and they reported that they had a very nice home on Otis Avenue near the Mississippi River in St. Paul.  

For some reason Alberts and I hung out quite a bit. He was a funny, funny guy and he was so full of questions. He enjoyed being with my brothers as well. When he started high school he was in my class although he was a couple of years older than I.  He needed help in English so he had to start there in order to be able to keep up. He did well in school and graduated with honors. He was at a high school reunion a few years back and he was the same Alberts. His hobby is growing apple trees and then he makes wine. He brought cases of wine with him and his intent was for them to serve it with the meal. The restaurant wouldn't allow that. They wanted us to use their wine. So the class had a raffle and many of the members won a bottle of wine, including me. I never use "spirits" (just don't like them) so I never tasted it. We gave it to friends who said that it was very good. He is an outstanding American.

I always felt such empathy for them. They had such a good life in the "Old Country" until the war. Julius was well known for his art and the women were given recognition for their achievements. I'll never forget their Lowry kitchen table - a card table. Folks gathered up what they could to help them furnish their house and they were so grateful. They would say thank-you with some of the most beautiful handwork. I still have some of the beautiful things that they made. Priceless.

That is what I know - not a lot but they added a whole 'nother dimension to my and my families' life. I am very thankful for that.

Lorraine Heggestad Drews  

Angelika Jegers obituary - Minneapolis Star Tribune
Born, March19, 1909 in Vecpiebalga, Latvia, died June 20, 2008 in Lake Zurich, IL.  She is survived by her foster son, Alberts Vigants, his wife Ausma and children Laris, Arnis, Lita and their families and also close relatives in the uSA and Lativia. Angelika escaped to the West and cam to a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany.  In 1950, with the help of the Lutheran Immigration Association, she came to Lowry, MN.  She then moved to Minneapolis and worked at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medicine physiological chemistry laboratory.  She retired in 1977 as a Junior Scientist. Memorial Service at the Latvian Evangelical Church, 3152 17th Ave. So. Minneapolis, MN.

Epilog

Newly discovered photo of Vera & Angie with my grandmother Esther, 1977



Copyright © 2015 Dave Hoplin