Education and upbringing of youth.
In the occupation zones of West Germany, Latvians established schools and Scout and Guide units under the leadership of former Latvian Scout and Guide leaders. In 1947, more than 100 Latvian Scouts, invited by the International Scout Bureau, participated in the 6th World Scout Jamboree (the so-called “Peace Jamboree”) in France. The period from 1945 to 1950 was the busiest in Scouting and Guiding. Apart from schools, the Scouts and Guides were the only youth organisations authorised by the authorities in the occupation zones.
The spiritual strength of the exiles has its basis in love of the fatherland. This accompanies and warms all their experiences and works; for example, some exiles begin to accustom themselves to work in a job previously found unpleasant, because it can be useful in restoring the culture of the fatherland. Since the love of the fatherland is of great intensity and pervades the whole human body, it is not surprising that the exiles pay particular attention to all those branches of art that exemplify their love of the fatherland: they devote themselves to singing, music, painting, poetry, or listen, read and watch the works of artists.;
acting troupes were established in several camps, and they also toured other camps; drama ensembles training young actors and showing their achievements were organised in some camps. In general, art is an expression of emotion and longing in all camps: concerts, theatre performances, applied art exhibitions, poets’ mornings and other events are always well attended and a desire to attend them is ongoing.
Whilst satisfying their spiritual interests, the exiles have not forgotten the younger generations, the future of the nation. Schools, kindergartens, scout and guide groups are organised in almost all camps. Young people study hard and show quite good results. They also learn to sing, recite, play the piano and show off their achievements at school events and around scout and guide bonfires.An excerpt of the 18 November speech delivered by the Latvian envoy Karlis Zarins
Lasījumi no sacerējumu krājuma “Kamoliņš”
