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Austra and Laima Grinbergs, London, 1951

Laima and Austra Grinbergs at the first Latvian song festival in Britain, held in London in 1951.

When the Grinbergs sisters arrived in Bradford in 1948, they were keen to join the already established Latvian Choir – singing was an important part of their lives and a hobby they had sustained through their time in refugee camps.

Laima and Austra left Latvia at ages 20 and 24 respectively, due to the reoccupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. They boarded one of the last boats to Germany where they lived until 1948. During this time they trained as Auxiliary nurses and tried to find work but were often turned away. Laima kept a diary of her first two years in Germany. In 1948 when the British Government allowed only people without dependents to come to the UK, they both found work in one of the mills in Crossflatts. Laima and Austra never saw their parents again after leaving Latvia in 1944.

Courtesy of Dzintra Grinbergs