I think I remember asking you to take that photo :)

Hi Sofia, and thank you so much for your comments. What an amazing discovery. I liked the area, and I spent a long time wandering around there, and took many pictures there (and hundreds of Riga in general). I particularly liked the old wooden houses and also the many Art Deco ones. The photo is in color, but it was such a gray and overcast winter Sunday morning, and absolutely everything looked gray! If you right-click on the "Get Original Uploaded Photo" caption and select "Save Target As", the downloaded picture will be a lot clearer. I also have a few more of the house itself, including a closeup of the weather bird, and also the house on the corner across the street. Thank you so much for your story, it's so good to hear from you! Best wishes, Roman

Wow!! I used to live in that house, before we moved to the US 15 years ago. I remember i was about 12, and me and another girl who used to live in the same house decided to see if we can find a way to get up to there. We found the atic space, and a stairway leading to the small balcony, but those stairs were so shaky, and a lot of steps were missing or broken, so we just looked up there at the weather bird...
do you have this picture in color, by chance? or any other pictures of this building? If you don't remember what the building looks like, you can look here:
http://public.fotki.com/davelitvak/test/nash_dom1.html

Thanks
Sofia

Hi Egle, and hello from England! Thank you for your comments, and I hope you enjoy the photos. I liked what I saw of Lithuania, so I will be coming back there again. -- Best wishes, Roman

Hello from Lithuania! It's so great to have such a wonderful neighbours like latvians :)

Hi Kenne, and thank you for your comments. I also was deeply affected by visiting the battlefield. Nearly a hundred years later, and it is still a place that makes one silent with thought. Best wishes, Roman

This all affects me deeply, Thank You for publishing this important information.
I recently heard that very few of British School children have any knowlddge about D-Day and the Great War.
Thank You again, "Lest we Forget"
"First Things First" Peace
Kenne

Hi Malishka! And thank you for all your very helpful information with these old photos, I really appreciate it. I'm so delighted and amazed that so many people have been kind enough to take time to help me out with this, thank you all so very much. -- Roman

For long memory, Your brother Iosif/Yusif (Joseph)

The studio was owned by E.M Yakubovich, but the name of the photographer is not clearly seen on this picture.

Her Russian was incorrect.

I think so, too. Her name was Vite (Latvian ending).

Well, the whole message is grammatically incorrect:

It should say:
Íà ïàìÿò(ü) Âîëîä(Å) è Äàø(Å)(íå È as it is used in the message) îò Âèòè (shouldn't it be ÂèòÛ???) Èâàøêèí(îé).

Unless Vita was a man--Victor (Vitya) but the ending of Ivashkin should have been different: ot Viti Ivashkina
Na pamyat' Volode i Dashe ot Vity Ivashkinoj.

Hi Jan, and thank you.

Yes, I knew about that name. The area around was called Warthegau by the Nazis, and I understand that this is where most of the Balts from Latvia were sent to. I now think the girl Hanna may have worked in the bakery where my father and his wife were sent to work. -- Roman

Hello Roman,
Another point of interest on this card is that the placename is given as Litzmannstadt. That is the nazi name for Lodz used only when it was actually incorporated into the Reich during World War 2
Best Wishes
Jan