Word: riga
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...highly literate, vigorous peasant people, used to fighting for the reluctant fruit of their poor land. They have a stolid dignity, yet are cheerfully devoted to simple, inexpensive pleasures. In the summer they used to go swimming along the endless, pine-studded beaches of the Gulf of Riga, often in the nude (the early part of the morning was reserved for men, the latter part for women, and police saw to it that none of the early bathers overstayed their allotted time). During Midsummer Night, they would swarm through their vast woods by the thousands, singing wild songs that echoed...
...Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians were proud of their small, separate cultures. They flocked to opera and the ballet, and liked to reminisce about the time Robert Casadesus gave a concert in Riga, or Boris Chaliapin sang at the National Opera. Now, there are only a handful of theaters left, most of them Russian, and the people are in no mood to attend them. Related a refugee: "On June 13, 1946, I was in Vilna† and saw, with my own eyes, 3,000 men being transported from the central prison camp to the central station. They were to be shipped...
...Limit" Elite. Riga's once famed, numerous pastry shops are empty these days, and the equally numerous florists are little more than a memory. The taverns in Vilna have been transformed into prisons by the MGB. Life is no safer than in Russia, though the standard of nourishment is higher. Related a refugee: "There is no starvation, not so much because the Russians try to prevent it, but because the people are united to such an extent that everyone in need gets help. The farmers are wonderful. Every appeal from the underground for vital foodstuffs is immediately...
...They are known as "limit people" (those who receive the top category of limitnaya kartochka, i.e., ration card). Their ration includes 16 lbs. of meat a month, they are assigned special restaurants, special baths (much of the plumbing is dilapidated), special shows and concerts. A current bitter crack in Riga: "All they are waiting for now is special brothels...
...Riga timber merchant, Berlin emigrated to Britain as a young man and spent most of his adult life in or near Oxford. He speaks English, German, Russian, French, is an authority on Karl Marx, Greek philosophy, Russian literature and music, the U.S. Congress and politics. He was one of few men at the Embassy who foresaw Britain's Labor victory...