Sixty-fifth installment from the diary of my great-grandfather’s sister Alise, written during the First World War. When the diary starts, she is living just a few miles from the front lines of the Eastern Front, and is then forced to flee with her husband and two young daughters to her family’s house near Limbaži as the war moves even closer. Her third child, a son, was born there in February 1916. The family has now relocated (again) to a home near Valmiera, and the Russian Revolution is in full swing. For more background, see here, and click on the tag “diary entries” to see all of the entries that I have posted.

If there is mention of a recognizable historical figure and event, I will provide a Wikipedia link so that you can read more about the events that Alise is describing.

February 14, 1918

Papa’s home, Papa’s home!! He escaped from the claws of the Bolsheviks by Pskov station and now he is with us, with TrÅ«tiņa, on her birthday. Thank God for his mercy. Even the children know that God has listened to their prayers and brought TrÅ«de the best present ever – her father.