Sixtieth 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 8, 1918

Frightening news is arriving about our loved ones. I am tired physically and spiritually. At 6am the Germans freed us, they took Valmiera with small battles. They saved about 13 farmers from the Red Guard, those con men, who were shot on the spot. Those who desecrated our churches and the pickpockets were hanged in the market square, where they still swing in the breeze as a warning. All of the Bolshevik committees are disbanded, their papers thrown out all over the streets with their dirty writings. It fills me with joy and satisfaction. In the evening our first German guests arrived, who stayed until the next morning. The hearty German lieutenants did, however, take away a lot of our things, including Papa’s big riding horse Olis.