Ina Pogainis

An Abundance of Blessings Ina Pogainis

Toward the end of the Second World War the Russian and German armies met in a fierce struggle that pushed the front line across the Baltic States. Many people fled the fighting including a Latvian University professor and his family. With a few mementos and the clothes on their backs they traveled to Berlin. They reassured themselves that the fighting would be over in a few months and they would return to their small country by the amber sea. Although they lost a great deal-this story has more to do with what they found. In Berlin during heavy allied bombing, in displaced persons camps in Germany and their early years in South Dakota the kindness of strangers seemed heaven sent. In their most fearful hours when life itself was in the balance hands reached out to help them. In ways large and small their blessings accumulated and gave them hope.