Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1948-09-10
$500 SUPERIOR AVE.
BY ALFRED BILMANIS
Latvian Minister in the USA
(In Memory of the Injustices done
to the Baltic Nations)

Tin Memory of the lnjustices done
to the Baltic Nations)
Continued from last issue)
Of the innumerabie folk songs
and legends of the Baltic one tale
is of outstanding interest: the tale
of the World Flood, with many var
iants concerning sunken castles, in
habited by princes and princesses,
richly clad and adorned with gold
and jewels.
Seeing that the Baltic region it.
self does not have the precious met
ais of gold and silver and is not
especially subject to catastrophe
floods, the hypothesis becomes per-
missible that the Baltic peoples of
some unrecorded age may have ac-
tually fled from some such disas-
trous deluge, wandering northwards,
until they finally found safe haven
in their present homelands. Thus,
if there be a factual foundation to
this so persistent flood legend of
Baltic folklore, the Balts were GER
tainly among the displaced peoples
of antiquity.
Today, once more, through a SIM
liar cruel quirk of history, hun
dreds of thousands of their descen-
dants find themselves fleeing into
exile from the oppressive tyranny
of atheist Bolshevism, that modern
menace in every way comparable to
the Biblical plaques or to the Del
uge itself.
Seized with despair that has
overwhelmed such great numbers of
other displaced" peoples of Europe,
they would now gladly leave the
Old Continent behind them alto
gether, could they but hope for a
peaceful haven elsewhere.
Returning to their prototypes of
lore, we shall remark that the an
cient Balts brought with them, in
the first place, their very old re-
ligion, evolved in their original dwell
ling-place, and preserved through
out their unrecorded cross-country
treck to the Baltic strand. Togeth-
er with this religion, which is strong
ly reminiscent of the old Arian sun
myth and cosmogony, they brought
with them their language, customs,
folklore, ornamentation (Which in
cluding the swastika, strange as it
seems, is very similar to that of an
cient Troy), tools and crafts. They
also brought with them their meth
DDS of agriculture, as well as cer-
tain useful plants, like turnips, flax,
clover, and hemp, also medical plants
and domestic animals and fowls. 1t
was they who introduced the scythe
into Europe
AS reflected in their folklore, the
Balts also preserved their social
administrative organization. Settling
in their present homeland, they were
able to develop freely their original
clan and tribal system, which was
characterized by an outspoken ances-
tor-worship.
In Baltic folklore has been pre-
served the, prototype of pre-historical
social organization of the white
race, just at the Latvian-Lithuan-
ian tongue remains the key language
of the Ariah group.
Uncramped for space in their new
ly found abode, the Balts seem to
have enjoyed a great measure Of
freedom. The British court geogra-
pher of King Alfred the Great, Wulf-
stan, who personally visited the Bal
tic region and named it Whitland (the
exact translation of Baltija, for bait
signifies "white"), has left US testi-
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