The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-10-20
Baltic Teacher
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degeneration of mankind. It is
socialism that is leading to the
decline of Europe"
To him, Khrushchev is not rid
ing the wave of a socialist fu-
ture. Khrushchev is turning back
the wheels of history. It is the
Communists who eliminate the
distinctions that have made man.
kind great, character, achieve
ment. independence. For those
who know this truth 1.-The hatred
of the Communists is absolute
and Deep the lawyer-teacher
declares.
Was Marked Man
DR.. Berkis fled Latvia and the
pursuing hands of the Russians,
who had him marked as one of
the capitalist privileged in
early 1915. He was one of some
1875, 900 of Latvia's 1000 900 in
habitants who got out. 1T was
our means Of protesting; to give
the lie to the Russians claim
that the union of nations was
voluntary"
Then he obs e nv e S wryly:
when six per cent of a popu-
lation leaves, Khrushchev can
hardly claim there is enchant-
ment over the new regime. He
also observed that the three and
a half million East Germans who
have fled to freedom in the West
speak volumes on this point.
From Latvia he went to Ger
many where he taught several
years, then came to the U. S.
He enrolled as a graduate stu
dent at the University Of Wis
consin and received his masters
degre in 1854 and his PhD., in
history and philosophy in 1856.
For the last five years he had
taught at Methodist-related High
Point College in North Carolina.
He came to Longwood this ses-
sion as associate professor of
history.
With him at Farmville are his
wife, Mrs. Frida Berkis, who
had practiced dentistry in her
native Latvia after graduating at
the University Of Latvia at Riga;
their four-year-old daughter, In
grida, and DR.. Berkis' mother,
Mrs. Nataja Berkis. The elder
Mrs. Berkis is widowed, her late
husband having been a consul
general in the Latvian foreign
ministry.
DR.. Berkis also was a gradu-
ate of the University of Latvia
with a degree in law. He ended
threeyears of law practice in
1915 with his escape to Ger
many. AS a graduate student at
Riga. he had also served as an
instructor in legal philosophy and
criminal psychology.
The Longwood teacher, who
speaks precise English although
with a Baltic accent, believes
one of Americas great chal-
lengeS is to announce in no I'M
certain terms that she supports
the claims of these suppressed
governments.
The U. S. does automatically
since this country still recog-
nizes the Latvian minister now
in Washington as the legal repre-
sentative of Latvia. He is DR..
Spekke. a Latvin educator.
He also stresses Russian weak
nesses which make the USSR
bear less of a fearsome crea-
ture. THE Russians Achilles
heel is their economic system"
DR.. Berkis says. Overriding en-
phasis on war preparation and
technology have left it in pre-
carious circumstances in other
areas.
"A prolonged war would be
their undoing. It was the Allies
who kept her going in World
War II with their shipments Of
grains and material" he points
out.
AS regards a US-USSR nuclear
strike exchanged, DR.. Berkis be-
lieves that Russia would be so
weakened that 1.-The real winners
would be the Red Chinese.
KhruShchev knows this and
much of what he does is bluff
behind this eventually"
Endorsing the point often made
in criticism of socialism that as
a system it hasn't proved any
thing conclusive to this point in
history, DR.. Berkis finds that it
has simply rearranged people
rather than achieving its SUD-
posed goal of the elimination of
class distinctions.
Russia today had a new priv
legged class, the Party members
the engineers, the scientists, the
professors. There is wide gulf
between them and the farmers
and industrial laborers," he
cites.