VFS FILMS

The Keys ep8 Latvian lats

In the middle of this story was March 1993, when majority of us finally held Latvian lats in our hands – not the family heirloom but real money. Quietly cherished in people’s memory for decades, the new national currency became an affirmation of the country’s regained independence. Just 20 years later, we easily exchanged it for the euro. How did the lats lose its value as a national symbol? Had it ever been one?
The lifespan of the lats was pitifully short – 18 years during the first republic plus 20 in recent times. The Soviets took lats out of circulation without prior notice. People only managed to keep the silver 5 lats coins. They were safeguarded as a family heirloom – a romanticized memory of the lost Latvia. Many Latvian families have stories upon stories to tell about gifted and inherited silver lats, and their transformation into Namejs rings and brooches with the maiden image from the 5 lats coins.






Episodes

The Keys ep28

The Keys ep28 The Holocaust in Latvia

On this episode, we look at how four centuries of Jewish presence in Valdemārs was erased in two nights.
The Keys ep27

The Keys ep27 The end of the Khrushchev Thaw

The dreams of Latvian progressive communists were crushed in June 1959, when the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, visited Riga.
The Keys ep26

The Keys ep26 Clinton in Riga

It was a key historic turning point for the Baltic states on their path to the free world.
The Keys ep25

The Keys ep25 Five Presidents of Latvia

The five presidents of Latvia after the restoration of independence. Do they deserve to be called true leaders?
The Keys ep24

The Keys ep24 The Song Festival in Soviet Latvia

The festival was fated to become a painful symbol for Latvia’s loss of independence. How did the festival change?
The Keys ep23

The Keys ep23 The Nazi occupation of 1941

Nazis took the territory of Latvia from the Soviet occupiers. What changed in the lives of ordinary people when Stalin was replaced by Hitler?
The Keys ep22

The Keys ep22 The 1940 Occupation – The Plunder and Destruction of the State

The following 50 years people were put in prison for speaking of this truth. The occupants robbed the people.
The Keys ep21

The Keys ep21 The Cemetery War. Ideological battle witdh corpses

The ideological battle in a 600-meters-long cemetery lane went on for 60 years.
The Keys ep20

The Keys ep20 The Latvian Creative Unions plenary session

For the first time ever, respected intellectuals dared to publically speak with such freedom that the people were left breathless.
The Keys ep19

The Keys ep19 Ruhnu island. Why did Latvia not get it after all?

At least part of the island could have been ours, but we missed out on that too. What happened?
The Keys ep18

The Keys ep18 15 May 1934, the coup d’état of Latvia.

A key figure in the coup was Kārlis Ulmanis, the prime minister and later self-proclaimed president. However, there was a man who could have...
The Keys ep15

The Keys ep15 Art Days in Soviet Latvia - a gift to Lenin

In the 1970s and 80s, the Art Days was one of the top cultural events in Latvia. But was it a true creative freedom?
The Keys ep14

The Keys ep14 Election of Latvia’s first parliament

We celebrate the date of the Constitutional Assembly, 1 May, as a national holiday. However, the election campaign was all but noble.
The Keys ep13

The Keys ep13 The russification of Latvia

The population composition undergoes violent and unimaginable social and national changes during the 1950s after World War II.
The Keys ep12

The Keys ep12 Kristaps Morbergs and sharing one's wealth

How the Latvian University manages the valuable estate, and why wealthy people tend to share their money.
The Keys ep11

The Keys ep11 Privatization

Latvia's difficult path to free market and private property based capitalist economy.
The Keys ep10

The Keys ep10 1949 March Deportations and Lielvārde's incredible escape

25 March 1949 saw the most horrific deportations in the history of Latvia. But there was one rural territory, from which not a single...
The Keys ep9

The Keys ep9 The Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires

It was officially observed just once, and then abolished in fear that the world would not understand the honouring of Nazi army veterans.
The Keys ep8

The Keys ep8 Latvian lats

Latvian lats: the national currency from its introduction in 1922 until the replacement with euro in 2014.
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The Keys ep7 The Khrushchev Thaw

It all started with a funeral bell announcing the death of Stalin on 5 March 1953. Most significantly for Latvians, the Siberian deportees returned...
The Keys ep6

The Keys ep6 Perestroika. The beginning of the end

In February 1987 Gorbachev visited Riga. What happened with the people he met and what happened with Gorbachev himself when all of it was...
The Keys ep5

The Keys ep5 The Freedom Fights.

Was the birth of Latvia a lucky coincidence or perhaps a smart and dazzling political tango?
The Keys ep4

The Keys ep4 Independent Latvia's return to the Olympic Games

The fight for Latvia's return to the free world of sports had to be fought in the same trenches as its fight for political...
The Keys ep3

The Keys ep3 Soviet repressions against Riga intellectuals in the early 1950s

During the totalitarian Soviet regime, Riga intellectuals were charged with high treason for organizing French literature nights.
The Keys ep2

The Keys ep2 University in a war-destroyed zoo

So-called diaspora Latvians are an intrinsic part of our nation and our country's history.
The Keys ep1

The Keys ep1 The 1991 January Barricades

The 1991 January Barricades in Baltics - the key to the stability of the new world order.