/specialCollection/nwcda2/27/LAUNAGS, FREDS VOL. 1/LAUNAGS, FREDS VOL. 1_0015.pdf

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Academy were not quite as good as those of his previous schools.
This, to a great extent, made him feel that possibly he had
chosen the wrong profession;- however he was stubborn enough not
to admit this, particularly to his parents. While at this Aca-
demy Hahn got acquainted with Jurijs Bumeisters, son- of the .
famous Latvian socialist. (Later during the first communist
occupation Jurijs Bumeisters helped Hahn a great deal).
B. The First Soviet Occupation of Latvia
(1) On 16 June .1.940 the traditional yearly Latvian
National Song Festival was held at Daugavpils, and Hahn attended
it. During the celebration the huge throng attending it felt
that something was amiss because, although Ulmanis was scheduled
to speak in person he did not appear. In place of this personal
appearance Ulmanis spoke over the radio, which speech was trans-
mitted through loudspeakers to the throng and in this speech he
made his now-famous statement "you must remain in your place as
IwilI remain in mine". This song festival was the last Latvian
national affair in free Latvia. Daugavpils being very close to
the Latvian-Russian border, was entered by the Russian forces
very shortly after Hahn's train left for Riga. Upon arrival in
Riga Hahn was first informed that the Communists had invaded
his homeland, and it was then that Hahn realized that the
Russian forces practically followed his train. On the 17th of
June the Russian forces had entered Riga and pro-communist ele-
ments conducted street demonstrations and engaged in battles
with the police.
Seeing this Hahn felt as though life had come to an end;
he felt he couldn't stand all the political scenes in Riga
where all the old ideas of freedom and independence were being
destroyed. He consequently proceeded to leave Riga and went
to the village of Krimulda in the vicinity of Sigulda, where
he stayed wiyi his older sister for two months. It was there
that Jurijs4Bumeisters, who was travelling about extolling the
communist system and their "excellent plan for Latvia", looked
up Hahn and knowing Hahn's patriotism, and considering him a
friend, advised him to do nothing rash and to be sure and under-
take no activity against the new Latvian State. Hahn states
this was a very friendly meeting in which Bumeisters desired
to help a friend, at the same time telling this friend that
not all will be quite as bad as he thinks. In this conversa-
tion Bumeisters further informed Hahn that the socialist
organization to which he -belonged MU:been-active -In the Under-
ground-Ulmanis days, and hence was now very powerful.
Bumeisters left with the promise that he would help Hahn as
soon as Hahn got over his wild and radical, as well as rash,
desires to oppose the invaders. In the end of August another
student visited Hahn and suggested that Hahn seek employment
in the surveying work which was being done in the country in
connection with the Communist Land Reform. This, according to
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