Latgolas Agricultural Society attendence certificate Marta Zeltins, 26 August 1929

Date1929

Object number00029689

NameCertificate

MediumPaper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 226 x 180 mm, 0.003 kg

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis 'aplieciba' (certificate) of attendance at an agricultural seminar belonged to Marta Saulitis (nee Zeltins). The seminar was conducted by the Latgolas Agricultural Society in Daugavpili, Latvia, on 26 August 1929. Marta Saulitis was one of many Latvians who migrated with her family to Australia after World War II. Saulitis arrived in 1951 and settled in Melbourne.HistoryDuring World War II much of Western Europe was invaded by Nazi Germany, forcing millions of people to flee their oppressed homelands to Displaced Persons camps. The Soviet Union annexed Latvia in 1940 under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II Latvia was invaded and occupied. The Soviet Union recaptured Latvia from Germany in 1944. In the decade after the end of World War II, more than two million people migrated to Australia as part of a government campaign to increase Australia’s population. More than 170,000 were European displaced people resettled in Australia through the Displaced Persons’ Resettlement Scheme, established through an agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). The IRO was formed in 1946 to transport Displaced Persons to countries in Europe, North America and Australia. The organisation chartered individuals and families from various European countries including Germany, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Lithuania. Latvians were one of the first Displaced Persons groups to be accepted by Australia, with some 19,421 Latvians living in the country by 1951.SignificanceThis certificate is significant in documenting the life of Marta Saulitis in Latvia prior to her migration to Australia. Latvians were amongst the first migrants to be accepted by Australia after World War II through the Displaced Persons’ Resettlement Scheme. This scheme, an agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the International Refugee Organisation, marked a major shift in Australian immigration policy, which had previously prioritised British migration.