During Soviet times it was highly militarized and foreigners couldn't visit. When I was in Latvia in 1998, a spoke with a man who was emigrated from there to the United States after World War II. His brother still lived in Liepāja and when he came visited Latvia the closest he could get to it was the capital, Riga, which was 150 miles away. The brothers were only able to meet there.
I've haven't visited Liepāja, but Mrs. Marathon Pundit has been there many times.
Pictured below is another postcard from her late godmother's collection. This one is of Liepāja Holy Trinity Lutheran Cathedral. Construction of the cathedral commenced in 1742, it was consecrated 16 years later.
The German name for Liepāja is Libau. On the upper right-hand corner of the card it reads, in German, "Libau-Heil. Dreieinigkeit-Kirche." In English that is Liepaja Holy Trinity Church.
Inside the cathedral is the world's second largest unreconstructed organ. It has 141 stops and 7,000 pipes.
This postcard, as with the others in this series, was composed in German. But this one has a date--1938.
A year later, Germany invaded Poland and the following year the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States. And of course in 1941, the Nazis invaded the USSR.
Related posts:
- Vintage Latvian postcards: Saldus
- Vintage postcards from Nazi-occupied Latvia: Riga Opera House
- Vintage photos: Interwar Latvian soldiers
- Soviet Army Christmas and New Year cards and photos
- Vintage photo: Latvian farm scene
- Sece, Latvia's World War I German cemetery
- Volkstrauertag: Photos of German POW gravestones at Fort Sheridan
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