"Spigulis-DeSnyder is a meticulous and scrupulous writer who looks carefully at each turn in the lives of her native Latvian family members and how they impact her own life"
Baron Wormser, author of Some Months in 1968: A Novel
Simplified Choices: A Family Memoir of Latvia, World War II and Identity tells the powerful story of a family caught between the Nazis and Soviets during one of history's darkest periods. Anita Spigulis-DeSnyder, the daughter of Latvian refugees, grew up in the United States, steeped in her parents' stories of their homeland-of resisting the Soviet invasion, surviving Displaced Persons camps, and building a new life in America. Proud of her Latvian roots, she never questioned the history she knew.
That all changed during a chance conversation with an Israeli student on a train. Words like Holocaust and Nazis-terms she never connected to Latvia-sparked unsettling questions about her family's past. When she asked her father if Latvians had fought with the Nazis, his chilling reply, "When someone points a gun at your head, it simplifies your choices," revealed a more complex truth.
In this moving memoir, Spigulis-DeSnyder explores the difficult choices her family and many Latvians faced during World War II. Weaving together her family's experiences and Latvian history, she delves into the personal journey of discovering her true identity and the broader struggles of a nation caught between two brutal regimes.