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[p.37] Aizputes skola, cont'd
In our area the unrest was quite widespread, and certainly chaotic. Excitement and movement were everywhere without any
sort of communications, coordination, or sense of purpose. For the most part, the entire campaign of strikes and burnings
was fairly spontaneous; it was sufficient for someone on the spot or from the neighbors to come with a suggestion. It just
seemed as if the spirit of rebellion floated through the air and- was inhaled. All of the injustices and suffering sought
a means of expression in some sort of action. [We] only needed to await any instructions, directives or appeals coming from
some sort of leadership to begin moving and acting; but such orders appeared seldom and in limited areas.
The battle of Aizpute serves as an example of this. When a larger number of dragoons was in Aizpute, and reinforcements
were coming from Liepaja, then it was necessary to try and repulse them, and test our strength. We heard that the farmer from
Apriki, Elerts (it seems that his last name was something different; he fled to America afterward), was the leader, and had
given out orders that on a given day we were to assemble in Aizpute, and that we were to arrive armed and ready for a fight
with the soldiers. I was at Kalnieki, and took a seat in a wagon which held a scythe, pitchfork, and a number of other weapons,
and headed for Aizpute. I can't remember who else went along, but they were young boys. We made it about as far as the Kikuri
tavern when we met some messengers who told us we had to turn around and head for the Gudenieki road to intercept a unit of
Cossacks heading from Liepija to Kuldiga [ar renteju?].
We turned around and rode past Verniti to the Gudenieki road , heading for the Adze bridge. We met nobody there, and having
driven out in vain turned back around. Later I found out that the unit of Cossacks or dragoons had failed to get any farther.
than Rolava, where the bridge had been pulled down onto the railroad track (?). Ernests Plavejs, the Rolava blacksmith's son,
had accomplished this with the local boys' help--I believe from the Cakse house. Plavejs fled to the United States and returned
when Latvia was independent.
The battle of Aizpute had happened without us. The Ciravnieki and Dzervenieki [men from Cirava and Dzerve?] had been at
the birch woods at Roka. There had been shooting, since a few of the boys carried shotguns. The battle at Aizpute itself had
been a real flanking maneuver along Bojas and Laza [streets?]. I heard many accounts of this battle from the participants,
but have forgotten all of them.
In fall I was back in school when the [revolutionary] executive committee voting took place. While I was still at Kalnieki
in Jurkalne (then called Pilsbergi) [what?], among the revolutionaries killed was Kikuris, the village clerk, our old [tavern
keeper?] Kikuris's brother. The corpse was brought to Muizaraji, and put up in the stall for examination. The coroner and
police had already driven out there. I went over there too, but could not stand the stench of the body and the sight of the
post-mortem for very long. The Kikuris family's oldest son, Andrejs, was also shot to death. After his military service, he
had gone to work as a clerk [skriveris; also scrivener or scribe] on the estate of Baron Sreders [Schroeder?]. I did not find
out how deeply he was involved in the movement; at the time the circumstances of his killing were talked about in greater
detail. The Kikuris family later died out entirely; only Kristaps' and Julija Plavejs' daughter survived. Kikuris's daughter,
Julija, died of consumption, as did Kristaps, who had been trained to be a baker. The youngest, my childhood playmate Fricis,
was in the war and ended up fighting with the Red Army against Kolchak's [White] forces. Apparently he was a military commissar,
and when he attempted to stop a group of soldiers from taking flight, a fleeing Russian shot him in the forehead.
The general unrest had also touched the school. It was difficult to study, since we felt impelled to follow the events
as they happened. When the persecutions, arrests, beatings and shootings began [following the suppression of the rebellion]
I our school was also affected, though not too much. The school inspector strove to keep the police from intruding on the
school. Three students, from the graduating class, were arrested and brought to a storehouse on Kuldiga street. They were
Fricis Osis from Tipori, Pauls Markavs from the Kazdanga Third [Tresajiem ?], and myself. I don't remember just what I was
accused of, but someone had betrayed Fricis for distributing proclamations. I don't know what my sins were, but when I was
searched, they found a pocket notebook with a satirical rhyme about the tsar: 'Cto ja vizu, cto ja slysu, Nikolai poliez na
krysu.' [What I see, what I hear, I don't tell to Nikolas's police?] The police were headed by a slightly built 'baronling';
I no longer remember which estate-owning family he was from. When they brought us into the shed, there was a farm boy ahead
of us, beaten so badly that he could not stand on his feet, but only squatted on his knees and moaned. I did not find out
what happened to him. Later, on a cloudy autumn day, Pauls Markavs and I watched two dragoons on horseback drag a peasant,
bound with rope, on the muddy path past the church and the local estate's barn, towards the Roka birch grove. We followed
at a distance. The dragoons did not come back, but a hundred paces into the wood lay the corpse with leaves strewn on top
of it. Apparently we did not hear the shots, since had been afraid to follow too closely.
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