Preserving Personal Identity through Public Narratives: The Case of a Latvian American Exile Speaker Karlis Leyasmeyer

• In Event: Exile Memory and the Connection to the Homeland through Narratives of Displacement and Return

Abstract

This paper explores how public testimony and storytelling help exiles maintain a connection to their lost homeland and identity. Focusing on Latvian exile Karlis Leyasmeyer, who gave thousands of speeches across the U.S. about his experience under and escape from Communism, it examines how repeated narratives functioned as symbolic "returns" to Latvia. Through these public retellings, Leyasmeyer reinforced his ethnic, religious, and political identity, shaping both personal memory and broader exile discourse.

Author

• Ieva Zake, Millersville U