ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to de-emphasize the importance of governments and state institutions when studying the cold war period, but instead focus on the people's lived experiences during this time. It suggests many ethnic groups, which at some point were all termed "white ethnics", had distinct cultural, political and social positions. The book also addresses the issues related to the broader phenomenon of repatriation where emigres and their descendents migrate back to their homeland after a prolonged period of time. It gives an insight into the experiences, difficulties and issues faced by American Latvian repatriates who decided to return to Latvia during the reestablishment of Latvian national independence. The book highlights such controversial topics as ethnic anticommunism, the hunt for Nazis among American Latvian emigres, the Soviet propaganda war against the emigres and the national independence movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
