Wide Eyes

About the Book

Nazi soldiers seized the baby Marija and her mother, Solomeja, on March 13, 1944 as reprisal for the father Broņislavs Platačs' partisan activities in Latgale, Latvia. Soldiers took mother and child as political prisoners to Rēzekne Prison and Salaspils concentration camp. Solomeja was sent to German concentration camps; Marija was taken to orphanages in Latvia and Germany. In 1949 Marija was flown to America, adopted by American parents, and became a US citizen. For 70 years her origins were unknown to her due to the Soviet occupation of her native Latvia. A “family detective” in Riga unlocked the story about her parents in 2014, enabling Marija to be reunited with the one surviving member of her father’s family, Broņislavs' sister, Leonora. The discovery process opened Marija’s eyes to her identity, true to her family name Platačs, which means wide eyes.

About the Author

Marija Fine is a naturalized American citizen who was adopted by The Rev John and Selma Futchs . She grew up in Colorado and Texas, and was graduated from Midland University (Fremont, NE) with a BA in history in 1965. She received an MA from the School of International Studies at The American University in Washington, DC in 1970. She taught English as a Second language as an educational missionary for the Lutheran Church in Malaysia from 1965-1968, and an instructor at Taiwan Normal University in Taipei from 1973-1974. As an educator in Washington, DC, she was a school administrator at Bell Multicultural High School, consultant to the US Department of Education, information specialist at The National Education Association, and computer professional at WAVE, Inc. Her husband, Irwin Fine, whom she married in 1978, died of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2011.