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Anna Elza Vimba (Aspazija’s first cousin)

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  • Post last modified:July 16, 2024

First name: Anna Elza (she went by Elza)

Last name: Vimba

Mother: Lavize Rozenbergs/Rozentals

Father: Karl Vimba

Birth: 20-Feb-1902, Riga

Baptism: 15-Apr-1902, St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Riga

1902 Baptism record for Anna Elza Vimba: https://raduraksti.arhivi.lv/objects/1:4:11:2055:2469:23508#&gid=1&pid=157

Marriage: Valdemars (Valdis) Kalniņš, 18-Nov-1928, St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Riga

Children: Paulis and Heinrich Juris

Death: 1969, Seattle, Washington, USA

Burial: Seattle, Washington

More Information

Anna Elza (who went by just Elza) was the only biological child of Lavize Rozenbergs/Rozentals and Karl Vimba. She was born in Riga and was baptized at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in 1902. She is the only confirmed biological first cousin to Aspazija on her father’s side.

Sometime around 1907/1908 Elza’s family had their photo taken. It includes Elza as a child, plus her 4 elder half-siblings, her parents and her grandmother, Anna Rozenvalds.

Photo of Vimba family including Lawize Rozenbergs and Anna Rozenvalds – image from the Kalnins family

Front row from left to right: Robert Vimba, Lawize Rozentals/Rozenbergs, Anna Elza Vimba, Anna Rozenbergs/Rozenvalds, Karl Vimba.

Back row from left to right: Elizabeth Vimba, Anna Vimba, Natali Matilde Vimba.

During WWI Elza accompanied her mother and uncle to Rujiena as refugees. She stayed there until 1922. Here is her government passport entry for 1920 (Note that the name ‘Helene’ is a mistake):

1920 Rujiena passport for Elza Vimba – Image from FamilySearch.org

Here is a photo of Elza and her mother, Lavize, in Rujiena in 1922:

1922 photograph of Lavize and Elza taken in Rujiena – photograph from the Kalnins family

Elza’s descendants shared with me a small flyer from St. Martin’s Church’s 75th Anniversary celebrations in 1927. On the back of this paper, Elza wrote at some point these words:

  • “In this church I was baptized, confirmed and married by minister Stange. And here my mother, Lavize Vimba, nee Rozenberga was married; she was a cousin of Aspazija’s.”

This was the first clue that led me down the path to all the research you see on this blog today.

Old flyer from St. Martin’s Church where Elza writes about the family connection between her mother, Lavize, and the writer Aspazija. – image from the Kalnins family

In 1944 Elza, her husband and two sons and her mother, Lavize, all fled Latvia to escape the imminent Soviet takeover. They fled to Germany as did thousands of people from the Baltic countries. In January 1946 Elza’s mother, Lavize passed away. Elza and her family spent some years in DP camps before being accepted to immigrate to the USA. Their sponsor there was one of Elza’s half-sisters who had moved to America well before WWI.

Elza and her family made a new life for themselves in Seattle, Washington. She died in 1969.