Gunars, chess champion, arrives in Australia
Gunars Berzzarins was singled out by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in its 8 December 1947 report of the arrival in Melbourne the previous day of ‘more than 800 sturdy, sun-tanned Baltic migrants’. This economics student had been, the paper noted, chess champion of Latvia’s capital, Riga. (That had been in 1943 and 1944, before the return of Soviet forces from the east made Gunars and thousands of others flee westwards.)
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Gunars Berzzarins' ID photo on his Bonegilla card
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In January 1950, soon after moving to Adelaide, he won that city’s Summer Chess Training tournament, a 6-man competition. In 1952 he won the Adelaide Chess Masters tournament again and organised the first Adelaide Schools Team tournament. He finished 11th at the Australian Chess Masters in Brisbane in 1951.
Why Gunars left Latvia
Another entry in this blog discusses 13-14 June 1941, the night when Baltic people known or thought to be anti-Communist were rounded up for deportation to Siberia. During that night, Riga lost some 35,000 of its population of 400,000: nearly 10 per cent.
Gunars himself lost school friends and friends of the family to this deportation. He told me that this had generated fear in the remaining Latvians rather than hatred.
After the Germans occupiers of Latvia lost the battle for Stalingrad in February 1943, they began calling up Latvians to serve in the German Army. Boys still at school could choose to serve instead in the RAD, the Reichsarbietsdienst (the Reich Labour Service). Gunars’ birth year, 1925, was to be called up in 1944.
The Soviet forces pushed into the Bay of Riga on 30 July 1944. A day or two later, Gunars and Valentins got themselves to the port city of Liepaja and managed to flee to Germany from there.
Gunars told me that it was much easier for city dwellers to leave Latvia than for rural Latvians. The latter were likely to have been living where their ancestors had lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years so they had a strong emotional attachment to their land.
Riga, the capital city where one-third of the Latvian population lived, finally fell to the Soviet forces on 13 October 1944.
Gunars in Germany
Initially the refugees who had fled the Soviet invasion, knowing that their lives under Soviet rule would be even worse than under German rule, thought that they would be able to return to their homelands soon. For that reason, they tended to find refuge together. By 1947, however, the hope of an early return to their homelands had faded.
In Germany, Gunars became an economics student in Göttingen, whose university had become the first to resume teaching after WWII. This meant that he could live in student quarters. Valentins wanted to continue his medical studies, so made his way to Dusseldorf. This town is still more than 3 hours to the west by train or road.
Gunars’ parents had lost everything during the Russian Revolution, so they believed strongly that what you had in your head, your education, was most important. His father worked for the Latvian public service, in its upper levels, including for its Auditor-General.
His parents also had evacuated from Riga before it fell. They found refuge in Erfurt, a city which was captured by the Americans in April 1945 but then handed over to the Soviet Union in July 1945. They had not left Erfurt before the handover, but managed to get back to Riga. Gunars’ father died in 1956, around the time that the Soviet Union under Khrushchev decided to let older people go if they wanted to leave. As Valentins was settled in the USA, his mother migrated there.
The winter of 1945-46 in Germany was grim, with no coal and little electricity. There was no light after 4 pm. He was able to continue his studies in three helpful homes, one of a man, one of a woman, and one of a couple. As a student, he was fed by UNRRA. Cigarettes and coffee had become the local currency. Shops had almost nothing to sell.
He had started to learn English when he attended the English High School in Riga, which had English language instruction in its final years. Initally he had 7 sessions of English in a 5-day week, Linguaphone records, other records of English songs and books in English.
After the 1940 invasion of Latvia by the Soviet Union, English became just another language – until English-speaking troops successfully invaded Germany, where he had found refuge.
That 1945-46 winter was so difficult that Gunars did not want to spend more time in Germany, and knew that the Germans did not want the refugees either. He wanted to go to Venezuela or another warm country. Coal miners were wanted in both Germany and England, while Germany also wanted farm labourers. Gunars was neither, studying pure economics although this topic did not thrill him.
He considered Canada as well, since it was an English-speaking country on a similar latitude to Latvia. Everyone else wanted to resettle in the United States, of course. Canada was not making any offers, however, when he saw a notice about going to Australia on the noticeboard of his student quarters. Since UNRRA was feeding the residents, he thought an UNRRA official had put up the notice.
He was interviewed by the Australian team in a camp in Hannover, sent there with other applicants in a canvas-covered truck. He stayed in another camp in Bucholz, also used by the interviewers, on his way to the General Stuart Heintzelman in Bremerhaven.
What did Gunars know about Australia before his interview? In a few words, it was the Fifth Continent, with sheep, gold and wheat. It had been half a page in a geography textbook. He asked UNRRA staff to tell him what more they knew, but they replied, “Nothing”. Still, he knew that it was an English-speaking country.
He travelled through the interview process and the trip to Australia with friends from Göttingen. They included Olgerts Bergmanis, a fellow chess and table tennis player who Gunars knew from his chess club in Riga, Indulis Nicis and the Seja brothers, Andris and Juris.
Gunars in Fremantle
Nicis’ father had left his family in the 1920s to travel, stayed in Australia and remarried. Kārlis Nicis had become secretary to the Honorary Consul for Latvia. He probably knew or knew of most of the pre-War Latvians in Australia. He also knew that his son now was coming to Australia and that there would be a stopover in Perth. He wrote to friends there, who came to the camp where Indulis and Gunars were staying to drive them around the city.
Bonegilla camp
The Commandant of the Bonegilla camp, Alton Kershaw, seemed to be fierce but was known to be a good man underneath it. His offsider, Allan Dawson, was not liked. Gunars did not remember any problems in the running of the camp. Although supposedly dry, this was not actually the case.
Gunars remembered oranges, grapes, chocolate and port wine in the camp for Christmas 1947.
Gunars worked as a storeman at Bonegilla camp for nearly two years, from one week after his arrival, from 15 December 1947, to one month after the Minister for Immigration said that the new arrivals’ obligation to work in Australia was finished, to 28 October 1949.
Do you remember the women Heintzelman passengers filling out forms with some vital statistics and the men completing forms with their shoe size even before they reached the wharf in Fremantle? Do you remember a representative of a clothing factory estimated the size of the men's clothing by watching them disembark?
That was so that surplus Australian Army clothing in the correct sizes could be supplied to them after arrival at Bonegilla. And the clothing had to be stored somewhere, as did bedding and other supplies. Gunars curated these for 22 months. It would have been much better employment for the former economics student than some of the heavy labouring to which his peers were sent.
Marianne Hammerton’s book on the history of South Australia’s Department of Engineering and Water Supply includes the remark that “The migrant labour force was not without its problems. There was no system of matching individuals to positions. The Department found it had a mixture of professionals, tradesmen and technicians working as labourers …”
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I reckon it's actually Gunars Berzzarins on the LEFT,
judging from the glasses and the blond, wavy hair,
playing with OlgerTs, not Olgerfs, making his move on the right
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Gunars was underemployed compared with his previous education but at least he was not digging ditches or felling trees. Plus he had time to play chess, as we can see in the photograph above. Gunars’ brother, Valentins, 4 years older, had taught him this game. At Bonegilla, his friend Olgerts taught him how to swim in the adjacent Lake Hume.
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Latvians working in the Bonegilla camp gather to celebrate one year in Australia:
(left to right) Andris Seja, unknown, Galina Vasins, possibly Nikolajs Krukovs, unknown, Irina Vasins, unknown, Gunars Berzzarins, (kneeling in front) Antanas Norkeliunas
Source: Collection of Galina Vasins Karciauskas |
Gunars started competing publicly in Australian chess tournaments in September 1948.
To balance the quiet time with a chess opponent, Gunars played table tennis. By May 1948, he was winning A Grade table tennis matches in Albury. At this time, a team called Balts was playing in the competition, with Vacys Morkunas and Janis Belousovs as well as Berzzarins and later arrivals. They were winning. Gunars even represented Wodonga in a match against Albury, which Wodonga won, in July 1948. In September, Balts won that year’s Wodonga table tennis competition.
Around June 1949, Balts had changed its name to Bonegilla, reflecting a greater diversity of camp residents and potential players.
Gunars in Adelaide
One week after leaving Bonegilla, Gunars was working as a clerk for the Adelaide Car Service company in Flinders Street, Adelaide and had found accommodation at 6 Wheaton Road, St Peters.
He was soon making news in Adelaide, under the headline, ‘Migrants keen on “night life”’. The former Prime Minister, now leader of the Federal Opposition, had told Australia’s first Citizenship Convention in Canberra on 23 January 1950 that many of the new arrivals must miss the opportunity for a chat and a glass of wine in the evening. Gunars, as a migrant in the street, asked for a poll on 6 o’clock closing (of hotels) and suggested open-air cafes, where customers could be liquor, listen to music and even dance. These would have been radical ideas to 1950 Australia!
After ten months in Adelaide, Gunars moved to 15 Castle Street. His next job was as a salesman with the British Sales Company, in August 1952. Seven months later, he had switched to selling for the Home Appliances Sales Company. He stayed in home appliance sales for 13 months before becoming a clerk for an accountant, TS Wilson. All of these jobs were in Adelaide’s Central Business District and he was still living at 15 Castle Street.
Gunars, accountant, citizen, journalist, university lecturer
Like at least 6 of the other young passengers, Gunars was presented with the idea that accountancy was a good way for a person whose second, third or fourth language was English to make a living.
They could work in an office with numbers rather than English language words in the days before Information Technology provided a similar pathway for smart young immigrants. There are two such stories on this blog already: those of Helmi Liiver Samuels and Artur Klaar (although Artur is a special case as he was working as an accountant already in Estonia).
In Gunars’ case, he obtained a Diploma in Accountancy in 1959 from the South Australian Technical Institute, which became part of the University of South Australia. He was a part-time lecturer in office management and related subjects at his alma mater during 1972-76, in addition to his other activities.
Gunars was still at 15 Castle Street when he became an Australian citizen on 7 March 1957. This is quite unlike the other Heintzelman passengers at whom we have looked so far, most of whom moved often from one place of residence to another.
Another First Transport passenger, Emils Delins, began publishing the Austrālijas latvietis newspaper in May 1949. Gunars became an immediate volunteer contributor. The Latvietis online newspaper obituary says that he already had publishing experience, since he and two friends had published Šacha pasaule (Chess World) during 1946-47 while he was in Göttingen.
From 1950 to 1953 he wrote about chess for the Adelaide Advertiser, in English of course. Additionally, from 1952 until 1964, he was that newspaper’s basketball correspondent, this being another sport he had played when younger.
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One of Gunar's chess reports, from the Adelaide Advertiser, 20 September 1951 —
his middle name was Eizens, related to Eugene in English
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His story is starting to look very much like that of a previous entry, Jonas Strankauskas, from January 1950, when he participated in the founding of the Adelaide Latviešu Sport (yes, Adelaide Latvian Sport) club and became its secretary or manager for many years. I’m not aware of Strankauskas being a writer as well as a chess player and sports administrator, however.
In 1961, Gunars was elected as the head of the Latvian Sports Authority of Australia. For several years, he also worked on the boards of the Latvian Association in Australia and New Zealand and the Latvian Society of Australia. He was elected a life member of the Latvian Association and Daugava Vanagu, the international Latvian care organisation.
Gunars had his first article in English published in Australia as early as July 1949, but under a pseudonym, "Gordon Birch", which at least was in quotations marks to tell the readers it was not his real name. Whether the decision to use a pseudonym was Gunars or that of the editor of the Argus Weekend Magazine, I do not know, but suspect that the editor decided that Gunars Berzzarins would be too difficult for his (probably his) gentle readers.
The article explained to Australian readers why the displaced persons were coming to their country and dispelled some false ideas that had a risen already.
“Gordon Birch” wrote once more for English language readers, this time about sport, from one mention we have in the Lithuanian language press. Lithuanian Aldona Snarskytė was a rising table tennis star. The Sportas column of the Australijos lietuvis (Australian Lithuanian) dated 30 August 1952 reports that “Gordon Birch” had a long article about her in a publication called Sports News, in which he described her life and sporting achievements.
The only article I can find to fit this description is in Australijos lietuvis itself, in its English section of 11 October 1952. A footer on the same page contains the phrase “Sports News” in Lithuanian. (At that time, the foreign language press was allowed to publish only if it included a section in the English language.)
Gunars, the travel, food and sports writer
Travelling became a hobby. He had visited all Australian states before, in 1961, he left for New Zealand. Then he travelled 34 times to all continents, usually combining the trip with a sporting event. After his return, he would write about the places visited during the trip, first in Austrālijas latvietis, later in the US newspaper, Laiks (Time). These articles were collected in two books, Svešās zemēs esot jauki (Foreign Lands are Enjoyable) published in Latvia in 2000, and Part II, published in Australia in 2007.
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The cover of Gunars' first travel book
Source: Collection of the author |
He wrote and published Where to Dine in South Australia in 1976. This was his second book, the first being the story in Latvian of the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Melburnā 1956: sespadsmitas Olimpiskas Speles. Just as writing about the Olympic Games surely requires some attendance at events, Where to Dine in South Australia must have required what scientists call “fieldwork”.
The next year saw a move to Melbourne, where he wrote regularly for the Age newspaper’s annual Good Food Guide. More fieldwork must have been required. He lived in Melbourne until retirement in 1987. That was the year he co-authored The Age Cheap Eats as well.
He was asked to be the volunteer editor of the sports section in Austrālijas latvietis. He organised and led a group of Australian Latvian athletes to the first Latvian Global Championships in Garezer, Michigan, in 1985. The Pasaules Brīvo Latviešu Apvienība (World Association of Free Latvians) awarded him the Krišjānis Barons prize for special achievements in sports journalism in 1987.
He attended 7 Olympic Games, 7 world basketball championships, 5 European basketball championships, the Davis Cup in tennis, plus various athletics and cycling competitions. Some of his sports reporting was collected in a book called Draugos ar sportu piecos kontinentos (Friends with Sports on Five Continents) published in 2003.
Latvia proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union in May 1990 and regained its de facto independence in August 1991. From 1990, Gunars visited his homeland a number of times, writing up his observations in Austrālijas latvietis. They were collected into his sixth book (not counting the Age Good Food Guides or The Age Cheap Eats), Rīgas piezīmes 1990- 2003 (Riga Notes 1990-2003), published in 2004.
All this travel and sport attendance costs money, unlikely to have been covered by the sale of his books. Perhaps Gunars was able, as an accredited reporter, to attend sporting events for free or at a reduced rate, but he was not being paid for his journalism (except by the Melbourne Age). I would assume that Gunars was able to find work as an accountant, auditor or management consultant when not travelling but have not confirmed this.
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Gunars Berzzarins in later life
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Gunars is honoured
As far as I am aware, he is the only passenger from the first refugee voyage to Australia of the General Stuart Heintzelman to have received an honour from the Australia Government. On Australia Day 2012 he received a Medal of the Order of Australia for ‘service to the Latvian community, and to sport as an administrator and journalist’. This entitled him to the OAM postnominal.
Gunars’ death
Gunars died in Adelaide on 14 November 2015. He had reached the respectable age of 90. He had clearly found some things more interesting than economics to keep him engaged, active and contributing to the broader community in such a long life.
Sources
Advertiser (1950) ‘Berzarrins wins chess tourney’ Adelaide, 14 January, p 12 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50205342 accessed 2 January 2025.
Berzzarins, Gunars (2004) Personal communication, Adelaide, 6 January.
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