Come on, Missy.
Sit.
Paw.
Good girl.
Olly Murs is a pop star and presenter
who's sold over 28 million records worldwide.
He's one of the biggest stars to emerge
from TV singing competition The X Factor.
What's your name? My name is Olly.
What is your big dream?
Erm... To be a pop star. OK. Well, this is your chance.
The journey since 2009 has been a roller-coaster for me.
So much changed in my life.
You know, I was 25.
I went from working in a call centre
to selling out arenas, to getting number one albums.
Olly has entertained audiences around the world,
but has always returned to his roots here in Essex.
I think Essex gets a tough rap
because, actually, look how beautiful it is here today.
It's stunning.
I'm proud to be from Essex.
I'm proud to have been born in Essex.
And I love it.
Olly grew up in Witham,
one of three children to mum Vicky-Lynn and dad Pete.
Home life was special. It really was.
As a kid, we was always joking and laughing.
We always were singing.
# Show me the way to go home. #
It was fun.
I think people presume I'm just Olly Murs from Essex,
but actually there is a lot more going on there.
I know that I'm a quarter Latvian
and I think Murs is a Latvian surname, which my grandad Eddie had.
But he was a closed book.
And very tough, very quiet.
So the information I have on him is very little.
Apart from that, I know the Murs's, there's links with the circus.
So I would love to find out more about that.
My dad's been digging around this for years
to try and unearth his family history.
I really want to unlock them doors
that he has been struggling to open for all these years.
But my dad is actually convinced we're Vikings.
You have said this to me before.
HE ROARS
Olly lives with his wife Amelia, not far from where he grew up.
I'm excited for you. Do you think there's going to be any surprises?
Is it going to be... I don't know.
I guess there's got to be something.
So, me and Amelia just got married, which is super incredible.
She's a strong, independent woman, career driven.
But also she's won fitness competitions as a fitness model.
And I went and watched her once. It was just insane.
I think one of my motivations for doing this show
is to pass on this knowledge to my future children.
And the next time people ask me, "Where does Murs come from...?"
..I can go, "Have you got half an hour?"
And I can tell them the story.
And that would be cool.
It would be cool to understand exactly where I'm from and who I am.
So I'm off to see my dad today,
which is going to be very, very intriguing.
I know so much about my mum's side.
But sadly for me, my...
My dad's side, my grandparents died
and I didn't really get a chance to really speak to them
and get an understanding of our family history as Murs's.
So today is probably the first time that I can remember me and my dad
sitting down talking about the family with no-one else around.
My mum's not there.
We really struggle to have these kind of conversations.
So this is a real step for me and my dad.
Let's go and see the old man.
Hiya. Yes, Dad. How are you doing? You OK? Nice to see you.
So can you tell me more about your side?
I know that grandad Eddie was Latvian. Yeah.
Can you tell me more about that?
Well, he came over here when he was a teenager.
He never really spoke about his past
until I asked him, when he was a lot older.
And in 2002, I took Dad...
..back for the first time in nearly 50 years.
What's this? It's a video I took.
That's Riga, the capital. That's where he's from.
He wanted to go on this journey
to try and find out about his life there.
Look at him, he looks totally lost.
Yeah, I am. I am lost.
Oh, it's just so magical to hear his voice.
He told me more in those three days in Latvia
than he did at any other time.
And I went and got this.
What is this?
Eduards...
..Janko...
Oh, is this his birth certificate?
Yeah. That's an English translation of it.
I was going to say! I'll look at that one!
Oh, wow.
So Grandad was born on the 28th of January in 1932.
Yeah. Eduards.
So it's Eduards, not Eddie then? That's right.
Eduards. Eduards. Eduards Jankovskis.
Jankovskis. Jankovskis.
Eduards Jankovskis.
And if you notice the mother's name.
Veronika... Jankovska.
Jankovs...
What?
That's the female, Jankovska.
And Jankovskis is the male of the surname.
So he's not a Murs? No.
Hang on a minute. So where does the Murs come from, then?
My grandad.
Why is he not on here? They weren't married.
So who's... Who's...
Who's the great-grandad Murs, then?
This is your great-grandfather.
This is my great-grandfather.
What?
Hang on, hang on, hang on.
So who's this lady here?
That's his wife, Katrine.
Oh, my God. She's holding him up on a stilt.
On her shoulders, yeah. And he's playing the guitar!
He's playing the guitar, yeah. No way!
It's a great photo.
He used to sing songs up on there in the circus.
Wow.
So he was a circus performer?
Yeah, they were a double act in the circus.
I mean, I've done some amazing shows in my career...
..but that...
I mean, imagine if I turned up at the O2 like that!
Do you think Amelia would have me on her shoulders?!
She's probably strong enough!
I have here a marriage certificate
of your great-grandad, Eduards Murs and Katrine, his wife.
Oh, wow.
There's a translation.
Eduards Alberts Murs.
Alberts Murs. Love that.
And he was born on the 31st of October, 1890, in Riga.
Katrine Berzins was his wife.
Place of work was the Riga Salomonska Circus.
That's right. Yeah.
Oh, wow.
They got married on the 5th of December, 1929.
Grandad Eddie was born in 1932.
So he had an affair with Veronika?
I guess so, yeah.
Did Katrine know that?
Eventually she must have done, yeah,
because my dad went to live with my grandad.
Wow, man.
That's crazy.
During the Second World War, because it was so bad,
Veronika, your great-grandma, decided that it would be good
for my dad to get out of Riga.
So she handed my dad over to his dad across a bridge when he was 12,
to take him away somewhere safe.
Wow.
Me dad said to me she never turned around or waved.
She just walked away and he never saw her again.
It's heartbreaking, actually.
He told me in Latvia that he didn't think his mum loved him any more,
for giving him away.
And he never spoke to her, ever, after that?
Never reached out, nothing?
In the 1960s and early '70s,
Veronika managed to contact my dad through letters
and my dad chose to ignore them.
He told himself that his mum didn't want him any more,
and I suppose that was a way of dealing with it.
And, erm, he was very remorseful that he never replied to her.
And we don't know what happened to her in later life.
Really sad that your dad felt like that.
I would love to find out what happened to Veronika...
..and where she was buried.
I really, really hope that I can uncover
the mystery of Veronika, my great-grandmother,
as well as finding out more about Eduards Alberts Murs.
And I think I obviously have to go to Latvia.
That's where I've got to start, right? That's right. Riga in Latvia.
Olly has found out that his
great-grandfather, Eduards Alberts Murs,
was a circus performer who was in a double act with his wife, Katrine.
He's also discovered that Eduards had an affair
with his great-grandmother, who was called Veronika Jankovska.
The family know very little about her,
except that she last saw her son, Olly's grandad Eddie,
when he was just 12 years old.
Olly is travelling to Latvia's capital city, Riga.
Look at it. It looks amazing.
I feel like, why have I never not come here before?
It's a long way from home.
Erm, yeah. It's not... This is definitely not Essex now.
I'm here in Latvia.
In Riga!
He's starting by trying to trace the circus
where his great-grandfather Eduards and his wife Katrine performed.
OK, so I left Essex with this amazing photo
of my great-grandad Eduards, and Katrine.
They were circus performers here in Riga.
They were in the Salomonska Circus.
A bit nervous to see what I find.
Riga circus.
Ah!
It is still a functional circus.
I've got to go and find it. I've got to go and have a look at it, surely.
All right, let's go.
I was expecting the circus
to be in a field somewhere, with a massive tent.
But it's here.
Oh, here it is. Cirks.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
I'm actually...
I'm really nervous.
This is going to be mental.
Wow.
This is not what I expected at all.
It's insane.
This could actually be where my great-grandad and his wife stood
and did that performance.
Wow.
Hello!
Can you hear me?
Olly's meeting the circus's archivist, Elvira Avota.
Hello. Welcome.
Wow. It's a pleasure. Olly. Lovely to meet you.
Elvira. Nice to meet you.
Elvira, this place is insane.
Yeah.
And obviously, I'm trying to find out if my great-grandad,
Eduards Alberts Murs, performed here.
Yes. We have some evidence that he did. He did?
With his wife, together, yes. Wow.
We have some things that I could show you about them.
Oh, please. Yeah, I'd love to see them. Thank you.
So here is a little example from a Riga newspaper about their show.
That's incredible.
This discipline usually is called Perch Act.
And this performance is quite unique
because the holding person is a woman.
Wow.
So he's hanging by his teeth while playing guitar.
He's holding himself up by his mouth? Yes. What?!
And at the same time, his wife, Katrine,
is holding him on her shoulders and also playing a little accordion
and spinning at the same time, yes.
I mean, I'm a performer myself. Mm-hm. But that is next level.
I don't know if I've got that in my locker! Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
And this was in the newspaper? Yes.
And there was also a description about the show.
So I would say that their performance
was one of the highlights
because they were the only ones who had the picture.
And their performance was called Murr and Mure.
Mura Mure? Murr and Mure, yes.
Wow. OK.
And they performed in the 1920s and 1930s.
Why Murr and Mure?
Local artists were not that popular.
The audience was interested in something more exotic.
So that's why most of the artists' names are more French.
They're sort of still using the name Murs...
Yeah. They keep the root of the word, yeah. Yeah.
But we're going to mix it up a little bit and make it more flamboyant. Yeah. Amazing.
I have this postcard, which usually was used as a memorabilia.
And this is them? Yes.
This is mad.
He looks so cool.
And, yeah, she looks strong. Yeah.
That, for me, is like merchandise that would be handed out.
And that's something that I do a lot when I do tours or... Yeah.
There's me thinking I was the only Murs that did all that!
So how often would they be doing a performance?
So here performances happened every day,
because they could perform here for only one month a year.
So just one month of shows and they would move to a different city or a different place?
Usually, yes. Wow.
That is a newspaper clipping from Finland.
Finland? Yes.
The Sirkus MAXIM programme. Oh, wait there a minute.
I'm just trying to find Murs.
So I have also a translation of this. OK.
"Circus MAXIM is a mix of the best talent from the mainland.
"Just to mention a few attractions from the artists' programme.
"The original strength gladiators,
"Momino with their funny trained dogs,
"Mademoiselle Verona."
Oh! "A unique and music achievement in balance."
Is that them, The Morello? Yes.
Oh, what's The Morello? That's different. Yes.
So they changed the names sometimes,
when they performed in a different place.
I see that it was in 1931.
My great-grandad, Eduards,
had an affair with a woman called Veronika.
And my grandad, Eddie, was born in 1932.
And it's like, was she on this...
I mean, was she on the circus with them? I don't know.
Because, I mean, even looking on this, it says "Mademoiselle Verona".
Was she around? How did he meet her?
So that is something that I don't know how to help you with.
But you can go to the state historical archives
and maybe they can help.
I appreciate it, and thank you so much for this information.
It's great. Now, I need to go and rethink my stage name!
Maybe a little bit more French!
A bit more French.
Murr and Mure!
Love it.
To be here, where my great-grandad Eduards used to perform, feels amazing.
It feels like we've connected in a way.
As a performer, I'm super proud of him.
And then on the flip side to it,
he wasn't the most loyal husband, it seemed.
So that for me is a little bit of a hard one to get my head around,
because that's not the kind of husband that I want to be.
And I'm starting to think whether Veronika
was on the road as part of this act.
There's still more to this story.
And where it goes, I don't know, but that's the next step.
Let's see if I can still do a bit of this.
Ta-da!
To see how his great-grandparents Eduards Murs
and Veronika Jankovska's lives may have crossed...
..Olly has come to the Latvian State Historical Archives
to meet head archivist Rita Bogdanova.
Hi, Rita. Hello. Lovely to meet you.
So the story that I know so far is that my great-grandad, Eduards,
had an affair with a woman called Veronika,
which was my grandad Eddie's mum.
So I'd love to know if you've found anything
about this mystery woman, really, who we have no information about.
Yeah. OK.
We have some information and I will show you the first file, which is...
..the birth registration entry for your great-grandmother, Veronika.
Here is her name in Russian.
Can you read it? I have no...
So this is in Russian? Yeah.
Because by that time when Veronika was born,
Latvia was part of the Russian Empire.
And do you have that translated into English? Yeah.
So, Veronika was born on the 17th of August, 1909. Right.
She was daughter to Josiph and Tekla. Right.
Your great great-grandparents.
My great great-grandparents. Wow.
And it was in Dvinsk?
Dvinsk. Where is Dvinsk?
Dvinsk is an old name that was renamed to Daugavpils.
It's situated in the east of Latvia.
So doing the math, my great-grandad, Eduards, was born in 1890.
So he's a good...
..20 years older than Veronika!
So I'm really intrigued how they met and found each other at some point.
Oh, OK. I will show you.
The archives has a very large collection of passports.
We are lucky to have among them
the passport of your great-grandmother, Veronika.
No way!
Oh, wow.
And there she is.
That's my great-grandma.
It's amazing to see her photo. That's just insane.
This passport was issued on April 25th, 1931.
By that time, she lived in Riga.
Oh, right.
So she was 21 and living in Riga.
And if we open this...
OK, so what am I looking at here?
So you can see here, so...
Oh, it's in English. Phew!
It's a work permit for Veronika.
Permit to work for the Circus Maxim in different Finnish regions.
Starting from the 27th of April, 1931.
So she was in the circus as well?
Yeah. Oh, that makes sense now.
So she went to Finland. Right.
And...
..I know that my great-grandad, Eduards, was in Finland at one point.
So they must have met in the circus.
Is that correct?
So here is the passport of your great-grandfather, Eduards,
and his wife, Katrine.
Oh, my God.
No way! I mean, this is phenomenal.
Wow. There's my great-grandad, Eduards.
Katrine.
And, of course, now the missing piece...
..Veronika.
I will show you...
Look at this.
OK. It's a...
..working permit for Veronika.
And this is a working permit for Eduards and Katrine.
Ah, that's the same. The same.
So they would have been in Finland at the same time. Right.
OK.
Interesting.
Here is an article in a Finnish newspaper about circus.
So please look at it...
In 1931.
So I've seen this before
and I did notice that there was a Mademoiselle Verona.
Right. Would that be her?
Yeah, definitely.
Wow.
"Mademoiselle Verona, the daredevil trapeze artist."
Right. My great-grandma was a trapeze artist?
Trapeze artist.
That's amazing.
Here is another article from the Finnish newspaper,
dated August 1931.
Wow.
"In previous years, Circus Maxim
"has been the best of the circuses touring our country
"and this year it has got even better.
"We cannot help but mention Miss Verona, the trapeze artist,
"because she truly deserves this title.
"Her act, in which she performs gymnastics on a trapeze
"high up, close to the roof of the tent, is a sight for sore eyes."
So she was the main attraction.
Mm-hm. Wow. Amazing.
So this article was on the 14th of August, 1931.
We know that my grandad Eddie...
..was born in January 1932.
Right.
So he was conceived during this period, right?
Yeah. It's right.
And to the time when this article was written,
when she performed trapeze,
she was four months' pregnant with your grandfather.
Wow. And she's up doing a trapeze act.
She's up. Right.
Wow. That is some...
That is incredible.
So my grandad Eddie was up there in the sky,
not knowing what was going on, flying around.
What a woman. What an incredible woman.
Olly can now take his paternal family tree back four generations.
He's discovered that his great great-grandparents
were called Tekla Jankovska and Josiph Jankovskis,
who lived more than 100 miles from Riga.
But what happened to their daughter, his great-grandmother Veronika,
after she returned to Riga from the circus in Finland,
is still a mystery.
So, Olly's meeting historian Imants Serelis,
who's taking him to the apartment Veronika moved into in 1932,
whilst heavily pregnant with his grandfather, Eddie.
So here we are.
And this is the... This is the flat.
No way!
This is where my great-grandma, Veronika, lived. Exactly.
It feels amazing to be here. It really does.
Did Veronika have my grandad here?
We know that Eddie was born in Riga First City Hospital.
It's not far from here.
So definitely this flat was the first home for the newborn Eddie.
So this is where it began for him. This is the first home. Exactly.
And Veronika is only 22.
It's her first baby and she comes back here on her own.
Yeah, so... Wow, that must have been so scary.
The situation must have been really, really hard financially
and also emotionally.
Yeah.
And how long did they stay here for?
Not very long.
They moved out in April 1932.
And we have a document and it's an employment questionnaire
for unemployed persons to get some help from the state.
And you can see here the surname.
Jankovskis. Yeah.
But here we have another name.
Tekla.
Ah, that's her mum. Yes. Veronika's mother.
And to make it easier, we have a translation.
So Tekla has gone to the state to ask for money to help?
Exactly. Yes. OK. So...
And then here...
The family consists of obviously her husband. Yes.
And then Eduards, my grandad?
Yes. It's a grandson.
So he went to live...
..with his grandparents.
Without Veronika. Without Veronika.
And it's in Daugavpils. Ah, right. OK.
That's where she grew up. Yes.
The 13th of June, 1932.
So she had my grandad Eddie, probably for a few months,
and has then given him to... It seems so. ..her parents.
Obviously she was a young mum and she needed help. Yeah.
Do we know where Veronika went?
So we have a...
..photograph from a newspaper from April 1932.
Wow. The same year when Eddie was born.
She looks fantastic. I mean... Yeah.
And it says Miss Verona,
gymnast on trapeze in the new circus programme.
So she went back out working again on the circus.
Just a couple of months after Eddie's birth.
I mean, it's just mind-blowing.
There she is, onstage straight away, on the trapeze.
The decision for her to give her baby away
and to keep working in a circus,
it must have been a hard, hard decision.
She needed to get back to work and she needed the money.
I know that my grandad came back to Riga at some point,
and he has said that he lived...
..with his mum.
So is that true?
So we have a house book,
and this is from the year 1939.
So seven years after Eddie's birth.
Each apartment building in Riga had this kind of book at that time,
and it records all inhabitants of every single apartment.
OK, so this is the...
..21st of... September.
Veronika Jankovskis... And below.
And Eduards. So that's grandad Eddie.
Yeah. So she has her son now? Yes. Which is lovely.
But September 1939, the Second World War begins.
And the war, of course, changes everything for Latvia
and also for your family.
Can you give me that information or have I... You have to find it out.
OK, I will do. Detective Murs is here!
By the start of the Second World War,
Latvia had been an independent country for nearly 20 years.
But in June 1940, the Soviet Union, which included Russia, moved in,
quickly occupying the country.
Led by dictator Joseph Stalin.
At the time, Olly's great-grandfather Eduards,
his wife Katrine, and his great-grandmother Veronika
and grandad Eddie all lived in Riga.
To find out what happened to them,
Olly has come to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia,
where he's meeting historian Peteris Celms.
Hi, Peteris.
I'm at this point in my family's history
that the Second World War begins.
What does that mean for my family?
So the Soviets take over the country and then everything changes.
The currency was replaced by worthless Soviet money.
Bank accounts were confiscated.
Large private land-holdings are confiscated.
But the real shock happens almost a year after the occupation.
In June 1941, in one night,
over 15,000 people in Latvia were rounded up
and deported in cattle cars to labour camps in Siberia.
Then, just over a week later,
Nazi Germany invaded Soviet-occupied Latvia
and soon took control of the country.
During the Nazi occupation, more than 70,000 Latvian Jews
and 20,000 Jews deported from other countries were murdered there.
It's just... It's just awful, isn't it?
Absolutely. Such a horrendous time.
What happened to my family?
Like most of the population, they try to survive.
And I think the next document shows a sort of attempt
to establish some kind of a domestic life.
Oh, wow.
So Veronika gets married? Yes.
She marries a fellow named Voldemars Eiche.
In 1942? Yes.
What happens after that?
Well, the next document unfortunately shows
that the marriage doesn't last.
My God, what happened?
OK, so divorce suit against Veronika Eiche
on December 17th, 1943.
"The court decided to dissolve the marriage
"that Voldemars Vladimirs Eiche
"has concluded with Veronika Jankovskis."
So it didn't last long. It was only a year. Correct.
"Who got the husband's surname upon the conclusion of marriage."
So she kept the name, which is interesting.
It could mean a lot of different things.
One possibility is that Eiche, which is a common Latvian name,
is actually a German name by its background.
So she may have been thinking having that surname will help long term
if the country continues to be occupied by Germany.
Possibly. Bless Veronika, she's been through a real journey.
What happens next?
What happens next is the war comes back to Latvia.
By mid 1944, Nazi Germany had lost significant ground to Soviet forces.
The Red Army was once more approaching Riga,
where Olly's family were still living.
People really did fear a new Soviet occupation.
Partly because it was whipped up very, very aggressively by Nazi propaganda.
But even if they disbelieved it,
many didn't want to be in a Soviet-occupied country.
Yeah. The Germans themselves are organising a big evacuation
of the civilian population westwards to Germany, on ships.
If you're in Latvia at that point,
you've got decisions to make, haven't you? Very much.
Your family then has to make a decision whether to stay in Latvia
to try to let the front ride over them
and be in a Soviet-occupied Latvia again,
or to go west as the German army evacuates.
Yeah.
So I know that obviously my grandad left Latvia
during the Second World War, with his dad.
Correct. And his wife, Katrine.
And the next document actually shows one step in that direction.
It's a house registry book.
I can see Eduards Jankovskis here, which is my grandad.
And this was in 1944.
Correct.
So I know that my grandad is 12 at this point.
OK. So this is the interesting bit, isn't it?
Because when and where he went after leaving this property -
and it says Germany on the 5th of September, 1944.
So that would have been a decision made by his parents...
It must have been. ..by Veronika and obviously his dad, Eduards.
Correct. Thousands of people were being forced
to make that kind of decision for safety.
I still...
..can't understand why Veronika didn't go with them.
There could have been 100 reasons that they separated.
It could have been possible that she applied for evacuation and was turned down.
We'll never know.
And it must have been really difficult for her to have done that.
And I think it was the best decision for him.
And the saddest thing of this story
is that my grandad had such anger towards her,
of how he felt he was sort of abandoned and left.
Yeah.
The Second World War really did have a massive effect on my family.
Enormous.
Today for me was a real eye-opener.
I think my great-grandmother, Veronika,
made a really bold decision at that bridge that day
to say goodbye to her son, knowing that he might come home,
but he might not.
And sadly, my grandad never got to see his mum again.
He had a lot of trauma in his life from a very, very early age,
and that stuck with him to the day he died.
He was very subdued. He was quiet.
It's made me understand why he was the way he was.
I just wish he could have understood her decisions.
And I really wish I could go back 20 or 30 years and say to him,
"Look, Grandad, reach out, call your mum."
I'm now intrigued to see what happened in Germany.
And then how my grandad got to the UK.
To find out about his family's journey to Germany,
Olly's meeting Marianna Auliciema from the Latvians Abroad Museum.
Marianna, lovely to meet you. Yes, nice to meet you too.
I'm at a real pivotal moment in my family's life.
My great-grandad, Eduards, and Katrine
have decided to take my grandad on a boat to Germany.
Well, thousands of Latvian civilians left Latvia at that time as refugees
and many of them left from here in Riga.
So this is an example of one of the boats
that was leaving the port at that time.
Wow. So it was very chaotic.
Lots of people there, busy.
I actually have more documents to show you on the boat just behind us.
Would you like to come with me to the boat? I will, yes. Great. Wow. Let's do it.
So where did my great-grandad Eduards, and Katrine,
and of course my grandad Eddie, end up?
So this is a registration card
for a refugee camp from Neustadt in Germany,
where your grandfather Eddie was living
together with his father, your great-grandfather Eduards,
and his wife, Katrine, by the time the war ends in 1945.
Wow.
So this is for Eduards Murs.
But if you have a look at his birth date...
The 28th of the first, 1932. So this was my grandad's.
Yeah, but here you'll notice his surname has also changed.
Of course! Do you know, I didn't even...
I'm so oblivious.
My grandad is finally using the name Murs.
That's so interesting because obviously he was Jankovskis,
his mum's surname for so long.
And now that he's with his dad,
maybe he felt it was time for him to change his name and be a Murs.
And that is why now I am.
And then I wanted to show you this.
That's your... Oh, wow. ..grandad. That's my grandad, Eddie. Eddie.
Look at him posing.
He's about 15 here.
It's 1947 and he's living in this refugee camp.
He's obviously in deep thought.
Is he thinking of his mum? Is he thinking of...
..you know, is this going to change?
Am I going to be able to go home?
Do we know how long they were in that refugee camp for?
The camps themselves were only places where they had refuge for a short amount of time,
and they had to think about where they could go next.
And Latvia at the time was still occupied by the Soviet Union.
And often Latvians were scared to go back.
And as you know, your family ended up in the UK.
And I'd just like you to have a look at this.
This is your great-grandad, Eduards.
Look at my great-grandad.
Amazing.
He looks so different to the photos that I'd seen before.
Now we're in 1948, so he would have been 58 there.
58.
So what is this?
So it's an ID card that he would have had in the refugee camps.
And this stamp in the middle shows you the date
and where he went, which is...
Har... Harwich. Harwich. Wow. That's up the road from us in Essex.
That's in Essex, isn't it, Harwich.
They came to the UK on the 10th of May, 1948.
That's right. At Harwich.
So thousands of Latvians ended up going to the UK
to help with labour shortages.
And some of them stayed like your family and made happy lives there.
Yeah.
They ended up in the UK and never left Essex.
Amazing.
It was so incredible to see the journey that my family went on.
Obviously it was a tough journey, but along that process,
my grandad took the Murs name and that was a really cool thing to see.
But what happened to my great-grandma Veronika when she was here on her own?
What did she do?
For me, she's still the mystery of this story,
and I still want to find them answers.
To uncover what happened to his great-grandmother, Veronika,
after she stayed in Latvia,
Olly is heading to the Latvian State Archives.
It holds thousands of once top-secret files
linked to the Soviet occupation of the country,
which lasted until 1991.
As part of the Soviet Union, Latvia was strictly controlled,
with restricted contact with the West.
It was also closely policed by a security and intelligence agency
later known as the KGB.
Olly is meeting historian Daina Bleiere.
Daina, it's lovely to meet you.
I'm at the mysterious part of my story.
My great-grandmother, Veronika, stayed here in Latvia.
And I just want to know what happened next.
This is a criminal file.
And this is in Russian.
And here is Eiche, Veronika.
So Veronika was arrested on this... Arrested?
Arrested, yes.
On December 15th, 1950, when this criminal case was started.
Wow, I'm just trying to process that she's been...
My great-grandma has just been arrested.
You can see here.
Oh, wow. That's her fingerprint.
Incredible to see that.
It was made after her arrest.
I mean, what's she been arrested for?
On March 5th, 1951,
there was a court hearing in Veronika's case.
OK. So on the 5th of March, 1951, it's the case against Veronika.
According to the Criminal Code, 5810.
Article 58, section ten, was on political crimes,
mainly anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation.
OK.
She was interrogated about anti-Soviet statements.
So she's been arrested for an anti-Soviet statement?
Yes. OK.
To say something anti-Soviet was a crime under Soviet rule,
especially in Stalin's time.
In 1951, people could be sentenced just, for example, telling jokes
about Soviet leaders or criticising Soviet system.
So basically, anyone that said anything negative
towards the Soviet Union, they could be arrested.
It was propaganda against the Soviet Union. Yeah.
So did my great-grandmother plead guilty or not guilty to this case?
No, she pled not guilty.
OK. It shows that she was quite brave woman.
Because in most cases, people pled guilty
due to pressure from investigators, due to torture and so on.
Here is her testimony.
So this is her testimony in court.
Yes. OK.
"It was only a political conversation.
"I approached the table where the witnesses were seated.
"At that point, I had something to drink..."
So I'm presuming that it was an alcoholic drink.
"I didn't say anything critical about the Soviet Government.
"I did not criticise communism."
So she's explaining that she didn't do anything wrong.
So what was the outcome?
Yes, the outcome was here.
It is judgment of the court.
And here we have a translation.
Oh, my God.
EXHALING:OK.
Erm...
"So having reviewed the case of the accused,
"we find that the accused, Eiche,
"expressed anti-Soviet statements in a public place,
"and at the same time telling lies
"about the leaders of the Soviet state.
"The highest court rules to convict the accused."
Wow.
I mean, that is...
So here is her sentence.
"Veronika, according to 5810 P1 of the Criminal Code,
"is imprisoned in a corrective labour camp for eight years."
Eight years!
"This judgment is final and there is no opportunity for appeal."
Yes.
It was a very harsh sentence, really.
I mean, she's having a conversation in the bar
and that has basically cost her eight years of her life.
Yes.
That is just brutal.
Absolutely. I can't believe it.
So I need to find out now what happened in the prison
and what happened when she came out.
This will be the next step of your investigation, really.
Yeah.
My great-grandmother had such a difficult time. She really did.
Yeah. The story... Those were tough times. Really tough times for her.
And very difficult for many people,
who become victims for nothing, really.
To find out what happened to his great-grandmother, Veronika,
after she was sentenced,
Olly is going to the former headquarters of the KGB in Latvia,
where she was interrogated.
The building is now a museum...
..where Olly is meeting historian Genst Appauls.
Obviously, I know that my great-grandmother, Veronika,
was sent to prison.
So I'm just trying to find more information about that.
So that was from the Soviet Ministry of State Security,
the predecessor of the KGB,
concerning imprisonment of your great-grandmother.
And here you have a translation.
OK. Obviously she's been sentenced to eight years at a labour camp.
And here's the address here, isn't it?
Yes, indeed.
Conditions were surely horrible because food was insufficient
and they had to perform hard labour on a daily basis.
So many people did not survive that imprisonment.
Under Stalin, millions of people were sent to Soviet labour camps.
Prisoners, like Olly's great-grandmother Veronika,
were forced into hard labour, often in extreme temperatures.
Over a million people died of exhaustion, starvation or disease.
A key part of Stalin's reign of terror,
the number of camps reduced after his death in 1953.
Initially, your great-grandmother was imprisoned
in a forced labour prison camp under harsh conditions for two years.
But in 1953, she was transferred to a different place.
To the Molotov Oblast in the Russian Federation.
In Russia? Yes.
OK. Well, let's have a look at this then.
So she was convicted in 1951, but in 1956, on the 29th of April,
a commission decision was taken to release her from imprisonment
in Molotov Oblast Colony, when they closed the colony.
So she was released in 1956.
So she survived?
Yes, she did, and she was lucky to survive. Amazing.
So she was supposed to stay for eight years,
but was fortunate to come out after five, which is great.
Yes, indeed.
But I also wanted to introduce another document to you.
OK.
Because after returning to Latvia in 1956,
she started looking for somebody.
So when she came out of prison, she went back to Latvia.
Yes, she came back.
Well, I can... I can see the name straight away.
Erm...
Eduardu Murru-Jankovski.
And I can see my grandad's date of birth there - 1932.
So what... What is this?
There is also a short translation.
Ah, so it's relatives looking and waiting for you in the homeland.
So this is...
Is this from Veronika? Is this from my great-grandmother?
Yes. So she's trying to find... Indeed.
..her son, Eduards Murru Jankovskis, born the 28th of January, 1932.
And it's being searched for by Eiche, Veronika.
Basically, she published an advert in 1957, in a newspaper.
And this is not the only example.
We know that your great-grandmother continued publishing such adverts
in newspapers published in the West.
And also she was trying to approach the International Red Cross,
looking for...
Wow. She really was trying to find her son.
Yes, she did her best.
And right after returning from imprisonment.
My grandad felt abandoned as a child
and felt that his mum didn't love him.
But this looks like she really cared.
After such a horrific five years, being in prison,
she was trying to find her son.
I was wondering when she'd passed, and when she died.
Well, erm...
That is her death certificate.
Oh.
OK, so I can see the date.
So she... She died in 1988?
Yes, in 1988.
And do you know where she's buried?
Erm, yes. We managed to find this information.
She was buried in a cemetery, which is in the vicinity of Riga.
But she was buried in section 13.
Basically, she was buried by the state
because she did not have any relatives left.
Oh.
That's very sad. Yeah.
So she had no family here?
No. Oh.
I mean, you know, when you're on a journey like this,
you feel like you get to know someone just a little bit.
And knowing that she died with no-one there, that's really sad.
Today was an emotional day for me.
I feel that there was a lot of information to take in.
Things I didn't expect.
And to hear that my great-grandmother died in 1988
with no family around her...
..it really saddens me.
She had a son, she had grandchildren,
and she had great-grandchildren at the time of her death.
It's just a shame that none of us could have been there for her at that point.
Olly is travelling to the outskirts of Riga,
to the cemetery where
his great-grandmother, Veronika, is buried.
I feel like it's been a crazy few days.
But to go and visit my great-grandmother's grave today is, erm...
Yeah, I suppose there's part of me
that's sort of looking forward to being close to her,
and I never thought I'd feel like that.
One of the biggest things my dad asked me
was, he would like to know where she was buried.
So the fact that we're heading there now...
..it's a really special moment for me.
With no family to pay for her funeral,
Olly's great-grandmother, Veronika, was buried in an unmarked grave.
So where I am now is area 13.
This is the area that she was buried in.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have a plaque or a stone.
But it gives me some peace because it is a beautiful area.
It really is. It's a beautiful cemetery.
Bless my...
..my great-grandmother.
She had such a... She had such sad moments in her life.
Yeah.
I hope that she's at peace now.
And I'm happy that I'm able to give my dad some answers on her life.
That's... That's the key thing.
All right, Olly? All right, Dad. You OK?
Not too bad. How did you get on?
Well, it has been one hell of a journey, Dad, let me tell you.
I've found out so much stuff. Yeah.
Currently, right now, I'm actually stood
where my great-grandmother,
your grandmother, Veronika, was buried.
Oh, right. So you are... Wow.
It's very emotional because I know my dad would love to have found her grave.
Mm. He'd have probably said sorry...
..for not answering those letters.
Don't get emotional. You'll make me go.
Erm, yeah.
Well, you know, he...
He had his reasons, Dad, you know.
It's sad.
But we can go and visit grandad's grave and say,
"Look, we found her", you know? Yeah.
Yeah. And we can always come and visit this as a family.
Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you, Oliver.
Fantastic.
I just can't wait to see it all.
I just can't wait to see what information you found.
All right. Well, I love you loads. I love you, too.
And I'll see you when you get back. Bye. Bye.
Wow. That was, erm...
I've never seen my dad cry, actually.
It was, erm...
Yeah, it was quite...
Quite emotional to see him cry and get upset.
Erm, I think...
I think, I don't know, just seeing him emotional is just...
I feel like I've done something really special
for him and the family.
I'm just really happy. I'm happy that I've been able to do this.
And, you know, I've...
I've been able to kind of find that peace for him, so that's nice.
When I started this trip, I barely knew anything about my family.
I feel like it's taken me on a journey that I never expected.
I feel like me and my dad, our relationship will change after this.
There's something deeper now.
And my dad can come back here and, like me,
feel connected to Latvia and feel like it's part of us.
I feel part of Latvia now.
I feel really connected to my family
more than I ever have been, really.
I have learned so much about my family history...
..how and why it shaped me to the person I am today.
You know, I feel really proud to be a Murs.