1 the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR INTS M. SILINS Interviewed

The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR INTS M. SILINS Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: February 25, 1998 Copyright 2 11 ADST $Includes additional interviews in 2 9; editing and revisions completed March 2 11; te)t of journal added, TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born in Latvia; raised in Latvia and Maryland Latvia in World War II Escape to US Princeton University; Harvard University US Army Reserve Joined the State Department in 1969 State Department FSI; Vietnamese language training 1969-19.0 Pacification Program Tropical agricultural training in Tai0an Duc Thanh District Mekong Delta1 ,ietnam2 District Senior Advisor 1969-19.0 USAID Environment Agriculture Friendly fire casualties Impression of ,ietnam government Saigon1 ,ietnam2 Aide to Ambassador Ells0orth Bunker 19.0-19.3 Report critical of ,ietnam government Ambassador Bunker Wife1 Ambassador Carol aise Embassy officers Hamlet Evaluation System Military advisors 6eneral Duong ,an Minh Travel throughout ,ietnam 19.3 Peace Agreement Bucharest1 Romania2 Economic7Commercial Officer 19.3-19.8 1 Environment Ceausescu Ambassador Harry Barnes 6overnment Human Rights :Securitate; )e0ish emigration US commercial interests Romanian foreign policy Soviet Union Economy ,isit to Riga1 atvia State Department2 ine Officer1 Executive Secretariat 19.8-19.6 Overseas trips Henry Kissinger President Ford’s Philippines visit Relations 0ith NSC State Department2 Romania Desk Officer 19.6-19.8 Ceausescu’s US visit Ceausescu and 0ife Romania )e0ish emigration US policy Human Rights Marriage 19.8 Port au Prince1 Haiti2 Chief Political Officer 19.8-1980 Environment Baby Doc1 President for ife Economy Attack by Tontons Macoutes Racial classifications ocal resources Repatriated boat people anguage Contacts Crime State Department2 FSI2 Russian anguage Training 1980-1981 Comments on course eningrad1 Soviet Union2 Deputy Principal Officer 1981-1983 Environment Espionage Relations USSR Naval Base Soviet :bugging; 2 Security Intelligence gathering Operations Intelligentsia Baltics reporting K6B Political climate Baltic States OrganiAation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCEC )e0ish emigration ocal employees Andropov reforms Economy Stockholm1 S0eden2 Political Counselor 1983-1986 :Whiskey on the Rocks; submarine incident S0eden’s :neutrality; The Blackbird (SR-.1C protests Relations Olof Palme assassination S0eden military ocal media Political Parties 6overnment S0eden’s relations 0ith neighbors S0edish Aid Agency (SIDAC Chernobyl Harvard University2 Fello01 Center for International Affairs (CFIAC 1986-198. CFIA Program Noam Chomsky US-Soviet ChautauDua meetings )urmala program 6orbachev reforms Secretary of State Baker State Department2 Office of Soviet Union Affairs 198.-1989 Deputy Director for Bilateral Political Relations )im Baker US Soviet policy President Reagan 6orbachev reforms :6lasnost; Defectors Soviet Embassy Reagan-6orbachev meetings Office personnel Working environment 6ermany 3 Soviet espionage US intelligence gathering US-Soviet relations Strasbourg1 France2 Consul 6eneral2 U.S. Representative to the 1989-1991 Council of Europe OrganiAation membership Human Rights Origins ReDuirements for membership European Parliament European Community Soviet satellite delegations French-6erman relations Berlin Wall Soviet Union changes Baltic Reps. excluded from OSCE Paris Summit Meeting Soviet Baltic policy S0eden Baltic policy Riga1 atvia2 U.S. Ambassador to atvia 1992-1998 US recogniAes Baltic countries Establishing Embassy Environment Russian residents 6overnment Self-help policy Soviet unpaid troops atvian leadership Western Ambassadors Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Rannikh atvia-Russia relationship European Union atvia-Russia connections Poland Relation 0ith Scandinavians Non-6overnment organiAations (N6OsC Religious groups NATO Military Political Parties OrganiAed crime President Clinton visit Russian Fleet Economy Diplomat in Residence1 the University of Chicago 1998-199. Wife’s career activities Foreign Service recruitment E Harris School of 6raduate Public Policy Studies Baltic States Nation Building Conference Course on ShultA foreign policy Baltic-American attitudes Retirement 199. Election observer in Montenegro Family property manager in atvia U. S. Baltic Foundation 6eneral Comments N6O’s Chas Freeman Israel obby Addendum2 Riga Journal INTERVIEW /: Today is the 25th of February 1998. This is an interview with Ints M. Silins. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and I1m Charles Stuart Kennedy. 2ell, to begin with, can you tell me about when and where you were born and something about your family3 SI INS2 Ges. I 0as born in Riga1 atvia on March 281 19E2. Not perhaps the most auspicious time and place to enter the 0orld. /: I thin4 I 4now what you mean. SI INS2 Ges1 at the time of my birth atvia 0as being battered from both sides by the t0o arch-villains of the 20th century1 Hitler and Stalin. By the end of World War II1 atvia 0as to lose not only its independence but roughly a third of its population to execution1 deportation or emigration. It 0as hard to see that this story 0ould have a happy ending. In fact1 the day of my birth1 March 281 0as to become a national day of mourning1 to mark the deportation of over E01000 people to Siberia in 19E9. atvia’s story isn’t too 0ell kno0n1 so perhaps you’ll forgive me if I sketch some of the background. atvia first 0on independence in1920. )ust t0o decades later1 it 0as occupied and annexed by Soviet Russia after a deal bet0een Hitler and Stalin1 the infamous Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact. That occupation 0as accompanied and follo0ed by executions and deportations and a harsh internal regime that made most atvians very anxious to avoid a repetition if they could. 6ermany invaded the follo0ing year as Hitler’s forces pressed their assault on Soviet Russia. The 6ermans 0eren’t a great improvement on the 8 Russians. They compelled able-bodied atvian men1 my father among them1 to serve on the eastern front. Nevertheless many atvians1 0hile they had no love for fascism1 sa0 6ermany as the only possible counterforce to Stalin and hoped to develop an independent military force that1 0ith eventual help from the Allies1 might keep Russia at bay. The 6ermans 0ere in control of atvia at the time of my birth in 19E2. But in 19EE 6ermany’s defeat 0as looming1 as 0as the likelihood that the Russians 0ould be coming back to re-impose their brutal regime. So 0hen I 0as just t0o1 my mother and I joined thousands of other atvians 0ho fled the country as best they could1 mostly to S0eden or 6ermany. We made our 0ay to 6ermany and ended up spending five years there in various displaced person camps H DP camps1 as they 0ere called1 eventually in the American Aone. My father remained in atvia 0ith other soldiers holding out in the hope that the Allies 0ould come to their aid. That help did not come. They 0ere taken prisoner by Russian troops and sent to Siberia. A fe0 years later1 he died in a Soviet death camp. I have almost no reliable memories from my first t0o years in atvia and only sketchy ones from the DP camps in 6ermany. /: 2hat about the bac4ground of your family3 SI INS2 To tell you the truth1 I don’t kno0 a great deal about the background of my family. I kno0 that my father 0as a trained agronomist1 but I have no personal recollection of him since I probably only sa0 him fleetingly as an infant. My mother1 I think1 0orked for the government in some capacity. On my mother’s side1 my grandfather had a senior position in the ministry of agriculture. He also o0ned a small farm1 about .8 acres1 not far from Riga in a to0n 0ith the interesting name of Ogre1 and that’s 0here there are some pictures of me as a little kid1 t0o years and younger1 being chased by geese and that sort of thing. On my father’s side1 my grandfather 0as a notary and o0ned an attractive 0ooden house near the center of Riga that no0 houses a music school. So it 0as a family 0ith some roots in the countryside and farming as 0ell as having some professional education and 0orking for the government too. /: Do you 4now anything about the details of your mother going with you to 5ermany, and were there any other children3 SI INS2 There 0ere no other children. I 0as an only child1 and since I 0as only t0o years old 0hen 0e left atvia I don’t have any recollection of 0hat happened in atvia before 0e left. It might seem odd that I kno0 so little about it no01 but after I 0as old enough to talk to my mother about such things1 this is no0 of course in the States1 0hen I asked about our life in atvia and 0hat happened to my father and so forth1 it 0as obviously very stressful for her1 it 0ould make her cry1 and so I learned to avoid the subject. /: This is often the case in so many families who went through that, you 4now, horrendous time. 2hen do you start remembering things, what do you remember3 6 SI INS2 Well1 I remember Duite a lot beginning 0ith our arrival in the United States. I remember the trip to the U.S. vividly. We 0ere very fortunate" 0e got a seat on a returning American plane1 0e didn’t even have to go by ship as did most refugees1 0e fle0 to the U.S. I 0as just seven years old at the time1 and that 0as very exciting. /: This would have been about 1493 SI INS2 Summer of ’E91 )uly of ’E9. /: This would be under the Displaced Persons Act or something li4e that3 SI INS2 I believe so1 and thanks also to the utheran Relief Service. We had found a sponsor1 or rather a sponsor family had been found for us. A 0onderful Iuaker couple1 the Arthur Silvers1 had sponsored us1 meaning that they offered my mother a job and a place for us to live.

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