The poet’s love Milda Grīnfelde and the collection «The Gift of Heaven» / Article / LSM.lv

Alexander Chuck has dedicated a collection of poems “Gift of Heaven” to his last love, Milda Grīnfelde, which was not published during his own life. The manuscripts in the collection were somewhere. One Chuck was buried during World War II and could not be found later. Several years after Chuck’s death, one of the manuscripts again fell into Milda’s hands.

“That’s what poets have, they always need a source of inspiration,” Antra Medne, a researcher of Alexander Chuck’s life and creative work, begins the story of the poet’s last love in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras Rondo”. Two unusual personalities met during World War II and went together for a while.

In 1943, at a very difficult time, Aleksandrs Čaks met Milda Grīnfelds. The two met at the birthday party of the writer Jānis Rudzītis, where they spent the whole evening in nice conversations.

Alexander has decided that Milda should be taken home. They have agreed at the doorstep that they will meet every Wednesday in the future, and they will be literary afternoons.

A researcher of Chuck’s life and creativity says that every week the poet Milda Grīnfelde brought a poem. She collected them and in the autumn of 1943 showed them to Miķelis Gopper, the head of the Zelta ābele publishing house, where he worked as a typist. “Reading the poems, he realized that they are very good, but there is no money. Wartime, can not be issued. In order for Chuck not to think of taking these poems to someone else, it was decided to draw up a contract and pay him an advance, ”reveals Antra Medne. After all, the book publisher Miķelis Goppers left his homeland in 1945 and went into exile to Sweden, and he does not publish the collection of poems “Gift of Heaven”.

Antra Medne reveals interesting facts about the manuscript of the collection, it is known that there were three copies, two in handwriting, one in typescript: “One stayed with Michael Gopper and one with Chuck when . Milda also went there, but she had something to do and had to go back to Riga. A German patrol was standing on the Lielupe bridge, and Milda feared that the manuscript of “Gifts of Heaven” could be taken away from her if there was a search. She asked Chuck to keep it with him. Chuck later said he buried the manuscript in the garden of Peterson’s summer house. ” After that, Chuck could no longer find it.

Alexander Chuck died without experiencing the publication of the poetry collection “Gift of Heaven”.

Many years after Chuck’s death, Milda Grīnfelde received a manuscript of “The Gift of Heaven.” It had somehow reached the artist Jānis Liepiņš, and he gave it to Čaka’s beloved Milda.

Antra Medne says: “The first publication of the collection“ Gift of Heaven ”was only in 1980. In such a small, small collection with soft lids. Many years later, together with the artist Wilipson, we published the “Gift of Heaven” for the second time. We wanted the collection to be very beautiful. ”

During the friendship of Greenfeld and Chuck, another work is being created – the poem “Daddy Soldier”. Medne reveals the story of the creation of this work: “During the Second World War, Mikēlis Goppers called Milda Grīnfelde and asked her to write a poem for Latvian soldiers that would stimulate them and support them on the battlefield. During the conversation, Milda looked at Chuck in despair and said that hardly. Chuck said to agree. He wrote the poem and Milda took it to Gopper. The book was published in 50,000 copies and was given as a free copy to each soldier. ” Although she did not write the work herself in Milda’s name, Greenfeld wrote more than one poem during her lifetime.

You can also read about the relationship between the two loved ones in the letters saved by Milda. And it was in Milda Grīnfelde’s apartment that the poet also passed away. It was February 8, 1950. Antra Medne says that he had visited Milda after another call to the Corner House. At that time, Chuck was called to the Corner House from time to time in connection with the “cosmopolitan” case he was accused of.

In the last stage of Aleksandrs Čaks’ life and in the repressive atmosphere of the Latvian literary environment in the second half of the 1940s, a detailed insight was provided by the book “Cosmopolitan Case and Aleksandrs Čaks” published by LU professor Silvija Radzobe in 2017.

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