The collection of the Daugavpils University Oral History Centre (DU OHC) holds more than 90 life stories told by narrators whose lives have been closely connected with Bebrene. However, a dedicated field research expedition in the area had not previously been organised. As the residents of Bebrene and its surrounding area are particularly active in preserving and promoting the traditions of the Sēlija cultural region of Latvia, it was decided that this year’s DU OHC expedition would take place in Bebrene parish. The expedition took place on 10 August 2026, with the participation of students from Daugavpils University’s History and Philosophy study field. For most of the participants, DU OHC expeditions are an important part of their summers, while for two of the historians, the trip to Bebrene was their first experience of this kind of fieldwork. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Benita Štrausa, Head of the Bebrene Parish Administration; Ilona Driksne, Head of the Bebrene Library; Kristīne Rimeicāne, Cultural Affairs Coordinator; and Gunta Kivliša, a local history researcher, for their valuable support in organising the expedition. The experience gained in Bebrene demonstrates that even a small-scale expedition can be an effective way of documenting the memories and life stories of people from a particular locality. In one day, the students recorded the life stories of 12 people. The total duration of the audio recordings was 1,106 minutes, or approximately 18 hours. The narrators were born between the 1930s and the 1960s. The students returned home with a sense of satisfaction with what they had accomplished, as well as inspired by the warmth and openness of the people they had met. The expedition has strengthened their determination to continue recording the life stories of Bebrene parish residents and to organise further oral history expeditions in other parts of south-eastern Latvia.

The expedition was organised as part of the National Research Programme project “Navigating the Latvian History of the 20th – 21st Century: Social Morphogenesis, Legacy and Challenges” (VPP-IZM-Vēsture-2023/1-0003). The materials collected during the expedition are preserved in the DU OHC collection, which operates in accordance with the data protection legislation of the Republic of Latvia and are available to researchers in person.

Further information:
Laima Grišule Collection Curator, Daugavpils University Oral History Centre
Researcher, National Research Programme project “Navigating the Latvian History of the 20th – 21st Century: Social Morphogenesis, Legacy and Challenges”
laima.grisule@du.lv