Birkhan

6 Names: Birkhans (Birkāns), Mednis, Robežnieks, Grants, Kronbergs, Leikarts

11 cards

The postcards belonged to the family that owned a photograph workshop "Konkurence" in Ventspils.

The information about the description of postcards can be found in another Page.

Birkhan - 1
1. Name.	P.Birkhan, st. Kolchugino, Wladimir prov. Freight cashier Ryabchikow for passing to the addressee.
4. Dates.	S - 23-Dec-1915, R - 5-Jan-1916
6. Sender.	Otto Birkhan from Kertch (a town in Crimea)
9. Text.	Otto wishes merry Christmas to his brother and hopes that next year at Christmas they both will be in the Homeland. He waits a photo from him
10. Picture.	The kurgan (tomb-hill) of a Tzar. May be near Kertch, I do not know.
11. Comments.	On the backside of the card there are different additional inscriptions made much later - person names Pauls and Klaudia. At that time the warfare of the WW1 reached the region of Latvia and many Latvians became war refugees.

Birkhan - 2
1. Name.	P.S.Birkhan, Petrograd, Russkaya str. 8
4. Dates.	S - 31-Dec-1916
6. Sender.	Otto Birkhan from Feodossia (a town in Crimea)
9. Text.	Otto wishes happy New Year to his brother. Here in Feodossia he is for a commission. The results will be known on January 2, then he will inform his brother. At the end he adds: best regards to F-----.
10. Picture	View of the meteorogical station in Feodossia.
11. Comments.	As the address is written in Russian, the letter "S" in the name is the first letter of the patronymic. Very important seems to be the regards to F------., see the other cards of this group. The commission he spoke about could be the medical board before he joined the Army.

Birkhan - 3
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkan, Riga, Demmes str. 12 in Bieriņi
4. Dates.	S - 31-Dec-1922
6. Sender.	Blusiņa. (This is a nickname.) The card is sent from Riga
9. Text.	From the text it is clear that the writer is a woman. She wishes happy New Year to all the people around the addressee. She writes also that she has not received yet the photographs and do not understand why the people do not send them.
10. Picture	A photograph of a lady and a horse.
11. Comments.	The spelling of the name (Birkan) differs from that of the previous name but this is the same name.

Birkhan - 4
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkhan, Riga, boulv. Raiņa 33, hotel Bellevue
4. Dates.	S - 15-Jan-23, R - 16-Jan-23
6. Sender.	Aunt Mici from Ventspils
9. Text.	Fridočka, please visit Madam Mednis, there will be some letters and ? for Robežnieki.
10. Picture	A photograph of some sport even - a run with barriers.
11. Comments.	I could not decipher what actually should Frida get at Mednis. I can read this word as "paleelin" what could be a shortened form for "paleelinahtajs". Then it will be an enlarger. Seems a good idea, because the aunt was connected with a photo atelier in Ventspils (see other letters).

Birkhan - 5
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkhan, Riga - Bieriņi, Demmes str. 12
4. Dates.	S - 16-Feb-23
6. Sender.	Eižens Grants, from Majori
8. Language.	Russian
9. Text.	The author addresses the letter to both Fridočka and Pavel Semjonovič (son of Semjon). He did not write so long time, because all the summer he waited for both addressees that they will go to Majori to take a breathe of fresh air. However this did not happen. He signs the letter as Jevģeņij in Russian and gives his address in Latvian - Majori, Jūras fotografija. I. Kronberg to pass to Eižens Grants.
10. Picture	A view of sea side in winter. The picture was taken by the sender.
11. Comments.	From the fact that P.Birkhan mentioned F----- in his card B-2 and from the way how he did it one could suspect that Frida was or became later his wife. This letter proves the fact. Pavel is a russified form of Pauls and Semjon could be Sīmanis in Latvian. So Sīmanis was the first name of Pauls' father. The author wrote in Russian using the modern orthography that was introduced in the Soviet Russia only some years ago and the political emigrees did not use it.

Birkhan - 6
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkhan, Riga - Torņakalns, Demmes str. 12 in Bieriņi
4. Dates.	S - 3-July-1923, R - 4-July-1923
6. Sender.	Ta* (maybe tante - aunt) from Ventspils
9. Text.	The author asks Frida to buy 400 Fogas kraeftig postk. and promises to reimburse the money in Ventspils. He/she also promises to meet Frida in the railway station on Thursday. Another request is to buy a bit of carbid, if Frida can find a sack for it, but not much, because it is not needed much in summers.
10. Picture	Looks like a photograph of a delegation arriving somewhere or something like this. Some people are in military uniforms, I have no idea of what country.
11. Comments.	I guess "Fogas kraeftig" are some photo materials (see the address of the next card). The carbid is calcium carbid that was used to get the burning gas (acetylene) in some lamps for lighting. The nearest Thursday was on July 5. It seems that this people in Ventspils, being engaged in photographing business, used postcards made in-house. I suspect those that was not possible to sell. Such cards could be the 4^th and this one.

Birkhan - 7
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkhan, Riga, Bieriņi, Demmes str. 12
4. Dates.	S - 6-July-1923
6. Sender.	Amalija from Priekule
9. Text.	The author asks Frida for the address of Austra Leikart what the author has lost but now urgently needs. She asks to inform her till July 14, because later she will leave Priekule for longer travel. On the front side of the card another person - A.S. has written additional message that his wife wants to have correspondence with somebody in Riga and Frida is asked to give an address of a guy. A.S. address in Priekule is Galvena str. 10.
10. Picture	A picture of a house near a pond. This is a photograph of bad quality.

Birkhan - 8
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkhan, Ventspils, Foto "Konkurencija".
4. Dates.	S - 23-July-1923, R - 24-July-1923
6. Sender.	Unknown from Riga
9. Text.	The author thinks that Frida, who is called by the nickname Fric?ts, feels very well at the home of the aunt. It is a pity that in Riga there are no good aunt and mummy. At this moment the author has some problems, because the books should be kept according to the American system, but this will be hardly possible. Frida is also asked to convince the aunt to go to Riga this week.
10. Picture	A lady at spring.
11. Comments.	I have not deciphered all the text because of problems with author's handwriting. May be later there will be some changes in the understanding. I think the Foto "Konkurencija" existed in Ventspils Raiņa str. 3 till 1940 at least, but with a slightly different name - "Konkurence"

Birkhan - 9
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkan, Ventspils, Foto "Konkurencija".
4. Dates.	S - 23-Jul-1923
6. Sender.	Milda from Riga
9. Text.	Milda informs that tomorrow she is going to meadows and does not know when she will return home. Also now many activities began - picking up and preparing of berries, peas, mushrooms. Best regards from mummy and dad to you and to the aunt.
10. Picture	A view of Dresden.

Birkhan - 10
1. Name.	Madam F.Birkan, Ventspils, Foto "Konkurencija".
4. Dates.	S - 18-Aug-1923, R - 19-Aug-1923
6. Sender.	Austra, Alvine, Milda from Riga
9. Text.	Many kisses from all the 3 authors
10. Picture	A photo of a nice lady, maybe a film star but it is not written.
11. Comments.	As the nameday of Frida is not near these dates, I suppose that should be her birthday she is congratulated with.

Birkhan - 11
1. Name.	Mr. P.Birkhan
4. Dates.	Not known
6. Sender.	Milda, Alvina, Mummy
9. Text.	Many happy returns of the birthday.
10. Picture	A drawing and a verse
11. Comments.	The set of authors of this and the previous card clearly shows that Frida and Pauls had common acquaintances.