Give us today our daily bread (Rūdolfs and Irma Grava)

The Liepāja handicrafts teacher Rudolfs Fridrihs Grava made this bread platter in 1929 as a wedding anniversary gift for his wife, Irma Grava (née Mindenbergs). Irma and Rudolfs took this platter with them when they fled with their four youngest children during the Second World War, leaving Liepāja aboard an evacuation ship. Later, they packed the platter among their belongings when moving from a refugee camp in Germany to their new country of residence, the United States. After arriving in Baltimore, USA, the bread platter proved useful—it is believed that for many years it served in the Grava family’s large household both as a bread platter and as a cherished reminder of their wedding in their homeland. The plate was donated to the “Latvians Abroad” museum by Rūdolfs and Irma’s children, Artūrs Grava and Edīte Zariņa.