Valters is a scholar and a poet. From 1961-1995, he was a professor of German language and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been the editor of various scholarly magazines. His poems have been widely published. Since 1996, Valters has been the Director of the Occupation Museum of Latvia.
On any given day at the Occupation Museum, you can catch Valters giving tours of the museum to school groups. It's amazing how Valters can transform a group of bored-out-of-their-skulls groups of teenagers into curious scholars of Latvian history. That's because Valters has made it his life's work to tell the story of the occupation of Latvia. The combination of his passion and sharp intellect create a contagious concoction.
The Occupations of Latvia
The narrative of Valters’ walk through the Occupations of Latvia traverses from medieval Rīga to final hours of the Soviet occupation. Geographically however, it goes along a single line from the Victory Monument in Pārdaugava to the erstwhile KGB Headquarters in Rīga. On this walk, Valters makes the multiple facets of the occupation of Latvia tangible and transparent. It is an intellectual and emotional journey through Latvian history.
