Chapter 1 – Latvia, the Baltic country

Latvia borders Estonia to the north, Russia to the east, Belarus to the south-east and Lithuania to the south. However, the country’s borders are not yet long-established, and Latvia comprises four main historical regions, each with its own history: Courland and Semigallia (later, around 1740, the two regions merged to form the Duchy of Courland), Livonia (Finno-Ugric peoples) and Latgale. The Selonian people were a tribe of Baltic peoples who lived until the 15th century in Selonian in south-eastern Latvia and north-eastern Lithuania. They eventually merged with neighbouring tribes and contributed to the
ethnogenesis of the modern Latvians and Lithuanians. They spoke the East Baltic Selonian language. (…)
(…) As early as 1386, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were united through a personal union (the Polish–Lithuanian Union). Poland–Lithuania existed as a multi-ethnic state and a major power in Eastern Europe from 1569 to 1795. In this state, also known as the Rzeczpospolita, the king was elected by the nobility. When discussing the emergence of Latvia as a state, it is important to mention and clarify one aspect, namely the term “Inflanty“. (…)

(…) Latvian-Polish relations date back to the 16th century, when the last Master of the Livonian Order and Archbishop of Riga, Gotthard Kettler, turned to the Polish King Sigismund Augustus in 1561 to seek protection in the face of the threat posed by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible of Moscow. This marked the beginning of the so-called Polish period in Latvian history.
Inflanty became the third constituent part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, alongside the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and was jointly owned by Poland and Lithuania. As a vassal of Poland, Gotthard Kettler received the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, which had been separated from Livonia. Polish rule in Livonia was strengthened by Stefan Batory, the husband of Anna Jagiellonka and King of Poland by right of his wife (iure uxoris). (…)

Chapter 4
What does the surname Dunker mean, and where do my ancestors come from?

Generally speaking, the surname Dunker or Duncker is a very old name dating back to the 13th century. It originates from a commonly used word “Dunker”, which meant a “dark, gloomy, heavy and wet” place or a place of defeat. This suggests that the Duncker clan originally came from a region that was particularly misty, dark and humid.

Over the course of history, this name came to refer to a group of people characterised by their dark eyes, narrow heads, dark skin and typical “dark” hair. The name Dunker also refers to a very old noble family, whose origins date back to the period before the Thirty Years War. They belongd to the ruling class and held key positions in the state and in the Foreign Legion. (…)

(…) With the end of the First World War in March 1920, the era of Prussian rule came to an end. The Dunker family began to migrate. Emil Dunker, a lawyer, began studying mechanical engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology in 1920, and part of the family remained in Warsaw for a time.
The Raksimowicz family may also have intended to settle in Warsaw. On 18 August 1922, Emil Oskar Dunker and his wife were registered in Posen following their move; less than a month later, on 9 September 1922, my grandmother Alexandra Dunker joined them. The rest of her life is documented in Family History Part I – Fiszer 1918–1982. (…)