Vaira vike freiberga biography of nancy

Biography of Vaira Vike-Freiberga

Vaira Vike-Freiberga was the President of the Republic of Latvia. She was born on December 1, 1937, in Riga. When she was only a month old, her father passed away. In December 1944, her family fled to Germany along with retreating German forces. She received her primary education in a Latvian school in a refugee camp in Lübeck, Germany, and in a French school in Casablanca, Morocco.

At the age of 16, Vaira's family moved to Canada, where she worked as a bank clerk and a mail sorter. In Canada, she obtained a bachelor's degree in English language, a master's degree in psychology, and later a doctorate in experimental psychology. She is fluent in Latvian, French, English, German, and Spanish, but never learned Russian, although she made attempts to study it.

From 1965 to 1998, Vaira worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Montreal. She taught courses on psychopharmacology, psycholinguistics, and scientific theory. Her research focused on memory, language, and thinking processes, including the influence of medications. She was also known among the Latvian diaspora for her work on Latvian dainas (folk poetry), their poetics, and structure.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga held various leadership positions in national and international scientific organizations. She served as the representative of Canada and chair of the NATO Scientific Program "Human Factors" in Brussels. In 1989, she was invited as a consultant in the Commission on Constitutional Reforms of the Brazilian Parliament as a representative of Canada. She was the president of several scientific organizations and received numerous awards, including the Order of the Three Stars of Latvia.

In 1997, Vaira relocated from Canada to Latvia. On October 19, 1998, she was appointed the director of the Latvian Institute, responsible for shaping the country's image on the world stage. On June 10, 1999, she participated in the presidential elections of the Republic of Latvia and renounced her Canadian citizenship. On June 17, 1999, she assumed office as the President of the Republic of Latvia.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga was re-elected as the President on June 20, 2003. Although the Latvian constitution (Article 53) states that the President is not politically responsible, Vike-Freiberga established herself as a strong pro-American politician. Under her presidency, Latvia joined the European Union and NATO in 2004 and supported the war in Iraq with a military contingent. She repeatedly warned about the threat from Russia, and relations with Russia deteriorated during her tenure.

Vike-Freiberga is an advocate for reevaluating the history of the 20th century and post-war borders in Europe. She supports the condemnation of the Soviet communist regime and calls for a new Nuremberg process against it. She was the only Baltic president who attended the celebration of Victory Day in Moscow on May 9, 2005.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga's husband, Imants Freibergs, is the President of the Latvian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Their son, Karlis, lives in Latvia, and their daughter, Indra, works in London. They do not have grandchildren yet.