Aizpute Secondary School Teacher and Local Historian Mirdza Birzniece Dies at 100

Mirdza Birzniece, a longtime teacher at Aizpute Secondary School in the South Kurzeme municipality of Latvia, who was also a local historian, folklorist and writer, died on Thursday, 8 October, at the age of 100. The news was announced on Facebook by Aizpute Secondary School, to which she devoted her entire working life. Less than a month earlier, on 23 September, Birzniece had marked her 100th birthday, and representatives of the South Kurzeme municipality greeted her, honouring her contribution to education and the preservation of Latvia's cultural and historical heritage.

A life tied to the school

Birzniece's life was closely linked to Aizpute Secondary School. She first entered it in 1935 as a pupil and ended her active working career in 2003. Even after retiring, the school remained important to her. In the afterword to the book "Aizputes vidusskola 1921–2011 faktos un atmiņās" (Aizpute Secondary School 1921–2011 in Facts and Memories), she wrote that she had closed the doors of the classroom but not those of the school, and that she would always be interested in what happened there. The school recalled these words in its farewell post.

Local history and folklore

In the 1960s Birzniece turned to literary local history research, developed teaching programmes and set up a literature room at the school at a time when this was not yet compulsory. She organised excursions to the homes of notable literary and cultural figures in the Liepāja district and took part in collecting folklore. Material gathered with her pupils added about 3,000 items to the Latvian Folklore Archive.

Birzniece authored several publications and books. At 99 she published two books, "Dienvidkurzemei tuvie" and "Ceļā sastaptie", and after turning 100 she continued working on a new one.

Remembered by the school

Aizpute Secondary School stresses that Birzniece was a teacher respected by pupils and colleagues. Former students visited her for many years after graduating. The school community recalls her sense of humour, which stayed with her to the end of her life. She described her own life simply as "Only a teacher", which is also the title of her last book, still awaited by the school community.