[Mara Vishniac’s Latvian passport]

Roman Vishniac obtained Latvian citizenship following his marriage to Luta Bagg in 1920. This status provided some protection from increasingly restrictive antisemitic laws that deprived German Jews of citizenship. As citizens of another state residing in Germany, the Vishniacs were still entitled to some rights of which German Jews were deprived. Their Latvian citizenship also facilitated the Vishniac family’s emigration from Germany to Sweden in 1939, and their subsequent move to the U.S. in 1940.