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Meet the man who 'died' in 1944
GETTING to 83 is quite an achievement – even more so for one city grandfather who, according to war records, has been dead for more than 60 years.
GETTING to 83 is quite an achievement – even more so for one city grandfather who, according to war records, has been dead for more than 60 years.Stanley Road resident Jefrems Ribakovs has all the aches and pains you would expect for his age, but reports of his demise on a war memorial in his native Latvia are exaggerated.
Rather than feeling insulted when a relative passed on the news that he died in 1944, the grandfather of three saw the funny side.
The discovery of Mr Ribakovs' death was made by his niece, Nina Mengele, who was piecing together the family tree.
She was stunned when she came across former welder Mr Ribakovs' name on the memorial in the Latvian cemetery.
Carved on the grey stone, was his date of birth – and chillingly, his death.
The former soldier left the country shortly after the Second World War, and his son Alan believes the authorities may have presumed he was dead.
The 53-year-old of Gascoigne in Werrington, said the family was "100 per cent sure" the name on the memorial referred to him.
Alan added: "My father left Latvia straight after the war because Latvia was invaded by the Germans and Russians. They were displaced people without a nation.
"My father came over to England and lost touch with his family for 50 years.
"Ten years ago, after the Russian states became independent, it became easier to contact them.
"Suddenly, we found we had family out there we didn't know."
When he found out about the mix up, Alan asked his father: "Are you feeling all right? Would you like to know you died in 1944 and so you must be a ghost."
"He said he was amazed they had remembered him."
Sales and marketing manager Alan said he had no idea what had happened, but reckons the muddle may have occurred in the confusion following the war.
After serving in the army, Mr Ribakovs senior moved to England and worked on the farms as a labourer in Spalding before moving to Peterborough.
Alan said: "My dad isn't well enough to travel to Latvia but he has been back.
"He's just bemused by it ."
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