Latvians who escaped persecution in their occupied country and set up home in Bradford have been given a special preview of a moving exhibition.

The atrocities of the 50-year occupation of Latvia and the country's struggle for freedom are chronicled in a display which was today opening in Bradford.

Latvia Returns to Europe: From Occupation to Freedom is on show at the University of Bradford until June 20.

It gives detailed information about the horrors the Latvians faced when their small country - with a population of just two million - was taken over by first Germany and then Russia.

The display was opened last night by Andrejs Ozolins, chairman of the Latvian National Council, for a special preview for Latvians who escaped persecution and who are living in Bradford.

"It is a great honour to open this exhibition," he said.

"The most lasting, traumatic impact was left by the massive deportations in 1941 when, in the night from June 13 to 14, the Soviet communists deported children, women and men from all the countries the USSR occupied after September 1939."

In Latvia the toll was 15,000.

"The men were separated from their families and those who were not shot were worked to death," said Mr Ozolins, who fled his homeland in 1948, when he was 13.

He gave copies of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia book, which lists items on show at the museum and the country's history, to the university and Bradford libraries.

Gunars Tamsons, chairman of the Bradford branch of the Latvian Welfare Fund, said he came over on the boat to Hull on May 13, 1947, with his twin bother Paul and father Ansis.

"They just wanted the men at first, the workers, and we were so worried for the women back home," he said.

"They were hard times. We had to learn a new language and live in a different country but nothing was as bad as living in Latvia and being persecuted.

"We lost our country."

The 73-year-old, of Wrose, recalled when his family home was surrounded by Russian soldiers.

"We thought it was all over and then they just disappeared because the Second World War had been declared," said the retired assistant secretary for Tetley's brewery in Leeds.

"June 13 was the worst day in our country's history and on Friday we will be remembering those who lost their lives."

Eric Novadnieks, 79, of Heaton, said he took up Britain's offer of a new life in 1947 and after a short time in Scotland he moved around the country before working in a Birkenshaw coal mine and later training to be an electrician.

"We were the lucky ones and we've been grateful to this country for giving us our lives," said Mr Novadnieks.

"A school friend of mine disappeared on the night of June 13 and if Germany hadn't invaded we might have been next."

The show includes 120 displays of photographs, documents, relics and texts in four languages - English, Latvian, French and Welsh.

It also celebrates the state's entry into the European Union.

Latvia was stripped of independence in 1939 in a secret deal brokered by dictators Stalin and Hitler.

It was occupied by Germany until 1941 and by the Soviets from 1944 to 1991.

l The exhibition runs until June 21 and is open Monday to Friday, 11am to 3pm.