Edmundo 'Tommi' Bagel was born in the inter-war years of Latvian national freedom between the lifting of the shackles of Imperial Russia, and the imposition of them again in the different guise of Soviet communism in 1945. These were national freedoms and a state of ethnic self-determinism that would not be seen again until 'perestroika' and eventual Independence again in 1991.
His father was a baker who ran a small shop in the heart of the old city. Bagel- or 'Tommi' as he was exclusively, affectionately known by his family and friends- spent his formative years in this hot, yeast-laden environment under the stern but fair guidance of his father [who Bagel would describe as having a 'thundering velvet hand' in his early years but was generally 'a sycophantic, collaborating bastard' in later ones] where he would rise at 4am every morning to help feed the ovens, doing the best part of a days work from age seven every day until his late teens, before going to school and later, college and university.
Most of his pre-teens were experienced during the Great Patriotic War as Latvian pride was slain first by invading Russian Communists who were no better in their motives than the czarists, and then soon after by a sweeping invasion of German Nazis who, at first, Bagel's father welcomed [as in common with many Latvians, his family shared a German ancestry] but the welcome was soon tempered by the draconian control of the new Nazi governance and the disappearance of Jewish neighbours to the work camps at Salispils and what would in later years be revealed to be a concentration camp at Kaiserwald.
The Bagel family was largely left untouched however, particularly due to their vital bread making service, the shrewd opening of a cafe on the ground floor of a recently vacated Jewish neighbours townhouse that offered discounts to German military users, and more discreet services on the upper floors provided by willing young women recruited and organised by Mrs Bagel. This proved to be a life saving exercise for the Bagels- particularly as Jewish heritage lurked in the murk of the family gene pool if it was stirred enough- as well as being a decent little earner in such hard times.
Edmundo relieved the mental and physical stress and drudgery of this existence by immersing himself as a boy in an alternative world of sprites, spirits, woodland creatures and astronomy. He would often gaze at the stars from the rooftop of their townhouse in the heart of Riga [now in an area rightly so protected by UNESCO as an area of architectural excellence, particularly in the style of 'Jugenstil' [German Art Nouveau]] through a makeshift telescope of bottle bottoms, stained glass from a nearby shell wrecked church, bicycle wheel spokes [the abandoned Jewish house had had eight bicycles left in it's garden] and a hood made from wheat grain sacks from the bakery.
This was in time replaced by a real telescope provided by Edmundo's first mentor, Ubergruppenfurhrer Gustav Heinrich Aegerter-Shenkelberg VI, an SS officer who took a shine to the young boy and taking him under his wing particularly when discovering Edmundo's fascination with the cosmos, which mirrored that of Aegerter-Shenkelberg's, a complex man worthy of study in his own right he was an obsessive about the possibility of space travel and a key instigator in interesting the young Bagel in Rocket Science, Aeronautics, Ballooning, Alternative Theologies, the Cultivation of Cacti, the breeding of rare frogs and German Philosophers amongst many other things, such as providing the young Edmundo with many valuable copies of the American 'Astounding' magazine.
The German occupation war years were therefore halcyon days for the young Bagel, and in future memoires he was not embarrassed to say that he had 'a very good war.'
By 1944 though, the German occupiers were fleeing and stability in Bagel's life was coming to an end. He was sixteen years old and his elementary school days were nearing completion. The University of Latvia was calling but trauma was first to stalk the young man; he was to witness Aegerter-Shenkelberg- the man he had come to regard as another father- being put against a wall in the street, shot and, shortly afterwards, his father shaking hands in congratulation with the dishevelled rag-tag group of corrupt and boorish Russian soldiers who had done the deed. This was to have a profound effect on young Bagel's world view, as was the murder of his developing frog collection by his father in one of his baking ovens after he had drank two bottles of vodka with the representatives of their new Russian masters.
The future scientist-philosopher-theologian was finding his emotive and intellectual groundings. It was time to develop them in the wider world.
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