Background: Sigita’s parents owned a tobacco and apple farm near Mt. Brydges, Ontario, from the early 1950s until the late 1970s, when the farm was expropriated for the construction of a divided-lane highway linking Sarnia and London. LH: Could you give a brief history of your family and how they …
Read More »BATUN – BALTIC COOPERATION IN EXILE. How Baltic Americans banded together to stir the conscience of the United Nations
Sirje Okas Ainso. We, Baltic Americans, victims of World War II and its aftermath, were steadfast in our resolve that one day we will be able to return to a free Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania – lands that the Soviet Union so ruthlessly occupied. We wanted to find a way …
Read More »They came from Vilnius. Digging for Hidden Treasure Finding Lithuanian markers across America
Sandra Baksys. After 25 days and 4,500 miles criss-crossing the Midwest, following upon the heels of a similar expedition on the East Coast last year, Augustinas Žemaitis and Aistė Žemaitienė, both of Vilnius, Lithuania, have visited more Lithuanian-American heritage sites than anyone else in the world. This year’s “Destination Lithuanian …
Read More »First trips to Lithuania in 1977–78
by Raimundas Balsys. Over the years, Mom and Dad kept in touch with relatives who had stayed behind in Lithuania. Mom was always writing letters and sending boxes of used clothing to the old country. The relatives thought that America’s streets were paved in gold. They would send letters requesting …
Read More »The Oklahoma Saga Continues
Vilius Žalpys. In the April 2018 issue of Draugas News, Vilius Žalpys conveyed his initial findings of Lithuanian pioneers in Oklahoma. Here he continues to report on the latest developments in this fascinating but little known Lithuanian enclave. The Oklahoma File Revisited This fall I returned to Oklahoma for a …
Read More »75 Years and Going Strong. The American Legion Lithuanian Post Commemoration in Baltimore
Henry L. Gaidis. This year the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Lithuania is being celebrated by virtually every Lithuanian enclave throughout the world. The American Legion Lithuanian Post 154, Baltimore, Maryland, on Sunday, September 16, 2018, took the occasion to also commemorate the 100th Anniversary of …
Read More »The Draugas digital archive
By Jonas Daugirdas. I presume that most of our readers are quite familiar with the Lithuanian – language Catholic newspaper Draugas, founded in 1909 as a weekly publication by a consortium of priests in Wilkes Barre, PA, and moved to Chicago a few years later. The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate …
Read More »From Vilnius back to Chicago. Going Global. An interview with Marijus Gudynas
Virginija Petrauskienė. The Chicago-based Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture has announced that the 2018 “Man of the Year” is Marijus Gudynas, diplomat and Director of the Department of Lithuanians Living Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Lithuania. Most recently he successfully served as Lithuania’s Consul General in …
Read More »Searching for the Wreck of the Prezidentas Smetona. An interview with John Nekus
Editor’s note: In June of last year, John Nekus and a team of Lithuanian naval historians, underwater archeologists and sailors in the Lithuanian Navy lead by Dr. Vladas Žulkus of Klaipėda University sailed on what turned out to be the 3rd expedition to look for the wreck of the Prezidentas …
Read More »We Thought We’d Be Back Soon: 18 Stories of Refugees 1940-44 Selected and Edited by Dalia Stake Anysas, Dalia Cidzikaitė, and ALaima Petrauskas Vanderstoep
Sandra Baksys. As traumatized survivors of three invasions of their homeland (Soviets in 1940, Nazis in 1941, and Soviets, again, in 1944), members of Lithuania’s “DP” generation were famously tight-lipped about their World War II refugee experiences. Until my father Vince was in his 70s and 80s, I learned few …
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