History-1900+

Viktoras Petravičius: Master of the Monoprint

By Izida Petravičiūtė von Braun In 1978, in the journal Lituanus, Professor Stasys Goštautas of Boston University, wrote about Petravičius and his art as follows: “Never since the delightful graphic art of the primitive and anonymous artists of the eighteenth century, has Lithuanian art exhibited such a pure and candid …

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The Kurnėnai School and Laurent Radziukynas

By Gediminas Indreika. West of Alytus, between the Aniškis forest and Luksnėnu lake, lies the village of Kurnėnai. In the 1880s Laurynas (Laurent) Radziukynas trekked 8 kilometers daily to the nearest school in Miroslavas, a hardship that would leave an indelible impression in the boy’s mind. In 1934, as a …

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WHEN THE MOUSE REALLY ROARED. Remembering the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the end of the USSR

Victor Nakas. Walk to the White House As we approached the northwest gate of the White House, we expected that our Lincoln sedan would just drive through. Instead, the guards told us to get out and walk through the pedestrian entrance. There they checked our IDs and riffled through the …

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Fallout: Filming Chernobyl in Vilnius

Linas Jegelevičius. Fabijoniškės, a dreary residential district in the northern part of Vilnius, has recently become a major tourist draw. The Soviet-style high-rise apartment complex built in the late 1980s served as the production site for the television event of the year, the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl,” that dramatized the 1986 …

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Rescuing Jewish documentary heritage

By Lara Lempertienė. The topic of Jewish documentary materials preserved in the libraries and archives of Lithuania is complex. These holdings were not formed in any purposeful or planned way, but rather were simply stored after surviving the Nazi occupation as well as later Soviet purges. The materials ended up …

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There were Forest Sisters too

Much has been written of the Forest Brothers, Lithuanian partisans who took cover in the woods after the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944. For nearly a decade they waged a guerilla war against the Soviet occupiers. But what about the Forest Sisters? Although they received less attention, women, …

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I Apologize to Previous Generations

Dr. Robertas Vitas. Our Lithuanian American community has recently suffered the loss of four prominent scholars: Dr. Jonas Račkauskas passed away on March 19, 2018, Dr. Augustinas Idzelis on October 14, 2018, Dr. Benediktas Mačiuika on November 10, 2018, and, finally, Dr. Arūnas Liulevičius left us just a few days …

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History of Annunciation Parish Past and Present

The Church of the Annunciation.

Petras Palys. Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is located at 259 N. 5th Street, Brooklyn, New York. A parish is a community of believers, part of Christ’s Mystical Body, which sustains us through grace and belief. The parish strives to unite the faithful in Christ, to …

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The Reconsecration of the Church of the Annunciation. The Brooklyn church has served the Lithuanian community continuously since 1914

The newly refurbished interior of Annunciation Church.

Raimundas Šližys. For New York area Lithuanians and the entire American Lithuanian community as well, March 24th was a special day. On that date after a yearlong restoration, the historic Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, NY, was solemnly reconsecrated. Since 1914, when the …

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AN INTERVIEW WITH President Valdas Adamkus

National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame 2017 inductees: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Stanley Balzekas Jr., former president of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus and Juozas Kazickas (posthumously) represented by his daughter, Jurate Kazickas.

Our Draugas corres­pondent, Vitalius Zai­kaus­kas, met up with President Adamkus in Lithuania and engaged him in a candid conversation about his legacy, the future of Lithuania, and its ongoing struggles. President, we meet again after some two years. Presently we are commemorating Lithuania’s Independence Day this month. Do you have …

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