Diaspora

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Dr. Stasys Bačkaitis. The world sighed a sigh of relief when the horrors of the 1914-1918 war drew to a close. It was identified by the misnomer “Great” and only later given a number when the subsequent War outdid the previous one. The Lithuanian people, like other oppressed peoples, rightfully assumed …

Henry L. Gaidis. A frequently overlooked historic fact is that Lithuania’s Declaration of Independence of February 16th, 1918, did not occur overnight. It was, instead, the consequence of a series of significant events and political developments. This, of course, does not detract from the achievement which the declaration’s signatories brought …

Mary Umans Jakubauskas’s first feature-length documentary film on the Lithuanian DP experience is nearing completion. Her film consists of numerous interviews with Lithuanian Americans. They as children fled Lithuania with their parents in 1944 in the final stages of WWII. Now, adults, her subjects recall what it was like to …

By Gediminas Indreika. Over the many years of creative work in America, Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas decorated more than 80 buildings, most of which were sacred spaces. His decorative elements were renowned for their originality and imagination. Their expression in stained glass, sculpture and mosaics conferred a distinctiveness and unique character …

Audronė (Audrey) Kižys. Next time you visit Chicago’s historic Bridgeport neighborhood, make it a point to stop in at Bernice’s Tavern. There you will find more than just a shot of Lithuanian history. Located at 3238 S. Hasted St. only a few miles southwest of downtown Chicago, Bridgeport was the …