History-1900+

by Thomas Latour. Karolis Požėla died in Chicago, Illinois in 1954. More than 3,000 people attended his funeral. In the 1930s and 40s, Požėla, better known in the wrestling world as Karl Pojello, was a name recognized around the world and familiar to every Lithuanian in Chicago. He was born …

By Carol Luschas. Between 1864 and 1914, over 400,000 people emigrated from the Baltic region. Pennsylvania became home to one of the largest concentrations of Lithuanians in the United States. Many Lithuanians settled in the small coal mining town of Mahanoy City in northeastern Pennsylvania. As the Lithuanian population grew, …

Tomas Vengris. A boy stares out the window as an old Soviet car rattles over uneven streets. He hears his mother’s voice, recounting her childhood memories: running through endless fields of wildflowers on her father’s beloved estate, swimming in the silver moonlight, dancing under the falling blossoms of the apple …

Rytis Satkauskas. Lithuanian emigration studies usually deal almost exclusively with Europe, the Americas, and Australia, where strong Lithuanian communities were formed over the years. There is, however, the virtually unknown story of a Lithuanian enclave in the Far East, specifically in the City of Harbin in Manchuria. The community had …

Vilius Žalpys. On Oct. 1, 2015, I flew out of Portland, Oregon, to visit with family and friends in Los Angeles, California, and attend the annual Lithuanian Days Festival at St. Casimir’s Parish in LA. I intended to spend the week in and around LA. As I was filling out …

By Romualdas Adomavičius of the Lithuanian Sea Museum. As early as 1923, the problem of protecting Lithuania’s Baltic Sea coastline from illegal activity had become acute. Huge amounts of alcohol and other contraband were entering Lithuania by sea, most often coming from Danzig (present day Gdansk). The old, slow motorboats used …

The long-sought and assumed lost Declaration of Lithuania’s Independence, signed on February 16, 1918, was discovered in Germany’s diplomatic archives in Berlin. Professor Liudas Mažylis (right) of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas announced the discovery on March 29, 2017. “The Lithuanian version of the resolution with all 20 clearly visible original …

Sandy Baksys. If his voice is a little ragged and his words come out rapid-fire, that’s because Linas Johansonas, 57, is simultaneously living two very full “Lithuanian lives.” His first life is grounded in Cleveland, Ohio’s 18,000 square-foot Lithuanian Community Center, where Johansonas assists Rūta Degutis, president of the Lithuanian …

Part adventure, part history course and civics lesson, Mission Siberia (MS) is an annual two-week expedition by young Lithuanians to various locales in Siberia, where Lithuanians were once forcibly exiled by the Soviet government. MS has become one the most recognized youth-centered projects in Lithuania. The initial purpose of the …

Ramunė Kubilius. Vaidotas A. Vaičaitis, an Associate Professor of Law at Vilnius University, is one of two recipients of the Joseph P. Kazickas Fellowships at Yale University for 2017. As Visiting Associate Professor in European Studies at Yale University, he will undertake research and analysis dealing with Lithuania’s current constitutional …