By Helga Merits. Who would imagine that refugees who had lost everything would create a university so soon after WW II in an almost totally devastated city? The story is not widely known, so I decided to make a documentary film about it: The Story of the Baltic University. At …
Read More »Making Waves in Lithuania
By LEO ALGMINAS. Soon after Lithuania regained its independence in 1991, I traveled there to see for myself what the country of my birth looked like after nearly a half century of Communism. As a self- employed consultant to a particular segment of manufacturing, I also scouted for ...
Read More »Lithuanian Songs on the Korean War Front
By VIKTORAS JAUTOKAS. A confluence of this summer’s Lithuanian song Festival in Chicago and ongoing news reports about North Korea rattling sabers at south Korea and America rekindled memories of my army service in the Korean war. In the trenches, I experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. Enemy artillery …
Read More »Diving German U-Boats Off the East Coast
Personal Memories of World War II, Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Diaspora By VALENTINAS RAUGAS. As a recreational New Jersey wreck diver for ten years, I had the opportunity to do two separate dives on german u-Boat 853. This wreck was a german electric submarine which was sunk on the East …
Read More »Springfield Lithuanians
By Sandy Baksys. Sandy Baksys’ new book “A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois” is an extensive collection of individual family stories providing a personalized record of the experiences shared by thousands of immigrants who came to United States in the previous century. This is rediscovering of one’s roots on steroids. …
Read More »Lithuania Under the Big Sky
By CECELIA LANKUTIS. When one considers Lithuanian American communities in the United States, ethnic enclaves in cities such as Chicago, New York and Boston come to mind. I too can claim part of my heritage from Chicago, since that is where my mother grew up and where all of …
Read More »The History of Lithuania ’ s National Anthem
by Zigmas Tamakauskas. The word himnas, which is what Lithuanians call their national anthem, comes from the Greek word hymnos, a holy and solemn song used to worship the gods in ancient times. Here we will focus on Lithuania’s current anthem, while mentioning songs that at one time or another were …
Read More »Mission: Siberia 15
By VIDA KUPRYS. Pursuant to the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, 75 years ago, the Soviet Union unilaterally occupied and annexed the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The brutality of the occupation became manifest, when in June of 1941, thousands of Lithuanians, as well as their fellow Balts, were …
Read More »Russia’s deadly virus in the Kaliningrad exclave (2)
By DR. STASYS BAČKAITIS. Sometimes history can’t be put to bed even though agreements to end wars have been concluded, boundary lines drawn by victors, promises made …whether it’s intentional or not, things in time get either forgotten or swept under the rug as if they weren’t there. Such is …
Read More »Russia’s deadly virus in the Kaliningrad exclave (1)
DR. STASYS BAČKAITIS. Sometimes history can’t be put to bed even though agreements to end wars have been concluded, boundary lines drawn by victors, promises made …whether it’s intentional or not, things in time get either forgotten or swept under the rug as if they weren’t there. Such is the …
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