Politics

BATUN – BALTIC COOPERATION IN EXILE. How Baltic Americans banded together to stir the conscience of the United Nations

BATUN’s 20th anniversary celebration at the UN in New York. Gintė Damušis is in the second row, 7th from the left.

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 …

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The Hippie Movement in Lithuania – Forerunners

Dress rehearsal for the rock opera “Jesus Christ SuperStar” before its premiere on Christmas Day, 1971, in Vilnius.

by Skaistė Plaušinytė. The largest and most significant youth movement in Lithuania during the Soviet period was that of the hippies. This movement, which started in the West at the beginning of the 1960s (in the U.S., Great Britain and Western Europe), reached the Soviet Union as well. The hippies seemed …

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A Gift from the Heart – The American Lithuanian Liberty Bell

An appeal from the Lithuanian Liberty Bell Committee. Patrons contributing five dollars or more received a bronze medal replica of the bell. The center photograph shows Lithuania and Columbia flanking the newly cast Lithuanian Liberty Bell.

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 …

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A HUNDRED YEARS AGO LITHUANIAN AMERICANS JOINED THE STRUGGLE FOR LITHUANIAN INDEPENDENCE

Lithuanian American National Council, Madison Square Garden, New York, March 13-14, 1918.

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 …

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Baltic Issues Front and Center. Washington, D.C. Conference Highlights Current Concerns

From left: Jonas Vaičikonis, Vytas Aukštuolis, Neringa Liutikaitė, and Kerry Ashkenaze.

Lithuanian American Community Public Affairs representative Danele Vidutis submitted a report on the October 30th conference held at the Lithuanian Embassy, which was sponsored by the LAC Public Affaris Committee and the Lithuanian American Youth Association. The following is an edited version of her report. MEETING AT THE EMBASSY More than …

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Lithuanians in Harbin

Lithuanian procession in Harbin, 1938.

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 …

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Hidden Treasure Lithuania’s Independence Act Found

Professor Liudas Mažylis.

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 …

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Fighting Fake News, Twisted History & Cyber Trolls: The 24/7 Lithuanian Life of Linas Johansonas

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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 …

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President Dalia Grybauskaitė: “Europe Needs to Become Stronger Now”

Nuclear Security Summit.

Rosseta Vingevičiūtė-Wilbur. (Special for “Draugas” from Washington, DC) On March 30, Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė arrived in Washinton, DC, to attend the Nuclear Security Summit. Invited by President Barack Obama, she and some 50 other world leaders discussed nuclear security, shadowed by concern that Islamic State terrorists are seeking to penetrate …

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A Landsbergis Sonata on Independence

Thomas Ginsberg with fellow reporters questions Boris Yeltsin.

Thomas Ginsberg. Finally, around 10 pm on the eve of Lithuania’s independence plebiscite in February 1991, President Vytautas Landsbergis emerged from his inner office at the Seimas, glanced expressionlessly at me and the other foreign journalists in an anteroom, then motioned for us to enter. The momentous day was just …

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