DRAUGAS NEWS Lithuanian World Wide News in English

Dr. Audrius Plioplys. This June marks the 75th Anniversary of the beginning of Stalin’s deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia. During the night of June 14, 1941, thousands of unsuspecting Lithuanians were awakened from their sleep and arrested for deportation. Many were unable to take anything with them. Crammed into cattle …

Text and photos by JULIE SKURDENIS. THE CURONIAN SPIT (KURŠIŲ NERINGA) IS A 60 mile long narrow finger of forest and sand that separates the Curonian Lagoon (Kuršių Marios) from the Baltic Sea. The northern portion of the spit is Lithuanian. It’s called Neringa after a legendary giantess who supposedly …

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 …

Viktoras Kelmelis. Pope Francis has declared 2016 to be the Year of Divine Mercy. On Holy Thursday, Bishop Alberto Rojas announced that Brighton Park’s Immaculate Conception church ( 2745 W. 44th Street, Chicago, IL) was chosen to be an official Year of Divine Mercy Shrine. Immaculate Conception Parish was founded …

by Ona Daugirdas. Every family has its own food rituals for Holy Days and holidays. In my family, cast-in-stone Easter breakfast requirements were margučiai decorated by the children, my mother’s delectable cold roast duck, her light as a feather babka, and my dessert contribution—paska. When I married into the Daugirdas …

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 …

A new free e-book explores historical connections between Austrian and Lithuanian cooking. by ALICIA RUDOKAS. On January 26 the Austrian-Lithuanian community met in the heart of Vienna to celebrate the launch of a special publication: The eCookbook,  Tasting Historical Europe – Exploring the Culinary Threads between Austria and Lithuania. One …

by Mindaugas Sereičikas. The name of military and glider pilot Gregorius Radvenis and his contributions to the sport of gliding in Lithuania have been unjustly forgotten, since the word which best describes him and his accomplishments is “first.” He was the first Lithuanian to become professionally proficient in gliding. He …

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 …

Lithuanian Folk Dance Group suktinis marched and danced in Chicago’s McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 26. They were joined by Lithuanian Grandpa and Grandma— giant puppets created by local artist ugnė Carm. Leading the group were flag bearers Lithuania’s General Consul in Chicago Marijus Gudynas and the Consulate’s Director …