Lithuanian women stitch for refugees

Residents of Lithuania’s second city, Kaunas, have been busy stitching. Over 100 residents responded to an invitation by a local arts group Fluxus Labas! to participate in a global craft project called “25 Million Stitches.” Their artistically stitched panels will soon be traveling to California to take their place among …

Read More »

The Warming of Lithuania. How will climate change affect Lithuania?

As the earth’s temperature rises, what changes are in store for Lithuania? Scholars from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS), the largest institution of higher education for biomedical sciences in Lithuania, located in Kaunas, are attempting to predict how the lives of future Lithuanians will be affected by climate …

Read More »

Vilnius Dispute Brother Against Brother

By Miltiades Varvounis. After the last partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. However, the Lithuanian national revival emerged during the late 19th century and the movement to establish an independent nation-state intensified during the early 20th century. During …

Read More »

Woods? What Woods? Are Lithuania’s Forests in Jeopardy?

As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change and preserve wildlife and, ultimately, humanity, trees appear to hold a significant part of the answer. Yet, deforestation continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of mature standing trees for short-term gains. Of course, Lithuania’s tiny landmass is trivial compared to …

Read More »

Presenting Lithuanian Culture on the World Stage

The newly confirmed Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, visited Chicago, on September 14. He attended Chicago’s Lithuanian cultural centers – Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Lithuanian Research Center, World Lithuanian Center, and spent an afternoon at the editorial offices of Draugas. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas holds a …

Read More »

Lithuania Robbed of the Quarterfinals at the 2019 FIBA World Cup

By Neal Maloney. On September 7 of this year, at Nanjing Youth Olympic Park Gymnasium, in the second group stage of the FIBA (International Federation of Basketball) World Cup, the score of the Lithuania-France game was 76:74 in favor of France with 31 seconds left. The next thirty seconds were …

Read More »

Fallout: Filming Chernobyl in Vilnius

Linas Jegelevičius. Fabijoniškės, a dreary residential district in the northern part of Vilnius, has recently become a major tourist draw. The Soviet-style high-rise apartment complex built in the late 1980s served as the production site for the television event of the year, the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl,” that dramatized the 1986 …

Read More »

Witchcraft in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

By Miltiades Varvounis. Witch hysteria took hold in Europe during the mid-1400s, when many accused witches confessed, often under torture, to a variety of wicked behaviors. Within a century, witch hunts were common and most of the accused were executed by burning at the stake or hanging. The publication of …

Read More »

DEAD FREDDIE is ALIVE and IN THE HOUSE!!!

Audronė (Audrey) Kižys. What do you really know about that guy who once lived down the block? Especially if he’s older and your paths didn’t usually cross. He seemed like a regular guy growing up in the 60s and 70s on Chicago’s southwest side, in the Lithuanian enclave known as …

Read More »

Rescuing Jewish documentary heritage

By Lara Lempertienė. The topic of Jewish documentary materials preserved in the libraries and archives of Lithuania is complex. These holdings were not formed in any purposeful or planned way, but rather were simply stored after surviving the Nazi occupation as well as later Soviet purges. The materials ended up …

Read More »