Henry L. Gaidis. This year the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Lithuania is being celebrated by virtually every Lithuanian enclave throughout the world. The American Legion Lithuanian Post 154, Baltimore, Maryland, on Sunday, September 16, 2018, took the occasion to also commemorate the 100th Anniversary of …
Read More »The Draugas digital archive
By Jonas Daugirdas. I presume that most of our readers are quite familiar with the Lithuanian – language Catholic newspaper Draugas, founded in 1909 as a weekly publication by a consortium of priests in Wilkes Barre, PA, and moved to Chicago a few years later. The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate …
Read More »From Vilnius back to Chicago. Going Global. An interview with Marijus Gudynas
Virginija Petrauskienė. The Chicago-based Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture has announced that the 2018 “Man of the Year” is Marijus Gudynas, diplomat and Director of the Department of Lithuanians Living Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Lithuania. Most recently he successfully served as Lithuania’s Consul General in …
Read More »From New York with love: Californian wins auction for Lithuanian Palace
Virginija Petrauskienė. A California attorney, Donatas Januta, beat out competitors in New York’s high-end auction house, Sotheby’s, by successfully acquiring a unique piece of Lithuanian history. The item in question is an original portrait of Jonas Kazimieras Vaza, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1609-1672). It is …
Read More »Finding Lithuania in Paris
Diana Gudaitis Barbera. While wandering through the beautiful Impressionist galleries at Musée d’Orsay in Paris this spring, I was thrilled to discover the museum hosting a very special exhibition “Wild Souls. Symbolism in the Baltic States.” As an American artist whose father was Lithuanian, I was intrigued and excited by …
Read More »Paulina Mongirdaitė Lithuania’s First Woman Photographer
By Jolanta Klietkutė. Paulina Mongirdaitė was born about 1865 in Raseiniai county, in the province of Kaunas. Her parents, Sofija (née Griškevičiūtė) and Mečislovas Mongirdas, came from a noble bajoras (boyar) family. Perhaps due to poor record-keeping in the upheavals following the 1863 uprising, her exact birth date and place are …
Read More »Commemorating a Lithuanian Hero at West Point
Dr. Robertas Vitas. The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, hosted a two-day conference commemorating the centennial of the ending of the First World I. Nine scholars presented various aspects of the end of hostilities related explicitly to Eastern Europe. Other than myself and a U.S. army …
Read More »Ashes in the Snow
Sandra Baksys. The “biggest Lithuanian movie of all time” is set for worldwide release October 12, 2018. Filmed in accented English and some Russian with subtitles, Ashes in the Snow will tell the world the little-known story of the U.S.S.R.’s deportations of tens of thousands of innocent Lithuanians to their …
Read More »Authorization required error with Microsoft Edge Browser
Subscribers using the new Microsoft “Edge” browser have been having problems accessing the Draugas News and Lithuanian Heritage PDF archive files (which are password-protected and open to subscribers only). When using the Edge browser, when clicking on a password protected link to one of the .PDF files, what should happen …
Read More »Searching for the Wreck of the Prezidentas Smetona. An interview with John Nekus
Editor’s note: In June of last year, John Nekus and a team of Lithuanian naval historians, underwater archeologists and sailors in the Lithuanian Navy lead by Dr. Vladas Žulkus of Klaipėda University sailed on what turned out to be the 3rd expedition to look for the wreck of the Prezidentas …
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