DRAUGAS NEWS Lithuanian World Wide News in English

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Sandra Baksys. As traumatized survivors of three invasions of their homeland (Soviets in 1940, Nazis in 1941, and Soviets, again, in 1944), members of Lithuania’s “DP” generation were famously tight-lipped about their World War II refugee experiences. Until my father Vince was in his 70s and 80s, I learned few …

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 …

By Ona Daugirdienė. The origin of the Lithuanian name for Easter is the subject of some debate. Linguists and etymologists claim that the word Velykos is borrowed from our neighbors to the east, the Belarusians, who call Easter velikij denj – literally, great (or grand) day. But žemaičiai, or Lowlanders, insist …