This book traces the development of a Lithuanian sense of peoplehood and unravels their invisible configuration of values. By analyzing the dynamics of their diaspora mentality, the work presents a picture of a people armed with an ideology that enables them to nonviolently confront the first principles of American nationality. Contents: Old World Roots; Emergence of a Lithuanian Community in Chicago; A New Wave of Emigration in the Making; Exiles Not Immigrants; Establishment of Institutions to Deflect Assimilation; A Catholic Identity; Lithuanian Involvement in Organized Political Action.
Discovery to Diaspora is a fascinating family journey which breathes life into the times of Jews in Lithuania and Latvia. The Jewish roots in the Baltic Sea region are rife with dualities. In one sense, the region is a beautiful coastal area with large sandy beaches and busy ports. Yet, these same attractions have fraught the region with war and conflict. It is here where the Graudan Family was established. It was also the site in which German Nazis and Latvian collaborators mass murdered thousands of Jews during WWII, including some of the Graudans, (the local population numbered about 7,000 before the war and yet less than 30 Jews remained after the war). Others in the family, through marriage, and the foresight of early emigration survived. Through their individual stories we see their descendents enriching the world with their skills, love, and compassion for life. With the help of genealogy reports, published works, public records, memoirs, journals, diaries, notes, interviews, and personal stories, Keith W Kaye develops a holistic blueprint of Jewish life and times of the Graudan family from the eighteenth to mid twentieth century. Steeped in rich ancestry and history, the personal stories allow the reader to travel to the Baltic and experience past life there in a firsthand way. A vivid picture of Jewish life in Lithuania and in Latvia evolves as the history, politics, and people of the region are explored. Jews of Lithuania and Latvia: The Graudans is also an important contribution to current scholarship of Baltic region Jewry. Along the way, Keith shares his own techniques for discovering the historical and familial facts, his unexpected and enlightening encounters, and his exciting exploration into the depths of his family history.
Diasporas are nodes of cultural exchange, connecting different systems of values, beliefs, and social organization. Throughout history and the present, diasporas have provided important contributions to economies, politics, and culture, both for the home countries and for societies of residence. This book contains case studies from different disciplines, exploring diaspora as a resource, both on collective and on individual levels. Common themes are the structure and use of diaspora networks, as well as relations between different diasporas, ranging from co-existence to competition or strategic co-operation, and the complex interdependence between diaspora and urbanity. (Series: Freiburg Studies in Social Anthropology / Freiburger Sozialanthropologische Studien / Etudes d'Anthropologie Sociale de l'Universite de Fribourg - Vol. 36)
Population Displacement in Lithuania in the XXth Century: Experiences, Identities and Legacies is an edited volume written by historians from several countries offering a series of ground-breaking case studies on forced migration in Lithuania during and between the two World Wars. Starting with the premise that the mass movement of peoples during and after the Second World War needs to be understood in relation to the population displacement of the First World War, the authors draw on theoretical perspectives ranging from entangled histories, cultural theory and studies of nationalism to trace the ethnic, social and cultural transformation of Lithuanian society caused by the displacement of Lithuanians, Poles, Jews and Germans. Contributors are: Tomas Balkelis, Daiva Dapkutė, Violeta Davoliūtė, Andrea Griffante, Ruth Leiserowitz, Klaus Richter, Vasilijus Safronovas, Vitalija Stravinskienė, Arūnas Streikus and Theodore R. Weeks.
"As World War II ended, refugees fled Soviet-occupied Lithuania, finding shelter in the displaced persons camps of Europe. By 1949, most had emigrated to North America. They brought with them opposing narratives about the Nazi occupation (1941-1944) when 95 percent of Lithuania's Jewish community was annihilated. Trauma narratives were passed down to the second and third generations through collective memory. Through postmemory, cultural memory and trauma theory, Vanished Lands analyzes literary works by North American Jewish and Lithuanian writers who speak over the silence of decades, seeking answers"--
Lietuvybe Down Under is a book about the experiences of Lithuanian migrants to Australia, and specifically about the desire of migrants to ‘feel’ and ‘be’ Lithuanian while living away from their homeland. Lietuvybe embraces the desire to be ‘visible’ both within and outside the Lithuanian community through language and their traditions of song, dance, music and the arts. ‘This book should be read far and wide in Australia; it provides an opportunity to understand the hopes and expectations of migrants, as well as the pain, fear, racism, challenges, loss, nostalgia and confusion about “where is my true home?” that migrants experience.’ Catherine Malcolm, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne
