Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

17Sep/130

Asia and Africa

Note: For the Asian parts of former Soviet Union see Europe (East) section.

In the 19th century, Africa and Asia were both scrambled by European empires, their coastal cities settled by white metropolitan colonists. However Lithuania not only lacked colonies, it was partitioned itself among Russia and Germany in this era and settled by these powers. Therefore there was little Lithuanian emigration to these "exotic" locations save for a few missionaries.

South Africa was unique among these colonies for its strong white community (20% of the population in 1900). It attracted people from Lithuania - but minorities rather than ethnic Lithuanians. Many Lithuanian Jews emigrated there, now making up some 70% of local 70 000-strong Jewish community. Germans moved in as well and one city in Free State province is still named Memel (Memel was the German name of Klaipėda, Lithuania).

Throughout the 20th century, many Lithuania's Jews emigrated to Palestine where the state of Israel was established in 1948. Some famous politicians are of Litvak descent whereas one of the most famous Orthodox rabbi schools is called Ponevezh after Panevėžys, Lithuania (the city it was once located in).

After 1990 the Asia and Africa became reachable for Lithuanians to travel, study and migrate. Interest in the cultures of India and Japan grew. Japan became the first country in these two continents to have a Lithuanian community formally established. Most of its cultural events take place in Japan where Lithuania operates an embassy. Embassies also exist in China, Egypt, and Israel.

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17Feb/130

Western Europe

Note: This includes areas that were not behind the Iron Curtain in the Cold War. For formerly socialist Europe, see Europe (East).

Western Europe is the prime magnet for Lithuanian migration today as the European Union regulations permit any Lithuanian to freely take a job in these richer societies. The largest Lithuanian populations are in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Spain.

While most of Lithuanians there are new immigrants (moved in after 1990 or more likely after 2004) the main Western European countries and cities drew Lithuanian elite and students (also some workers) for centuries. You may find such heritage in Rome (for centuries the center of the Catholic faith, dominant in Lithuania), Germany, London, Paris.

The modern communities are lively and they own Lithuanian restaurants and shops where you can buy Lithuanian goods (for a larger market they are frequently shared with other Eastern European communities). There are basketball clubs and federations. As under the Soviet atheist regime Lithuania became less religious Lithuanian churches are no longer constructed although the Lithuanian Catholic mass is celebrated in the local churches in the main cities.

There are also many political and cultural activities promoted by Lithuania itself in Western Europe, from M.K. Čiurlionis music concerts to Baltic Way photography expositions. Lithuania maintains embassies in most Western European countries. Being part of European Union, Council of Europe and United Nations many Lithuanians work in these institutions or represent Lithuania there. Some of the main headquarters of these international organizations are in Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Geneva. Lithuanian flag waves at such buildings along with the flags of other member states, while special Lithuanian embassies are allocated to such organizations.

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18Sep/120

Holy Land (Palestine and Israel)

Holy Land is the hotly disputed area in the Middle East that is holy to three religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and is currently variously recognized as either belonging to Israel, Palestine or both. As Lithuania is a longstanding Christian country that also has a well-entrenched Jewish minority, there are numerous Lithuania-related places in the Holy Land.

Lithuanian relics in the Christian religious sites

Lithuania has a representation in the international Holy Land Christian sites.

In the Pater Noster church in Jerusalem where the Lord's Prayer is written in many languages, there is also a Lithuanian version (inside the church).

In the Church of Annunciation in Nazareth where Virgin Mary once lived and received the vision that she is to give birth to Jesus Christ there are many Works of art depicting Mary donated by various countries and their people. Among them is an artwork from Lithuania based on the Virgin Mary painting on the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius.

Additionally, the city of Vilnius is mentioned on the Polish Mary that depicts locations where Poles have suffered during World War 2.

Lithuanian image of Virgin Mary in the Nazareth church (left) and Lithuanian Lord's Prayer in the Jerusalem Paternoster church (right).

Rich Lithuanians have supported the upkeep and restoration of the Christian holy sites. The fund of Lithuanian-American businessman Kazickas has funded the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Calvary chapels (this is marked by a plaque).

Memorial plaque for the sponsors of the Jerusalem Calvary, with the surname of Kazickas family.

Lithuanian (Litvak) heritage among the Israeli Jews

Most of the Holy Land is currently controlled by Israel. The majority of people there are Jews. Jews have immigrated from many countries all over the world, and many have arrived from Lithuania (these Jews are known as Litvaks). It is estimated that by 19th century Lithuania had some 350 thousand Jews, of which only some 200 thousand remained by the census year of 1923. By 1959, Lithuania had 25 thousand Jews and now it has merely 3 thousand.

Most of this decline happened due to emigration. Holy Land was among the primary destinations of Lithuania's Jewish emigration (together with USA, South Africa, and Russia). Therefore, many Jews in the Holy Land have their roots among the Lithuanian Jewry.

That said, typically, the Jewish migrants to Holy Land would integrate into the local Jewry and not pass down the Lithuanian traditions over generations.

Still, the name "Lithuania" and its cities may be seen in many biographies of prominent past (early-to-mid 20th century) Jews that are available in Israel. Many streets in Israel are named after such Lithuania-born Jews.

Lithuania-born Jewish architects among many architects presented in the 2nd floor of Shalom tower as the architects who constructed Tel Aviv.

Additionally, some 10% of Israel's population are Haredis, also known as Ultra-orthodox Jews. This deeply religious school of thought has one of two of its branches called "Litvish" or "Lithuanian". The main yeshiva (religious school) of this branch is called after Panevėžys city - Ponevezh yeshiva, as it was relocated from Panevėžys in the World War 2 era. It stands in the Orthodox-majority city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv. Among its key personalities was a Lithuanian-born Rabbi Elazar Shach (1899-2001) who has a street named after him in Bnei Brak.

Ponevezh Lithuanian yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel. Google Street View.

As opposed to the other descendants of Litvaks who have adopted the Hebrew language, the Haredi descendants typically still speak the Yiddish language which used to be spoken by the Jews in Lithuania before they became Russified during the Soviet Union occupation. They also dress in traditional garments. Visiting Haredi districts thus provides the best still-possible insight in how the 19th century Lithuania's Jewish districts (shtetls) looked like.

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18Sep/120

Australia and Oceania

Australia, the furthest continent from Lithuania, attracted some 10 000 Lithuanian refugees after the World War 2 (~1950).

This was a community of intellectuals: artists, former teachers, university professors, lawyers. It was the intellectuals who were the most persecuted by the Soviet regime and therefore many chose emigration over a likely death in Soviet-occupied Lithuania.

Lithuanian Houses were constructed or acquired in every main city. They still operate providing activities and Lithuanian food on pre-set hours but their history was not that easy. While Lithuanians hoped to preserve their culture until Lithuania is liberated the Australian officials, still under "White Australia" policy at the 1950s-1960s, hoped that Lithuanians would assimilate as quickly as possible into the British Australian society. Lithuanian Houses and parishes were seen as impediments for assimilation and in some cases, their establishment was prevented or delayed. There are fewer Lithuanian parishes in Australia than America with Lithuanian Houses being the community centers.

Every second New Year week the Lithuanian-Australian community organize Lithuanian days event. The most Lithuanian heritage exists in the major cities: Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Geelong.

Australia still attracts Lithuanians as it is a rich country. After 1990 Lithuanian community was also established in New Zealand. Other parts of Oceania lacks Lithuanian communities. However, some of the more remote locations in Australia and Antarctica are named after Lithuanian explorers.

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17Sep/120

Eastern Europe

Note: The part of Europe ruled by communists before 1990 is described here. It includes parts of Asia in the former USSR.

In the 15th-16th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the Europe's largest country. Numerous castles, manors, and their ruins, once established by Lithuanian rulers and noble families, exist in Belarus and Ukraine. The subsequent creation of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th-18th centuries) means that many places in Poland and Latvia are related to Lithuania as well. The ethnic boundaries of Lithuanian nation went beyond today's state borders so there are culturally important Lithuanian places in modern-day Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania castle in Kamianets Podilskyi, modern-day Ukraine, used to defend the Grand Duchy from Ottomans, Tatars and Cossacks since it was conquered by Vytautas the Great in 1393 and expanded by his succesors. Elected to be one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The 20th century brought much sadder events. The great Soviet exiles were among the most tragic moments in the Lithuanian history. This was a Soviet policy of 1940-1953 whereby hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians (entire families with children and babies) were stripped of their belongings, stuffed into cattle carriages and deported to various places in Siberia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Many perished - for instance out of those deported in 1941 more than 50% died due to harsh conditions (down to -70 C winter cold) and forced labor in the Soviet concentration camps.

They left only humble crosses now crumbling in permafrost. Since the late 1990s, there have been Lithuanian youth expeditions "Mission: Siberia" to clean these graveyards. Russia is still suspicious of any such activity which reminds the Soviet genocide. Its government impeded the Lithuanian-funded construction of memorials for victims in places like Yakutsk.

The families of the upper and middle class, teachers, artists who refused to glorify Stalin, lawyers, architects, soldiers and anybody deemed "disloyal to the Soviet system" were exiled. The Genocide of Lithuanians was not unique - many other Soviet minorities suffered even worse fate. Many other ethnicities saw their entire population deported (regardless of age, occupation or political views). Such plan was devised for Lithuanians too ("There will be Lithuania - But without the Lithuanians" are the infamous words of Commissioner Mikhail Suslov) but not completed.

Lithuanian deportee graveyard in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. Tens of thousands of such crumbling crosses exist all over the desolate parts of former USSR and even more graves are unmarked. Photo by expedition Mission: Siberia, aimed at cleaning these graveyards. Epitaph on the left reads: SADDENED WE LEAVE YOU IN SIBERIAN GRAVES, NOT KNOWING WHERE THE WINDS OF FATE WILL BLOW US.

After the death of Stalin, the repressions eased and Lithuanian deportees were allowed to return to the homeland or at least its vicinity. However, the returnees were not given back any property and were always held in suspicion, excluded from decent jobs and education. Therefore some chose not to return and still inhabit the Siberian villages. Such villages are hard to reach and foreigners are still banned from many places there.

While the Soviet expulsions forced more Lithuanians eastwards than anything else there are other Lithuanian marks in the Eastern Europe.

While the Soviet Union effectively banned emigration there was a massive internal migration. Some Lithuanians were given jobs outside their titular country. Today there are Lithuanian communities in the majority of the post-Soviet countries. Soviets established a pan-Union network of Russian language institutions (schools, university programs, theaters, media) at the same time banning minority language institutions, fostering russification. This way the minorities, including Lithuanians outside Lithuanian SSR, had to use Russian institutions and a large share of them adopted Russian language and culture. After 1990 some Lithuanian cultural institutions were allowed to open. They are concentrated to main cities such as Moscow, Kiev or Saint Petersburg.

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17Sep/126

Latin America

Statistics on the number of Lithuanians in Latin America vary wildly, putting the number anywhere between 60 000 to 1 000 000. It depends on who is to be considered Lithuanian as there is generally less participation in Lithuanian activities than in the USA or Western Europe. Many people of Lithuanian descent are now assimilated as in many cases they did not form ethnic enclaves and spread across large territories.

There have been Lithuanians in Latin America as early as the start of 19th century participating in the independence movements. Ignatas Domeika (also known in Polish as Ignacy Domeyko and in Spanish as Ignacio Domeyko) has a mountain named after him in Chile.

The real birth of Latin America's Lithuanian community was the interwar period (1920s - 1930s). In 1908 USA curbed immigration and Lithuanians opted for Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay instead. Argentina and Uruguay were as rich as Western Europe at the time and not far behind the USA. Brazil was poorer but had jobs in its extensive plantations.

60% of all 1926-1940 Lithuanian emigrants emigrated to these three countries. They published Lithuanian newspapers and created institutions. In general, they were poorer than Lithuanians in the USA and had less civil rights. Some used South America as a trampoline to the USA.

Latin America of the early 20th century still had vast unpopulated spaces so Lithuanians also participated in the establishment of new towns, e.g. Ijui (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) and Esquel (Chubut, Argentina). In the cities, they established Lithuanians were soon outnumbered by other immigrant communities. Lithuanian culture survived better in the region's metropolises (Buenos Aires, Rosario). There is a Lithuanian district in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Villa Zelina) centered around a Lithuanian church. Lithuanian parishes, dance troupes, and clubs exist in multiple Argentine and Uruguayan cities.

The last sizeable Lithuanian migration to Latin America was that of refugees in late 1940s who established the Lithuanian communities in Colombia and Venezuela. Never numbering more than 2000 they were nevertheless influential as most of their members were elite (artists, professionals). Antanas Mockus, a university professor, former mayor of Bogota and presidential candidate is a Lithuanian Colombian.

In the same era, J. Stalin invited interwar Lithuanian emigrants to return (for propaganda purposes), falsely promising riches. Some returned; those who could then left again for South America soon but this option was not possible to everyone.

After 1950s Lithuanian Latin Americans were never replenished by new immigrants. In 1945-1990 emigration was banned by occupational Soviet authorities. After 1990 Latin America was already relatively poor and Lithuanians favored the USA, Western Europe, and Australia as their new foreign homes. Intermarriage in the older communities triggered assimilation but some did marry within the community and there are 4th generation Lithuanians who still speak Lithuanian at home.

There has been upsurge in interest in Lithuanian roots after Lithuania joined the European Union as the Lithuanian passport now provides a possibility to work in Western Europe.

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17Sep/123

Japan

Lithuanian community in Japan is small and young (formally established in 2005). Therefore it used to be very surprising to see a Lithuanian-named institution right next to Akihabara (world capital of electronics). This was the Zemaitis museum (address: 11-5 Kajicho, 2-Chome, Chiyoda-ku, under a railway line), which unfortunately closed in 2012. "Žemaitis" means a "Samogitian" in the Lithuanian language (a person from Samogitia, one of the country's traditional regions). However, the museum is dedicated not to Samogitia but to Antanas Kazimieras Žemaitis (a.k.a. Tony Casimere Zemaitis 1935-2002), a very famous Lithuanian luthier. His pearl-incrusted expensive instruments have been played by such celebrities as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jimmy Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Paul McCarthney, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, James Hatfield and Ronny Wood. Tony Zemaitis was born to a Lithuanian emigrant family in London but now the base of "Zemaitis Guitars" company he established has been curiously moved to Japan where most of his guitars are also sold (thus the museum in Tokyo).

Interestingly there is another Lithuania-related museum in northern Hokkaido dedicated to a Lithuanian who never live in Japan. That is Miri Hiroko Stasys Museum with some works by a Lithuanian painter Stasys Eidrigevičius and a local painter Mori Hiroko. It has been established on an initiative of director Hasegawa who met Eidrigevičius in his study in Poland back in 1978 and became mesmerized by his works. Address Yubinbango 047-0034, Otaru city.

Miri Hiroko Stasys museum in Otaru. Google Street View.

In Inami town (Toyama prefecture), a sculpture for Lithuanian Pagan fire goddess Gabija has been constructed in 1999 by sculptor Algimantas Sakalauskas. It has a Lithuanian inscription "Gabija, Fire goddess". It is located in a park next to the Inami Sculpture General Hall.

Gabija sculpture in Inami

Gabija sculpture in Inami. Photos by Algimantas Sakalauskas.

Another point of interest is "Little Lithuania" clothing store in Hiroshima. Marked by a tricolor it uniquely has nothing to do with local Lithuanians as it had been opened by a Japanese family fond of Lithuanian linen and culture.

Japan is among the ethnically purest countries and lacks immigrants. However, its entirely different yet modern civilization lured some Westerners (including Lithuanians) in, coupled with business opportunities. Business relations caused Lithuania to establish its embassy in Tokyo (3-7-18 Moto-Azabu, Minato-ku) but the diplomatic mission now hosts the events of Lithuanian community.

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17Sep/129

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom with its robust economy and official English language became a magnet for Lithuanian migrants after 2004 when Lithuania joined the European Union. Some 100 000 Lithuanians left their homeland for the UK - more than ever to any single country except for the pre-WW1 migration to the USA.

However, unlike the Lithuanian-Americans, the Lithuanians of the UK are not building massive Lithuanian schools and churches - for now at least. However, there is Lithuanian heritage in the UK: it has been created by much smaller groups of the 1880s-1950s emigrants who chose what was then the British Empire over the USA for their new lives (such migration was cheaper). Back in Lithuania (then ruled by the Russian Empire) ethnic Lithuanians faced discrimination, had their language banned, lacked any industrial jobs, while males could have been conscripted for many years.

Exact figures of Lithuanians are hard to get as the British census asks for broad racial categories rather than ethnicities (Lithuanians are among "Other Whites").

Lithuanian heritage in London and its suburbs

Most of the UK Lithuanians live in the capital London (40 000 - 80 000) where they make up ~0,5% of the population. There is no Lithuanian neighborhood there, however, although the traditionally poor East London has somewhat larger Lithuanian populations. The Lithuanian St. Casimir Church is also located there, having been constructed by pre-WW1 immigrants in 1912. New Lithuanian migration saved it as a viable parish. London also has a historical Lithuanian cemetery where (among others) some famous interwar Lithuanian diplomats are buried (Soviets did not permit them back home). Today, however, Lithuanians are buried in all cemeteries.

The Lithuanian parish of London owned a farmstead-hotel in the Headley Park suburb since 1955 (Guildford GU35 8TE). Lithuanian holidays were held here, with Pentecost being the most important. Unfortunately, the farmstead, usually referred by Lithuanian name "Sodyba", was sold in the 2010s.

Lithuanian heritage in England outside London

After Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets, United Kingdom received some refugees although their numbers were far from those in the USA, Canada, or Australia.

Still, the small Lithuanian community, in cooperation with other communities from Soviet-occupied countries, managed to create some impact. They formed Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations. Among its heritage is a plaque in Bradford Cathedral that was unveiled in 1983 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the organization. The plaque incorporates a Lithuanian flag in addition to those of Latvia, Belarus (white-red-white), Ukraine, Hungary, and Estonia. It reminds the readers that the nations in question are denied their freedom (the situation has since changed as the Soviet block collapsed ~1989-1991).

In Nottingham, Lithuanians established Lithuanian Catholic Center in a regular house at 16 Hound Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham.

Currently, one of the most Lithuanian cities of the United Kingdom is Peterborough where the 2011 census recorded 2% of the population (some 4000 people) as being Lithuania-born (the number of those with Lithuanian ethnicity would likely be higher). While these are generally recent immigrants, there were Lithuanian refugees (DPs) who came into Peterborough fleeing the Soviet Genocide in the 1940s as well. While small in numbers, their massive Lithuanian patriotism to greatly further the Lithuanian activities and promote UK support for Lithuanian independence. The last one among that DP generation of Peterborough Lithuanians Steponas Bronius Vaitkevičius passed away in 2017 (born 1922), after receiving a Lithuanian state award and Peterborough honorary citizen recognition for his efforts. "Švyturys" organization of recent Lithuanian immigrants to Peterborough marked the home where he used to live with a commemorative plaque in 2018, thus creating the first Lithuanian-heritage site in Peterborough. It is located at 325 Eastfield Road.

Vaitkevičius commemorative plaque in Peterborough

Vaitkevičius commemorative plaque in Peterborough

Lithuanian heritage in Scotland

Prior to World War 1 some 8 000 Lithuanians lived in Scotland. Most of the adult males worked in the coal mines of North Lanarkshire near Glasgow. The Mossend district of Bellshill town there still has a Lithuanian Social Club (79A Calder Road). Since 1904 the nearby Holy Family church has Lithuanian mass. Lithuanian priests (especially Gutauskas) who once made this possible have a cross and a monument dedicated to them. Pre-WW1 Lithuanians sought to build their own church like their brethren in the USA were doing. However, the UK of the era was far less tolerant and the local bishop prevented establishing ethnic churches. Bothwell cemetery still has Lithuanian graves that look very British: with long descriptions of birth and death dates, additional information. The areas top pilgrimage site, the Carfin grotto, has a Lithuanian inscription in addition to other languages.

Lithuanian shrine and cross in Scotland. ©Paul Lucas.

Unfortunately, the pre-WW1 Lithuanian community in Scotland had a rather terrible fate. There was still no independent Lithuania therefore, as BBC notes, Lithuanians were "Russians" to the government and "Poles" to most Scots. The founder of Labour Party Keir Hardie denounced the import of these "Poles from Russia" (i.e. Lithuanians). In 1917 Britain signed a deal with Russia forcing Scotland's Lithuanian males to serve the Russian army. ~1200 have been sent away, some found the Russian Empire already collapsed, but few were able or wanted to return to Scotland. As Lithuania gained its independence in 1918 some established their lives there, others perished. The diminished Lithuanian community in Scotland has been somewhat rejuvenated ~1950 by refugees from Soviet-occupied Lithuania. Like elsewhere in the UK post-2004 migrants now form the majority of Lithuanians in Scotland.

Lithuanian Social Club in Mossend. Google Street View.

Among the pre-WW1 Lithuanians in Scotland was the infamous communist Vincas Mickevičius Kapsukas. Having failed to promote communism in Lithuania ~1918 he was accepted into the "Soviet pantheon" after the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania (1940) and even had a town named after him there in 1955 (which the local people voted to rename back to Marijampolė immediately after the democracy returned ~1989).

Lithuania-related places created by post-1990 immigrants

Other British locations never had Lithuanian communities large enough to leave massive heritage. The actions of modern Lithuanian emigrants are not yet visible in stone. Such a massive community made it possible to establish commercially viable Lithuanian Sunday schools, a small shop chain "Lituanica". However "Lituanica" stores also have Polish and Russian adverts and sell various Eastern European goods. When there are no Lithuanian neighborhoods with a concentrated Lithuanian market such multi-ethnic orientation is a necessity for a profitable business. Lithuanian shops, stores, bars, and schools are all operating in rented premises, Lithuanian mass is held in non-Lithuanian churches. Should this continue it is likely that, after the Lituanity will start its inevitable decline (Lithuanian kids born in Britain are already assimilating) and the institutions will start closing down, this massive community will leave little heritage.

Lituanica store under a railroad in Birmingham. Google Street View.

British laws aren't especially convenient for Lithuanians. Lithuanian is not allowed as a medium-of-instruction at schools (except for special Sunday schools). Discrimination of Lithuanians and other Eastern Europeans isn't regarded as seriously as discrimination of, for example, Black immigrants. There is also less government support for Eastern European minorities culture.

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17Sep/121

London, England, United Kingdom

London houses the largest ethnic Lithuanian population outside the Republic of Lithuania numbering 40 000 - 80 000 (0,5% - 1% of all Londoners). Most of them immigrated after 1990 (independence restoration of Lithuania) and especially after 2004 (Lithuania's accession to the European Union).

Lithuanian community in London is, however, much older than most other immigrant groups there. Oldest building associated to it is the St. Casimir Roman Catholic church built in 1912. Somewhat reminiscent of a multi-storey building the church is smaller than the Lithuanian American churches of the era as the majority of emigrants used to leave for America at the time. Still, the docks and factories of what was the world's largest city between 1825 and 1925 attracted some Lithuanians. The church is in East End (Bethnal Green) where immigrant communities used to settle and still settle (now the area is more populated by people from Africa and Indian Subcontinent).

St. Casimir Lithuanian church in Bethnal Green. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

In 1955 the parish acquired a large countryside house southwest of London (Guildford GU35 8TE). Known as Headley Park Hotel this location used to celebrate Lithuanian holidays the traditional way (especially the Pentecost) but it has been sold ~2010.

Since 1963 London has a Lithuanian cemetery or, more correctly, a Lithuanian zone in the old St. Patrick Roman Catholic cemetery (Langthorne Road, Leytonstone). Some 200 Lithuanians have been buried there including ambassadors to Great Britain Bronius Balutis and Vincas Balickas whose bodies were precluded from repatriation by the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. Today Lithuanians are buried in various London cemeteries, however (and in St. Patrick's outside the Lithuanian sector).

Modern Lithuanian community has not built any buildings or monuments but founded numerous live institutions. Multiple newspapers and magazines circulate (largest newspaper is the weekly "Tiesa" which may be found free of charge in central London). There are Lithuanian shops, restaurants (sometimes shared with other Eastern European communities). The language is taught at Saturday schools while Lithuanian newspapers are full of adverts for Lithuanian legal offices, dentistry, and other services. There are also Lithuanian clubs such as the London City Lithuanian Club dedicated to Lithuanians working in London's financial heart. In addition to the old Catholic parish, a new Lithuanian Christian church was established meeting at Methodist premises.

Lithuanian restaurant Smiltė in northeastern London suburbs. Google Street View.

Basketball (Lithuania's national sport which is dubbed "second religion") is also well represented. British-Lithuanian Basketball League (BLKL) was established in 2007 in East London. Now it has some 20 teams (some named after Lithuanian cities and famous professional teams) and multiple sponsors. All games are played in an arena at Dagenham Parsloes Avenue RM9 5QT, tickets are not free. Among the reasons to establish their own league was the ban on loud fans in British leagues. In Britain football is where the most active fans go while Lithuanians typically enjoy basketball the same way: with chants, screams, painted faces and even drums. Brits, however, view basketball differently (some Lithuanian fans who were arrested in 2012 London Olympics for loud chants learned this the hard way).

While the number of London Lithuanians increased greatly after 2004 the participants in official Lithuanian community did not increase. The new immigrants of diverse groups (temporary students, permanent blue collar and white collar employees) typically integrate more thoroughly into London society as a whole, speaking good English. Some of them do not feel such loyalty to the Lithuanian nation as the earlier immigrants feel.

United Kingdom census of 2011 revealed that most Lithuania-born people live in East London: 8348 in the borough of Newham (where they comprise 2,7% of total population), 4028 in Barking and Dangenham (2,2%), 3500 in Waltham Forest (1,3%), 2827 in Redbridge (1%), 1979 in Greenwich (0,8%), 1332 in Lewisham (0,5%). Total number for London was 39 817 (0,5%). Even the British local councils, however, doubt these statistics and believe that the true number of Lithuanians may be twice as large; among the reasons of underrepresentation is the pressure of landlords on immigrants not to complete census forms. Additionally, the census counted place of birth rather than ethnicity so it includes Lithuania-born Russians and Poles but excludes ethnic Lithuanians born abroad.

Thanks to the large emigrant community London is the most easily reached foreign city from Lithuanian airports. There are 5 to 7 daily services by planes of some 180 seats. They are operated by low-cost carriers offering return tickets for prices less than 100 Pounds. Coupled with a flight time of under 3 hours it is common for London Lithuanians to frequently visit their original homeland. They do that during vacations and major holidays as well as for medical, cosmetical, spa and similar services (such services are much cheaper and sometimes of better quality in Lithuania).

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17Sep/1212

The Gambia

When one hears the word "Colonialism" the mighty European Empires (Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, Russia...) probably come to mind first. However, several smaller countries also managed to partake in the great colonial adventure. Among them was Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a fiefdom of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 27,286 km² in area and with a population of mere 200 000 people in the year 1651 it became the first European power to settle the Gambia and one of the first to establish a colony in Africa.

The colony was established in Andrew island and some surrounding areas. The Russian invasion of Lithuania meant that Courland was weakened and lost its colonies after less than a decade, however. British captured the Gambia estuary and their slave trade was what made the island (renamed James Island) famous. British traders used to buy local slaves from their black masters upriver and keep them on the island before the transatlantic voyage. The island still housing ruins of a fort (British, not Lithuanian), is now a UNESCO world heritage site, its importance increased by Alex Haley's book "Roots" where this African American author claimed to have traced his own roots to a certain slave Kunta Kinte who had been once shipped through the James Island.

Andrew/James/Kunta Kinte island, a former Lithuanian (Courlandian) colony in the Gambia. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The historical accuracy of the book is doubtful and it has been attacked for plagiarism but the Gambia capitalizes on related tourism (James Island was renamed after Kunta Kinte in 2011). On Juffureh village near the island, a slavery museum has been established, its guides presenting a version of history as it is described in "The Roots", influenced by the African American national romanticism era of 1960s-1970s.

Juffureh village itself also used to be a colony of Courland and Semigallia. Banjul island where the capital city of the Gambia is now located was the third Courlandian colony.

The name Courland is now virtually unknown so popular sources list the first colonial power of Gambia variously as either Germans, Latvians, Lithuanians or Poles. There is a grain of truth in every version as the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was ruled by ethnic German dukes (Kettler dynasty), its population majority was Latvian, it was a fiefdom of Lithuania which, in turn, was a part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

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17Sep/126

United States of America

The USA has been the dreamland for Lithuanians since ~1865. A million of them emigrated there. Although many loved the American freedom and economy, most still remained culturally Lithuanian for generations, putting their hard-earned money into hundreds of lavish patriotically-themed Lithuanian halls, churches, monasteries, schools, parks, cemeteries, and other buildings that became unique "Lithuanias outside Lithuania" in the midst of American industrial cities and mining towns. Many of them are impressive to both Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian alike.

USA Lithuanian heritage by state

Click on the images to see extensive articles on the great Lithuanian heritage in that state.

Chicago, Illinois - the Lithuanian-American capital
Illinois
Pennsylvania - America's oldest Lithuanian colony with ~150 Lithuanian heritage sites
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts and its numerous Lithuanian cities (Boston, Worcester, Brockton, Lawrence, Lowell, Athol) with 50+ Lithuanian sites
Massachusetts
Connecticut, America's most Lithuanian state (0,9%) with some of its most important Lithuanian sites
Connecticut
New York City (a Lithuanian hub for 100+ years) and the Lithuanian industrial towns of upstate New York
New York
Michigan, with century-old Lithuanian heritage in its industrial cities and Lithuanian camps in its wilderness
Michigan
Maryland, with the tallest Lithuanian church and one of the greatest Lithuanian Halls in Baltimore
Maryland
Washington may lack a strong Lithuanian community but as the US capital it has many greatly symbollic Lithuanian locations
Washington, DC
Ohio, with its Lithuanian garden, club, and numerous churches in Cleveland and Dayton
Ohio
Maine and its Kennebunkport Lithuanian monastery and massive park - one of the America's most-famous and best-kept Lithuanian sites
Maine
New Jersey with numerous Lithuanian churches in its towns and NYC suburbs
New Jersey
Wisconsin, where nearly every lakeside city had a Lithuanian church and community
Wisconsin
New Hampshire, where thousands of Lithuanians worked in Nashua mills and left many traces there
New Hampshire
Indiana includes Chicago suburbs which have some of the highest concentration of Lithuanians in the continent, especially so in the Beverly Shores resort
Indiana
California and Los Angeles, one of the most important post-WW2 Lithuanian-American cities
California
Vermont, with a massive Lithuanian Neringa camp in its wood
Vermont
Rhode Island, where Lithuanian independence day is officially a holiday
Rhode Island
Nebraska and its lively Lithuanian hub in Omaha - the westernmost historic Lithuanian 'colony'
Nebraska

Other US states with Lithuanian sites: Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas, Washington (state).

History of Lithuanian-Americans and their heritage

According to the US census of 2001, there are some 700 000 Lithuanian-Americans. This is the largest Lithuanian community outside Lithuania and the most important one. There is much Lithuanian heritage in the USA, especially in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and the industrial cities of the Midwest.

Lithuanians settled in the USA in three separate eras, so-called "waves". The first wave arrived in the late 19th century (when Lithuania was occupied and discriminated by Russian Empire). Some 350 000 Lithuanian peasants left their agricultural lives for workplaces in Pennsylvanian mines, slaughterhouses of Chicago and factories in other major cities. Speaking little English they formed their own districts and communities, founded Lithuanian newspapers and orchestras, funded extremely lavish churches (for their humble lifestyle) and now lay in cemeteries covered by massive tombstones. The first wave was curbed by the limits on immigration imposed in 1908 by the US government but its legacy continued.

The first wave Lithuanian-Americans campaign for the liberty of Lithuania in the 1910s. Some of them returned after 1918 independence to help their homeland get on its feet.

The second wave came after World War 2. People who managed to escape the Soviet regime were finally able to leave overcrowded refugee camps in Germany in some 1948. The USA welcomed up to 100 000 of them, never having recognized the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. These refugees were primarily intellectuals, artists, and the elite. Feeling to have been forced from their homeland rather than leaving it due to economical reasons they were/are very patriotic, taking part in various Lithuanian groups and social gatherings, Lithuanian churches being among the most important. Even many people born in the USA to such Lithuanian parents are more attached to Lithuania than to their new homeland. The massive second wave of immigrants fought hard to advance the Lithuanian cause and established an entire nation of Lithuania-in-exile, with its government in Washington, DC and all the necessary institutions. Their tireless work contributed to the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990. This event came just at the time when time started to take its toll on the second wave Lithuanian-American communities. However many were still in good health in the 1990s and some left their comfortable American lives for restored free Lithuania using their experience and money to help rebuild their homeland after decades of Soviet misrule. Among these returnees was president Valdas Adamkus (1998-2009), two presidential candidates, and multiple businessmen. In a sense, this helped to make Lithuania of the late 1990s more American than European in various ways.

Lithuanians DPs in a ship which moves them from refugee camps in Germany to a new world (left image). They later established cohesive communities, such as the one centered around this new (1950s) Nativity BVM church in Marquette Park, Chicago (right image).

The third wave immigrated after the restoration of independence opened the borders yet again. The reasons for migration were economical as years of Soviet rule left the Lithuanian economy shattered. At one time some half of Lithuanian US tourist visa holders would not return home. After Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004 this migration diminished as more people opted for Western Europe instead. Third-wave immigrants are generally less attached to their native culture than the previous waves. Influenced by long Soviet state atheism they are also less religious. They failed to replenish Lithuanian churches and therefore American dioceses went on to Lithuanian church closure and demolition spree in the 2000s. The number of people that consider Lithuanian culture important also decreases as the older generations pass away. Some of the things you can see today may no longer be there after a couple of years, so be quick.

Mini-museum of Lithuania at St. Anthony church in Detroit (closed 2013). Old Lithuanian American parishes, clubs, and other institutions typically include memorabilia such as Lithuanian flags, emblems, anthem texts, ethnic clothes, religious symbols, historical and modern images, names of important people and freedom fighters. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Chicago is regarded to be the capital of Lithuanian Americans. There were several Lithuanian neighborhoods and two streets are still named after Lithuania. Lithuanians constructed many churches, the most elaborate being the Holy Cross in the Back of the Yards (1913). There are two extensive Lithuanian cemeteries: the Roman Catholic St. Casimir and the multidenominational Lithuanian National Cemetery. Several monuments and plaques exist, the most famous being the memorial for pilots S. Darius and S. Girėnas, the first Lithuanians to perform a transatlantic flight. The world's oldest Lithuanian language newspaper Draugas is published in Chicago since 1909. There are opportunities for tasting Lithuanian dishes (even though they are less common than in the 1990s or before). You may also visit the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian culture, the only such institution outside Lithuania.

The rule of the thumb is that in every city that used to be major in early 20th century exist be Lithuanian communities and heritage, primarily churches and cemeteries. This can be said about Cleveland and Detroit near the Great Lakes as well as Boston, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia on the Eastern coast. Los Angeles is the only city in the west to have a sizeable Lithuanian community (and a church). Ater all the America's West was much less populated at the time of second and especially the first waves of Lithuanian immigration.

Pennsylvania has a large population of Lithuanians in its small Coal Region towns, in some places exceeding 10%. Shenandoah used to be called Vilnius of America. Here you may also find Lithuanian churches and cemeteries (unfortunately many churches, such as the 19th century one in Shenandoah, were condemned to demolition or are no longer used for religious purposes). Lake Kasulaitis in Pennsylvania is a rare Lithuanian toponym on the American continent.

Washington DC has a Lithuanian embassy that served like a shadow government in the years of Soviet occupation.

Click to learn more about Lithuania: USA 6 Comments
16Sep/128

Rome and Italy

Rome has been the center of Catholic world for 2000 years. In the Middle Ages, this also meant the political heart of Europe. With the Christianization of Lithuania (13th-15th centuries) the Grand Dukes of Lithuania participated in many then-important deliberations: possible Catholic-Orthodox union, wars against Ottomans. Rome's importance continued throughout the 20th century when the Vatican refused to recognize the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940-1990) and the church supported Lithuanians' plight for freedom.

In 1970 when the Soviet military might and human rights abuses made it hard to even dream about free Lithuania the Vatican opened a Lithuanian chapel in its famous St. Peter Basilica (the most important Catholic church in the world). Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn proudly hangs behind its altar (a copy of a sacred painting that is the religious heart of Vilnius), giving its name to the chapel (which is also known as Lithuanian Martyrs chapel). Walls are decorated in bas-reliefs of Lithuanian rulers, bishops, martyrs, saints, first Lithuanian churches, and patriotic symbols, all created by Lithuanian-American sculptor V. Jonynas. Large Rūpintojėlis (a traditional Lithuanian figure of a sad God) by Italian Alcide Ticò fails to fully adhere to the convention. Travertine stone is used for all decor akin to the Roman catacombs where early Christians used to hide from Imperial persecutions (events that were a 1700-year-old history in Rome but a modern truth in Lithuania where Soviets led a major anti-Christian drive which included murdering the religious).

Consecration of the chapel was attended by 500 Lithuanians - all of them emigrants (from North and South America, Western Europe, Australia, and Africa) as the Soviet occupational regime forbade most Lithuanians from traveling to the Western world. The idea of the Lithuanian chapel was therefore developed by the emigrants and they were a prime source of pilgrimages to the chapel for the upcoming 20 years. After Lithuanian independence (1990) Lithuanian citizens were quick to discover the Eternal City and this chapel (~1995 the first Lithuanian language guidebook to be published about a Western location had Rome as its topic). Popes pray at the Lithuanian chapel as well - it was one of the first locations where the Polish pope John Paul II prayed after being elected.

Beautiful Villa Lituania is another building in Rome that is closely related to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. It is commonly referred to as the "Final occupied territory of Lithuania". This estate at Via Nomentana 116 which includes a 90 are park has been bought by Lithuania in 1937 (for 3 million liras) to serve as an embassy. However in 1945 Italy illegally transferred the building to the Soviets under Soviet pressure. Russian diplomats still use the building. Italian government recognize the illegality of its predecessor's actions but could not offer restitution instead of suggesting some alternative proposals (a cheap lease of a derelict building further away from downtown) that were not acceptable to the Lithuanian side.

Diplomats at Villa Lituania. The building, surrounded by a park, still exists although trees largely cover it from the street. Historical image.

Villa Lituania is also a name of a Catholic guest house (Piazza Asti 25). Its impressive historical towered facade is crowned by the Lithuanian coat of arms, its balustrades by crosses of Vytis. Administered by St. Casimir nuns, the institution helps Lithuanians to see the Pope while a local chapel celebrates the Lithuanian holy mass. The building also houses the Lithuanian St. Casimir College, the home to Lithuanian priests in Rome.

Villa Lituania palatial guest house in Rome. Google Street View.

Lithuanians work in other Catholic institutions as well. Radio Vatican offers some programming in the Lithuanian language.

Through the centuries of Christian Lithuania, the burial grounds of Eternal City had many famous Lithuanians interred. St. Lawrence (Verano) cemetery includes a chapel of St. Casimir Lithuanian College where these people lie: bishop Vincentas Podolskis, a signatory of Lithuanian independence declaration priest Kazimieras Šaulys, leader of Lithuanian-Italian community priest Vincas Mincevičius, Lithuanian ambassador to the Holy See Stasys Girdvainis, chairman of the American Lithuanian charity fund Juozas Končius, Lithuanian Brazilian general vicar and vice-rector of the St. Casimir Lithuanian college Zenonas Ignatavičius, priest Jonas Buikus, deacon Augustinas Lišauskas, and nun Eulalia.

One of the most visited churches of Rome Chiesa del Gesù (the heart of the Jesuits) is also the final resting place of the first Lithuanian cardinal and a bishop of Vilnius Jurgis Radvila (epitaphy on the floor: "Cardinalis Radzivili Episcopi Cravoviensis Ducis Olicae Et Niesvisii" - "Cardinal Radvila, the Bishop of Cracow and Duke of Olyka and Nesvyžius"). In the peak of his career, he was one of the Europe's important elite and he died in the Eternal City in 1600. It is symbolic that this church is considered to be the first Baroque church in the world and Baroque would later have a major architectural impact over Vilnius. By the way, the second Baroque church in the world was built in Nesvyžius (modern-day Belarus), in a manor owned by Radvila family.

From these times until some 1930s nobles and priests used to be the Lithuanians who explored Rome the most. The first sizeable gentile community was formed in the 1940s when post-war refugees arrived in Rome. It soon established ties not just with the Vatican but also with Italian Christian Democrats. Disregarding the protests of local far-left activists the Christian Democrats supported Lithuanian independence. A relic of these times is a square in Rome named Piazza Lituania.

Lithunian heritage in Italy otside Rome

While Rome has always been the center of both Italy and the Lithuanian life there, the Lithuanians for centuries spilled beyond the city of Rome itself: after all, Italy as a whole served as a major center of art, science, faith, and civilization.

This was true for pre-modern intellectuals and post-WW2 refugees alike but it may be truer than ever today, as the post-1990 emigration wave created Lithuanian communities in various places in Italy.

One of the more active Lithuanian communities is in Tuscany. Among the first known emigrants from Lithuania living there was a famous Polish-Lithuanian composer Mykolas Kleopas Oginskis (Polish: Michał Kleofas Ogiński), who served as a treasurer of Lithuania before the Russian Empire annexed the country (1795) and fled to Italy in 1815 after it became clear that the Russian Imperial rule in Lithuania would not end anytime soon; Oginskis's grave is in Santa Croce basilica next to such luminaries as Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo, and Giacomo Rossini.

The Lithuanian honorary consul there ensured that a street of Florence was named Via Lituania in 2016, commemorating 25 years since the Italian recognition of the Lithuanian independence restoration.

In Bardi (Emigla-Romagna), there is a Lithuanian chapel-post (koplytsulpis), Lituania street, and a Lithuanian Hall (Sala Lituania) in the local Youth House. The relations between this town and Lithuanians were kickstarted by a Lithuanian priest Vincas Mincevičius and a local Italian cardinal Antonio Samore who was from Bardi. Antonio Samore worked as a Vatican diplomat in Lithuania in 1932-1938 and fell in love with Lithuanian culture. After Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets and many Lithuanian priests were forced to leave Westwards (or face exile at the Soviet hands), priest Vincas Mincevičius ended up in Italy, helping Antonio Samore in his work there. Celebrating his lost homeland and Antonio Samore's service there, Vincas Mincevičius ordered a traditional Lithuanian wooden chapel-post (koplytstulpis) in Bardi in 1962, celebrating the 30 years since Antonio Samore began his service in Lithuania. This chapel-post was made by an Italian artist Adolfo Valazza. However, it has been destroyed by a landslide and replaced several times, with the current Lithuanian chapel-post dating to 2007 and created by a Lithuanian folk artist Vytautas Ulevičius. Antonio Samore would has also funded various public buildings in his hometown, such as a kindergarten, a care facilty for the elderly, and the Youth House. Vincas Mincevičius tried to add Lithuanian details to these, with the most impressive being Sala Lituania in the Youth House, which includes artworks such as the map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vytis, rulers of Medieval Lithunia. In 2022, a commemorative plaque for Vincas Mincevičius was attached to the Youth House of Bardi.

A street named after Lithuania also exists in Grossetto, Tuscany, while a square was named after Lithuania in 2021 in Torri in Sabina, Tuscany.

Sicilian capital of Palermo has a Lithuanian square since 2016, while the Sicilian town of Barrafranca has Lithuania - Hill of Crosses square [piazza Lituania – Collina delle Croci] since 2012 when it was named so to commemorate the friendship between the local diocese and diocese of Šiauliai (Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai is an important sight and symbol of Lithuania).

There is a Lithuanian chapel-post in Aosta Valley (45.7997, 7.5843).

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Europe (West), Italy, Rome, Vatican 8 Comments
16Sep/1216

Adelaide, South Australia

Adelaide city arguably hosts the richest Lithuanian heritage in Australia. It was created by a large Lithuanian community which arrived to South Australia ~1950, fleeing the brutal Soviet occupation of their home country.

Adelaide Lithuanian Catholic Church and Center

Adelaide has the only Lithuanian church in Australia (opened 1959). Lithuanian churches were considered a necessity for deeply religious Lithuanian diaspora communities. However, elsewhere in Australia Lithuanians were precluded from opening them as the official policy was to promote assimilation through immigrants joining English parishes. That said, Adelaide Lithuanians attracted more sympathy from the local bishop Matthew Beovich, himself of an Eastern European background.

Adelaide Lithuanian church is part of a larger Lithuanian Catholic Center. The two-floored brick building has been constructed ~1890 for a Hardwicke College for girls. After Australia accepted Lithuanian refugees ~1948 and they completed the initial mandatory years of labor, many have moved into cities like Adelaide and sought to acquire buildings for community affairs. By then Hardwicke College was in dire straits, thus sold its own building to Lithuanians.

Adelaide Lithuanian church and Lithuanian Catholic Center. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

In addition to the main church hall, the Lithuanian Catholic Center includes a meeting hall, a library, and other institutions common to Lithuanian-Australian clubs. Some of the premises are rented out. The courtyard is adorned by a monument to Lithuania (which includes a traditional "sad Jesus" sculpture known as Rūpintojėlis and Lithuanian coat of arms Vytis; erected 1962), Mission cross (originally constructed in 1959 at a summer camp the Lithuanian church owned in Christies Beach). The building facade includes a cross to commemorate victims of the January 13 massacre (when Russian soldiers murdered Lithuanian civilians in Vilnius) and a bas-relief to Saint Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania (created 1984). History of the building (including its "Lithuanian period") is described on a freestanding plaque near the lot (such historical plaques are common in Adelaide).

Monuments at the yard and facade of Adelaide Lithuanian church. Left to right: the monument to Lithuania, Mission cross, St. Casimir bas-relief. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Adelaide Lithuanian House and Museum

Adelaide is also the only Australian city to have more than a single Lithuanian center. The second center, known as Adelaide Lithuanian House has been created in 1957 by Lithuanians who preferred secular control over secular ethnic affairs. While nearly all Lithuanians who fled the Soviet occupation were Roman Catholics, they had varying opinions on how much religious and secular affairs should be intermingled.

The Lithuanian House consists of several single-floored buildings. They include a Lithuanian museum (established in 1967 by J. K. Vanagas), open by appointment.

Inside the Adelaide Lithuanian museum. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The museum exhibits include:
*Things that Lithuanian refugees took with them when fleeing Lithuania. These include Lithuanian mementos such as interwar military uniforms, folk costumes and even a rod previously owned by the president of Lithuania Antanas Smetona.
*Historical documents of Lithuanian Australians, such as the refugee cards.
*Art (paintings, sculptures) created by Lithuanian Australians. As artists and other intellectuals were among prime targets of Soviet discrimination, many good artists left for Australia, continuing their work there. Much of the art present in Lithuanian House is related to historical moments of Lithuania and incorporates Lithuanian symbols.
*General information about Lithuania and Lithuanians.
*Images from Lithuania and the life of Adelaide Lithuanians.

The art created by Lithuanian Australians in Lithuanian house and museum of Adelaide. Pictured by Augustinas Žemaitis. The author of left painting - Stasys Neliubšys, right painting - Vytas Šerelis.

Adelaide Lithuanian House also has a large meeting hall, bar (open on Sundays), library and other premises, most of them decorated with Lithuanian art and details, such as coats of arms of Lithuanian cities. The yard includes two monuments: a stone memorial to those who died defending Lithuanian freedom as well as a wooden roof-post (a popular form of Lithuanian folk art). The building itself was formerly a methodist church.

Paminklai Monuments in the yard of Lithuanian House in Adelaide. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Lithuanian exhibits at Adelaide Migration Museum

South Australia is the sole Australian state to have been settled only by free migrants rather than convicts. In the 19th century already people of many nationalities were attracted to Adelaide area by a promise for a religious freedom (which the Europe lacked at the time). The number of nationalities continued to increase in the 20th century. Due to a such multicultural history, the Migration museum was established in Adelaide in 1986. The museum includes many exhibits related to Lithuanians of Australia.

The Soviet refugee period is represented in Adelaide migration museum by a Lithuanian folk costume and amber beads once owned by Stasė Pocevičius. Image ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

At the museum's entrance, there are numerous memorial plaques commemorating the largely sad reasons for significant parts of various nations migrating to Australia. Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians have a common plaque commemorating the Soviet genocide.

Memorial plaque for the mass murders and expulsions of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians hangs between other similar plaques commemorating Serbians and Poles persecuted by the communist and nationalsocialist regimes (as a result, these two nations also have many migrants to Adelaide). ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The Migration Museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, typically each of them created by a particular ethnicity (and dedicated to its culture). A public book lists all the former exhibitions, four of them organized by Lithuanians (topics: Lithuanian bookplates (1989-1990), Lithuanians alive (1990), Lithuanian festivals in Adelaide 1950-2002 (2002-2003), Lithuanian folk art). Latvians and Estonians also held a similar number of events. In general, the stories of peoples who migrated for political rather than economic reasons tend to be better represented in the museum (likely because "forced migrants" are more keen on celebrating the culture they lost).

Excerpt from the list of temporary exhibitions details the 2002 exhibition on Adelaide Lithuanian festivals. Picture ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Oceania, South Australia 16 Comments
15Sep/120

Illinois

Illinois hosts more Lithuanian-Americans than any other state. It is second only to Pennsylvania in terms of Lithuanian heritage sites.

The key Lithuanian areas of Illinois include:
*The grand historic Lithuanian districts of southern Chicago.
*Some of Chicago's western suburbs.
*Several industrial cities (Rockford, Springfield, Waukegan, Kewanee, East St. Louis).
*A few coal mining towns in central and southern Illinois (Spring Valley area, Westville area, West Frankfort area).
*Furthermore, there is an extensive "Lithuanian Riviera" east of Chicago that continues far beyond Illinois state limits, hugging the shores of Lake Michigan.

Each of these areas has a significantly different Lithuanian vibe, history, as well as heritage sites that one may still visit today.

Here we introduce every area (with links to longer articles about each one of them) and conclude the article with the general Lithuanian history of Illinois.

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church in Chicagoland, one of the big pre-war Lithuanian churches that served as the hubs of Chicagoland's Lithuanian districts

Chicago, its Lithuanian districts and suburbs

Chicago is considered to be not only the „Lithuanian capital of Illinois“ but also the „Lithuanian capital of Americas“ or even the „Lithuanian diaspora capital of the world“, and it has been so since at least 1910s.

The facts are nothing less than stunning: before World War 1, Chicago had more ethnic Lithuanians than any city in Lithuania itself (almost 100 000). Right until the 1980s, there were more Lithuanian-language churches in Chicagoland than in any other city in the world (Lithuania itself included).

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards), built in the 1910s, is the largest Lithuanian church of Chicago

In effect, the Chicago Lithuanian community was way too big to cram itself into a single Lithuanian district. Instead, Chicago's southside became dotted by such Lithuanian districts, each centered around a Lithuanian church but gradually expanded by Lithuanian halls, Lithuanian convents, Lithuanian schools, Lithuanian businesses, and Lithuanian monuments. Chicago has a few Lithuanian architectural masterpieces that have no pars in Lithuania itself, while some of Chicago's Lithuanian churches are among the largest and most opulent Lithuanian churches in the world. Each of them serves not only as a religious hub but also as a secular hub for Lithuanian activities.

Ramova Lithuanian-owned cinema, named after Lithuanian pagan temple (Bridgeport, Chicago)

Ramova Lithuanian-owned cinema, named after Lithuanian pagan temple (Bridgeport, Chicago)

There were two key eras of Lithuanian district expansion in Chicago during which most of the city's Lithuanian buildings and monuments were built. The first era covered ~1900s-1920s, propelled by Lithuanians who came to work in Chicago's industry, escaping their poor Russian-ruled country. The second era was ~1950s-1960s when tens of thousands Lithuanian refugees who fled the Soviet Genocide were relocated from the refugee camps in Europe to Chicago, wishing to establish "Little Lithuanias" all over the city.

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago. It is an example of a 'temprorary building' that served both as a church and as a school. In many cases, as Lithuanian communities grew larger and more affluent, these were augmented by a separate larger church building, however, not here

Many of Chicago's Lithuanian buildings survive, however, all of the historically Lithuanian districts became Black or Hispanic majority in the 1970s-1990s. Lithuanians moved away to the Chicago suburbs. There is no single Lithuanian suburb, though, as in the era of the automobile (unlike in the early 1900s), Lithuanians could easily live in one part of Chicagoland and go to the activities in another. Some Lithuanians thus still frequent the historic Lithuanian hubs in the inner city for Lithuanian Mass or activities. Others, however, are mostly attached to the new Lithuanian hub, known as Lithuanian World Center, established in 1980s in the Lemont suburb. Lemont thus became the unofficial capital of Chicago's Lithuanian suburbia with many Lithuanian-American organizations headquartered therein. While some Lithuanian public activities remained in Chicago itself, nearly all Lithuanian businesses (e.g. restaurants) moved to the suburbs, especially to the Lemont-Westmont area.

Lithuanian restaurant in Westmont area

Lithuanian restaurant in Westmont area

Correlating with the general Inner City vs. Suburbs vibe trend in the USA, the Lithuanian buildings of Chicago suburbs are different than those in the historic districts. They are more oriented towards function than grandeur or Lithuanian artworks, and many of them are generic-looking from the outside. That said, the Lemont area has received some impressive Lithuanian monuments.

Vėlinės Vigil at the Gary bell

Symbolic Hill of Crosses built at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont to imitate the original Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, Lithuania

In Chicago city itself, Marquette Park is the largest Lithuanian district outside Lithuania to have ever existed (population of 40 000 in the 1960s), as evident in its massive monuments and buildings. Other key Lithuanian hubs include(d) Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, Gage Park, and Cicero, where a lot of heritage still survives. Bridgeport was a massive Lithuanian district that unfortunately had most of the Lithuanian buildings demolished. Lithuanian buildings still survive in Roseland, Pilsen, Chicago Heights, South Chicago, and West Pullman albeit none of these are in Lithuanian operation.

Corronation of Mindaugas mosaic at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

Corronation of Mindaugas mosaic at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

Generally, in the historically smaller or older Lithuanian districts, the Lithuanian life died out and the institutions closed soon after the "white flight", while in the larger and newer districts, some buildings are still in Lithuanian use. Typically, the districts with Hispanic majorities fare better than those with African American majorities, because, among other reasons, Hispanics, like Lithuanians, are generally Roman Catholic, and so they joined the Lithuanian churches, helping them survive even after most Lithuanians moved out.

Roseland All Saints Lithuanian church

Roseland All Saints Lithuanian church (now non-Catholic, African American)

In addition to local institutions within each single Lithuanian district of Chicago, Lithuanians have established some pan-Chicago Lithuanian institutions. These include two Lithuanian cemeteries notable for their grand Lithuanian tombstones created by famous sculptors, as well as numerous famous burials. These two cemeteries - the Catholic St. Casimir and the religion-neutral Lithuanian National Cemetery - are the largest and most famous Lithuanian cemeteries outside Lithuania and they also serve as repository for Lithuanian memorials. Meanwhile, Lithuania's Jews have created their zones in the Waldheim Jewish cemetery.

Lithuanian coat of arms land art at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Lithuanian coat of arms land art at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Moreover, Lithuanian museums and archives of Chicago became not only the main hub for Lithuanian-American history research but also for free Lithuanian research altogether in the times while Lithuania was Soviet-occupied (1940-1990). The most famous among museums are the Balzekas Museum and the Lithuanian Art Museum within the Lithuanian World Center.

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanians of the smaller industrial cities of Illinois

Several smaller industrial cities of Illinois are like mini-Chicagos in terms of their Lithuanian heritage and history. Like in Chicago, the main bulk of Lithuanians immigrated to those cities before World War 1, attracted by industrial jobs.

Unlike Chicago, however, each of these cities had just a single Lithuanian area, centered around a single Lithuanian church and, in many cases, a Lithuanian club and/or a Lithuanian school. Also, the communities there were never large enough to establish their own Lithuanian cemeteries.

Industrial cities of Illinois that became Lithuanian hubs include:
*East St. Louis, with its Modern-Lithuanian-style church that is among the best examples of this style in the world.

Immaculate Conception Lithuanian church of East St. Louis

Immaculate Conception Lithuanian church of East St. Louis

*Rockford, with its Lithuanian church, club, park, and exhibits in a local museum.
*Springfield with its Lithuanian church which has been demolished but a memorial plaque now reminds it.
*Waukegan, with its Lithuanian church and club.
*Kewanee, with its Lithuanian church.

Rockford Ethnic heritage museum Lithuanian room

Rockford Ethnic heritage museum Lithuanian room

Each of these cities also had numerous Lithuanian businesses. Unlike Chicago, however, the smaller industrial cities attracted fewer new immigrants after World War 2, and so Lithuanian life declined there faster, with many older Lithuanians eventually assimilating or moving out. As such, all the businesses closed or became non-Lithuanian, and so did most of the churches and other institutions.

Two additional such industrial cities are located in Indiana but very close to Chicago. Their history mimics that of Illinois's industrial cities:
*East Chicago, with its Lithuanian church (demolished).
*Gary, with its Lithuanian church and school.

Lithuanian inscription on the Gary Lithuanian church stained-glass window

Lithuanian inscription on the Gary Lithuanian church stained-glass window survives despite church being no longer in Lithuanian use

Lithuanian coal mining towns of Illinois

Illinois's coal mining towns developed in the same era as the industrial cities. However, they were much smaller, having a population numbering in just four or lower five digits.

As pre-WW1 Lithuanians would often migrate to the same areas in their thousands, some of the Illinois coal mining towns possibly even became Lithuanian-plurality or Lithuanian-majority sometime around World War 1 (although the exact Lithuanian percentage in each one of them varies according to different sources).

The most Lithuanian towns included Spring Valley and Westville, where most Lithuanian heritage exists.

Likely a lower percentage of ethnic Lithuanians existed in Oglesby, West Frankfort, Ledford, and Johnston City (or Lithuanians moved out from there earlier, leaving less heritage).

Spring Valley St. Anne Lithuanian church

Spring Valley St. Anne Lithuanian church

Given that all of these were small towns with ample land available, Lithuanians were able to establish their own cemeteries in each of them (except for Oglesby). In fact, in Spring Valley and Westville, they established two Lithuanian cemeteries in each town (based on differing religious views). While they built just a single Lithuanian church in Spring Valley and a single one in Oglesby, they actually built two Lithuanian churches (of different denominations) in Westville. In any case, these churches and other Lithuanian buildings were generally more modest than in the main cities of Illinois.

Unlike the Illinois industrial cities and Chicago, the mining towns received nearly no new immigration (Lithuanian or otherwise) after World War 1 and, in fact, younger people have been slowly-but-surely moving out. However, with such strong initial Lithuanian communities percentage-wise there still exist significant numbers of Illinois-mining-town-born people who are 50% to 100% of Lithuanian descent and thus are keen on their heritage (although the Lithuanian language has nearly completely "died out" in the area). Often, they volunteer in taking care of the numerous Lithuanian cemeteries.

One of the entrances to the Westville Lithuanian cemetery

One of the entrances to the Westville Lithuanian cemetery

In addition to all these "typical" Lithuanian coal miner settlements, Illinois also has Collinsville, which is the only town of America to have attracted its Lithuanian population mostly from Lithuania's Lutheran minority rather than Catholic majority. Collinsville thus has a Lithuanian Lutheran church.

Chicagoland's Lithuanian Riviera

While not exactly part of Illinois, northern Indiana and even southwesternmost Michigan effectively became a continuation of Chicago's Lithuanian life. Several lakeshore resorts there became effectively Lithuanian, especially Beverly Shores, IN, and Union Pier, MI.

The primary reason why Lithuanians chose these resorts was their massive sand dunes that reminded Lithuanians of the Lithuanian shores (e.g. Palanga, Neringa).

Lituanica park memorial stone

Lituanica park memorial stone

It all started ~1950s with Chicago Lithuanians sending their housewives and children to spend summers in these Michigan Lake shores (the husband would typically join them in weekends only). Later, many of these families retired there, establishing permanent Lithuanian communities. Even later, as living in distant suburbs became the norm, these retirees were joined by commuters who would commute to Chicago.

Some of these restores effectively became some of the most ethnically Lithuanian towns anywhere in America, with 10%+ Lithuanian population in Beverly Shores, Indiana. Lithuanians lithuanized the landscape by building several monuments in the area. There were many Lithuanian hotels, one of them even owned by the future president of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus, although they closed down over time.

The beach at Union Pier resort

The beach at Union Pier resort

Illinois's Lithuanians also played a vital role in establishing the Lithuanian camps deeper into Michigan. The idea behind these pristine Lithuanian parks was to have an area for Lithuanian children to spend at least a couple of weeks in summer surrounded by other Lithuanian children from all over Midwest (see the articles on Manchester and Custer to learn more about these camps).

Lithuanian history of Illinois

The Lithuanian grandeur of Illinois mostly dates to the late 19th and early 20th century, when developing Illinois industry (primarily the Chicago stockyards) attracted some hundred of thousand Lithuanians from their Russian-occupied agricultural homeland, where the Russian regime was discriminating ethnic Lithuanians.

These so-called First Wave Lithuanian-Americans spoke little English, hindering their ability to integrate. Moreover, the National Revival was going on strong in their own country, so many of these immigrants were also ideologically inclined to "keep the Lithuanian flame going" even after emigration. They put lots of their money and energy into erecting Lithuanian buildings to serve as their community hubs (Lithuanian schools, churches, clubs). The existence of these Lithuanian districts in Illinois helped to perpetuate the Lithuanian language and traditions into the next generations, as Lithuanians were likely to marry other Lithuanians, and even their America-born children were typically surrounded by an entire neighborhood Lithuanian-speaking children; they also attended the Lithuanian parish schools.

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school and church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school and church

The numbers of new Lithuanian immigrants to Illinois dried up with the US immigration restrictions, as well as the declaration of Lithuanian independence (1918). Yet, Lithuanian districts of Illinois continued to be expanded by new buildings and institutions, as the previous immigrants were finally achieving their "American Dream" of financial sufficiency, allowing them to spend even more on the Lithuanian causes.

Illinois Lithuanian community was internally divided along the religious/political lines. In addition to the religious Catholic majority, there were leftist, nationalist, and Lutheran minorities-within-minority. In Chicago, each of those groups had its own buildings (often in the same Lithuanian districts) but in the smaller Lithuanian communities of Illinois, the Lithuanian public life often went on around the Lithuanian Catholic church. Also, there were numerous people of Lithuania's ethnic minorities who immigrated (Poles, Jews) - however, typically did not see themselves as Lithuanians at all, integrating into a wider community of their own on ethnicity basis (e.g. Jewish-Americans or Polish-Americans).

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero (leftist)

The face of Illinois's Lithuanian districts was transformed once again after 1940s, when Soviet Union occupied Lithuania and began a genocide there. This persecution of an unheard-of scale unleashed the second wave of Lithuanian immigrants to the USA. Most of these refugees were initially supported by their friends and relatives who immigrated decades ago, and so they settled in the same Lithuanian districts. Thus, very large numbers of them settled in Illinois. Chicago became their capital as well, with smaller numbers settling down in the other Illinois industrial cities (but very few moving to the already-economically-unattractive coal mining towns).

These refugees saw themselves as exiles rather than emigrants (as they would have never left Lithuania if not for the Soviet Genocide), and they also considered themselves to be the sole hope for the survival of the Lithuanian language and culture (given that the Soviets were able to easily destroy it back in Lithuania itself). So, this wave of Lithuanians of Illinois was even keener to establish Lithuanian institutions. While the First Wave (pre-WW1) of Lithuanian immigrant was almost entirely blue-collar, the Second (post-WW2 refugee) wave also included many of the top-level famous Lithuanian artists and architects. This allowed a plethora of new Lithuanian buildings, monuments, and other creations in Illinois to reach both the top level of artistic creativity and the top level of Lithuanian ethnic and historical symbolism. In fact, an entirely new unique Modern Lithuanian architectural style was largely created in Illinois, with most of its best examples located within the state (East St. Louis and Marquette Park area of Chicago). Some of the Illinois's Lithuanian artworks are considered to be among the top Lithuanian artistic expressions of the era anywhere in the world.

In the areas where there were fewer these Second Wave Lithuanian immigrants, they simply integrated into the First Wave institutions, replenishing them and re-lithuanizing them but not rebuilding them from scratch.

Lithuanian Youth center facade with Vytis and the memorial to those who died for Lithuanian freedom in front

Lithuanian Youth center facade with Vytis and the memorial to those who died for Lithuanian freedom in front. It was built in the Modern Lithuanian style by the post-WW2 refugees

Throughout the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940-1990), Chicagoland remained the global capital of "Free Lithuanian thought", hosting diverse institutions ranging from the free world's only Lithuanian opera company to global Lithuanian archives. The Lithuanian geography within Chicagoland changed rapidly, however, in the 1960s-1980s, as the African American Civil Rights movement led to sometimes forceful movement of African Americans from the southeast into the historically Lithuanian districts (while Lithuanians were not the real/primary target, their districts happened to stand in the way between the African-American districts and the affluent "Old White" districts of central and northern Chicago). Increased crime rates made many Lithuanians to move out of their districts into the western suburbs or even northern Indiana. Unlike the former inner-city Lithuanian districts, no suburb ever became Lithuanian-plurality, hastening the assimilation of Lithuanians. To most Lithuanians at the time, any Lithuanian activities became accessible solely through a long drive from home, and there were very few (if any) Lithuanian neighbors, classmates, or workmates, in start contrast to the situation they enjoyed in the inner city Lithuanian districts.

The Lithuanian institutions of the once-smaller Lithuanian districts quickly folded as too few people would have continued coming there. Similar "white flight" happened in the other industrial cities of Illinois as well, most strikingly in East St. Louis. However, it did not take place in the coal mining towns.

Plaza Pub sign

Abandoned Lithuanian pub in Marquette Park

After 1990, when Lithuania became independent, Chicago (and to a much lesser extent a few other Illinois cities) received the so-called Third Wave economic migrants from the now-independent but economically-ravaged Lithuania. Like the First Wave, they often spoke no English. However, after some attempts to resettle a few historic Lithuanian districts, they dispersed across the suburbs.

After Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, Lithuanian emigration reached proportions larger than ever before. However, the EU membership allowed an easy option to legally migrate to the Western Europe which quickly outcompeted the more cumbersome process of emigration to the USA. Therefore, in a matter of a single decade, Western Europe replaced the USA as the prime area of Lithuanian diaspora, while London (UK) area surpassed Chicago area in the number of ethnic Lithuanians.

That said, due to a massive history, grand Lithuanian institutions, artworks, and buildings, as well as generations of Lithuanians willing to "keep the Lithuanian flame going" and invest their hard-earned money and energy into that, Lithuanian culture in Illinois is still arguably much more visible and potent than that in any single European country (besides Lithuania itself and maybe Poland's Punsk area).

Lithuanians in Springfield commemorative plaque

Lithuanians in Springfield commemorative plaque

The map

All the Lithuanian locations, described in this article, are marked on this interactive map, made by the "Destination Lithuanian America" expeditions (click the link):

Interactive map of Illinois Lithuanian sites

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15Sep/121

Brussels, Belgium

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is the center of two major international organizations: the European Union and NATO. Lithuania is a member of both organizations since 2004. The participation is threefold: Lithuanian politicians participate in the high institutions of these organizations as per their treaties, Lithuanian citizens also work in clerk and back office jobs, while the interests of Lithuania are additionally safeguarded by two diplomatic representative offices (equal to embassies in rank).

It is estimated that in total 10% (200 000) of Brussels population are expatriates with their work related to international organizations (their members, workers, journalists, advisors, etc. Lobbyists alone number 20 000). Furthermore, 50% of the population are immigrants with works not directly related to the international organizations.

Brussels capitalizes heavily on its "Capital of Europe" image. Various public places bear flagpoles with flags of every European Union member state, including Lithuanian. Words and placenames in various foreign languages (among them Lithuanian) are used for architectural decor in main locations. As this is created by workers who are not related to Lithuania anyhow mishaps happen, including upside-down flags and mistranslations into Lithuanian.

EU flags in a square in front of Brussels's Gare Du Midi railway station. Lithuanian tricolor (yellow-green-red) is hoisted upside down. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The most popular Europe-related attraction in Brussels is the Mini-Europe theme park which contains 1:25 miniatures of some 350 famous buildings from 80 cities all over EU. Lithuania is represented by a miniature of Vilnius University renaissance campus. It stands next to the Latvian (Riga Freedom Statue) and Estonian (fragment of Tallinn fortification) miniatures. All three are linked by a chain of miniature "people" symbolizing the Baltic Way, a protest against the Soviet occupation which took place in 1989. On that day some 2 million people from all three countries (equalling to 36% of their total ethnic population at the time) joined hand-in-hand from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn. This was the first such protest in the world and it was later emulated in places such as Taiwan and Israel but the sheer number and percentage of participants were never matched.

A miniature of Vilnius UNiversity at the Mini-Europe park. Baltic Way is visible in lower left of the image. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

You may also listen to the Lithuanian anthem at the Mini Europe park and read some interesting facts on Lithuania in itsWhile the older EU members have up to 10 miniatures in the Mini-Europe park each Lithuania is unlikely to get new miniatures as the park expanded to its territorial limits.

Lithuanian representative office to the European Union is located in a turn-of-the-century house at Rue Belliard 41-43. Also housing the Lithuanian embassy to Belgium this is one of the largest Lithuanian governmental real estate properties outside Lithuania.

Lithuanian embassy at European Union and Belgium. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Lithuanian representative office to NATO is located at the NATO HQ at Boulevard Leopold III en-route to the Brussels Zaventem international airport.

As per the European Union main treaties, Lithuania is also represented at the main institutions of the European Union. European Council and Council of European Union are the most important legislatures of the European Union where every country sends a single person (either minister or head of state) but they have unequal voting power based on the population of their countries. European Parliament, on the other hand, has a constant membership of elected members. 12 out of 785 members are elected in Lithuania. Lithuania also has 18 (out of 688) members of the Europe's Regional Committee and 9 (out of 344) of the Europe's Social Committee and has representation in smaller institutions. Politicians typically have their clerks and advisors. The job at European Parliament is popular among famous Lithuanian politicians who lost popularity or are controversial at home. Lithuanian media is not interested in the European institutions as much as the local politics and thus working in Brussels provides a shelter from unwanted attention.

The European Union also has its "government" known as the European Commission. It has 27 Commissioners, one from each country (including Lithuania), and these Commissioners each have their own portfolio and are obliged to serve the Union rather than their own countries.

As Lithuanian is one of the 23 official languages of the European Union the EU institutions also have their Lithuanian name written on their entrance plaques while many EU regulations and directives are translated into Lithuanian. This requires a strong - in the European Parliament alone there are at the busy times as many interpreters working as there are MPs (~750).

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14Sep/126

Belarus

Belarus and Lithuania are neighboring countries joined by united medieval history. Since its inception in the 13th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded to Slavic lands absorbing entire modern-day Belarus and ruling it until the Grand Duchy's demise in 1795.

Lithuanian nobility families (with powers higher than those of the King) had manors and palaces both in modern-day Lithuania and Belarus. Belarus also had a fair share of castles that defended the Grand Duchy from Teutonic, Mongol, Rusian and Swedish invasions. The majority of such magnificent buildings are located near the Lithuania's capital city Vilnius. Vilnius is located merely 30 km from Lithuanian-Belarusian boundary meaning that much of Grand Duchy heritage is left "on the other side". Some of these 14th-18th-century buildings are completely rebuilt while others remain as romantic ruins.

Most famous among them are the Mir (Myras) castle and Nesvizh (Nesvyžius) Palace, both rebuilt and recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO.

Nesvyžius (Nesvizh) palace from the outside. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Ruzhany (Ružanai) Palace and Lida (Lyda) Castle are undergoing renovations. Atmospheric ruins at Golshiany (Alšėnai) still evoke memories of distant past while Kreva (Krėva) and Navahrudak (Naugardukas) defensive castles are ruined more. In Hrodna (Gardinas) two castles have been repurposed by Soviets and even used as workshops.

A multitude of old small Catholic and Orthodox churches and monasteries of the region also dates to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania era. They are Gothic or Baroque (the local form of Baroque is known as Vilnius Baroque and even the Cathedral of Belarusian capital Minsk is an example of this style). Orthodox churches here are similar in style to Catholic ones without the iconic domes.

Prior to the 19th century the areas where most Lithuanian castles and palaces stand had a Lithuanian-speaking peasant majority. However, this did not survive the onslaughts of Russian Imperial and Soviet russification. Currently, only some villages remain Lithuanian. The linguistic switch did not erode some other distinctive cultural traits: the borderland remains Catholic-majority (other Belarusians are largely Orthodox).

Map of Lithuanian castles in Belarus and southeastern Lithuania. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

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14Sep/12155

Chicago, Illinois

Home to some 80 000 Lithuanians, Chicagoland is perhaps the second important center of Lithuanian nation after Lithuania itself and it has been so for well over a century. Between the 1890s and 1930s, there were more Lithuanians in Chicago than in any town or city of their still agricultural former homeland. Chicago Lithuanian numbers increased rapidly from 14 000 in 1900 to 80 000 in 1924.

After earning enough money some Lithuanians went back to Europe yet onthers remained, starting influential families. Elaborate Lithuanian churches were built, followed by schools, monasteries, museums, clubs, and other institutions. The center of Lithuanian settlement gradually moved: from Bridgeport and Back of the Yards (in the 1900s - 1910s) to Marquette Park (in 1950s). After Marquette Park was overtaken by Blacks there is no longer a Lithuanian district in Chicago, but a community center exists in the Lemont suburb.

Lithuanian district center with church, school, and monastery at the Back of the Yards district

Lithuanian district center with church, school, and monastery at the Back of the Yards district

The top Lithuanian sites to visit in Chicago are:
1.Top Lithuanian churches - Holy Cross (see "Back of the Yards") and Nativity BVM (see "Marquette Park"), followed by St. Anthony (see "Cicero") and Immaculate Conception (see "Brighton Park").
2.Top Lithuanian museums and cultural centers - Lithuanian World Center (see "Lemont"), Balzekas museum (see "West Lawn"), Lithuanian Youth Center (Gage Park).
3.Lithuanian cemeteries - St. Casimir Cemetery and National Cemetery (see "Lithuanian cemeteries").
4.Lithuanian monuments - the Lemont Hill of Crosses (see "Lemont"), Darius and Girėnas monument (see "Marquette Park").
5.Other sites - St. Casimir Sisters convent, Lithuania Plaza street (for both see "Marquette Park").

Lithuanian Youth center, housing numerous museums, archives, and memorials

Lithuanian Youth center, housing numerous museums, archives, and memorials

Sadly, Lituanity in Illinois seems to be somewhat on a decline. In the 1990s - 2000s several Lithuanian churches were demolished or no longer celebrate Mass in Lithuanian. The older generation of Lithuanians ("second-wave immigrants") pass away, and the third wave did not replenish Lithuanity as much as expected.

Back of the Yards - stockyards and America's top Lithuanian church

The most impressive of the Chicago's Lithuanian churches is the Baroque revival Holy Cross in Back of the Yards that has been even included in the general books on Chicago architecture.

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Built by the original community of slaughterhouse workers in 1913 the elaborate church once anchored a district full of Lithuanian homes and institutions. With immigrants from Latin America displacing Lithuanians, the parish was abolished in the 1970s and the Lithuanian Mass ceased to be celebrated in ~2005. Plaque "Lietuvių Rymo katalikų bažnyčia" remains near the entrance ("Lithuanian Roman Catholic church" in pre-modern Lithuanian language when "Rome" was still called "Rymas") while the pediment includes the Columns of Gediminas.

Pediment of the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)  with columns of Gediminas (on the right side)

Pediment of the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards) with columns of Gediminas (on the right side)

The interior (accessible on Sundays alone) is also miraculously spectacular, dwarfing even many cathedrals in its splendor, as well as most churches in both Chicago and Lithuania itself. It includes paintings of the Hill of Crosses (Šiauliai) and the Gate of Dawn (Vilnius Old Town), as well as Christening of Mindaugas, while the stained-glass windows and artworks are mostly Lithuanian-funded, having the Lithuanian names of sponsors or artists under them.

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards) interior

Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards) interior

Stained glass windows at the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Stained glass windows at the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Hill of Crosses painting at the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

Hill of Crosses painting at the Holy Cross Lithuanian church in Chicago (Back of the Yards)

While initially the church has been constructed by a Czech architect Joseph Molitor (at the time, there were no Lithuanian architects capable of such a feat) and stained-glass windows created by a non-Lithuanian Arthur Michaudel studio (1943), in the 1950s it has been later greatly Lithuanized by Adolfas Valeška, who is responsible for many of the Lithuanian artworks. Moreover, the floor has been covered in Lithuanian patterns since that renovation.

Next to the church stands a former Lithuanian convent (1954) with a traditional Lithuanian sun-cross and Lithuanian-crated mosaic (author - Valeška, architect - Kova-Kovalskis). On the right of the image, there is the former parochial school.

Holy Cross Lithuanian monastery

Holy Cross Lithuanian monastery

The life of Lithuanian butchers who built the Back of the Yards is described in the fictionalized account "Jungle" by journalist Upton Sinclair still held to be of great importance to Chicago history. It was in these slaughterhouses where the industrial might of the Chicago was born. For the first time, the animals were slaughtered in a single city only to be sold in faraway places like New York or Boston. Prior to this "to buy meat" meant "to visit a local butcher", something changed for good by the Chicago's businessmen and countless immigrants from thousands of cities and towns around Europe (the number of Lithuanian butchers was only surpassed by Poles).

The famous Chicago Union Stockyards have been closed in 1971 and mostly demolished. A few buildings remain such as the Stockyard gate in W Exchange Ave. Next to the gate, a plaque reminds of the Stockyards history and the "Jungle" novel. It reminds of the Lithuanians as one of the major groups of workers in the yards.

Union Stockyard gate in Chicago

Union Stockyard gate in Chicago

In 2021, a Packinghouse museum has been established in a former slaughterhouse of the Back of the Yards that has been now converted for other uses. This was not part of the Union Stockyards, however, but rather some of the of competing smaller slaughterhouses nearby. Nevertheless, some slaughterhouse decor is visible there and the exposition includes information on Lithuanians as well as the general life in the slaughterhouses.

Bridgeport - the first Lithuanian district of Chicago

Bridgeport was once outflanked by a beautiful massive tower of 1902 Gothic revival St. George Lithuanian church. It was the oldest Lithuanian parish in Chicago (and, in fact, west of the Appalachians). Unfortunately by the bishop's decision the church was demolished in 1990 and replaced by an empty lot, after donating the church's works of art and furniture to a parish in the recently-independent Lithuania. The riches of the fading emigre were thus symbolically repatriated.

Bridgeport St. George Lithuanian church (demolished; left and center), its parish school (top right) and rectory (bottom right).

The site of the St. George Lithuanian church in Bridgeport

The site of the St. George Lithuanian church in Bridgeport

The nearby former 3-floored St. George parish school (1908), declared by to be the "best Lithuanian school in America" by a 1916 Lithuanian-American almanac, still stands although is a non-Lithuanian Philip Armour school (but the plaque "MOKYKLA ŠV. JURGIO K." (St. George C. school) still remains on top). In 1916, it had 450 pupils and a parish hall with 1500 seats (the parish was among the US's richest Lithuanian parishes).

St. George Lithuanian school at Bridgeport

St. George Lithuanian school at Bridgeport

St. George Lithuanian school at Bridgeport

St. George Lithuanian school at Bridgeport

Bridgeport also had a massive Lithuanian Auditorium (3133 So. Halsted Street) with a Vytis on it (built 1925) which once served as the hub of Chicago's Lithuanian activities. However, it has also been demolished in the 1990s as Lithuanians departed the district. 1000-seat Lithuanian theater Milda (est. 1914), once associated with Lithuanian communists, has met the same fate (now replaced by a police station). Another theater "Ramova" (est. 1929) still stands (3518 S. Halsted Street); after being abandoned in 1986, restoration as a restaurant/live music venue/brewery began in 2021. The Lithuanian name (which means 'Pagan temple') proudly hangs over the S Halsted street on a historic large 1944 sign that is a final reminder of the era when most of the people in the area used to speak Lithuanian (the crumbling decor is Spanish-styled, however).

Ramova Cinema in Bridgeport

Ramova Cinema in Bridgeport

A street in Bridgeport is still named Lituanica Avenue since the 1930s. Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas left for their doomed flight from the St. George church there. They became instant martyrs in 1933 when after flying across the Atlantic ocean their plane "Lituanica" crashed in what is now Poland, only several hundred kilometers from destination Kaunas. S. Darius and S. Girėnas were also worldwide pioneers of airmail and their continuous flight time was the second largest ever at the time (6 411 km).

Lituanica Street address

Lituanica Street address

The western limit of Lithuanian Bridgeport used to be at Morgan St., with Poles living beyond it.

Darius-Girėnas memorial plaques in Chicago airports

Darius and Girėnas who perished while trying to make Lithuania's name famous are still the key figures for the Lithuanian-American community. In 1993 a plaque was unveiled for them in Midway Airport which happens to be at the center of various past and present Lithuanian districts and also the place where they named their plane as "Lituanica". In 2008 this plaque was reinstated after reconstruction through titanious efforts of some Lithuanians. The plaque is in the ticketed-passengers-only area at the beginning of Concourse A, on the left side if walking towards concourse A.

Darius and Girėnas plaque at the Midway airport

Darius and Girėnas plaque at the Midway airport

In 2013 (75th anniversary of the Darius-Girėnas flight) an additional memorial plaąue for them was unveiled in the Palwakee (now Chicago executive) airport. While Darius and Girėnas have departed from New York, Palwaukee was significant to them as they bought their Lituanica there. Palwaukee airport badge would often appear during the public fundraisers of Darius and Girėnas and it is even depicted on the 10 litas banknote that depicts Darius and Girėnas. The plaque is at the entrance room to the main airport building (with "Signature" words on it).

Darius and Girėnas memorial plaque at the Palwaukee airport

Darius and Girėnas memorial plaque at the Palwaukee airport

Marquette Park - the largest-ever Lithuanian district outside Lithuania

If somebody mentions "Chicago's Lithuanian district", he usually means Marquette Park. Back in the 1950s-1970s, it was the largest Lithuanian district outside Lithuania and many of today's prominent Lithuanian-Americans spent their childhoods there. At the time, the descendants of the pre-war immigrants who moved there for better-than-in-Bridgeport homes were joined by the "second wave" of refugees fleeing from almost certain deaths in their Soviet-occupied country. Coming from intellectual backgrounds, these refugees created a well-crafted and rich community, centered around Lithuania Plaza street. In its heyday, the Marquette Park area housed 30 000 Lithuanians (out of a total population of 45 000).

Lithuanian Plaza street name

Lithuanian Plaza street name

Since those times, a large 1957 Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (B.V.M.) towers over the district. It combines post-war architectural austerity with pre-war size, both historicist and unique ethnic Lithuanian details. Initially criticized by some, this joint work of architect Jonas Mulokas and interior designer V. K. Jonynas was eventually praised and set the style for later Lithuanian-American churches. Lithuanian Mass is celebrated there. Everything in the church's architecture tells of the longing for their lost homeland.

Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

On the outside, the Lithuanian tricolor is always waving, while the church's sidewalls are adorned by two historical mosaics: "The coronation of King Mindaugas" and "Miracle of St. Casimir at the River Daugava" (authors Adolfas Valeška and Dalia Juknevičiūtė-Mackuvienė). While having religious connotations enough to put them on the church, the deeper meaning of both is symbolic patriotically: Mindaugas was the first Lithuanian king recognized as such by Western powers (as he was the first Christian king), while the St. Casimir's miracle involved him appearing as a young soldier in front of the Lithuanian troops in 1518, showing these troops where to cross Dauguva river without drowning so they could ambush and defeat the Russians. Both themes - continued foreign recognition of Lithuanian statehood and the victory over the (Soviet) Russian occupants - were extremely important to Lithuanian-Americans back in the 1950s.

Nativity BVM Lithuanian church facade mosaic (the miracle of St. Casimir)

Nativity BVM Lithuanian church facade mosaic (the miracle of St. Casimir)

Corronation of Mindaugas mosaic at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

Corronation of Mindaugas mosaic at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church

External bas-reliefs above the entrance of the church represent the sites of Lithuanian Maryan cult locations (Vilnius, Žemaičių Kalavarija, Pažaislis, Šiluva). The pretty stained-glass windows in the apse repeats the theme, with each including an image of Virgin Mary but also images of numerous Lithuania's churches - some of them closed and looted by the Soviet atheist regime at the time. Even secular buildings such as Trakai Castle are included in some windows. Patriotic symbols may also be seen on the St. Casimir stained-glass window on the side of the church (Vytis, Columns of Gediminas). The authors of the stained glass windows were Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas and Kazys Varnelis.

Lithuanian-cities-inspired stained glass windows at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church of Marquette Park

Lithuanian-cities-inspired stained glass windows at the Nativity BVM Lithuanian church of Marquette Park

Also interesting are the two murals on the interior, painted by sister Mercedes Mickevičiūtė and Kazimieras Žoromskis. One of them is dedicated to Our Lady of Šiluva, which is the earliest church-recognized Maryan vision in Europe. The artistic level and importance of the Nativity BVM church could be seen from the fact that three of the Lithuanian-American artists who created its artworks have entire museums back in Lithuania dedicated to their work (Kazimieras Žoromskis, V. K. Jonynas, and Kazys Varnelis).

Among Marquette Park's key Lithuanian symbols is Chicago's largest Darius and Girėnas memorial. The unveiling of this art deco sculpture in 1935 was attended by 60 000 people. The anniversaries of their "glorious but doomed" flight are still celebrated annually there, even if drawing only 100 people. By the way, S. Darius, a lover of sport and an Olympic participant, is also credited for writing one of the first books on basketball in Lithuanian (in 1922), making foundations for this American invention to become Lithuania's national sport.

Darius and Girėnas memorial in Marquette Park

Darius and Girėnas memorial in Marquette Park

Darius and Girėnas memorial in Marquette Park

Darius and Girėnas memorial in Marquette Park

The Marquette Park district itself, however, is now populated by Blacks who started moving in in the 1960s-1970s, displacing the Lithuanians. For the Blacks, Marquette Park was simple a white district that could be targeted in their civil rights movement as a symbol of segregation in Chicago. As such, hundreds of Blacks came to live in tents in the Marquette Park itself in 1966. The crime rates have risen significantly, the property values declined. A conflict between the "old inhabitants" (Lithuanians and other whites) and the "new arrivals" (Blacks) took place. Both sides were supported by their racial compatriots from elsewhere, who, at times with racist ideas, would descend on the area just to fight what they saw to be a "racial war". Unlike for other whites, however, for Lithuanians, this was a matter of their own survival: it was their only district, and, losing it, they would have lost the only area in the USA where you can still speak Lithuanian as the main language. For Blacks, this was simply a matter of destroying segregation by coming to live at the historically white districts and they did not differentiate among different white ethnicities despite the fact that there have been no known Lithuanian-American slaveowners in the entire US history.

Eventually, Lithuanians have lost, and more and more of them chose to sell their Marquette Park properties at a big loss and retreat to the suburbs, taking part in the "white flight". They would never create another truly Lithuanian district in Chicago again and this likely contributed greatly to the decline of the Lithuanian culture in Chicago. It is difficult to say that Black civil rights activists have won either, however, as their only achievement was moving the "frontline of segregation" westwards, turning Marquette Park from a Lithuanian district into a ghetto. Still, in 2016, a Memorial to Martin Luther King has been built in the north of the park, where just the Black-side of the story is presented through the call to "destroy the ghetto walls". In an attempt to show the multicultural history of the district, the word "Home" is written in different languages on one of the memorial columns, with the Lithuanian word "Namai" written on the top.

Martin Luther King memorial in Marquette Park

Martin Luther King memorial in Marquette Park

Some Marquette Park buildings are now abandoned, but in Lithuanian Plaza Avenue (named so in 1970) you may still see crumbling Lithuania-inspired tricolor and Vytis decor and some Lithuanian names at the now-empty former businesses: "Antano kampas", "Gintaras Club" (the latter of which is sung about in a 1990s song by the famous Lithuanian singer-songwriter Vytautas Kernagis who had a gig there), "Lithuanian Plaza Bakery", "Plaza Pub" (the later two having Lithuanian decor).

Plaza Pub sign

Plaza Pub sign

In the 1990s, the Lithuanity of the Marquette Park was temporarily rejuvenated by new immigrants from Lithuania who found it both cheap and appropriate to live in the historic Lithuanian district and had no prejudices about living among Blacks. However, after noticing how unsafe the district is, most of them left once they earned more money and the last remaining Lithuanian restaurants closed in the 2000s-2010s. Even this was already only a shadow of the original community which had many businesses, and cultural institutions in an extensive area between 63rd st., 73rd st., Western Avenue, and California Avenue.

Antano kampas in Lithuanian Plaza

Antano kampas in Lithuanian Plaza that used to be owned by a post-1990 Lithuanian immigrant. Now closed.

Marquette Park district still boasts a majestic – the Sisters of St. Casimir Motherhouse (convent) The construction began in 1909. Over the years, there were more additions, the most recent took place in 1972. The Sisters of St. Casimir maintain a strong relationship with the Sisters of St. Casimir in Lithuania, also founded by Venerable Maria Kaupas in 1920.

Near the entrance of the Motherhouse, on the first floor there is a rather modern Museum – the Legacy Rooms of the Sisters of St. Casimir (est. in 2018) that tells the story of the founding of the Lithuanian-American congregation of the Sisters of St. Casimir and their foundress Venerable Maria Kaupas (1880-1940, an immigrant from Ramygala, Lithuania). The Legacy rooms are open daily, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

Legacy rooms of the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

Legacy rooms of the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

In the first half of the 20th century, the Sisters of St. Casimir staffed many parish schools, hospitals, and senior homes in many parts of the United States (predominantly in Illinois and Pennsylvania).

There were almost 500 Sisters of St. Casimir in the 1950s. Today, there are 49.

As the number of Sisters declined, the Sisters of St. Casimir have entrusted the responsibility of their ministry and charism to dedicated laypersons.

Back in the first half of the 20th century, St. Casimir sisters used to staff the Lithuanian parish schools, hospitals, senior homes all over America. As the welfare state expanded, however, and the American public institutions took over these duties, the secular need for the Sisters declined and so did their congregation, going down from ~600 nuns to just ~50 in 2018, with the youngest one at 65.

The nearby (former) Nativity BVM Catholic grade school (with a surviving Lithuanian cornerstone) was staffed by the Sisters of St. Casimir and Holy Cross Hospital (Lithuanian-language plaque near the emergency entrance with 1928 date), originally established by the Lithuanian Roman Catholic Charities, was from the beginning administered and staffed by the Sisters of St. Casimir. Many Lithuanians were served by the Sisters at the school and hospital.

The Motherhouse (building) was transferred to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2015. The Sisters of St. Casimir maintain their administrative office on the second floor of the St Casimir Center (as it is now called) and several Sisters reside there.

Nativity BVM Lithuanian school

Nativity BVM Lithuanian school

Holy Cross Hospital in Marquette Park

Holy Cross Hospital in Marquette Park

Another impressive sight in this historic Motherhouse is its baroque-style chapel. There are beautiful stained glassed windows in the chapel installed in the 1920s. Mass is celebrated daily in the chapel, and all are welcome to attend. At the entrance of the chapel is the sarcophagus containing the remains of Venerable Maria Kaupas, whose cause for Beatification is currently being reviewed at the Vatican. A monthly Mass praying for her Beatification is held the first Saturday of each month. In 2000, Mother Maria Kaupas was declared Venerable. Hopefully, she may one day be Saint Maria Kaupas.

Chapel of the St. Casimir Sisters Convent

Chapel of the St. Casimir Sisters Convent

Marija Kaupas sarcophagus at the St. Casimir Sisters convent

Marija Kaupas sarcophagus at the St. Casimir Sisters convent

Outside the Motherhouse, there are several noteworthy statues. There is a large statue of Father Antanas Staniukynas (1865-1918) on Marquette Road side of the building with a Lithuanian inscription: “Jis mirė, bet jo darbai gyvena“ (He died but his work lives on). In 1905, Father Antanas Staniukynas accepted the responsibility of assisting the new Congregation, the Sisters of St Casimir. He was a spiritual director, educator, and solicitor of vocations and funds. On the Washtenaw Avenue side of the Motherhouse, in the garden, there is a statue of St Casimir erected in 1957. A neighboring street is called "Honorary Maria Kaupas road" after Marija Kaupas.

Priest Staniukynas statue near the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

Priest Staniukynas statue near the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

St. Casimir statue at the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

St. Casimir statue at the Sisters of St. Casimir Convent

Yet another still-surviving (albeit barely) hub of Lithuanity in the Marquette Park district is "Seklyčia" on 71st street. Historically it was the hub of Lithuanian-Americans' effort to help Lithuania. When Lithuania was fighting for its independence ~1990, Lithuanian-Americans informed the American media about that fight from here. Later, as Lithuania was poor, efforts to bring Lithuanian children-in-need for surgeries in America, as well as material support for Lithuanian orphans and elderly partisans were organized from there. There used to be a restaurant here until 2011 and a district security hub until 2018 while today the building is still owned by Lithuanian-American Community but the activities are now low-scale (weekly meetings of elderly Lithuanians of the district, for example). There is no external sign on the building either anymore.

West Lawn Lithuanian institutions - Balzekas Museum, Draugas

West Lawn districts immediately to the West of the Marquette park house two of Chicago's most important Lithuanian institutions. Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture established in 1966 is the largest such institution outside Lithuania. It has been located in its current place (South Pulaski Rd. 6500) since 1986.

Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

Exhibits of the Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

Exhibits of the Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

The museum has three floors, with a general exhibition of Lithuania available on the first floor, the second floor houses a hall for temporary events, and the third floor hosts temporary exhibits. The first-floor permanent exhibition includes many pieces of the Lithuanian culture and history, as well as of that of Lithuanian-Americans and their strive to get established in the new land as well as help their (former?) homeland both economically and (especially) politically: first, so that Lithuania would become free in 1918 and then recognized by the USA, and then so that its occupation (1940-1990) would end. It is useful to read some basic Lithuanian history (for example, here) before visiting the museum to grasp the meaning of the exhibits, although they are labeled in English.

Exhibits of the Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

Exhibits of the Balzekas Lithuanian museum of Chicago

A painting exhibited at Balzekas museum - a woman carrying the Tower of Gediminas of Vilnius

A painting exhibited at Balzekas museum - a woman carrying the Tower of Gediminas of Vilnius

The museum has been established by Stanley Balzekas, a son of Lithuanian immigrants, who wanted it to become a bridge between Lithuanians and Americans, to have more contact with the American community as a whole than many other Lithuanian institutions had. Balzekas being a businessman and avid collector, managed to collect a significant number of items and attract wider attention to his museum, especially in the 1990s when Lithuania was in the world news as a newly-independent country. Balzekas museum also helps foster Lithuanian-American relations through organizing annual tours to Lithuania for Lithuanian descendants. The nearby portion of Pulaski road even received an honorary name of Stanley Balzekas Way in his honor.

Balzekas Lithuanian museum in Chicago

Balzekas Lithuanian museum in Chicago entrance with the plaque of Stanley Balzekas Way

Not too far away from Balzekas Museum, the "Draugas" ("Friend") publishing house building is home to the oldest continuously published Lithuanian language newspaper (first edition in 1909). Aimed at Lithuanian Americans it used to be daily until 2011 and now is issued three times a week with circulation went down to a third of what it was in the 1960s (down from 7000 to 2000), some 60% of the readers located in Chicago but many reading it all over the USA. Now "Draugas" also publishes its own English-language monthly "Draugas News" and also sells Lithuanian books at its publishing house. The publishing house is spacious as it dates to another era when a "small village of people" was needed to publish and print a single edition of the newspaper. With the advent of computers and the outsourcing of printing, an atmosphere of empty-ish 1950s office prevails inside, with the Lithuanian spirit all around.

Draugas publishing house

Draugas publishing house

Draugas publishing house (a new edition is sent to the subscribers)

Draugas publishing house (a new edition is sent to the subscribers)

"Draugas" has been established by the Marian Fathers who were based in the Marian Fathers monastery nearby and worked for free for the newspaper. Designed by Jonas Kova-Kovalskis, the monastery follows the "modern Lithuanian" style with a tower that reminds a traditional Lithuanian chapel-post (koplytstulpis). While the Marian Fathers community has been effectively reestablished by a Lithuanian priest Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis, ultimately few Lithuanians joined it in America and now the community is dominated by Polish priests. They no longer use the monastery, renting it to various weekend retreats instead. Lithuanian Marian Fathers now work in Lithuania alone.

Lithuanian Maryan monastery of Chicago

Lithuanian Marian Fathers monastery of Chicago

Lithuanian Maryan monastery of Chicago interior

Lithuanian Marian Fathers monastery of Chicago interior

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In Burbank suburb not far away from the West Lawn, a new Lithuanian institution has been created in 2018: the Lithuanian-American Hall of Fame, where famous Lithuanian-Americans are being inscribed. It will be a hall used for various Lithuanian events as well as accessible to the public.

Lithuanian-American Hall of Fame

Lithuanian-American Hall of Fame

Lithuanian Jesuit Youth center - museums, gallery, and archives

Another massive key Lithuanian hub in Chicago is Lithuanian Jesuit Youth Center (5620 S Claremont Avenue, ~3 km north of the Marquette Park), officially now known as just the Lithuanian Center. This is yet another Cold War-era institution (built 1958) funded by the Lithuanian diaspora desperately trying to help their culture survive for the generations to come (even as a minority). Lithuania-themed activities/education for children and teenagers had been its goal.

Lithuanian Youth center facade with Vytis and the memorial to those who died for Lithuanian freedom in front

Lithuanian Youth center facade with Vytis and the memorial to those who died for Lithuanian freedom in front

The massive building complex uses patriotic architecture with a large modernized Vytis forming its façade. In its yard, stands the Memorial for those who died for Lithuanian freedom that includes all the traditional Lithuanian symbols: the Cross of Vytis, the Columns of Gediminas, and Vytis itself. It has been constructed by the famous architect Jonas Mulokas in 1959 and originally had more inscriptions. Next to it, there is a traditional Lithuanian chapel-post (koplytstulpis) dedicated to Jesuit priest Jonas Raibužis (donated by scouts) and Cross dedicated to Kražiai massacre victims donated by Paskočimas family. Kražiai massacre was an 1893 event when Russian soldiers have murdered Lithuanian civilians who tried to protect their church from destruction. This event attracted worldwide attention to the Russian Orthodox anti-Catholic discrimination in Lithuania. At the time the cross was constructed, the anti-Catholic discrimination by the Russians resurfaced in Lithuania once again, this time in the name of communism. Thus there is an inscription on the cross that in 1976, during an anti-Soviet protest, students read the Chronicles of Catholic Church (an underground newspaper that documented the human rights violations in Lithuania) for 40 hours in a row.

Lithuanian cross dedicated to the victims of Kražiai massacre

Lithuanian cross dedicated to the victims of Kražiai massacre

Lithuanian girl scouts' chapel-post (koplytstulpis)

Lithuanian girl scouts' chapel-post (koplytstulpis)

While Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union and religion was persecuted there, Lithuanian Jesuit province was effectively based here in Chicago and part of the building is Jesuit monastery. Currently, there are no longer any priests or monks living there as the Jesuit activities have been relocated back to Lithuania. Still, the monastery chapel still offers holy mass once a month. The exterior of the monastery chapel includes a bas-relief "Jesuits come to Vilnius in 1569", also the Lithuanian Coat of Arms.

Lithuanian coat of arms on the Lithuanian Jesuit chapel

Lithuanian coat of arms on the Lithuanian Jesuit chapel

The Youth Center houses a multitude of other Lithuanian institutions, amalgamated in 1981 to form the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, which is the largest Lithuanian scholarly organization outside of Lithuania. It includes the World Lithuanian Archives and numerous other related archives (musicology, medicine, photo, audio-visual, fine art), which are the best repository of Lithuanian-American works but also include works by other Lithuanians.

Like many such top-level Lithuanian-American institutions, the Research and Study Center expands its repositories through donations and legacies, often by old Lithuanians who have no Lithuanian-speaking descendants. With many donations, even the quite massive premises of the Youth Center became too small for LRSC, and so the LSRC has acquired a new LRSC building in Lemont in 2018.

The scholarly wing of LRSC (responsible for studies, education, and publishing) consists of the Institute of Lithuanian Studies, Center for the Study of Genocide in Lithuania and Lithuanian Institute of Education.

Furthermore, the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center owns three museums: Ramovėnai Lithuanian Military Museum, Lithuanian Museum and the Lithuanian Museum of Medicine. All may be visited during the workdays although it is better to contact in advance.

Badges of the old Lithuanian-American brotherhoods in the Lithuanian Youth Center museum

Badges of the old Lithuanian-American brotherhoods in the Lithuanian Youth Center museum

Key sections in the museums include:
*Miniature versions of Lithuanian traditional wooden crosses (UNESCO World Heritage).
*Things that belonged to the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans (uniforms, flags, etc.) and information related to that war that was the longest guerilla war in 20th century Europe [the Ramovėnai Lithuanian Military Museum].
*Lithuanian postal stamps.
*Historic Lithuanian banknotes.
*Stamps of the post-WW2 Lithuanian refugee organizations in Germany.
*Pendants of the early 20th century Lithuanian organizations.
*Inventory used by the Lithuanian doctors of Chicago in the mid-20th century [the Museum of Medicine].

Traditional Lithuanian metal crosses in the Lithuanian Youth Center museums

Traditional Lithuanian metal crosses in the Lithuanian Youth Center museums

There are also two non-LTRSC affiliated institutions in the Youth Center, namely the Lithuanian Saturday school and the Čiurlionis art gallery that offers temporary exhibitions of the works of Lithuanian artists. The Main hall of the Youth center offers Lithuanian events, although they have grown rarer and rarer as the Lithuanians have left the neighborhood.

Lithuanian Lutheran churches of Chicago

While today the Lithuanian nation is predominantly Catholic, prior to World War 2 up to 15% of ethnic Lithuanians were Lutheran (9% in Lithuania itself). These people hailed from Lithuania Minor region of what was then Germany. Tragically, in Lithuania, they were wiped off almost completely by the Soviets in the Genocide of Lithuania Minor (1944-1949).

However, two large groups of Lithuanian Lutherans managed to emigrate, establishing two Lithuanian Lutheran parishes in Chicago. Unlike the Catholic parishes, Lutheran parishes did not hesitate to "migrate" together with their congregations after their districts were hit with white flight, so, both are now located in the suburbs where most Lithuanians live. Both Lutheran church buildings are rather small and function is accentuated over beauty, with many non-religious premised available inside.

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church is the older one, dating to 1910 when it has been established by Martynas Keturakaitis, a priest from Tauragė. It has its own building in Oak Lawn suburb that includes church hall and Lithuanian kindergarten. The building has been acquired from another Protestant community in 1973 when the parish relocated to this suburb from Chicago. As such, the building itself has no Lithuanian details but the interior has many Lithuanian memorabilia. Also, Lithuanians have extended the building in 1983 in order to have a larger secular hall.

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church (priest images)

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church (priest images)

The initial congregation of the Zion Lutheran church itself has been greatly expanded ~1950 when Chicago's Lutherans wrote over 800 letters of invitation to many Lithuanian Lutheran refugees who were stranded in refugee camps in Europe. However, a rift soon became apparent between the "old Lithuanian-Americans" of the Zion parish and the post-WW2 refugees: for the pre-WW1 Lithuanian-Americans, the USA was already more or less the homeland, and the Zion parish had aligned itself with the US Lutheran church of the Missouri Synod. The post-WW2 immigrants, however, often saw their lives in the USA as a temporary exile and saw the need to safeguard as much of the Lithuanian traditions as possible, as well as separate from the US society more in order to safeguard Lithuanians as a separate group.

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church (main hall)

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church (main hall)

After the calls by post-WW2 refugee priest Trakis to severe the Zion Lutheran church relations with the US Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) were not recognized by the "old Lithuanian-Americans", Trakis created a separate Lithuanian Lutheran parish known as Tėviškė ("The Homeland"). Initially, this parish has been located in the Lithuanian Lutheran church building near Marquette park that was acquired from Jews in the 1950s and sold to Black-dominated Heart Church Ministries church in the 2000s as the district has changed (nothing reminds the Lutheran church in the building now). Since then, Tėviškė Lutheran church rents its premises in Darien (St. John Lutheran church). However, even though the premises are rented, Lithuanian-inspired welcome signs have been built and some Lithuanian memorabilia is kept inside.

Tėviškė parish continues to be the more "ethnic" one among the two Chicago Lithuanian parishes: for example, Tėviškė has solely Lithuanian services while Zion parish also offers English services and conducts its Bible study in English. For some five decades 1950-2000s, Zion parish also offered German services for the Germanized Lithuanians of Lithuania Minor who spoke better German than Lithuanian, however, as their ranks became scarce, the German service has been canceled by the mid-2000s. When the entire Zion congregation sings hymns together, each person is permitted to choose his own language (English, Lithuanian or German) still. Another difference between the two parishes is the burial places: while Tėviškė members are usually buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery, Zion members are often buried in the common American cemeteries.

However, both parishes have helped Lithuania after independence, promote Lithuanian activities, and have attracted priests from Lithuania itself after Lithuania became independent and both have aligned with the Lithuanian Lutheran church. That said, Tėviškė parish is aligned only to the Lithuanian Lutheran church whereas Zion church also keeps its alignment to the Missouri Synod while the Lithuanian-Lutheran alignment is mostly a spiritual one.

Pilsen Lithuanian heritage

Back in the 1920s, Chicago had 12 Lithuanian Catholic parishes, each of them centering a Lithuanian community. One of the Chicago districts - Pilsen (north of Bridgeport) - even had two Lithuanian churches at once.

The Romance Revival church of Providence of God (1927) is the closest Lithuanian church to downtown (since the 1960s, the district population was replaced by Hispanics and the events there are now Spanish). It has been founded by St. George parishioners from Bridgeport. The rather grand interior includes authentic stained-glass windows and stations with the cross with Lithuanian inscriptions. The access is limited though as there is no regular mass. On the outside, next to a Lithuanian cornerstone there is another stone commemorating the fact that Providence of God was the sole Lithuanian church in Chicago to have Pope visiting it. This happened in 1979.

Next to the church stands the former Lithuanian school with a cornerstone indicating its original purpose.

Providence of God Lithuanian church (right) and school (left)

Providence of God Lithuanian church (right) and school (left)

Providence of God Lithuanian church

Providence of God Lithuanian church

Lithuanian stations of the cross at the Providence of God church

Lithuanian stations of the cross at the Providence of God church

Cornerstone of the Providence of God Lithuanian church

Cornerstone of the Providence of God Lithuanian church

Pilsen's 2nd Lithuanian church was a more modest Our Lady of Vilna church and school (2327 W 23rd Place), now closed. The two-floored residential-like building used to host the church on the main floor and a parish school above it. The building was intended to be primarily a school, with the church temporarily located there before a bigger building is built (which never happened); that is why all the available inscriptions declare its school purpose ("Lithuanian Catholic school" above the entrance, "Lietuviška mokslaini Vilniaus Austros Vartu Š. M. P. Parakvijes", which in old Lithuanian language means "Lithuanian school of Our Lady of Gate of Dawn"). 1906 is inscribed as the date the construction began. After the parish has been closed, the parish name remained only in the relocated St Paul-Our Lady of Vilna school (closed 2013). Chicago Sun-Times reported an interesting story in 2013 of scrapyard workers noticing Lithuanian inscription on a bell and the diocese requiring it. It turns out this bell has disappeared from Our Lady of Vilna site after closure; it will now call the residents of Tinley Park suburb to prayer, thus itself completing a migration that so many did before: from the inner city to suburbs and from ethnic culture to "United American" culture. The inscription on the bell reads (reminding that Lithuania of the 1900s-1918s was still under the rule of Russian Empire and giving reasons why Lithuanians migrated to Chicago so eagerly): "Bell, little bell, sorrowfully ring and proclaim the Miraculous Madonna of the Gate of Dawn in Lithuania, where our enemies suppress us. Our oppressed fellow countrymen are comforted. Call us to prayer, to the Church, in her name, so that we may feel a part of God’s flock. Call us three times daily, without fail, and the deceased lead with your sound. From this day forward, speak to the living, and accompany the dead to the cemetery". Other sources indicate the bell was "held for ransom" and the diocese had to pay for their return. In Tinley Park, the bells are located in St. Julie church where they are visible in an open tower.

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago (cornerstone)

Our Lady of Vilnius church/school in the Heart of Italy district of Chicago (cornerstone)

Brighton Park Lithuanian church, school, monastery and Šauliai house

Brighton Park district west of former stockyards is now also largely Hispanic but its modernist Lithuanian Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (built in 1964, 2745 W. 44th St.). It includes numerous Lithuanian details in its interior, among which the most striking are the Our Lady of Šiluva shrine in a side-chapel, Divine Mercy Shrine (based on the painting in Vilnius) in the other side-chapel, and the Our Lady of Šiluva stained-glass-window that is colored in the colors of the Lithuanian flag. The rest of the stained-glass windows also have Lithuanian donors written on them; the windows are not the traditional light European-style but rather they are made of large single-colored chunks of glass. Brighton Park Lithuanian church is the last -to-be-built among the Lithuanian-constructed churches of Chicago and the only one built after the Vatican II council which made the preferred church plans more open.

Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception

Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception

Our Lady of Šiluva side-chapel at the Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception

Our Lady of Šiluva side-chapel at the Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception

Stained glass windows of the Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception with the Our Lady of Šiluva tricolor window on the right

Stained glass windows of the Brighton Park Lithuanian church of Immaculate Conception with the Our Lady of Šiluva tricolor window on the right

The parish dates to 1914 but like some other churches, this one was built post-WW2 to accommodate a major influx of Lithuanian refugees. An entire complex of buildings served them, including the Lithuanian school (built 1915, closed 1999) and Lithuanian convent (1925), both of which have their Lithuanian purpose inscribed on their facades (in English and Lithuanian) despite no longer being used for that purpose. Since the 1980s, the parish lost its Lithuanian majority, now being mostly Hispanic. Most of the masses are celebrated in Spanish although some are Lithuanian; Hispanic details (Our Lady of Guadalupe) have also been added to the church.

Brighton Park Lithuanian school cornerstone

Brighton Park Lithuanian school cornerstone

Entrance to the Brighton Park Lithuanian convent

Entrance to the Brighton Park Lithuanian convent

Still, Lithuanian details outnumber them. At the entrance of the church, a traditional Lithuanian cross stands built in 1987 in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of Christianity in Lithuania. It incorporates a Lithuanian coat of arms in its design.

Brighton Park Lithuanian cross

Brighton Park Lithuanian cross

On the W 43rd (near S Western Ave) stands a small building associated with the Lithuanian Rifleman Union (Šaulių sąjunga) known as the Šauliai House, its facade adorned in Lithuanian patriotic symbols since it has been acquired by the organization in 1975. Šauliai, variously translated as "Lithuanian Riflemen" or "Lithuanian National Guard", is a patriotic paramilitary organization that used to be especially important in interwar Lithuania and then banned by Soviets (its members persecuted or killed). Like was the case with many such organizations, the survivors who fled Lithuania continued its existence in the USA. After independence Rifleman Union was reestablished in Lithuania as well but it didn't reach the pre-war glory. In America, Šauliai withered over time as the original refugees died off and their children mostly did not join the organization. After independence, however, some new Šauliai from Lithuanian moved in or new immigrants decided to join the organization. In 2005, Šauliai House was acquired by one such recent immigrant who later joined Šauliai himself. It is now not only used for Šauliai meetings but also as a rental hall. The organization is much different today from what it was: it had some 1000 members once but just some 20 these days.

Šauliai House of Chicago at Brighton Park

Šauliai House of Chicago at Brighton Park

Brighton Park also had a Darius-Girėnas American Legion post 271, comprised mostly of ethnic Lithuanians. The post has sold its rather large building (corner of W 44th and S Western Ave) that once hosted many Lithuanian events and now meets at various locations. The post's former building is used as the "Way church".

Cicero Lithuanian heritage

Further west from the downtown Cicero has a massive St. Anthony Lithuanian church. Lithuanian, English and Spanish mass is now offered.

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school and church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school and church

The Romanesque Revival church has been constructed in the interwar period and blessed by the Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis, holding the distinction of being a rare (or only) Chicago church dedicated by a person who was given the status of Blessed. The massive interior holds a side-altar dedicated to Matulaitis, a Matulaitis stained-glass window (on the right near the roof). There is also a stained-glass window with Vytis, the coat of arms of Lithuania (left side near the roof) donated by the Knights of Lithuania, a Lithuanian chapel-post and many Lithuanian inscriptions (under each old station of the cross, over the Virgin Mary statue). The cornerstone lists the 1925 date.

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

Lithuanian-inscribed station of the cross at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Lithuanian-inscribed station of the cross at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Stained glass windows with the Lithuanian surnames of the donors at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Stained glass windows with the Lithuanian surnames of the donors at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church (interior)

In front of the church stands a unique plastic chapel-post, donated by Msgr. Albavičius and built by a famous Lithuanian-American architect Jonas Mulokas to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lithuanian independence in 1698 (which was a sad date, actually, as Lithuania was then under "deep" and seemingly invincible Soviet occupation). Lithuanian chapel-posts are a UNESCO-recognized form of ethnic art, however, they are traditionally wooden. Yet in this case, a former 1950 Lithuanian wooden cross that stood on-site has been destroyed by parasites, prompting the parish to request a "more eternal" plastic sculpture in its place. The church itself has been also expanded during the 50s, adding the front extension in historicist style.

Plastic chapel-post by Jonas Mulokas at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church

Plastic chapel-post by Jonas Mulokas at the Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian church with the Mulokas chapel-post

Next to the church stands unusually massive St. Anthony Lithuanian school which has its Lithuanian name chiseled in large letters above the entrance. Both buildings look especially impressive from the intersection of S 49th and 15th streets.

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school

Cicero St. Anthony Lithuanian school

The third building with Lithuania-related inscriptions in the area is the Lithuanian Liberty Hall (Lietuvių laisvės salė, 1921), often associated with communists. Once, Lithuanian communists were quite a significant part of the Cicero Lithuanian community, so much so that they held regular protests against the church construction while it was under construction (something that was later banned by courts). While the "Liberty Hall" has been used into the 1960s after the Soviet occupation showed the "real face of communism" the communist ranks among Lithuanians declined to a small minority, so the Hall was sold and is now partly abandoned.

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero

Lithuanian Liberty Hall of Cicero

There is also a building on the 15th street with letters "P. JUKNIS 1912" written near its top, eternalizing its Lithuanian builder. Once, many local buildings had Lithuanian owners, there were as many as 10 Lithuanian pubs alone in the area. Currently, however, Cicero is predominantly Hispanic but it has not gained such a bad reputation as South Chicago so some Lithuanians still live in the district, attending the church.

P. Juknis building

P. Juknis building

Chicago far southside Lithuanian heritage

The Chicago districts further south have smaller Lithuanian communities and smaller churches than those cathedral-like edifices closer to the downtown - however, some of these churches have interesting architecture and histories. Those areas are currently nearly completely inhabited by Blacks. The small Lithuanian districts there all collapsed very early and very quickly (most churches closed ~1970s-1980s after most Lithuanians left and other institutions, e.g. Lithuanian schools, have been closed even earlier).

The most interesting there is All Saints Lithuanian church in Roseland (0,42% White district today) with a semi-open metal tower that has been inspired by traditional Lithuanian chapel-posts as well as, arguably, art nouveau. It has been designed by a famous Lithuanian interwar modernist architect S. Kudokas who, like many other architects and many additional members of the congregation, fled Lithuania to avoid being murdered by the Soviets. Kudokas was a modernist in Lithuania, responsible for many significant buildings in the interwar Kaunas which now has a UNESCO World Heritage application. After arrival in America, Kudokas criticized his colleague Jonas Mulokas who attempted to create a modern ethnic Lithuanian style in place of international functionalism. In his All Saints church, though, Kudokas himself has emulated Mulokas's style in creating a "non-wooden chapel-post" on the tower. The history of the All Saints church illustrates the history of the entire South Chicago: the parish has constructed this new church in 1960, still expecting a long existence and growth. Then, however, the white flight took place and by 1972 already the Lithuanian parish was closed. It has been sold to the Baptists in 1989 (a more popular faith among Blacks than Catholicism). The Lithuanian details, ethnic art remains, although the Lithuanian name above the door of the church has been covered. The survival of the church still is not easy at it has been robbed numerous times recently.

Roseland All Saints Lithuanian church

Roseland All Saints Lithuanian church

South Chicago area is only 1,92% White. Its small single-floored St. Joseph Lithuanian church (8801 S Saginaw) has been closed in 1986, became part of McKinley public school (itself built in 1953 as parish school) that is now closed. A former priest's house stands next, it is older and more interesting; the priest Antanas Petraitis was interested in science and had Illinois's second largest telescope there and also had a small animal sanctuary between the buildings. Some say the church remained so small because of the priest investing much to the science.

St. Joseph Lithuanian church

St. Joseph Lithuanian church

St. Casimir Lithuanian church of Chicago Heights (283 E 14th Street) suffered a similar fate (closed 1987). It looks like a century-old residential. Its two floors used to house a school as well as a church. Such practice was very common in Chicago, whereby a parish would have constructed such a "regular building" first that would have included its all activities and, having collected more donations, would have constructed a "true church" nearby, leaving the old building to the likely-now-expanded school. St. Casimir of Chicago Heights, however, never got to build the second building as it withered and died with Lithuanians moving elsewhere. Just like on Holy Cross the former fashion to inscribe institution names on stone led to the survival of its Lithuanian name. Empty lots are now all around the building.

Chicago Heights Lithuanian church

Chicago Heights Lithuanian church

Chicago Heights Lithuanian church cornerstone

Chicago Heights Lithuanian church cornerstone

The final area's Lithuanian church to remain in Catholic use was St. Peter and Paul church in West Pullman (12433 S Halsted St) but it closed too in 2022. The building is modernist with some gothic inspirations (built 1959). The parish has been established in 1913 and celebrated its centenary in 2013 but it had little to do with Lithuanians by then. Unlike in Roseland (All Saints), the West Pullman church was constructed at the time some parishioners were already non-Lithuanian, so it has few Lithuanian details (the only Lithuanian details that still existed by 2017 were the historical images and newspaper clippings near the entrance that remind of the past Lithuanian priests, the cornerstone that mentions priest Petrauskas and the name of the church's hall that is named after the church's final Lithuanian priest Brinkis). West Pullman is only 0,56% White and the Lithuanian share is now negligible. Pullman was once famous for its world-class factory of railway carriages. Modern Far South Chicago, however, differs from that of 1900-1915 (when most Lithuanian parishes were established) like day and night. The industry collapsed ~1970, the ethnic groups are also all different.

Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman

Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman

Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman

Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman

Two pastor images at the Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church - the first one of them is Lithuanian, and the second one is African American (after the change in the parish demography)

Two pastor images at the Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church - the first one of them is Lithuanian, and the second one is African American (after the change in the parish demography)

West Pullman also has the old Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian school-church surviving - there, a Lithuanian cornerstone says in the old Lithuanian language that it is a "mokslainė" (today school is called "mokykla"). The church is no longer Catholic.

Old Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman which served as a school

Old Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian church of West Pullman which served as a school


Fpovilo

Lithuanian cemeteries in southern Chicago

Deceased Chicago Lithuanians used to be buried in Lithuanian cemeteries since well before World War 1. There are two cemeteries: the Catholic St. Casimir and the National which originally started as non-Catholic but today includes many Catholics as well. Both cemeteries are notable for great numbers of grand tombstones, hundreds of them crafted in the mid-20th century by a famous tomb creator Ramojus Mozoliauskas. These tombstones are sculpture-like and are often adorned in Lithuanian symbols as Lithuanians felt extremely sad about the loss of their homeland to the Soviets and thus used Lithuanian symbolism lots. There are even direct references to exile. Among the earlier tombstones it is interesting to see many surviving images of the deceased people, dating even to the pre-WW1 era, something that is far rarer in smaller towns, let alone Lithuania itself, where photography was still not that accessible back in those days.

Lithuanian coat of arms land art at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Lithuanian coat of arms land art at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Both Lithuanian-American cemeteries in Chicago arguably are both prettier and more extensive than any other Lithuanian-American cemeteries and are well worth to walk around even for non-Lithuanians. Both have more famous Lithuanians buried there than are buried in many of the cemeteries in Lithuania itself.

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery is the larger and older one, established in 1903 at the extreme south of Chicago. So great it is that it has been included in the "199 cemeteries to see before you die" book alongside such world-famous "giants" as Paris's Per-Lachese or Arlington Cemetery.

St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

The entrance plaque "Lithuanian Cemetery" was removed in 1997. This is not the first such move - in 1965 Cardinal Cody removed the word "Lithuanian" from the cemetery's official name, leading to mass demonstrations of post-war Lithuanian refugees. This is one of many similar episodes in the history of Lithuanian Chicagoans. E.g. in 1972 local Lithuanians chartered a plane to Rome in order to protest in St. Peter square against the presenting of the first Holy Communion to Lithuanian children in the English language.

Latin Americans (today the largest Catholic community of Chicago) now have joined Lithuanians in the St. Casimir Cemetery rows. Yet the massive Lithuanian gravestones, built throughout eight previous decades, far outflank small American plaques. It seems that an entire major city is buried here and everywhere the surnames are Lithuanian, some of them shortened or spelled in English. Also, not far beyond the main entrance, there is a Lithuanian coat of arms land art that still firmly marks the cemetery as Lithuanian. On the northeastern corner of the cemetery, there is also a Memorial for the 12 Lithuanian parishes of Chicago which has established the cemetery (as of 2018, only 6 of their churches are operational as Catholic churches and only 3 still offer Lithuanian mass). The memorial includes traditional Lithuanian roof-horses, sun-cross, and an authentic bell of a Lithuanian church in its design.

Memorial of the 12 Lithuanian parishes that established the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Memorial of the 12 Lithuanian parishes that established the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Among the famous Lithuanians interred in the St. Casimir cemetery are:
*Lithuanian general Povilas Plechavičius (1890-1973) who moved to the USA as a refugee in 1949. He is famous for being the leader of the 1926 coup that has established Smetona's regime and later for his successful sabotaging of Nazi German plans by disbanding the Lithuanian soldiers after he learned that Nazi Germany planned to raise a Lithuanian SS division out of them (therefore, thanks to Plechavičius, there was no Lithuanian SS division, while there were Latvian and Estonian SS divisions).

General Povilas Plechavičius grave

General Povilas Plechavičius grave

*Lithuanian geographer Kazys Pakštas (1893-1960), well-known for his ideas to create a "second Lithuania" by acquiring and colonizing some land in Africa or South America. He expressed these ideas because he saw that Lithuania itself is in constant danger while the Lithuanian emigrants assimilate into foreign cultures; so, he wanted to create a land where Lithuanian culture could exist more safely and not assimilate. In his days (between WW1 and WW2) his ideas were seen as utopian, however, in the same fashion as Nicola Tesla, Pakštas gained much more attention later when his predictions of the occupation of Lithuania and assimilation of the Lithuanian diaspora did indeed come true.

Kazys Pakštas grave

Kazys Pakštas grave

*Lithuanian-American poet Algimantas Mackus (1932-1964), notable for his existentialist poems. He is considered a part of the so-called "landless" generation of authors that began their creations outside Lithuania but still considered Lithuania their sole homeland, which made their works permeated with indescribable longing for something lost.

Poet Algimantas Mackus grave in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Poet Algimantas Mackus grave in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

*Chicago-born Lithuanian archbishop Paul Marcinkus (1922-2006), who essentially served as a bodyguard for popes and saved the lives of two popes. He also served as the head of the Vatican bank, although his tenure there was marred in scandals. Even then he is said to have secretly come to his childhood Lithuanian church of St. Anthony in Cicero to hold mass there. Unlike many other graves in the cemetery, Marcinkus's grave is rather modest.

Archibishop Paul Marcinkus graveArchibishop Paul Marcinkus grave

Archibishop Paul Marcinkus grave

*Antanas Vanagaitis (1890-1949), a Lithuanian musician who, after emigrating to the USA soon after World War 1, established a Lithuanian radio in Chicago and also created numerous famous Lithuanian songs.

Antanas Vanagaitis grave at St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Antanas Vanagaitis grave at St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Moreover, St. Casimir cemetery also became a major zone for important non-grave Lithuanian memorials. The most famous is the first-in-the-world memorial for Romas Kalanta that was built in 1979, the same decade as the young Kaunas guy self-immolated against the Soviet regime. The author was Ramojus Mozoliauskas and the donors were Riflemen (Šauliai) Union. The memorial is dedicated (in Lithuanian) to "Romas Kalanta and everyone who has died for Lithuanian freedom fighting the red tyrant" (i.e. the Soviet Union).

Romas Kalanta memorial at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Romas Kalanta memorial at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

In 1984, a memorial to Lithuania's sole saint (and patron saint) St. Casimir has been constructed, commemorating 500 years since his birth. The memorial has images of Vilnius, at the time beyond the Iron Curtain for the Lithuanian-Americans.

St. Casimir statue at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

St. Casimir statue at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

The cemetery also has a small memorial to Our Lady of Šiluva, Europe's first church-recognized Maryan vision (which happened in Lithuania).

Our Lady of Šiluva monument in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Our Lady of Šiluva monument in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

On the north side of the cemetery, there are large burial plots and memorials for particular people and organizations. There is a field where Lithuanian priests of Chicago are buried, next to the burial area for St. Casimir sisters and Lithuanian Jesuit fathers, all of them having neat memorials. Next to them stands a Memorial for the Darius-Girėnas post of the American Legion, which is a unique ethnically-based Lithuanian post in what is an American veteran organization. The memorial incorporates pieces of artillery. Another Lithuanian American Legion post named after Don Varnas has built a smaller memorial nearby, while the impressive obelisk-like "gravestone" of priest Mykolas Krupavičius now also serves just as monument as Krupavičius himself has been reinterred in Lithuania after independence.

Lithuanian priests memorial at the end of a long field in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago wher ethe Lithuanian priests are buried

Lithuanian priests memorial at the end of a long field in the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago wher ethe Lithuanian priests are buried

Jesuit Fathers memorial at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

Jesuit Fathers memorial at the St. Casimir Lithuanian cemetery of Chicago

St. Casimir Sisters memorial and burial site

St. Casimir Sisters memorial and burial site

Another Lithuanian cemetery is next to a small forest outside the official borders of Chicago. This is the multi-denominational Lithuanian National Cemetery and the word "Lithuanian" remains in the official name. It was established in 1911 when a local priest refused to bury Lithuanians who did not actively participate in Lithuanian Catholic communities in the St. Casimir Cemetery.

Art-deco-styled office of the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Art-deco-styled office of the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

The Lithuanian National Cemetery is located at a rather secluded spot and has many trees, making it double as a nice Lithuanian park. Many of the gravestones there are especially ethnic in design as they have been constructed by those who fled the Soviet occupation and were especially patriotic. The cemetery is open every day from 8 AM to 5-6 PM.

An old grave with image of the deceased in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

An old grave with image of the deceased in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Grave images at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Grave images at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

The National Cemetery starts with a pretty entrance square, surrounded by the cemetery gate, art-deco-styled cemetery office (some urns are kept inside the office) that had been built in 1938 and designed by a Lithuanian-American architect Žaldokas, as well as the memorial to the founders of the cemetery (14 Lithuanian non-Catholic organizations), erected in 1982. All the cemetery directors are listed on this memorial as well.

Monument to the founders of the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Monument to the founders of the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

There are some 13500 burials in the National Cemetery. Among those buried here are:
*The 1925-1926 President of Lithuania Kazys Grinius (actually, he was never interred under the monument built for him and his urn was repatriated to Lithuania in 1994)

President of Lithuania Kazys Grinius monument

President of Lithuania Kazys Grinius monument

*Dr. Jonas Šliūpas, most famous in the USA as he agitated Lithuanians to separate from the Roman Catholic church, the idea that formed part of the drive to create ethnically-based cemeteries. He did, in fact, came back to Lithuania after the 1918 independence and served as a mayor of Palanga there; he died in Europe, but his body was still brought back to the USA where most of his major life works took place.

Jonas Šliūpas grave at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Jonas Šliūpas grave at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

*Marius Katiliškis, a famous Lithuanian writer.
*Kazys Bobelis, a Lithuanian-American who returned to Lithuania after 1990 to become a popular politician and a presidential candidate there.

Politician Kazys Bobelis grave

Politician Kazys Bobelis grave

*Jonas Budrys, a leader of the Klaipėda Revolt that attached Klaipėda to Lithuania in 1923.
*Adomas Varnas, the painter who designed the original (1922) Lithuanian Litas banknotes.

An interesting grave is that of Karolis Požėla where this Lithuanian boxing coach is buried with his most famous pupil, Maurice Tillet (French Angel) who was not a Lithuanian himself. The epitaph is "Friends whom even death couldn't part".

Maurice Tillet and Karolis Požėla mutual grave at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Maurice Tillet and Karolis Požėla mutual grave at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Additionally, the cemetery became a popular place to build general memorials for various Lithuanian groups.

On the rightwards path going from the entrance, you can see Darius-Girėnas post of American Legion monument that includes several pieces of artillery and is a focal point in Memorial day celebrations. The memorial looks quite similar to the St. Casimir cemetery one.

American Legion Darius and Girėnas post memorial in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

American Legion Darius and Girėnas post memorial in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Further on, there is a traditional wooden cross dedicated to 300000+ people expelled from Lithuania by the Soviet occupational regime in 1940-1941 and 1944-1953, commissioned by the Pakalka family in 1994. It is also notable for having attracted priests to bless it and the surrounding ground, this way effectively ending the belief held by some Catholics that National Cemetery is only for the non-believers. So-much-so that the Lithuanian Catholic organization Knights of Lithuania, as well as Lithuanian scouts (2018, author Vilnius Buntinas) have also erected their memorials in this cemetery rather than St. Casimir's. They were followed by the patriotic Šauliai in 2019.

Memorial to the exiled Lithuanians in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Memorial to the exiled Lithuanians in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Additional memorials in the cemetery are dedicated to the Lithuanian Freemasons (with the leaders of the 1951 "Lithuanian Craftsman Club" listed on its back) and the author of Lithuanian National anthem Vincas Kudirka (1961).

Lithuanian freemasons memorial

Lithuanian freemasons memorial

Vincas Kudirka Memorial at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Vincas Kudirka Memorial at the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

Initially, the cemetery has been used by various non-Catholic groups, including leftists, National Catholics, Lutherans (especially the Tėviškė parish). Later on, the Catholics have gradually joined them and, with delituanization of the St. Casimir Cemetery, this became the sole truly Lithuanian cemetery in the Chicagoland (the administration is Lithuanian as well).

Among the early burials, the most controversial are the six gravestones with communist symbols as Lithuanian communists have also used the cemetery. Later on, as the Soviet occupation of Lithuania proved disastrous and Chicago became overflooded with new refugees from Lithuania who left everything to avoid living under communist rule, the communist symbols were banned in the cemetery. Ironically, ~1990 as Lithuania was approaching independence, the cemetery was vandalized with Swasticas, equalizing Lithuanians buried there with Nazis.

A Soviet-symbols-clad memorial in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

A Soviet-symbols-clad memorial in the Lithuanian National Cemetery of Chicago

As times went on, the numbers of annual burials in the cemetery have decreased as significant numbers of the descendants of Lithuanians are of mixed ancestry and no longer seek to be buried in Lithuanian cemetery. Because of this, the cemetery has sold off much of its additional space for residential developments and survives on the money received in this sale. A part of the cemetery has been also defined as a park area meant for green burials.

The infamous Chicago legend of Ressurection Mary (about a ghost girl that appears to drivers) is also related to the Lithuanian cemeteries. One of the possible girls whose ghost supposedly haunts Chicago is Ona Norkus, buried in the St. Casimir Cemetery. However, when a film was made about the legend, the crew picked the Lithuanian National Cemetery for filming, presumably because of its rather secluded and wooded location.

Lemont and the current heart of Chicago Lithuanian community

In the deep southwest of Chicagoland lies the modern heart of the Chicago Lithuanian community. After the disintegration of Marquette Park, there is no longer any district where Lithuanians would make more than a few percent of the population. But in the automobile-loving USA driving 10 or 20 km is no obstacle.

Main sign of the Lithuanian World Center

Main sign of the Lithuanian World Center

In 1987 the "Lithuanian World Center" was opened in Lemont suburb. Various events such as concerts and Chicago Lithuanian Basketball League matches are held there (basketball is Lithuania's national sport and the Chicago League was established in 2003; its ~15 teams play using the FIBA rather than NBA rules) while the America's largest Lithuanian-language school operates every Friday evening and Saturday, attracting some 700 kids. The center is usually open to everybody as there are many Lithuanian activities and possibilities inside with over 40 Lithuanian organizations and businesses having their hubs in its 14 000 square meter of space. Around the center, you'll rarely hear the English language but people in the center can speak it.

As the World Center has been bought from non-Lithuanians (originally it served as a priest seminary), it is rather functional in style lacks any Lithuanian architectural details. However, that is more than compensated by the increasingly lithuanized interiors and Lithuanian activities.

Main ballroom of the Lithuanian World Center

Main ballroom of the Lithuanian World Center

At the heart of the World Center is Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis Catholic church which effectively serves as the US newest Lithuanian ethnic parish. Unlike most ethnic parishes, it has limited Lithuanian details due to its non-Lithuanian history, but Lithuanians tried to change that over time, installing a Jurgis Matulaitis statue, Lithuanian carved wooden door, a memorial to the suffering of Lithuania, etc.

Lithuanian World Center chapel

Lithuanian World Center chapel

Jurgis Matulaitis at the Lithuanian World Center chapel

Jurgis Matulaitis at the Lithuanian World Center chapel

Among other key institutions, there are the numerous Lithuanian museums (open on weekends only or by appointment). The most impressive among them is the Museum of traditional folk art that has the best collection of Lithuanian folk art in America. In fact, it would be great even by Lithuanian standards, as it was collected by cheaply buying (or receiving as gifts) that art from woodcarvers in Lithuania back in the early 1990s, when such art was not yet valued in Lithuania itself. There is a hall of wooden sculptures, some of which have political commentary (like a sculpture of Hitler and Stalin torturing Lithuania), while others are more traditional holy figures or devils. There is a corridor of wooden representations of the leaders of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are quality examples of Lithuanian folk costumes, verbos (that replace palms in the Vilnius region Palm Sunday) and looms used to weave textile.

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Lithuanian wooden arts at the Lemont museum

Near the entrance to the museum you can find Siela gallery which is used for temporary exhibits from Lithuanian artists, while one hall is dedicated to a more permanent collection of non-folk art. Audience events also take place there.

Additionally, the surroundings of the World Center received numerous Lithuanian monuments. The most impressive collection of them is the Lemont Hill of Crosses inspired by the famous Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, Lithuania. Currently, it has some 80 crosses, most of them of the traditional Lithuanian wooden form that is considered immaterial UNESCO world heritage. Like in the real Hill of Crosses, some of the crosses are erected by common people who do that in memory of their relatives, sometimes victims of the Soviet Genocide. Some of the crosses have been erected by organizations, such as the Lithuanian scouts. Some of the crosses have been moved into the Hill of Crosses from various private yards of Lithuanian-Americans: for the refugee generation, it was common to erect such reminders of the homeland on their yard, however, their kids often want to redecorate the yard or, more likely, simply sell the house, so, they may donate the crosses to the Lithuanian World Center. Yet other crosses (or other memorials) have been built to commemorate particular events, for example, the battle of Žalgiris or the Christianization of Lithuania. Many crosses also have patriotic symbols on them, while one memorial built in 1998 has a poem "Not our land" on it about longing for the lost homeland. During the Lithuanian day of the dead (Vėlinės) Lithuanian immigrants whose family graves are far away light candles on the Hill of Crosses in their memory. The Hill of Crosses was founded by Antanas Poskočimas (1905-2000), a Lithuanian traditional folk artist who lived in Lemont.

Lemont Hill of Crosses entrance with the first three words of the Lithuanian National Anthem (Lithuania, our homeland) inscribed

Lemont Hill of Crosses entrance with the first three words of the Lithuanian National Anthem (Lithuania, our homeland) inscribed

Lemont Hill of Crosses

Lemont Hill of Crosses

Battle of Žalgiris (Grunewald) memorial at the Lemont Hill of Crosses

Battle of Žalgiris (Grunewald) memorial at the Lemont Hill of Crosses

At the center of the Hill of Crosses a 1917 bell is erected. The bell is from the Gary Lithuanian church in Indiana that has been closed. It is used as a symbol of the closed Lithuanian-American churches. At the entrance of the Hill, there are three crosses with words "Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų" (Lithuania, our Fatherland), which are also the first three words of the Lithuanian national anthem.

Vėlinės Vigil at the Gary bell

Vėlinės Vigil at the Gary bell in Lemont Hill of Crosses

On the bottom of the Hill of Crosses stands the Memorial for Lithuanian partisans and people expelled to Siberia styled as a weeping mother of a victim of the Soviet regime and a bunch of fallen leaves. Built by one of the most productive Lithuanian-American sculptors Ramojus Mozoliauskas, it commemorates some 30 000 anti-Soviet guerillas who fell in the last-ditch attempt to restore free Lithuania (1944-1953) and up to 400 000 people expelled by the Soviets to Siberia, many of them to meet their deaths there. It was that Soviet genocide that caused so many Lithuanians to leave Lithuania as refugees in 1944 before the Soviet re-occupation; ultimately, most of those refugees ended up in the USA and it was them who eventually were the driving force behind the creation of the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont.

Mother of a partisan memorial next to the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont

Mother of a partisan memorial next to the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont

In 2019, another memorial has been built nearby, dedicated to one of the most famous Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas. He is notable as he was a US citizen, having been born in a Lithuanian emigrant family in New Britain, Connecticut before his parents brought him back to Lithuania. The initial Lithuanian idea was to build this memorial in a park in New Britain but the plan was thwarted by anti-Lithuanian lobbying (this was part of a general “fight for the memory about occupations of Lithuania”. Russia and some other powers seek to diminish or smear the memory of the Lithuanian fight for freedom from the Soviet Union in order to paint the Soviet occupation of Lithuania as “benevolent” or at least “not any eviler than independent Lithuania or America”, while Lithuanians seek to disseminate the truth about the Soviet occupation/genocides and respect those who fought that).

At the entrance of the Lithuanian World Center itself, there is a composition of three Lithuanian chapel-posts (koplytstulpiai).

While the Lithuanian World Center is the most famous Lithuanian site in Lemont by far, it was actually not the first one. Lithuanians were buying real estate in Lemont sometime before that already, and so did the Ateitininkai Lithuanian Christian organization. The Ateitininkai Home feels more like a palace of a large landowner in suburban England. In fact, it was built in 1952 as a palace of a millionaire Schmidt who made his fortune through war industry; according to Ateitininkai members, even the US president Dwight Eisenhower was a guest at the palace back then; the palace then had a bar and even a bowling alley in the basement. The palace was acquired by Ateitininkai in 1978, under the initiative of 10 Lithuanian doctors who all immigrated to the USA as refugees in the 1950s.

Ateitininkai Home

Ateitininkai Home

Serene hall of the Ateitininkai Home

Serene hall of the Ateitininkai Home

Ateitininkai is a Lithuanian Christian organization, one of many Lithuanian organizations that were destroyed by the Soviet regime only to be reborn in the USA. Ateitininkai Home is used for various organizational activities, meetings of Ateitinkai kids, as well as rentals for weddings which helps sustain the palace. Given the patriotic and religious nature of the organization, it has collected Lithuanian and Christian artifacts in its halls over time. Two large traditional Lithuanian chapel-posts and one cross have been erected in front of the palace, most are relocated from other places where they were in danger of destruction. One of them, a metal chapel-post (koplytstulpis) has been relocated from a now-closed Lithuanian Farmstead in Marquette Park (originally designed by famous architects Mulokas and made by A. Janonis in 1973). Another chapel-post, originally created for a private home of Dr. Adomavičius in 1966 and relocated after that home was sold, has been dedicated to the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan Juozas Lukša-Daumantas and repaired by a "Godmaker" A. Poskočimas. Yet another cross is a donation of Antanas Poskočimas (1983) and renovated by Dainius Kopūstas (2014); it represents a traditional Lithuanian roadside cross.

A chapel-post (koplytstulpis) dedicated to Juozas Lukša-Daumantas at Ateitininkai Home

A chapel-post (koplytstulpis) dedicated to Juozas Lukša-Daumantas at Ateitininkai Home

Jonas Mulokas chapel-post at Ateitininkai Home

Jonas Mulokas chapel-post at Ateitininkai Home

The alley leading to Ateitininkai home has a Lithuanian sign "A. Pargausko alėja".

As a hub of Lithuanian activities in Chicago, Lemont continues to attract new Lithuanian institutions. As Lithuanian Research Center sought to relocate its arhcives from the Lithuanian Youth Center into new premises, it decided to acquire a former kindergarten in Lemont, which now acts as its main repository.

Lithuanain Research Cenetr plaque

Lithuanain Research Cenetr plaque

Famous Lithuanian burials outside Chicago Lithuanian cemeteries

Most famous Lithuanians were buried in the Lithuanian cemeteries - however, not every one of them. Interesting Lithuanian graves elsewhere include that of a science fiction writer Algis Budrys (Algirdas Budrys, incorrectly spelled as Algidras Budrys on the grave plaque) in the Maryhill Polish cemetery. He wrote in English, so he is among the Lithuanians that are more famous in the USA than Lithuania itself.

Algirdas Budrys grave in Chicago (inscribed with a mistake)

Algirdas Budrys grave in Chicago (inscribed with a mistake)

Then there is a mysterious 19th-century grave of Dzialinskis-Kenkelis in the Oakwoods cemetery that claims that the person who is buried there was the Great Bannerbearer of Lithuania. He is also called to be Djialinski of Szodeiken, while his wife supposedly was Isabelle Djialinska, Countess of Szodeiken, and also a princess of Czartoryski family.

Dzialinskis-Kenkelis grave

Dzialinskis-Kenkelis grave

The grave has long been a mystery to local Lithuanians. As Lithuania did no longer exist at the time Dzialinskis-Kenkelis was born, it is unclear whether the "titles" written are meant to be the titles somebody from his family had before the collapse of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1795), or were they titles he held during the anti-Russian uprising in 1863. Given the lack of information about this person in Lithuania itself, it is very possible he actually just impersonated to be somebody of importance when in the United States - something allowed by the vast distances, limited communications at the time and thus an inability of any American to check his stories. In any case, the grave is interesting and its existence was even romanticized during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania as the grave provided a kind of a link between the Lithuanian-Americans and the glorious pre-modern Lithuanian history.

St. Boniface cemetery in the area has a grave of Juozas Juškevičius (Juszkiewicz), believed to have been the first Lithuanian priest in Chicago (1803-1879). With few Lithuanians, he served Polish parishes at the time but was beaten by Polish parishioners. A plaque for him has been built in 2011.

Priest Juškevičius grave

Priest Juškevičius grave

Lithuanian restaurants in Chicago

Chicago is the only city in the USA where Lithuanian food is easy to find - although you still need to know where to search it.

Most Lithuanian restaurants are located around Westmont suburb which is easily accessible to Lithuanians living in the surrounding suburbs.

Those restaurants are Ruta, Smilga and Grand Duke's. All are rather similar in appearance and fares but "Grand Duke's" is open the longest into the evening. Every one of them includes "Lithuanian combo" which is a sampler menu of Lithuanian food that should feed two people. The Combo certainly includes Cepelinai and may also include some of the following: Kugelis, Potato pancakes, Virtiniai, Sausage with sauerkraut, soup. Typically, the combo includes 4 to 5 dishes.

Lithuanian Combo of Chicago

Lithuanian Combo of Chicago

Historically, there were many Lithuanian restaurants located in Chicago's southside but as Lithuanians moved to the suburbs they folded or moved away as well. The originally Lithuanian Racine Bakery near Cicero is now also non-Lithuanian-owned. It is more of a shop/deli than a restaurant though, having just a single seat for inside dining.

Most Lithuanian restaurants also serve as shops of Lithuanian products (Grand Duke's has a separate shop "Old Vilnius" on the opposite side of the road). Palos Hills also has a "dedicated" Lithuanian Plaza shop.

Ruta (litterally meaning "Rue") Lithuanian restaurant in Chicago

Ruta (litterally meaning "Rue") Lithuanian restaurant in Chicago

In Bridgeport, the "first Lithuanian district of Chicago", there is a surviving Bernice's Tavern Lithuanian-owned bar (the longest-Lithuanian-owned bar or restaurant in Chicago). It has Lithuanian beer and some Lithuanian memorabilia.

Lithuanian-related sites in northern Chicago

While most immigrants from Lithuania have settled in the less fancy southern Chicago, northern Chicago once also had a Lithuanian church, dedicated to St. Michael (since demolished with nothing Lithuanian remaining in the surrounding district).

The site of St. Michael Lithuanian church in North Chicago

The site of St. Michael Lithuanian church in North Chicago

Additionally, St. John Cantius Polish church, one of the most famous Chicago churches, includes the Lithuanian coat of arms on its façade and stained-glass window above the entrance. That symbol, which merges Lithuanian and Polish coats of arms, was actually the coat of arms of the 1863 January Uprising against the Russian Empire that controlled both Poland and Lithuania at the time; while the uprising was Polish-dominated, the Poles sought to enlist more Lithuanians for the cause as well (the uprising sought to restore a united Poland-Lithuania and was the last such massive joint effort before the Lithuanian National Revival effectively divorced the two nations). It seems at the time St. John Cantius church was built, the echoes of that failed uprising still vertebrated in the Polish-American communities. This was already, however, a time when both nations were heading their own separate ways, and initially content with being part of joint American parishes with the Poles, Lithuanians were establishing their own in Chicago and all over America by the 1890s.

Coat of arms of the 1863 uprising in the St. John Cantius church of Chicago

Coat of arms of the 1863 uprising in the St. John Cantius church of Chicago

The area also has Telshe yeshiva - a Jewish religious school named after the Lithuanian town of Telšiai. The history of the name is such: the yeshiva was established by the identically named Telshe yeshiva of Cleveland, which was in turn established by the teachers of the original Telšiai yeshiva after it was closed down by the Soviet occupational force.

Telshe Yeshiva of Chicago

Telshe Yeshiva of Chicago

Many of Chicago Jews are buried in Waldheim Cemetery, which can be seen as a collection of some 280 separate cemeteries, many of them with their own fences and gates. These cemeteries were established by different Jewish organizations and many of these organizations, in turn, were established by Jews who immigrated from the same region. As such, there are separate cemeteries for Lithuanian Jews as well, e.g. Wilner (those from Vilnius), Kovner (from Kaunas), and such.

Anshe Wilno (people of Vilnius) section of Waldheim Jewish cemetery (gate 52)

Anshe Wilno (people of Vilnius) section of Waldheim Jewish cemetery (gate 52)

A larger Lithuanian community exists in the suburb of Waukegan. As the suburb is far from Chicago's center, it is described in a separate article.

 


The map

All the Lithuanian locations, described in this article, are marked on this interactive map, made by the "Destination Lithuanian America" expedition (click the link):

Interactive map of Chicago Lithuanian sites

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Illinois, USA 155 Comments
14Sep/125

Grand Duchy of Lithuania castles and palaces in Belarus

Castles and palaces of Lithuanian Grand Duchy in Belarus are located within 100 km from the modern Lithuanian-Belarusian boundary. They were constructed in the during the golden eras of the Duchy (14th-17th centuries). During 19th-20th centuries (after the Duchy fell) these magnificent buildings were neglected and even scavenged for bricks. After 1991 independence Belarus started rebuilding them (not fully authentically).

Ružanai (Ruzhany) palace undergoing reconstruction. The neglected wing is visible through a restored gate. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania is regarded by some Belarusian historians to be the source of Belarusian statehood. There are even interpretations claiming that the Duchy was more Belarusian than Lithuanian. This is however not true as the ruling nobility was mainly of Lithuanian origin, while demography (after the Union of Lublin) was 46% Lithuanian and 40% Belarusian. However, the medieval Lithuania was a very tolerant society for its era. It had been united by largely peaceful means and the 1529 Statute equalized rights of Orthodox Belarusians with those of Catholic Lithuanians.

The first emblem Belarus adopted after its independence was the Lithuanian Vytis (albeit in slightly different colors). Contemporary Belarusian flag (white-red-white) was also based on Vytis (unlike the modern Lithuanian tricolor which is criticized by some heraldry experts for breaking with heraldic tradition). These symbols are still used by opposition alone as after A. Lukashenko came to power in 1995 he switched back to modified Soviet symbols as he associates Belarus more with the Soviet history rather than the medieval one.

Lithuanian castles and manors near Minsk-Brest highway

You may see some of the most magnificent Lithuanian castles along the Minsk-Brest route.

Arguably the most famous among them is Myras (Mir) Castle. Part of UNESCO heritage it was completely rebuilt by ~1995. Initially constructed by Jurgis Iljiničius (George Ilyinich) in late 15th century (gothic style) it was subsequently expanded by the famous Radvila (Radziwill) family (16th century, Rennaisance style). Back then only the richest could have owned a brick castle. A museum is now located inside.

Myras (Mir) castle in the evening. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

One of the major Radvila family residences is located some 30 km south. This is the fortified Nesvyžius (Nesvizh) Palace commisioned in 1582. Together with Sapiegas, Radvilas were one of the most influential Lithuanian families.

Nesvyžius palace (crowned by a tall tower and joined by a lush park) was a gem of the Radvilas and in turn a gem of the Grand Duchy‘s famous manor culture. Rebuilt in 2010 it houses a modern museum with English inscriptions, computer displays and historical re-enactments (something rare in Belarus). The nearby Nesvyžius town has little authenticity in it as it faced destruction (like most Belarusian towns). However the Radvila-funded world‘s second-oldest Baroque church (after Gesu in Rome) survives while a towered city hall was recently rebuilt.

Opulent courtyard of Nesvizh (Nesvyžius) palace. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Naugardukas (Navahrudak) town has a Glastonbury-like atmosphere with Tor replaced by castle ruins on the Mindaugas Hill. Castle has been developed by Grand Duke Vytautas and his successors (14th-16th centuries). The lower town has Grand Duchy churches and even a Tatar mosque signifying the multicultural population of the former Duchy. Stryjkowski chronicle claims that Naugardukas was Grand Duchy’s capital prior to Vilnius but this is unsubstantiated by any other historical documents.

Naugardukas (Navahrudak) castle ruins (left) and one of its old small churches (right). ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Ružanai (Ruzhany) houses an extensive 18th century Sapiega family palace. The front part that includes gate is rebuilt but the entire horseshoe-shaped arcaded courtyard buildings are ruined. The inspiring former lavishness may still be felt however.

Some of the buildings that surround Ružanai (Ruzhany) palace courtyard. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Kosava (some 15 km north of Ružanai) is the birthplace of Tadeusz Kościuszko (Tadas Kosciuška), a Polish-Lithuanian military officer (1746-1817) who reached intercontinental fame as he fought for independence of his homeland, helped USA win freedom and even the tallest Australia’s mountain is named after him. A restored wooden hut marks his birthplace. From this hut one may see a Turkish-inspired palace of Wandalin Puslowski nearby (ruined, under restoration) but it dates to the post-Lithuanian era (1831).

Lithuanian castles and manors near the Lithuanian border

South of modern day Lithuania there are two large cities of Hrodna (Gardinas; pop. 300 000) and Lida (Lyda; pop. 100 000). Lida was part of Lithuanian-inhabitted core of the Duchy while Hrodna marked its limits. Both cities were defended by might castles.

Rectangular Lyda (Lida) Castle (built by Grand Duke Gediminas in the 14th century) defended by two towers was built in plains rather than on a hill. Now rebuilt its courtyard houses various events. In medieval eras it housed expelled khans of the Mongol Golden Horde.

Gediminas Castle in Lida. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Hrodna (Gardinas) has two castles, both located next to each other on twin hils at banks of river Nemunas. The Old Castle has been constructed by Grand Duke Vytautas the Great whereas the palace-like New Castle dates to 17th century. Their interiors were destroyed by Soviets (Old Castle now houses wood worksops). Between the castles a Lithuanian-funded wooden sculpture of Vytautas is located, one of merely few statues for Grand Duchy-era luminaries in Belarus.

The Old Castle of Hrodna and Vytautas the Great statue. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Merely some 50 km east of Vilnius, just beyond Medininkai border control point there are remains of two once-glorious castles: Alšėnai (Golshiany) and Krėva (Kreva). Alšėnai was yet another residence of the Sapiegas. The remaining ruined part is not completely destroyed as you may still see former internal walls and filled cellars (and imagine the magnificient past).

The remains of Alšėnai Castle. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Few Lithuanian castles could outdo Krėva (Kreva) in historical importance. It was the location of 1385 Union of Krewo that made Lithuanian Jogaila also a Polish king (known there as Jagiello) and tied the histories of both nations for upcoming five centuries. Additionally it is likely that Grand Duke Kęstutis had been previously murdered in Krėva by Jogaila’s conspirators. Currently however Krėva is ruined. The rectangular walls are destroyed in places and only the lower part of rectangular towers remain intact.

A map of Lithuanian castles and palaces in Belarus is available here

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Belarus 5 Comments
14Sep/123

Ireland

Ireland is the only country in the world where there lived more people 200 years ago than today. And the difference is rather large in 1840 the island had 8,2 million inhabitants while today it hosts merely 5,6 million. The Irish were forced out from their homeland by poverty and malnutrition.

Prior to World War 2 no Lithuanians would have even considered moving to Ireland which was at the time poorer than Lithuania. Sadly, the subsequent decades of Soviet occupation and genocide in Lithuania (1940-1990) changed all this and Ireland left Lithuania far behind economically. After 1990 Lithuanian independence and 2004 EU membership permitted easy migration tens of thousands chose the English-speaking Ireland to start hopefully richer lives there.

The young age of Lithuanian-Irish community means there are no imposing centuries-old Lithuanian halls, cemeteries or churches in Ireland (unlike the US megalopolises). Lithuanian mass is however celebrated weekly in Dublin at St. Andrew church (Westland Row 2), there are some Lithuanian shops and restaurants.

Lituanica store in Dublin, its name inspired by the doomed Lithuanian flight of 1933 that attempted to cross Atlantic. Google Street View.

Republic of Ireland census of 2011 revealed that there are 36 683 citizens of Lithuania living there (0,82% of total population) and 31 635 native speakers of Lithuanian (0,7%; the third linguistic minority in size after Polish and French). 10% of all Lithuanian emigrants today leave for Ireland.

Lithuanian citizens are quite evenly spread across the country. By the sheer numbers, most of them live in Dublin (10 576, 0,85% of Dubliners). Castleknock is the most Lithuanian district with ~10% of its population Lithuanian citizens.

There are daily plane services between Lithuanian and Irish cities but the frequencies have been decreasing. The financial crisis in Ireland itself may have attributed to this.

Ireland is also related to the Lithuanian aviation history, as a Monument to pilot Feliksas Vaitkus in Ballinrobe proves. Feliksas (Felix) Vaitkus was a Lithuanian-American who became the first Lithuanian to successfully cross the Atlantic ocean in flight and land in 1935, that way "rectifying" the mistake of the earlier Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas who perished befor landing. While Vaitkus's initial destination was the Lithuanian capital of Kaunas, he was forced to land earlier in Ballinrobe, Ireland.

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Europe (West), Ireland 3 Comments
14Sep/128

Lithuanian-majority areas of Belarus

Prior to the 19th century, the entire castle-rich Belarusian-Lithuanian frontier was inhabited by an ethnic Lithuanian majority. Historically the Lithuanian nation was dominant in a far larger territory than the modern-day Republic of Lithuania. This is still visible in placenames: a lot of them in northwestern Belarus are of Lithuanian origin (the endings are Slavicised: Trakeli, Lazdūny, Kiemeliški, Gulbiny, Kiškeliški...). The letters "išk" ("ishk", "iszk") are unique to Lithuanian-origin placenames.

Lithuanians of the region assimilated into Slavic communities during the Russian Imperial and Soviet onslaughts of russification. Russian Empire banned the Lithuanian language in the mid-19th century and while the people of western Lithuania found it easier to illegally import Lithuanian books from Germany this was not the case in modern-day Belarus. The percentage of Lithuanian native speakers in Vilnius governorate (which included much of modern-day Belarus) decreased from 35%-40% in the mid-19th century to 17%-20% in ~1914. After a short Lithuanian rule, the region was captured by Poles in 1920 and the ongoing Polish-Lithuanian conflict over Vilnius led to further discrimination of the minority. The final blow was, however, the Soviet policies. Many Lithuanian majority areas were added to Soviet Belarus instead of Soviet Lithuania, all Lithuanian schools were then closed and even public speaking in Lithuanian prosecuted. In this era many Lithuanians left for Lithuania, others adopted the Russian language.

Several territories still contain Lithuanian communities. The largest of them is around Gerviaty (Gervėčiai) village (~14 villages, 9 of them Lithuanian-majority). Some 1000 Lithuanians live there today. A Lithuanian cultural center and Lithuania-funded Lithuanian school (Rimdžiūnai village) are at the heart of the community. While the older generations associate themselves with Lithuania, the kids rarely speak Lithuanian natively. The choice of whether to send them to Lithuanian or Belarusian school typically depends on the future their parents expect for them. The Lithuanian school even has some Belarusian students who are being prepared by their families for emigration to richer Lithuania. In Mykoliškės (Michailiški) village near Gerviaty (Gervėčiai) a new Astravec Nuclear Power Plant has been built. Its workers are brought in by Russia and some Lithuanian-owned homes were demolished to make a place for new constructions.

The most impressive building in Gervėčiai area is the gothic revival Gervėčiai church (1903). Lithuanian in style and massive size (62 m tall tower) it outflanks the 600-strong village. In fact, it is the largest Catholic church in Belarus and is still adorned by Lithuanian inscriptions and surrounded by tall elaborate Lithuanian wooden crosses (Lithuanian art of crossmaking is an immaterial UNESCO World Heritage).

The massive Gervėčiai church. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Other Lithuanian majority areas that survived until the Soviet occupation (1939) now are decimated. These are the villages around Varanavas, Pelesa, Apsas, Lazdūnai.

Pelesa still hosts a Lithuanian-language school funded by the Lithuanian government. In 2010, a wooden sculpture for Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas the Great was erected near the Catholic church of Pelesa (sculptor Algimantas Sakalauskas).

Even those regions where the Lithuanian language is no longer spoken at all still are distinctive from the rest of Belarus. The Catholic religion dominates there instead of Russian Orthodoxy, some Lithuanian traditions also survive.

Lithuanian crosses near the Gervėčiai church. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

In addition to the centuries-old aforementioned communities, the 19th century Russian Imperial occupation led to the creation of new Lithuanian communities even in the eastern Belarus. With no limits on internal migration, some Lithuanian peasants left for eastern Belarus to establish Lithuanian villages such as Malkava (now Malkovka). Unfortunately, the Soviet deportations and russification totally uprooted these communities.

A map of Lithuanian localities in Belarus is available here

Click to learn more about Lithuania: Belarus 8 Comments