Happy Holidays!
Australian Lithuanian Community Archives News
The Lithuanian-Australian newspaper “Mūsų pastogė” informs that last December the Australian Lithuanian Community, Inc. Board of Directors decided to invigorate the Australian Lithuanian Community Archive so that it is the preferred option for people to donate their archive material.
As a result the Board appointed a management committee, currently chaired by the interim chair Tony Cibiras. The committee is also looking for “archive ambassadors” in all communities and the organizations to help promote the Archive.
Committee’s longer term plan is to collect, collate and digitize the history of Lithuanians in Australia and make it available online. One of the options being discussed is to partner with the National Library of Lithuania to gain access to the portal www.epaveldas.lt. Another is to join with the Lithuanian Archives Project in Chicago www.lithuanianarchivesproject.org and use their portal. On November 1, the Australian Lithuanian Archives shared another piece of news. The Archives has been successful in obtaining a grant from the National Library of Australia. This highly competitive grant gives the Archives funding for a Significant
Lithuanian-American Poet and Zen Practitioner AL ZOLYNAS
I would like to introduce you to my favorite poet, Algirdas Zolynas. His most recent book was his just released, Near and Far, Garden Oak Press, December, 2019,141 pages. $11.69 at B&N.
Al’s poems are personal, rich in emotion, and often leavened with humor. Many capture the beauty and mystery of every day life. Some of my favorites include: Bread, In Gratitude; Near Sunskai, Lithuania; Watching a Day; the Western Felt Works, Leaving Kaunas, 1944, and Sideways Down Rapids.
Also worth a look in earlier books: Love in the Classroom, The Zen of Housework, Nothing to do—Nowhere to go, The Way He’d Like it, Running down Summit Avenue in Saint Paul in a Heavy Snowfall, and Living with Others.
Al was born in Austria of Lithuanian parents in 1945. They had fled the Soviet advance and survived bombing raids in Berlin. His parents became part of the wave of 11 million displaced people (DP) after the war. His father had been an attorney and one of his grandfathers signed the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence in 1918. As refugees they were refused entry to the US, where you had to have a sponsor, a place to live, and a guarantee that you would not displace American workers or, better yet, a related American citizen.
Continue reading “Lithuanian-American Poet and Zen Practitioner AL ZOLYNAS”The Screening of a Film by Dutch-Estonian Director
On 25 November, 2019 the screening of a film “Coming Home Soon: The Refugee Children of Geislingen” by Dutch-Estonian film director Helga Merits took place at the National Library of Lithuania. The director’s latest film is about Estonian children who fled Estonia in 1944 with their parents, sometimes with only one parent or relative, and spent the war in the Geislingen refugee camp in southern Germany.
Despite the testimonies about extreme poverty and especially difficult living conditions during and after the war, Merits says that her film is also about hope and inspiration. And while the documentary tells a story of Estonian refugee children living in the Geislingen refugee camp from 1945 to 1950, it is also the history of many Eastern Europeans. The film draws parallels with the current situation of the refugees in Europe as well. “Coming Home Soon” has already been screened in 11 countries and 24 European cities.
“Coming Home Soon” is the fifth documentary film by Helga Merits. All her films tell stories about people who were forced to leave their homes and establish new lives in new and unfamiliar places.
The director was present at the screening and answered questions from the audience.
The Society for the Study of World Lithuanians
On November 8, 2019, on the initiative of Vytautas Magnus University, the Society for the Study of World Lithuanians was established.
The president of the Society, Dr. Ilona Strumickienė, says that the name was chosen in memory of the Society for Aiding the Lithuanians Abroad which was active in Lithuania in 1932-1940. The Society provided aid to and maintained contacts with Lithuanians living abroad. It also contributed to strengthening of the Lithuanian identity among expatriates. In 1935, the Society organized the first World Lithuanian Congress in Kaunas.
By following the example of the Society for Aiding the Lithuanians Abroad, the newly established society hopes to build a network of and disseminate message about Lithuanians around the world, share discoveries and research results, and help strengthening civil society in Lithuania.
The first event organized by the Society was a discussion about how Lithuanian schools receive children who have returned from emigration which took place on December 13, 2019.
Exhibition about the History of Lithuanian-Canadian Community, Inc.
From September 23 to October 31, the visitors of the National Library of Lithuania had an opportunity to see the exhibit dedicated to Lithuanian-Canadian Community, Inc. and its political, cultural, and educational activities over the past 67 years. The organizers of the exhibition are the Lithuanian Museum-Archives of Canada and the Lithuanian-Canadian Community, Inc.
The exhibition presents the history of Lithuanians in Canada: the establishment and development of the Lithuanian Community, its political, cultural, and social activities, as well as significant support to Lithuania, especially in the early 1990s. The stands showcase the photos from the first Lithuanian Days in Canada, the World Lithuanian Community Congress in New York, and the first World Lithuanian Youth Congress in Chicago. The exhibition also demonstrates the cooperation of the Lithuanian-Canadians with the Reform Movement of Lithuania and the state of Lithuania after the restoration of independence, and reminds of many other important events that took place during the 67-year-old history of the Community.
The exposition was supplemented by a video which was specially prepared by the staff of the National Library of Lithuania. In the video, various people from the field of culture, diplomacy and politics share their thoughts about Lithuanians in Canada, the development of relations between Canada and Lithuania and other important issues. The video in Lithuanian can be found on “Youtube”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFmRiZJyT0Y