Members of 'The Lithuanian-American Community
protest outside the Capitol in Washington in 1990, against
Soviet President Gorbachev's policy regarding the
Baltic States. They played a real role by then.
Is there still a role for them to play?
Photo: UPI, Joe Mahoney.

Lithuanian Americans have always found themselves as defenders of the ideas and ideals of both Lithuania and their adopted country, the United States. During the years of Soviet occupation, Lithuanian Americans played a key role in keeping hope alive. Without the actions of Lithuanian Americans, there would not have been a non-recognition policy, and without the hard work of so many Lithuanian Americans past and present that policy would not have served as the beacon of hope it was for Lithuanians in Lithuania.

Not surprisingly, many Lithuanian Americans concluded at the time of the end of Soviet occupation that their job was completed. After all, what they had done for more than 50 years was little short of heroic. And there was the additional and for some extremely painful fact that many in Lithuania itself felt that the diaspora had made its contribution but that Lithuanian-Lithuanians must now take the lead in the future development of their country.

As a result, many Lithuanian Americans have ended or at least reduced their participation in public life. Now, this withdrawal from public life threatens to become a stampede. Lithuania has become a member of NATO, a step that many have seen as the final guarantee of its independence and security. And Lithuania has joined the European Union, another step toward the reintegration of Lithuania into the European world from which it was so brutally wrenched by the Soviet government in 1940.

But these events should not be the “end of history”, there are many serious challenges ahead both for Lithuania and for Lithuanian Americans, all of us who care about Lithuania may have to work harder than we ever did in the past.

The Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries continues to cast a shadow on the political calculations in Moscow and in the minds of many Lithuanians, and because this is so, Lithuanian Americans have a special role to play in dispelling both these shadows.

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that had there not been a Lithuanian diaspora, the Soviet government might have survived far longer than it did. Now, it is imperative that Lithuanian Americans again play the key role in making sure that Lithuania will not suffer because of such actions. And that includes not only telling the West but making sure that people in Lithuania understand what is at stake as well.

Lithuanian Americans have played a key role in fighting the hangover of the communist past, and we can all be proud of the role that Lithuanian Americans have played. I believe that Lithuanian Americans can make a significant contribution also to the future. But we need to recognize that the threats to that future are real and that Lithuanian Americans need to act as they have in the past.

Egle Dudenas

Egle Dudenas wrote this article in 2005, but her points are as good today as they were by then.  VilNews is hereby inviting our readers to comment on this important topic.