THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
VilNews has its own Google archive! Type a word in the above search box to find any article.
You can also follow us on Facebook. We have two different pages. Click to open and join.
|
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.
Click here if you wish to read this article on white background
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.
Professor Michael Spence,
recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences
A review of:
Michael Spence, The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011. xvi+296 pages.
The book is a product of the independent High Level Commission on Growth and Development that completed its work in 2010. Members of the Commission included leaders of social and economic transformations internationally and top global experts such as Robert Solow, the father of modern growth theory, and Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pimco. Prof. Michael Spence, the 2001 Nobelist in Economics, chaired this unique effort.
The reading of this book is a humbling experience. The reader is immediately hit by the vast intellectual expanse of the topic and the Author’s Nobel winning theoretical brilliance combined with his “hands-on” practical-analytical, integrative, and simplifying capabilities keeping the argumentation both rigorous and free from the rather unnecessary technical jargon.
Valdas Samonis
Institute for New Economic Thinking, New York City
and SEMI Online, Toronto
Professor Michael Spence,
recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences
A review of:
Michael Spence, The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011. xvi+296 pages.
The book is a product of the independent High Level Commission on Growth and Development that completed its work in 2010. Members of the Commission included leaders of social and economic transformations internationally and top global experts such as Robert Solow, the father of modern growth theory, and Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pimco. Prof. Michael Spence, the 2001 Nobelist in Economics, chaired this unique effort.
The reading of this book is a humbling experience. The reader is immediately hit by the vast intellectual expanse of the topic and the Author’s Nobel winning theoretical brilliance combined with his “hands-on” practical-analytical, integrative, and simplifying capabilities keeping the argumentation both rigorous and free from the rather unnecessary technical jargon.
Prof. Spence argues that the formerly huge asymmetries between advanced and developing countries are declining and the pattern for the first time in some 250 years is that of convergence rather than the usual divergence. Part one of the book deals with the shifting characteristics of the postwar global economy, part two is devoted to sustained economic growth theory and practices, part three analyzes the development impact of the Great Recession that started in 2008, and part four analyzes the future trends and sustainability of economic growth. Throughout the book, the leading leitmotiv is the issues of economic governance and leadership in this new era of convergence.
Economic growth dynamics is sometimes subject to hitherto rather unexplained statistical laws. For example, the so called 72 rule used by statisticians of growth says that the time it takes in years to double the economy in size is equal to 72 divided by the specific annual growth rate. So at 1% (e.g. EU) growth rate, economy (or income) doubles in 72 years; at China’s usual 10% growth rate, economy doubles in roughly 7 years. This gives the reader a measure of the great power of the new convergence processes as well as a measure of the opportunity cost of development retardation due to wars, totalitarianism, political turmoil, endemic corruption or natural factors. Many developing countries, especially small and/or landlocked ones, spend long periods of time languishing in a low growth mode due to these factors. This “low equilibrium”, that is not unlike a gravitation pull, must be broken by a decisive leadership and then shifted to a new sustainable pattern. Somewhat different challenges await countries that have already largely achieved a middle-income plateau.
Prof. Spence argues that we are now midway through a century of high growth in the developing world and a convergence with the advanced countries; this is the main trend that will change the world beyond recognition. He explains what happened to cause this dramatic shift in the prospects of the 5 billion or so people who live in developing countries, his discussions of human capital, knowledge transfer, and governance in the developmental catch-up processes are revealing.. These newcomer countries have already become an increasingly important engine of growth in the global economy bringing about the prospects of new, multi-speed and multi-polar global village. I about a decade, over 50% of the global product will come from these developing countries that are probably better named emerging markets. This is a very optimistic message. However, these extraordinary developments will yet present hitherto unknown challenges in governance, international coordination, and environmental sustainability on a global scale, no doubt about it. The Author ventures a bold and lucid analysis of what is at stake for us and our children in this new brave converging global economy.
The book is likely to become a reference material for top level discussions about the state of this global village of ours in the next few decades. In particular, this Great Recession of will propel the book to one of the main readings on how to creatively rebalance the global economy and arrive at new and more sustainable re-combinations of global, continental, national, regional, local, and individual economic interests. As well, the thinking about modern roles of all the levels of government in the economy will be impacted deeply by this book. That helps a lot in the era of deepening theoretical confusion and helpless doom and gloom prognostications.
With a certain effort, the book is accessible to most educated readers. A very broad spectrum of readers can immensely benefit from reading this unique book but leaders of all kinds of organizations dispersed globally should adopt it as a must read.
Valdas Samonis
Institute for New Economic Thinking, New York City
and SEMI Online, Toronto
Joakim Noah:
Basketball might be bigger in Lithuania than even back in America.
Passion for the sport seen in every sector of society
By Christopher Johnson - Special to The Washington Times
KAUNAS, Lithuania — While American basketball addicts are growing anxious over the NBA lockout, fans in that other hotbed of basketball —Lithuania — are in hoop heaven as they host some of the best players and action in the world at Eurobasket 2011.
Joakim Noah, the French center who led the Chicago Bulls deep into the playoffs last season, calls EuroBasket “an NBA playoff environment. It’s very similar in terms of energy.”
That’s not only because of NBA Finals MVPs Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker playing for Germany and France.
Noah, a dual citizen of France and the U.S. who was born in New York City, said that basketball might be bigger in Lithuania than even back in America.
“Lithuania’s population is probably smaller than the state of Indiana, but you see the love and passion they have for the game here,” he said after France beat Greece on Thursday to advance to the semifinals. “Even the girl on the cover of the Lithuanian Playboy magazine has a basketball in her hand.”
Many American fans have never heard of EuroBasket. But an increasing number of U.S.-based players and basketball officials, who are watching the games on ESPN3.com, are realizing that some of the most dramatic and hard-fought action is happening across the Atlantic.
Read ‘The Washington Post’ article at
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/18/hoops-hysteria-grips-lithuania/
The American-Lithuanian pilots, Steponas Darius (1896-1933) and Stasys Girenas (1893-1933) attempted in the year 1933 to beat Charles Lindberg’s non-stop distance record across the Atlantic by flying from New York City to Kaunas, then the temporary capital of Lithuania.
Their plane, Lituanica, was an Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane. After successfully flying 6,411 km, it crashed, 650 km from its destination, Kaunas. Both pilots were killed.
Movie clip from the crash scene.
The American-Lithuanian pilots, Steponas Darius (1896-1933) and Stasys Girenas (1893-1933) attempted in the year 1933 to beat Charles Lindberg’s non-stop distance record across the Atlantic by flying from New York City to Kaunas, then the temporary capital of Lithuania.
Their plane, Lituanica, was an Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane. After successfully flying 6,411 km, it crashed, 650 km from its destination, Kaunas. Both pilots were killed.
Movie clip from the crash scene.
Steponas Darius was born at Rubiske, Lithuania in 1896 as Steponas Darasius. His father died while he was young; his mother remarried and the family moved to America in 1907. The family eventually settled in Bridgeport, a Lithuanian neighborhood in Chicago. While growing up, Steponas became quite the sportsman and played a variety of sports, including rugby, football, basketball, baseball, and boxing. In addition, he worked as an errand boy at an aviation store owned by famous aviation pioneer Wright brothers.
During World War I he shortened his surname to Darius, and joined the U.S. Army in 1917. He served valiantly in France and was awarded the “Purple Heart” and the “Great War for Civilization” medals. After returning to Chicago briefly after the War, Darius returned to his homeland Lithuania in 1920, which was fighting for its independence. He joined the Kaunas Military School and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant upon his graduation in 1921. He joined the training squadron of the Lithuaian Air Force in 1922, and participated in the 1923 liberation of Lithuania’s port city of Klaipeda. He served in the Lithuanian Air Force for 5 years, and was promoted to the ranks of flying officer, and flight lieutenant.
Having received a year’s leave from the Lithuanian army Darius left Lithuania in 1927 and returned to the United States to visit his friends and relatives there. On his journey home he witnessed the triumphant celebration for aviator Charles Lindbergh at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. Darius was inspired and determined that he would someday fly a plane from New York to Kaunas.
Upon his return to the United States, Darius earned various pilot’s licenses, including international and transport pilot. He began racing airplanes and also established an aviation company with an American pilot in Indiana. After some mechanical misfortunes, Darius left the firm in 1929 and returned to the Chicago area. He then began working for a Bellanca dealer at Palwaukee Airport north of Chicago. While there he became a pilot and instructor of Commercial aviation, and a master at flying all types of aircraft of his day.
The pilots and their aircraft, Lituanica.
Steponas Darius teamed up with aviator Stasys Girenas in 1932, and the pair formed a flying partnership dedicated to a well-publicized trans-Atlantic flight. Girenas also had a similar background as his partner, having been born in Lithuania, educated in Chicago, and serving in the U.S. Army in World War I. The duo purchased a used Bellanca Pacemaker plane from the Chicago Daily News in 1932, dubbed it the “Lituanica” and modified it for their flight. Money was raised from numerous Lithuanian clubs and organizations to finance their operation.
The duo left Floyd Bennett Airport in New York City headed for Kaunas on July 15, 1933, and crashed over Soldin, Germany (115 km. north of Berlin) on July 17 after 35 hours in flight. It was strongly suspected that they were shot down by the Nazi’s after they strayed well into German airspace. A thorough investigation however, pointed to stormy, rainy weather and fog as the most likely deadly factor in their flight. Autopsies revealed no signs of any bullets on their bodies whatsoever. The bodies of the pilots and their plane were taken to Kaunas, and over 60,000 persons attended the funeral there. The duo have since been memorialized on numerous Lithuanian stamps, coins, medals, and decorations. Numerous monuments have been erected in their memory both in the United States and in Lithuania.
When Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, plans were made for the reestablishment of the national monetary system, the litas. A design competition was held for the various denominations. The 10 litù banknote was designed in 1991 by 28-year-old artist Giedrius Jonaitis (born 1963), a graduate of the Vilnius Art Academy, and a member of the Lithuanian Artists Association. The note’s design features the theme of Darius and Girìnas. The images of the flyers were based upon official 1933 press photographs of the duo. The back of the note features their plane flying over the waves of the Atlantic, with an outline of North America and Europe in the background. No boundaries of countries were drawn on the map portion, to avoid any controversies that existed as the result of the occupation of the capital city of Vilnius by Poland from 1920 to 1939, and subsequent Soviet-imposed boundaries following World War II.
10 litu note showing face side
In 1934 Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas bodies were embalmed by professor Jurgis Zilinskas. In 1936 the Lithuanian government decided to build a mausoleum for them in Kaunas' old cemetery, that was destroyed after Soviet re-occupation. From then until the present day, the wreckage of Lituanica has been on display in the Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas. At present the pilots' bodies rest in the Military Cemetery of Šančiai, Kaunas.
Pašto ženklas, 75th anniversary of
S. Darius and S. Girenas flight.
Chicago's Lithuanian community erected an Art Deco Monument commemorating the pilots in Chicago's Marquette Park in 1935 where it still stands to this day.
Feliksas Vaitkus flight was inspired by the flight and commemorated it with a flight of Lituanica II in 1935.
The flight is commemorated in a movie Skrydis per Atlantą (Flight over Atlantics - 1983). Kaunas's sports stadium, S.Darius and S.Girėnas Stadium where the Lithuanian national soccer team plays its home matches is also named in their honor. There is a tall stone monument near the stadium, the Lithuanian Academy of Sport and the Ąžuolynas Park dedicated to the pilots.
Sculptor Bronius Pundzius has made a relief of the pilots' faces on the Puntukas, then the largest known boulder in the territory of Lithuania in 1943.
Relief at the Puntukas boulder, 1943.
President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, with Jørgen Molde, Ambassador of Denmark.
In the capital of Denmark, the city of Copenhagen, a new committee has been established to push forward economic partnership between Lithuania and Denmark.
The Danish Ambassador in Lithuania, The Lithuanian Ambassador in Denmark, Confederation of Danish Industries, Invest Lithuania and a number of Danish Chamber of Commerce members participated in establishing the Committee, which will focus on stimulating bilateral investment flows, exchange of ideas and views on further developments of the markets, as well as improvement of business operation environments in Lithuania and Denmark.
Amongst the Nordic countries, Denmark for many years has been one of the leading foreign investors in Lithuania. Danish FDI was constantly growing from year to year and it especially increased in the past decade, before the recent financial crisis hit the economies of the world. According to the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, there were 260 Danish investors in Lithuania in 2010, and Danish FDI constituted more than EUR 1 billion.
September 15, 2011, Invest Lithuania
SEMINAR:
Enterprise management in unstable economy:
What is important for you as a manager to know?
Hotel Villon le Meridien, 29 September, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
By Ulf Hallan, President of European Leadership Institute
If you are going to participate in one seminar this autumn, let it be this one. Not for yourself, but for the future of your company!
The dark clouds are arising again over the World Economy. Uncertainty and fear of the future do not only scare the World Leaders. They are trying to act now to save us from a new recession.
This situation does not only call for action from politicians. You, as a manager have a responsibility to make the right decisions now for your company.
But what are the right decisions? Should we cut costs or invest? Should we downsize or expand? What are the most necessary actions to be taken by you as a manager in the current situation?
Some say that the biggest sin a manager can commit is doing nothing. Your actions today have their consequences a year from now. And maybe in two and three years.
This is not going to be a listening seminar. You must be prepared to take part in the group and plenary discussions. Sharing your thoughts and actions. As we do have some non-Lithuanian speakers (their introductions will be translated), we will also have one or two English speaking working groups. Please check if you wish to take part in one of these and brush up your English. All other groups will work in Lithuanian language.
This seminar is intended for managers who have the responsibility of their company’s future. Weather you run a production company, an IT or Telecom company, a hotel or a service provider, this seminar will help you address the two most important questions:
· What is happening out there?
· What should I do in this situation?
European Leadership Institute invites you to the interactive seminar
Enterprise management in unstable economy:
What is important for You as a manager to know?
Location and place
Hotel Villon le Meridien, September 29, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Price 320 LTL +PVM
SPEAKERS
How much risk can You take in today’s unstable economy? What should You be aware of? How can You make early forecast of the trends and be ahead of Your competitors? How can You make better informed decisions? What is the best strategy in Your sector now?
Case studies from Lithuanian companies. How have Lithuanian companies dealt with the economic crisis and recession? What were successful and doomed strategies? What is the current situation in the share market and what can You expect tomorrow?
How to design a good business strategy? Most of good strategies on paper fail, how to implement it well? How to integrate quality, personnel and performance management? How do You stimulate collaboration instead of competition between departments? How do You ensure flexibility and fast decision making, what is vital for business now?
The connections between local and global economy, linkage between share market and real economy, the long-term perspectives for Lithuanian economy. What can you expect in your sector? What should you take into account?
COME, DISCUSS, REFLECT AND FIND THE ANSWERS!
Program
9.00-9.15 Presentation of ELIN (Ulf Hallan, ELIN)
9.15-9.30 Introduction (Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
9.30-10.30 Risk management: recommendations by Fredrik Borch, DnB NORD
10.30-10.45 Coffee break
10.45-11.45 Lessons and examples from the economic crisis: analysis by Tadas Povilauskas, Finasta
11.45-12.15 Group discussion (Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
12.15-13.15 Lunch break
13.15-14.15 Integration of internal processes (Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
14.15-14.45 Individual reflection: structured analysis of your enterprise (Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
14.45-15.00 Coffee break
15.00-16.00 Long-term Lithuanian business perspectives (Rimantas Rudzkis, DnB NORD)
16.00-16.45 New opportunities and innovative business solutions (Rimantas Rudzkis, DnB NORD, Torben Pedersen, Deloitte & Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
16.45-17.00 Discussion and conclusions (Loreta Vaičaitytė, ELIN)
The seminar language will be Lithuanian. However, we hope to have one English work group.
If you would like to register, please call 861292665 or write to us info@elin.lt
SEMINAR:
Enterprise management in unstable economy:
What is important for you as a manager to know?
Hotel Villon le Meridien, 29 September, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
By Ulf Hallan, President of European Leadership Institute
If you are going to participate in one seminar this autumn, let it be this one. Not for yourself, but for the future of your company!
The dark clouds are arising again over the World Economy. Uncertainty and fear of the future do not only scare the World Leaders. They are trying to act now to save us from a new recession.
This situation does not only call for action from politicians. You, as a manager have a responsibility to make the right decisions now for your company.
But what are the right decisions? Should we cut costs or invest? Should we downsize or expand? What are the most necessary actions to be taken by you as a manager in the current situation?
Some say that the biggest sin a manager can commit is doing nothing. Your actions today have their consequences a year from now. And maybe in two and three years.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite (R)shakes hands with He Guoqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, June 15, 2010.
(Xinhua/Liu Jiansheng)
BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Lithuanian counterpart Dalia Grybauskaite on Wednesday pledged to deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.
The two leaders made the pledge as the two leaders exchanged congratulatory messages celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
In his congratulatory message, Hu noted that China-Lithuania relations have developed healthily and smoothly over the past 20 years. Frequent contacts between the two countries' leaders have deepened mutual understanding and trust.
Hu said Lithuania has been China's largest trade partner in the Baltic region for years with increasingly expanded cooperation in economics and trade.
Both countries have witnessed fruitful cooperation in the fields of culture, education and sports. They also maintain good communications and coordination within the United Nations and other international organizations, Hu said.
China will work with Lithuania to continuously advance and deepen their bilateral friendly and cooperative relations based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, he said.
Grybauskaite said in her message that the Lithuania-China relationship has yielded significant results, particularly in their cooperation in economics and trade, culture, and sports.
She said Lithuania will deepen its mutual beneficial cooperation with China in order to benefit the two countries.
Read more at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-09/14/c_131138611.htm
Lithuania has an amazing 700-year history as an international melting pot. This has been especially evident since 1323, the year Grand Duke Gediminas founded Vilnius as Lithuania’s capital city and immediately decided to invite merchants, craftsmen, bankers, farmers, and soldiers from all Europe to come to the new capital, guaranteeing all freedom of beliefs and good working conditions. Vilnius became international, though with less of German or Scandinavian influence, as one could expect, rather influenced by Italy and Mediterranean ideas – greatly different from the other two Baltic capitals where Hanseatic influence became dominant.
VilNews will over some time this autumn publish articles about impacts of foreign nations and cultures here. We also welcome you, dear readers, to share with us information you may have about ‘foreign footprints in Lithuania’.
Danish sugar produced in Lithuania.
Text: Kaare E. Janson
From the time of the Vikings, more than a 1000 years ago, the neighbouring Baltic Sea and the various ethnic tribes that lived about its shores attracted the interest of the seafaring Danes. In due course trade with these tribes began. But it was a bellicose time when stronger nations sought to extend their domains by conquest. These pagan tribes possessed great forests and to lay claim to them the Danes fought the Germans, the Swedes, the Finns, the Russians, the Estonians, the Latvians, the Prussians, and the Poles - but never the Lithuanians. In fact, after Europe recognized Lithuania as an independent state and even later, when it formed a union with Poland, Lithuania and Denmark from time to time formed alliances to defend themselves from their common foes – the Germans, the Swedes, and the Russians.
Lithuania has an amazing 700-year history as an international melting pot. This has been especially evident since 1323, the year Grand Duke Gediminas founded Vilnius as Lithuania’s capital city and immediately decided to invite merchants, craftsmen, bankers, farmers, and soldiers from all Europe to come to the new capital, guaranteeing all freedom of beliefs and good working conditions. Vilnius became international, though with less of German or Scandinavian influence, as one could expect, rather influenced by Italy and Mediterranean ideas – greatly different from the other two Baltic capitals where Hanseatic influence became dominant.
VilNews will over some time this autumn publish articles about impacts of foreign nations and cultures here. We also welcome you, dear readers, to share with us information you may have about ‘foreign footprints in Lithuania’.
Danish sugar produced in Lithuania.
Text: Kaare E. Janson
From the time of the Vikings, more than a 1000 years ago, the neighbouring Baltic Sea and the various ethnic tribes that lived about its shores attracted the interest of the seafaring Danes. In due course trade with these tribes began. But it was a bellicose time when stronger nations sought to extend their domains by conquest. These pagan tribes possessed great forests and to lay claim to them the Danes fought the Germans, the Swedes, the Finns, the Russians, the Estonians, the Latvians, the Prussians, and the Poles - but never the Lithuanians. In fact, after Europe recognized Lithuania as an independent state and even later, when it formed a union with Poland, Lithuania and Denmark from time to time formed alliances to defend themselves from their common foes – the Germans, the Swedes, and the Russians.
During the Middle Ages crusades were launched in Western Europe to Christianize these pagan Balts. Joining a crusade had its benefits: those who perished were assured of eternal salvation, and apart from the spiritual good that came from converting these heathens, there were temporal perks for the less spiritually inclined -- plunder, land for the grabbing, and women to ravish at the end of each battle.
Statue of Valdemar the Great in the town square
of Ringsted, Denmark. Reign: 1157-1182.
In 1161 Danish King Valdemar I (“The Great”) led a naval expedition to the Palanga area where a trading post was founded. However, the real purpose of his trip was to personally check the feasibility of this site for such a crusade. The king was wise; it is always better to look before you leap. However, the Danes decided against a Lithuanian crusade. Was it because each side liked the other or because the Lithuanians appeared too tough to fight? Whatever the reason, the Danes launched their crusade further west and north, leaving Lithuania for the German crusaders from Prussia and Latvia to conquer though their attempts would prove futile.
The Danish crusaders had far greater success: they conquered the Baltic coast from Lübeck to Prussia (the current Kaliningrad area) and from Riga to Narva. However their success was not sustained; sparsely populated Denmark had no available settlers to colonize the conquered territories. Over time the German crusaders took charge and brought in settlers from more populated Germany. The two most enduring Danish conquests were Estonia and the island of Rügen. Even so, up to the early 14th century Danish King Erik VI was still lord over Riga.
Danish realm under King Valdemar II.
On June 15 in 1219, Danish crusaders under the command of King Valdemar II ("The Victorious") won a decisive battle over Estonia’s heathens. During the final stage of this vicious struggle, legend has it that God granted victory by letting a red banner with a white cross fall from the skies onto the hard-pressed crusaders. Inspired by this divine sign the re-energized Danes won the battle. Estonians who survived this bloody massacre were given the choice of accepting baptism or death by the sword.
The Danes are indebted to Estonia for their beloved flag, the
Dannebrog, the oldest state flag in the world still in use by an independent nation.
Thus Estonia was turned into a Christian dukedom and the Danish king was made a duke of Estonia. Tallinn, the name of Estonia’s capital, means “walled Danish city” in Estonian, so a legacy from Denmark survives in this name. That striking red banner with its white cross became Denmark’s national flag; it’s the oldest flag in the world, one of the few national flags with its own name – “Dannebrog,” which means “the Danes' red banner.” Also, the highest decoration that Denmark bestows is called “The Order of Dannebrog.” Danes love their beautiful flag; at football matches with foreign teams many Danish spectators paint it on their faces! We are indebted to Estonia for our beloved emblem.
During the 14th century the Danish kings became increasingly concerned over the growing hegemony in trade of the Hanseatic League, a commercial union of cities dominated by Northern Germany who were allied with the Swedish kings. Therefore Denmark downsized its interests in Estonia and Latvia and focused on developing greater ties with Sweden, so as to mobilize all Scandinavian resources to combat the commercial dominance of the Hanseatic League in Northern Europe.
This strategy succeeded and in 1397 King Erik VII, the joint King of Denmark and Norway, went to Kalmar in Sweden to also be crowned the King of Sweden; this marked the start of the Nordic Union. Apart from the three Scandinavian nations, the Nordic Union included Finland, the Danish and Swedish possessions in Estonia and Latvia, the area of present-day St. Petersburg, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faeroe, Shetland, and Orkney islands. But the majority of the Swedish nobility disliked the idea of federation, and in 1523 the Nordic Union ceased to exist; it split into the kingdom of Denmark-Norway and the kingdom of Sweden-Finland.
The Danish presence in the Baltic region ended in 1645 when the Danish king sold his last possession -- the Estonian island of Saarema -- to the Swedes. The Danes realized that it would be too costly to compete with the Swedish and Russian ambitions in the Baltic region, and focused instead on developing colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. It was only after the First World War that the Danes briefly became re-involved in the Baltic countries when Danish soldiers helped the Estonians and the Latvians to win their independence.
Thus history shows the absence of military conflicts between Denmark and Lithuania and their relationship over the centuries consisted of trade, trade and more trade. From the days of the Vikings and on into the early Middle Ages, Danes mainly purchased amber, fur pelts and slaves. The amber was dug from Lithuania's beaches; the pelts came from the animals trapped in their vast forests; and the slaves from territories that Lithuania had conquered. Eventually, slaves as a viable commodity ended as Christianity took root in Lithuania.
But other products filled this gap. Ships had become larger and required more sails, so Danish buyers began purchasing Lithuanian flax, hemp, wax, and tar. The flax was used for making massive sails, hemp for making the rope that these bigger ships required, the wax for polishing chores, and the tar for preserving and waterproofing the exteriors of these wooden ships. The Lithuanians enjoyed this trade; Danish silver was always good.
The use of sailing ships as commercial vessels ended in the 19th century; new ships were constructed from metal and powered by steam, and Danish purchases shifted from maritime supplies to horses and milk. Lithuanian horses became highly prized in Denmark for their strength and beauty. Milk as an export greatly increased from 1870 when individual Danish farmers, so as to compete in the market with the larger manorial farms, banded into commercial co-operatives and began the large-scale production of dairy products. This approach was highly successful and by 1900 Denmark had the most modern dairy sector in the world; Danes even went abroad to establish modern dairies elsewhere.
Alas, World War II ended all relations between Lithuania and Denmark. After the Soviet takeover of the Baltic States in 1940, the Danish Embassy in Lithuania ceased to exist. Denmark never recognized the absorption of these countries into the Soviet Union, and the Iron Curtain that the Soviets imposed in the aftermath of World War II, cutting off Eastern Europe from the West, isolated Denmark from its Baltic neighbours.
However, the relentless wheel of history made another big turn fifteen years ago, toppling the Soviet Union and restoring the sovereignty of the Baltic nations. Almost overnight diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Denmark were re-established. Today a lively trade between Lithuanian and Denmark flourishes and almost all sectors are involved. In some years Lithuania sells more to Denmark than Denmark sells to Lithuania. Denmark also is a leading foreign investor in Lithuania. Both nations are members of the European Union (EU), so goods and services move freely.
As both nations are also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), our time-honoured political and military alliances have been revived. Centuries earlier the Lithuanians and the Danes had joined forces to fight a common enemy; fortunately, there’s no longer any need for that. Instead, as members of the EU and NATO, Lithuanian and Danish soldiers work side by side on peace missions. Let us hope that the relentless wheel of history continues to roll in the right direction.
Germany lost to Lithuania today, 84-75, ending the EuroBasket 2011 sojourn for Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman. The Germans dropped to fifth place in their group, with only the top four advancing to the quarterfinals. The loss also ended the Germans' dreams of playing in the 2012 Olympics in London, and may have ended the international career of Nowitzki in the process.
The biggest blow to the German's hopes occurred an hour before tip off, when Ersan Ilyasova's last second jump shot hit the back of the rim and bounced away. Had that shot fallen, Turkey would have beaten Serbia, and Germany would have needed just a simple victory to advance to the quarterfinals. Instead, Serbia's win meant that Germany had to win by at least 11 points to move forward. Playing before a manic sell out crowd in Vilnius, against a Lithuania team that itself had to win to advance, the Germans were facing long odds.
Read the article at:
http://www.clipsnation.com/2011/9/11/2419744/eurobasket-germany-loses-fails-to-advance
Mindaugas Gedgaudas
Correction:
I know that Lithuanians are an exceptional people - for example, it's been said that Columbus was Lithuanian - but not since Noah and Methuselah do we have much evidence of great leaders living longer than around 80 or 100 years, tops. That Grand Duke Gediminas brought 380 Karaims to his castle in Trakai in the year 1390 or thereabouts is a rare feat, seeing that he purportedly was born in 1275 or so. His castle in Trakai, by the way, was in the old Trakai, and that Old Trakai Castle was destroyed in 1391 by our fine Christian neighbors from the West, while bringing love and peace to the pagan Lithuanians and additional tithes to the Pope, of course... So, the poor Karaims, who had barely managed to settle down in the royal castle, had to move out and build their own living quarters, each house having three windows facing the street, where they have remained to this day still following their old customs. I just don't know if they have much of a record of Gediminas leading them from their ancient homelands to Old Trakai...
Mindaugas Gedgaudas
VilNews e-magazine is published in Vilnius, Lithuania. Editor-in-Chief: Mr. Aage Myhre. Inquires to the editors: editor@VilNews.com.
Code of Ethics: See Section 2 – about VilNews. VilNews is not responsible for content on external links/web pages.
HOW TO ADVERTISE IN VILNEWS.
All content is copyrighted © 2011. UAB ‘VilNews’.