THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Front page
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Lithuanians
in the World
VilNews will from time to time present Lithuanians who have left the home country and made some kind of career abroad. We are this time not so much looking for celebrity articles, more for some unusual life stories describing Lithuanians who have settled somewhere in the world. Send us your story!From Kaunas to
healing art in the U.S.
Irmina Duobaite Stiles, known as Irmina Santaika, is an Artist, Bio-Energy Practitioner, and Childhood Education instructor who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania.
From early childhood, Irmina understood that there is not only the world around us that we see based on our own personal perception, but another one space around us that we all perceive in a much deeper way in our true center.
Irmina moved to the United States in 2008. Continuing her search for healing methods, she became certified in Yoga for the Special Child in 2011, through the Sonia Sumar Method, studying under Sivakami. This new knowledge has provided additional means for her to help children with special needs.
Irmina Santaika has today a private Bio-Energy Healing practice in Williamsburg, Virginia. There she happily resides with her husband, Ronald, a novelist, technical proposal writer who practices yoga and martial arts, daughter Gerda, and their Giant Schnauzer, Baldur.
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“Put your heart, mind,
and soul into even
your smallest acts”
By Ronald Stiles, husband of Irmina Santaika,
for VilNews
“Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts.
This is the secret of success.”
/Swami Sivananda
Nestled quietly in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Buckingham County, lies the Satchdananda Ashram, also known as Yogaville. My wife, Irmina Santaika, spent a week there last attending Sonia Sumar’s “Yoga for the Special Child”. Sonia, also known as Sivakami used yoga to help her daughter, Roberta, to overcome challenges that came with having Down’s Syndrome. Savikami eventually developed this methodology that has helped thousands of children with special needs over the years.
Roberta transitioned from this life at an early age. Her life and how, with her mother’s dedicated effort, she overcame Down’s Syndrome to live a fulfilling and active life, is in itself, a story of success. Perhaps, on some unconscious level, that is what prompted Irmina to use Swami Sivananda’s quote as the caption for a photo she posted on Facebook of Savikami and I. The photo was taken when we visited Savikami at Yogaville to present her with an Icon portrait of Roberta Sumar done on a small cedar plank that Irmina had painted.
Success. What is it? There are many books written about how to achieve it. Roberta Sumar’s success in overcoming Down’s is certainly a living example of it.
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The totalitarian mindset
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By: Dr. Boris Bakunas, M.A., M.Ed, Ph.D.
Fact: In a 2008 poll conducted by Rossiya State television that drew more than 50 million votes, Josef Stalin was chosen as the third most popular figure in Russian history.
Fact: In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 adolescents at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya Island, Norway shortly after bombing government buildings in Oslo where eight people were killed. Breivik claimed that he was acting in self-defense to protect Norway from an Islamic terrorist takeover.
Fact: Under the shield of the internet, thousands of ultra-nationalists and religious extremists openly espouse mass murder, e.g., “Go into the streets and murder those Russians and Poles, (TheKingdomofGames, 2012), “HOW ABOUT WE KILL MUSLIMS,” (666MikeRochip, 2012), and “Its time to destroy America and capitalism…Soviet union live forever in our hearts!” (KenseiTakesi, 2012).
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The Lithuanian American Community Board meets
The meeting woke me
up to how much good
LAC does
By Kestutis J. Eidukonis, VilNews CEO
kestutis.eidukonis@VilNews.com
Just prior to my joining VilNews, I was elected as a Board Member to the Lithuanian American Community (LAC) representing Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah in the Western District.
According to the LAC web page;
"Since its founding in 1951, LAC has sought to preserve the Lithuanian cultural identity for future generations. LAC is also in the forefront of fostering the growth of the democratic institutions of the country of our heritage and of assisting Lithuania in numerous other ways.
The Lithuanian American Community, Inc. has about 60 local chapters in 27 states and the District of Columbia. We encourage entrepreneurial individuals to form new LAC chapters where there presently are none.
Use the map to locate a LAC district. Then, click to learn more
about local chapters, events, parishes, schools, and more!
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“The mass graves of Tuskulėnai”
A series of articles in 6 parts
By Vincas Karnila, Associate editor
vin.karnila@VilNews.com
There were two primary reasons that I wrote these articles about the Memorial Complex of Tuskulėnai Peace Park. One reason was to let people know that it exists. While there are many people living outside of Lithuania that know about the “KGB Prison” in Vilnius, there are many that are not aware of Tuskulėnai. There are even people living here…
To read more, go to our SECTION 10
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776 years since the Sun Battle in North Lithuania
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The Livonian Confederation in 1260, showing where the Battle of Saule
(battle of the sun) took place, near today’s Šiauliai in Northern Lithuania.
The Battle of Saule (German: Schlacht von Schaulen; Latvian: Saules kauja; Lithuanian: Saulės mūšis or Šiaulių mūšis) was fought on September 22, 1236 between the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and pagan Samogitians. Between 48 and 60 knights were killed, including the Livonian Master, Volkwin. It was the earliest large-scale defeat suffered by the orders in Baltic lands. The Sword-Brothers, the first Catholic military order established in the Baltic lands, was soundly defeated and its remnants accepted incorporation into the Teutonic Order in 1237.
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Vilnius' old city wall
– seen from outside
Text and photos: Aage Myhre
The Vilnius city wall was a defensive wall built 500 years ago. Vilnius was by then capital of Europe's largest country, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The city wall was built between 1503 and 1522 for protection from the attacks by the Crimean Khanate at the beginning of the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars. The stone and brick wall was a key element of the defensive system of Vilnius, and was paid for by the city's landowners. It contained nine gates and an artillery bastion.
Only a small part of the city wall remains today, and only one gate is still intact. The remaining part of the wall is very interesting, and you're hereby invited to a stroll along the wall outside....
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Let's introduce you to Antanas Šabaniauskas (1903–1987), considered to be the most sought-after artist of the little stage in interwar Lithuania. His intensive professional career lasted for six decades. Huge number of copies of his records was circulating throughout Lithuania. Šabaniauskas sang with Moishe Hofmekler’s orchestra and Alfonsas Mikulskis’ vocal male octet. He took part in musical programmes in Metropolis and Versalis restaurants, sang in the State Theatre Opera choir, appeared in minor tenor roles. His voice was also heard in radio broadcasts as well as in concerts around Lithuania. His success inspired Lithuanian composers Kajetonas Leipus, Emerikas and Stasys Gailevičiai, Juozas Bankas, N. Naikauskas, Juozas Pakalnis, Jurgis Karnavičius, Leonardas Lechavičius and Pranas Juodka to compose for the little stage. Šabaniauskas performed foreign schlagers almost exclusively in Lithuanian. He recorded 64 works (32 LPs) in London (Columbia) and Copenhagen (His Master’s Voice).
To read and listen more, go to
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE91DEB0ECDE727FB
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They’re dead but they
won’t lie down
LEADERS, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOVIET UNION
LEADERS, COMMUNIST PARTY OF LITHUANIA
Important parliamentary elections are soon due in Lithuania. The party which leads in the polls had its origins in the Lithuanian Communist Party 20 years ago, and many believe that the nomenclature from those days still is very much alive in this party as well as in other parties of today. That modern, democratic governance is still not implemented and practiced. That corruption and personal gain is more important than the Lithuanian people's best. We hereby invite you to debate. Is the Lithuania nomenclature still alive?
To read more, go to SECTION 5
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Lingering nomenklatura
Major General Jonas Kronkaitis was Lithuania’s Vice Minister of National
Defense and Commander of the country’s armed forces for the period 1999 –
2004. Vytautas Dudenas was a member of the Lithuanian Parliament in the
1990s and later Minister of Finance for the period 1999 – 2000.
Both are now retired.
“Many of our Lithuanian politicians, civil servants, judges, the court system and the prosecutor’s office are still the children of the old Soviet ‘nomenklatura’, and there is a great need for fresh blood and new thinking in order for Lithuania to catch up with Western Europe.”
This said Jonas Kronkaitis and Vytautas Dudenas in 2006. Are they right, also in 2012?
To read more, go to SECTION 5
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“The mass graves of Tuskulėnai”
A series of articles in 6 parts
PART 6 OF 6:
THE SECRETS OF
TUSKULĖNAI MANOR
By Vincas Karnila, Associate editor
vin.karnila@VilNews.com
While the burial place of the victims of the Soviet’s mass murders that occurred from 1944 to 1947 remained one of the secrets of the Tuskulėnai Manor until after Lithuania once again regained their freedom, there are still some other secrets of the Tuskulėnai Manor we would like to share with you along with giving you an idea of the layout of the park.
To read more, go to our SECTION 10
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The trampling of
Lithuania’s history
Many Lithuanian historians continually choose not to understand, appreciate, and respect the impact and grandeur of Lithuanian history
Žalgirio Mūšis (Battle of Tannenberg or Grunwald), fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, was the most significant, largest, and fiercest battle in medieval European history. It was Lithuania’s Vytautas the Great, the ultimate warrior king, whose strategic and tactical genius ensured victory for Lithuania and its allies.
Detail from a painting by Jan Matejko (1878).
By: Jon Platakis
Over 200 years of foreign occupations left our history suppressed, maligned, and if not stolen outright, then at least borrowed by our neighbors. One browses the internet, or leafs through history books and journals about Lithuania, and immediately notices our great Lithuanian names russianized or polonized; Lithuanian historical events are distorted in many versions, such as, Žalgirio Mūšis (Battle of Tannenberg or Grunwald) where descriptions of Vytautas’ participation is minimized or almost non-existent. It was mostly Lithuanian blood that was shed in this most significant, largest, and fiercest battle in medieval European history. It was Vytautas, the ultimate warrior king, whose strategic and tactical genius ensured victory for Lithuania and its allies (Sven Ekdahl, “The Turning Point in the Battle of Tannenberg-Grunwald/Žalgirio-1410.“ Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences, Volume 56, No.2-Summer 2010). This list can go on and on.
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Main events in
Lithuania’s history
(based on “The official gateway of Lithuania”, Government of
Lithuania website, adopted and modified by dr. S. Backaitis)
The first settlers arrived at the eastern shore region of the Baltic Sea in approximately 12,000 B. C. In 3,000–500 B. C., the Indo-European Balts came to live here. Between the 5th and 8th centuries tribal groupings in the western territories included: Prussians, Yotvingians, Curronians, Zemgalians, Lithuanians and Latgalians. In the 10th century the pagan Baltic tribes became the target of christianization by Western Europe. In 1009, the name of Lithuania was mentioned for the first time in the written account of the mission of St. Bruno in Quedlinburg Annals.
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Gediminas – King of
Lithuania & Russians
Gediminas' Tower (Gedimino pilies bokštas) is the only remaining part of the
Upper Castle in Vilnius. The first fortifications were built of wood
by King Gediminas. Later the first brick castle was completed
in 1409 by Vytautas the Great.
Gediminas (1275 - 1341) was the one founding Vilnius as the capital of Lithuania. In works of history Gediminas is referred to as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, but he called himself, and was titled in all official documents, the King of Lithuania, or the King of Lithuania and of Russians. He ruled in the years 1316-1341. Gediminas was lauded as one of the greatest rulers of Lithuania. He established diplomatic and economic links with Europe and invited many artisans and merchants to Lithuania. His reign was marked with tolerance, open-mindedness and fairness.
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 |
VilNews section 4: FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
 |
JANUARY 2006 Andrius Kubilius LITHUANIA NEEDS A VISIONARY STRATEGY Read more... |
 |
NOVEMBER 2004 Professor Donatas Katkus THE MUSIC MAN Read more… |
 |
MARCH 2005 PM Algirdas Brazauskas MASTER OF THE GAME Read more… |
 |
SEPTEMBER 2005 Rolandas Paksas NEVER SAY NEVER Read more… |
 |
DECEMBER 2005 Arturas Zuokas I AM BEING STABBED IN THE BACK Read more… |
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Klaipėda has got a crisis centre for women
that is probably going to be a pioneering
example for such centres worldwide
Text and photos: Aage Myhre
Editor-in-Chief/M.Sc. of Architecture
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
Let me today take you to the new crisis center for women in Klaipeda. The building opened a few days ago, but still there is no furniture and staff in place, hence the centre will be ready to accommodate 'patients' only later in the fall. I myself have been involved in this project for more than three years now, and I wanted to share with you some thoughts on how this center has evolved and today stands out as something rather exceptional, in Lithuania but also on an international scale.
When we started the project, there were three main messages we wanted the center to signal to women who would come here to get help in an emergency situation:
• Here you are in safety
• Here you will find warmth, care and understanding
• Here you will be taken care of by professionals
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
Ph. D., Chicago
A wave of unity sweeps the international Lithuanian community on March 11th every year as Lithuanians celebrated the anniversary of the Lithuanian Parliament's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the sense of national unity engendered by the celebration could be short-lived.
Human beings have a strong tendency to overgeneralize and succumb to stereotypical us-them distinctions that can shatter even the strongest bonds. We need only search the internet to find examples of divisive thinking at work:
- "Those who fled Lithuania during World II were cowards -- and now they come back, flaunt their wealth, and tell us 'true Lithuanians' how to live."
- "Lithuanians who work abroad have abandoned their homeland and should be deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship."
In Lithuania Christmas Eve is a family event and the New Year's Eve a great party with friends!
Lithuanian say "Kaip sutiksi naujus metus, taip juos ir praleisi" (the way you'll meet the new year is the way you will spend it). So everyone is trying to spend New Year's Eve with friend and have as much fun as possible.
Lithuanian New Year's traditions are very similar to those in other countries, and actually were similar since many years ago. Also, the traditional Lithuanian New Years Eve party was very similar to other big celebrations throughout the year.
The New Year's Eve table is quite similar to the Christmas Eve table, but without straws under the tablecloth, and now including meat dishes. A tradition that definitely hasn't changes is that everybody is trying not to fell asleep before midnight. It was said that if you oversleep the midnight point you will be lazy all the upcoming year. People were also trying to get up early on the first day of the new year, because waking up late also meant a very lazy and unfortunate year.
During the New Year celebration people were dancing, singing, playing games and doing magic to guess the future. People didn't drink much of alcohol, especially was that the case for women.
Here are some advices from elders:
- During the New Year, be very nice and listen to relatives - what you are during New Year Eve, you will be throughout the year.
- During to the New Year Eve, try not to fall, because if this happens, next year you will be unhappy.
- If in the start of the New Year, the first news are good - then the year will be successful. If not - the year will be problematic.
* If New Year's night is cold and starry - look forward to a good summer!
* If the during New Year Eve trees are covered with frost - then it will be a good year. If it is wet weather on New Year's Eve, one can expect a year where many will die and dangerous epidemics occur.
* If the first day of the new year is snowy - the upcoming year will see many young people die. If the night is snowy - mostly old people will die.
* If the New Year time is cold - then Easter will be warm.
* If during New Year there are a lot of birds in your homestead - then all year around there will be many guests and the year will be fun.
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius
and epic battle for the
future
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator
Ukraine was and continues to be perceived by the EU political class as a sort of grey zone with its immense potential and possibilities for the future, yet deeply embedded and trapped in No Man's Land with all of its troubled past, post-Soviet traumas, ambiguities, insecurities, corruption, social divisions, and despair. Why worry for what has yet to emerge as a new actor of world history in terms of nation-building, European identity, and deeper commitments to transparency and free market economy?
Right? Wrong. No matter how troubled Ukraine's economic and political reality could be, the country has already passed the point of no return. Even if Vladimir Putin retains his leverage of power to blackmail Ukraine and the West in terms of Ukraine's zero chances to accede to NATO due to the problems of territorial integrity, occupation and annexation of Crimea, and mayhem or a frozen conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine will never return to Russia's zone of influence. It could be deprived of the chances to join NATO or the EU in the coming years or decades, yet there are no forces on earth to make present Ukraine part of the Eurasia project fostered by Putin.
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!
believe their government
is corrupt
students say no to
bribes for doctors
During Soviet times, government was administered for the people in control, not for the local population, court decisions were decreed, they were not the administration of justice, and academia was the domain of ideologues. 25 years of freedom and openness should have put those bad experiences behind Lithuania, but that is not so.
Today, it is a matter of expectation that court pronouncements will be governed by ideological dictates. Few, if any Lithuanians expect real justice to be effected. For foreign companies, doing business in Lithuania is almost impossible in a situation where business people do not expect rule of law, so, surely Government would be a refuge of competence?
Lithuanian Government has not emerged from Soviet styles. In an attempt to devolve power, Lithuania has created a myriad of fiefdoms of power, each speaking in the name of the Government, each its own centralized power base of ideology.
Chepstow, Wales
Doesn't that sound suspiciously like Lithuania? Ah, but I didn't mention the mountains of Snowdonia, which would give the game away.
I'm talking about Wales, that part of the UK which Lithuanians used to call "Valija", but later named "Velsas" (why?). Wales, the nation which has welcomed two Lithuanian heads of state to its shores - firstly Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, who has paid several visits and, more recently, President Dalia Grybauskaitė who attended the 2014 NATO summit which was held in Newport, South Wales.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Although Lithuanian activities have thinned over the decades as that postwar generation died out, the Lithuanian Martyrs' parish hall is crowded with many, many hundreds of visitors who come to the Lithuanian cemetery for All Souls' Day. Similarly, the Franciscan parish has standing room only for Christmas Eve mass.
Although I am firmly embedded in the literary culture of Canada, my themes are usually Lithuanian, and I'll be in Kaunas and Vilnius in mid-November 2015 to give talks about the Lithuanian translations of my novels and short stories, which I write in English.
If you have the Lithuanian language, come by to one of the talks listed in the links below. And if you don't, you can read more about my work at
www.anatanassileika.com
http://www.vdu.lt/lt/rasytojas-antanas-sileika-pristatys-savo-kuryba/ https://leu.lt/lt/lf/lf_naujienos/kvieciame-i-rasytojo-59hc.html
"My love and best wishes to all. As long as VilNews exists, there is hope for the future,"" she writes.
Irena Veisaite means very much for our publication, and we do hereby thank her for the support and wise commitment she always shows.
You can read our interview with her
Facing a new reality
Dear readers of VilNews,
For a number of years, the EU and Russia had assumed the existence of a strategic partnership, based on the convergence of values, economic integration and increasingly open markets and a modernisation agenda for society.
Our agenda was positive and ambitious. We looked at Russia as a country ready to converge with "European values", a country likely to embrace both the basic principles of democratic government and a liberal concept of the world order. It was believed this would bring our relations to a new level, covering the whole spectrum of the EU's strategic relationship with Russia.
The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
.jpg "lithuania today")
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars
Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
Lithuania as a country does not have significant energy resources. Energy consuming infrastructure after WWII was small and totally supported by energy imports from Russia.
First nuclear reactor begins power generation at Ignalina in 1983, the second reactor in 1987. Iganlina generates enough electricity to cover Lithuania's needs and about 50%.for export. As, prerequisite for membership in EU, Ignalina ceases all nuclear power generation in 2009
The Klaipėda Sea terminal begins Russia's oil export operations in 1959 and imports in 1994.
Mazeikiu Nafta (current ORLEAN Lietuva) begins operation of oil refinery in 1980.
Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
The two decades that have passed since regaining Lithuania's independence can be described as a "building boom". From the wreckage of a captive Soviet republic, a generation of Lithuanians have built a modern European state, and are now helping construct a Nordic-Baltic community replete with institutions intended to promote political coordination and foster a trans-Baltic regional identity. Indeed, a "Nordic-Baltic community" - I will explain later in my text the meaning of this catch-phrase.
Since the restoration of Lithuania's independence 25 years ago, we have continuously felt a strong support from Nordic countries. Nordics in particular were among the countries supporting Lithuania's and Baltic States' striving towards independence. Take example of Iceland, country which recognized Lithuania in February of 1991, well in advance of other countries. Yet another example - Swedish Ambassador was the first ambassador accredited to Lithuania in 1991. The other countries followed suit. When we restored our statehood, Nordic Countries became champions in promoting Baltic integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To large degree thanks Nordic Countries, massive transformations occurred in Lithuania since then, Lithuania became fully-fledged member of the EU and NATO, and we joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2015.
Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.
VilNews e-magazine is published in Vilnius, Lithuania. Editor-in-Chief: Mr. Aage Myhre. Inquires to the editors: editor@VilNews.com.
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