AMBASSADOR’S POSTCARD Today: From Ambassador Vidmantas Purlys in Ireland

 100 000 Lithuanians live
and work in Ireland

Text: Vidmantas Purlys, Lithuanian ambassador to Ireland

The Easter was dry and sunny in Dublin, and Dubliners were joyful as always during the holidays. The sales of the chocolate eggs were record high, which may have been a pleasant surprise to the chocolate producers in the context of economic difficulties.

Indeed, the economy and finance is a major preoccupation of the Irish government and citizens (or residents, to put it more correctly, given that up to 100 thousand Lithuanians now live and work in Ireland and share the same concerns as Irish, along with Poles, Latvians and other communities).

The economic developments in Ireland – member of the euro zone – resonate far beyond its shores in EU capitals and globally, due to the potential effect which the Irish situation may have on the common currency.

Since 1973 when Ireland became a member of the EU, its economic and social development up to 2008 was largely successful, and was regarded as a model to other countries undergoing transformation, particularly in East Central Europe. The notion of the Celtic Tiger was at the core of brand Ireland, which implied robust economic growth, export led economy, and tax regime and business climate conducive to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).

Ireland became and still is a rich country: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Ireland stood at 48 % above EU average in 2007.
2008 may be regarded as the turning point. The real estate bubble collapsed. The crisis in this over expanded sector adversely affected the functioning of the banking system which was further aggravated by the global financial crisis. In September 2008 the Irish government decided to guarantee Irish banks' deposits and debts to calm investor concern. The majority of Irish banks were effectively nationalized.

This had a negative effect on growth, public finance and employment. In 2009 the value of the GDP fell by 11,3 %, the public balance deficit was 14,3 %, larger than in any other EU member state. Government debt increased to 64 %, up from 25 % in 2007. Unemployment reached 13,6 %.
In November 2010 Ireland entered a loan arrangement with EU/IMF after the interest of borrowing on markets hit a height of 9 %.

The terms of the agreement foresaw an 85 billion loan and set out compulsory conditions in the areas of fiscal consolidation, structural reform, and restructuring of the banking system. It was agreed that the government would cut spending and increase taxes with a view to reach the 3% budget deficit target in 2014. This will require slashing government spending by 15 billion in 2011 alone.

Lithuania supported Ireland at the EU level with regard to the measures directed to assist Ireland to overcome economic difficulties. EU solidarity is important in ensuring economic and financial stability across the EU, which is a key to the sustainable growth of the Lithuanian economy.

Are economic developments of Lithuania and Ireland comparable? Yes, but only to some extent. The economy contracted substantially in Lithuania in 2009 (by 14,8 %), also partly due to the real estate crisis. The banking system remained stable in Lithuania although the credit crunch to businesses was present both in Lithuania and Ireland. Government deficit in Lithuania was much lower - at 29,5% and unemployment was almost identical in both countries (13,7 % in Lithuania, 13,6 % in Ireland) in 2009.

When it comes to government deficit and debt, Lithuania is in a more favourable position. Latest Eurostat figures reveal that in 2010 the largest government deficit among EU27 in percentage of GDP was recorded in Ireland and stood at -32.4% (in Lithuania -7.1%). At the end of 2010, the ratio of government debt to GDP was 38.2% Lithuania and 96.2% Ireland.
Also, importantly, both countries undertook large scale programmes of consolidating public finances, however Ireland have also resorted to the assistance from EU/IMF.

GDP contracted by 1,6 % in Ireland in 2010, and grew by 1,3 per cent in Lithuania. The GDP increased by 4,8 % in Lithuania in the last quarter of 2010. It is expected that the economy in Ireland will turn to growth in 2011.
Although the Irish economy faces important challenges, the economic fundamentals are regarded as strong. The new Irish government, which enjoys support from its citizens, is committed to cutting government’s deficit, increasing competitiveness and creating jobs. Ireland is an open, deregulated economy, with a strong export oriented multi-national sector. Many international companies form the US and elsewhere run their businesses form headquarters in Ireland in sector such as IT, pharmaceuticals, financial services and others.

Working directly with multinationals located in Ireland is an important area of work for the Lithuanian embassy in Dublin in co-operation with various economic agencies in Lithuania in an effort by the Lithuanian government to win FDI.

Apart from the economic affairs, the political relations between Lithuania and Ireland are very close and are set to intensify. The visit to Ireland by the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė in May 2010 was an acknowledgement of close ties and an important common agenda ahead of us. Ireland will succeed Lithuania as President-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2012.
Also, in 2013 Ireland and Lithuania will hold presidencies of the EU for six consecutive months (Ireland in the first semester of 2013, and Lithuania in second half of 2013). Together with Greece which will succeed Lithuania at the helm of the EU in the beginning of 2014, these three countries will form the so-called EU troika, which has a special responsibility in leading the EU for 18 months.

EU presidency is a complex challenge but also a unique opportunity for Lithuania in further establishing itself as an ambitious and constructive EU member state. EU presidency involves a major preparation in terms of planning. Close co-ordination with Irish partners will be indispensible, and work in that regard is well-underway.

Intensive work in the political domain is an opportunity to further develop cultural and human links between the two countries, increase mutual awareness about Lithuanian and Irish societies.

Of course, the greatest bond which connects Lithuania and Ireland is a vibrant Lithuanian community in Ireland. It is rightly regarded by the Lithuanian government as a most important partner is fostering human and other links between the two countries.

Data in the article from www.cso.ie, www.stat.gov.lt, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home and www.ukmin.lt.

The Knights of Lithuania is an American organization of Roman Catholic men and women of Lithuanian ancestry and their spouses. Adhering to the motto: "For God and Country";, the Knights of Lithuania aim to keep alive among its members an appreciation of the Lithuanian language, customs and culture while also stressing the importance of Roman Catholic beliefs.
Organized on 27 April 1913, the Knights of Lithuania were begun as a youth organization. Its purpose was to unite the Lithuanian youth living in the USA, and through them, preserve Lithuanian culture and restore freedom to Lithuania, then divided between Russia and Germany. It has since become a family organization. St. Casimir, patron saint of Lithuania's youth, is honoured as the organization's patron.

Read more at: http://www.knightsoflithuania.com/
and: http://republicanherald.com/news/knights-of-lithuania-hold-regional-meeting-in-frackville-1.1130806

  Incredible Indian-Lithuanian relations 

Professor Lokesh Chandra (84), one of India’s leading experts on Sanskrit and Buddhism

It’s early morning in Delhi. I have been invited to the small, dark office of Professor Lokesh Chandra, one of India’s leading experts on Sanskrit and Buddhism. “The same year I was born, 1927, my father went to London to get a degree in Lithuanian language. He spoke the language fluently, but he never visited Lithuania,” tells the elderly professor, still with his Kashmir coat and cap on despite the outside temperature of close to 30⁰ Celsius.

I soon learn that the professor’s knowledge about the connections between Old Sanskrit and Lithuanian language and ancient cultural ties between India and Lithuania is nothing but amazing. He confirms that there since ancient times have been unique ties between India and Lithuania, not only with regards to language. Also the songs, the medieval cultures and more were extraordinary closely connected to each other.

Here is what he tells me this early morning at his New Delhi office: “The very mention of Lithuanian opens up an image, a vision that gives a people their identity through language. It shows how the darkness of dreams becomes the new embodied hope. My father was stimulated and strengthened in his work on the development of Hindi by the history of Lithuanian language. It has been the eternal continuity of these people; - it rustles something deep in their being. My father felt that we in India share with our distant Lithuanian brothers the silent geography of lost frontiers. Political freedom is inseparable from language.”

And the professor continues with his amazing story: “My father would relate how grandmas in the remote villages narrated folk-tales to eager grandchildren in their Lithuanian language which was despised by the Slavised nobility and punished by the Czarist regime. My father also told me how the Lithuanian daina (songs) were abandoned by the courts, but still continued to live on in the villages, faithfully preserved by the poorest people of Lithuania, guarded by the mothers of the families even during the darkest periods of Lithuania’s history.”

“Such was my first contact with Lithuania, in 1937, at an age of ten,” smiles Professor Chandra.

  Sanskrit and Lithuanian are closely related 

Since the 19^th century, when the similarity between Lithuanian and Sanskrit was discovered, Lithuanians have taken a particular pride in their mother tongue as the oldest living Indo-European language. To this day, to some Lithuanians their understanding of their nationality is based on their linguistic identity. It is no surprise then that they proudly quote the French linguist Antoine Meillet, who said, that anyone who wanted to hear old Indo-European should go and listen to a Lithuanian farmer. The 19^th century maxim - the older the language the better - is still alive in Lithuania.

Professor Shashiprabha Kumar, and her amazing team of specialists at the Centre for Sanskrit Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, is convinced that there is a very strong connection between Old Sanskrit and Lithuanian

It is a common belief that there is a close similarity between the Lithuanian and Sanskrit languages; Lithuanian being the European language grammatically closest to Sanskrit. It is not difficult to imagine the surprise of the scholarly world when they learned that even in their time somewhere on the Nemunas River lived a people who spoke a language as archaic in many of its forms as Sanskrit itself. Although it was not exactly true that a professor of Sanskrit could talk to Lithuanian farmers in their language, coincidences between these two languages are truly amazing, for example:

SON:      Sanskrit sunus - Lithuanian sunus 

SHEEP:   Sanskrit avis - Lithuanian avis

SOLE:     Sanskrit padas - Lithuanian padas

MAN:     Sanskrit viras - Lithuanian vyras

SMOKE: Sanskrit dhumas - Lithuanian dumas

These Lihuanian words have not changed their forms for the last five thousand years.

The relationship between Sanskrit and Lithuanian goes even deeper. Take, for example, the Lithuanian word 'daina' that usually is translated as 'song'. The word actually comes from an Indo-European root, meaning ‘to think, to remember, to ponder over’. This root is found in Sanskrit as dhi and dhya. The word also occurs in the Rigveda (ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns) in the sense of ‘speech reflecting the inner thoughts of man’.

Apart from its Indo-European background as word and term, the ‘daina’ incorporates the idea of the Sun-Goddess who was married to the Moon-God, reminiscent of goddess Surya in the Rigveda.

Regina Narusiene, Chairwoman of the World Lithuanian Community.

Regina Narusiene lives a busy double life. Through part of the year, she stays with husband and family in a small village 100 km. northwest of Chicago, but it’s not usual to see her for long periods at her home in Vilnius and work on behalf of ‘the international Lithuania’ – this nation outside the nation that includes about almost as many Lithuanians as the country’s resident population. Regina has been President of the World Lithuanian Community (WLC) since 2006. Before that she led the Lithuanian American Community Inc. (LAC) for six years and then was the president of the Board of Directors of that Community for another 6 years.

She is in Vilnius today, and invited me to her apartment, for an informal coffee chat about her life and observations about Lithuania and Lithuanians.

Dual citizenship. These two words have come to represent Regina's premier of the heart since she took over the leadership of WLC in 2006, the same year that Lithuania's Constitutional Court ruled that the country's Constitution had to be interpreted in such a way that individuals with citizenship of another country should not be allowed to have and keep Lithuania’s citizenship as well.

“The first few months after the court had made its terrible decision, at first I received almost 100 angry letters every day from Lithuanians and their descendants from around the world. They felt that the mother country had disowned them, cutting ties with them and that their efforts and desires to be citizens of Lithuania were not welcomed or respected. They felt that the mother country wanted to punish those who had emigrated, whether this occurred against the background of war, persecution or for economic reasons.”
Regina is herself a lawyer, with over 50 years legal practise in Illinois with her husband Bernard, litigating all types of court cases. Still, the ruling of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court has surprised her. She strongly argues that Lithuanian citizenship for those of Lithuanian descent is an inalienable constitutional birth right and that the government may not arbitrarily take it away.

"I maintain that people of Lithuanian heritage, who were born in Lithuania and have Lithuanian citizenship, have an inviolate birth right to citizenship. Lithuania cannot deprive them of this birth right. That right is guaranteed by the Constitution, but somehow that Constitutional right has been ignored. In my opinion, depriving Lithuanian citizenship to Lithuanians living abroad is against the best interests of Lithuania," she says, convinced that Lithuanians living abroad worldwide should be welcomed to participate in their motherland’s future through Lithuanian citizenship. The most valuable asset of a nation has is its people. When a substantial part of its people are rejected the nation dwindles. It self destructs.

She proceeds to tell me that the WLC laboured to supersede the decision statutorily, but that Presidents Adamkus and Grybauskaite declined to approve Parliament’s pro dual citizenship statutory enactments. Finally Lithuania did on 2 December 2010 enact a new citizenship law, which allows Lithuanians citizens and their descendants to preserve their Lithuanian citizenship if they emigrated before 11 March 1990. This new legislation prohibits dual citizenship for all those who emigrated after the reestablishment of Lithuania’s independence on 11 March1990, with the exception for those who received another country’s citizenship between January l, 2003 and November 16, 2006, the date the Constitutional Court decision became effective. The ruling is not applied retroactively, only prospectively. The new citizenship law becomes effective on 1 April 2011. The World Lithuanian Community takes the position that it is incorrect to take away the Lithuanian citizenship from Lithuanian descent people and their descendants that was acquired by birth. The Community does not support an unrestricted dual citizenship Constitutional amendment.

Behind a blue curtain
Our little coffee chat in Regina's apartment has an important and serious beginning, but I also wanted to know more about the personal life of Lithuania's international 'mom', so I ask if there is something she remembers from her childhood in Lithuania, during the early years of World War II.

On my request she tells me a dramatic childhood story, in deep emotion, but lightens up when she describes her years in America, where she was educated as a lawyer and became a successful attorney in partnership with her husband Bernard. She became active in her support for a free Lithuania early, and has been in the very forefront for political, economical, cultural, educational and social support to her home country during the last several decades.

But first her childhood story from wartime Lithuania:
“I was almost five years old, but I still clearly remember the day when a truck with Soviet soldiers drove up to the home we were hiding in Kaunas. My father ordered me to hide behind the blue curtains in the home’s living room and not make even the smallest move or sound. Our family was to be deported to Siberia and the soldiers had come to take us. It felt as though it took an eternity before my father returned and told me I could come out from my hiding place. A truck with German soldiers had come up behind the Soviet truck, forcing the Soviets to leave. That probably saved our lives. As the Soviets were returning to Lithuania in 1944 we escaped to Germany, and after living in Displaced Persons camp for 5 years, in 1949 we emigrated to the United States.”

KGB infiltrators in our US-LT societies
As the Soviets once more reoccupied Lithuania in 1944, Regina and her parents managed to get out of Lithuania. They knew that the fate awaiting them under a Soviet-controlled Lithuania would be deportation to northern Siberia's frozen tundra.

Like so many other Baltic refugees they came to eastern Germany, where they lived for a while in Dresden and were witnesses to the bombing and terrible destruction that took place during the war's final months. Regina's parents followed the war developments closely, and realized that they had to get farther west into Germany, or otherwise they risked to come under Soviet control in the part of the country that later became the DDR (East Germany). The day after the German surrender the family heading south-west. They had to walk 200 km on foot, while a smaller part of the trip took place on cattle trains. Finally they came to the city of Augsburg, north-west of Munich in the southern German region Bavaria where they stayed in a Displaced Persons camp until 1949, when a cousin in Chicago helped them to come over to the U.S.

Regina tells me that her father had a small notebook where he wrote down all the events, including the many concerns, which met the family during the escape from Lithuania until they finally were able to settle in Chicago.

"But he never told me much," she says. "Only when I got older I realized that my father was afraid of informers who could make life difficult for us, for our relatives who remained in Lithuania, and for the Lithuanian partisans who kept on fighting against the Soviet occupants well into the 1950s. The KGB had their own spies within the Lithuanian communities in the U.S., so we were extremely careful with what we said outside the home. I had, anyway, not so much to tell as my parents were very reluctant to share information with me. "

Until the 1960s, we thought we would someday return to Lithuania
Regina's new life in Chicago was similar to that of American children in general. She immediately attended high school, which was extremely difficult because she did not then posses basic English language skills. Seven years later, after acquiring a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Illinois she began to study law at the University of Illinois where she met her future husband, Bernard, and the two married in 1959. Bernard was also Lithuanian, but born in the United States. After graduation and having received their Juris doctors degrees, the two new lawyers opened their own law office. They raised three children and now have seven grandchildren.

"Through all these years, there was not a single day without us thinking of our beloved homeland - Lithuania. The very limited information coming out from the almost totally sealed Soviet Union, told us about terrible atrocities against our people. We heard vague stories about the incredibly tragic deportations of hundreds of thousands from the Baltics to Siberia, and we were told that thousands and thousands became victims of the terrorist regime that ruled our home country. It was very hard to realize that there was so little we could do, but we held together and kept the memory of Lithuania before the American people as best we could. In 1952, LAC (Lithuanian American Community Inc.) was founded, and quickly became the organization that united Lithuanians all over the United States together with a common bond. "

What a contrast it must have been between the post-war lives of the Lithuanians who managed to flee, before the borders were completely closed in 1944-45 and those who were trapped in a country that increasingly appeared as a prison it was virtually impossible to escape from alive. The only thing the Lithuanians in the U.S. could do with the tragedies that took place in their homeland was to transmit radio programmes in their native language through the station Voice of America to tell their country people that they were not forgotten and that they had to try to keep their spirits up even in those difficult times.

They did manage to convince the American government not to recognize the unlawful annexation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian Americans managed to maintain the pre-war Lithuanian Embassy in Washington and consistently advocate the Lithuanian cause.

LAC also did their utmost to lobby the U.S. authorities to pressure the Soviet Union out of Lithuania. Regina maintains that throughout the post-war period the Lithuanian-Americans kept alive the hope of a free Lithuania.

"Until the end of the 1960s we believed that Lithuania would again be a free and independent country and that we could return to. But then came the 1970s, as time went on our hopes began to fade," she admits with sorrow in her voice. She now looks out through the windows facing a Vilnius that today is free, peaceful and stunningly beautiful, but that not many years ago was eyewitness to incomprehensibly gruesome atrocities against its citizens.

The most thrilling moment of my life
The little eight year old girl who left home in a chaotic and dangerous escape from a cruel enemy in 1944, was to become a mature woman of 53 before she again could set foot on the home country's beloved soil.

In August 1989 Regina came back home, and on 23rd of August was standing in Vilnius along with tens of thousands of other Lithuanians and held hands in a 600 km long human chain that stretched from Vilnius to Tallinn. Fifty years had passed since Molotov and Ribbentrop had signed the infamous pact that was to be the beginning of a bloody and deadly hell, unprecedented in Europe's history, for a population that did not want anything but to live in peace and harmony.

"I felt the rebirth of my homeland, and when I stood there in the line with my dear countrymen to mourn all those who had been killed and tortured by a regime of madness, and heard our Lithuanian national anthem resound from the speakers around Vilnius, with hope for a new time to come. I was moved to tears more than any time earlier in my life. That moment was the most thrilling I've ever experienced. And I decided then and there to do my very best to help Lithuania to again be resurrected, and grow as a proud and strong nation." The lawyer, politician and activist who has experienced so much, and through her profession and life learned how to act professionally and balanced in all circumstances, had become clearly emotional.

President Bush Sr. at first chose a head-in-the-sand attitude
"Understandably, I was full of enthusiasm and optimism when I returned to the United States in 1989. The Lithuanian Americans quivered with excitement and jubilation, and we were soon organized to exert supportive pressure through all political, media and other channels we had access to. I think my uncle in Lithuania, having been deported to Siberia, expressed how we all felt, in one single sentence, when he said that he had been in Siberia and that he was not under any circumstances letting this chance for freedom slip by."

But the battle for secession from the Soviet Union was still not won. Gorbachev's sweet words about freedom for all the Soviet states were not truthful so all means had now to be used to ensure Lithuania's independence. The Lithuanian parliament's declaration of freedom 11 March 1990 was the first and most important step in that direction, but it was also more and more obvious that the Soviets would resist. Regina tells me that when Professor Landsbergis came to Washington 9 December 1990, he was convinced that the Soviet military would take action against Lithuania. Landsbergis met with U.S. President Bush Sr. to tell him this, but President Bush was unwilling to do anything at all at that time and went instead for a head-in-the-sand approach, telling us that the U.S. could not let the USSR fall apart, due to nuclear concerns etc.

“Fortunately however, the Baltic desk at the State Department in Washington was unwilling to accept such attitudes. We spent efforts to effectively exert pressure on all sides. Among the first things we were very pleased with was the cooperation with Iceland, which was the world’s first nation to recognize Lithuania's new independence. Tacitly the U.S. authorities supported Iceland's recognition, but they felt they couldn’t take a similar step so soon," explains Regina.

When the Soviet troops attempted to re-impose complete control of Lithuania on 13 January 1991, Regina and the Baltic organizations in the United States were quick to condemn the attack. "I hold you personally responsible, Mr. Gorbachev," she said in an interview with CNN that was carried nationwide in the United States.”

A change of mindset is necessary in today’s Lithuania
In 1994 Regina Narusiene was elected President of LAC (Lithuanian American Community Inc.). She held this position through two terms, until 2000, then she served as chairman of the LAC Board of directors for two terms until 2006, when she was elected President of the WLC (World Lithuanian Community) and now is in her second 3-year term as leader of the this 'nation outside the nation'. During the 20years that have passed since Lithuania regained its freedom, she has made tireless efforts for her homeland. She spearheaded the drive in the United States for the admission of Lithuania into NATO from January 6, 1994 until its official admission into NATO on 29 March 2004. She has served as an advisor on various matters to most of the Prime Ministers of Lithuania and extensively contributed her legal talents with respect to the printing and issuance of the Lithuanian currency - Litai. She is a founding member and continues to serve as a member of the Lithuanian Royal Palace Foundation. She feels that she has always been personally well received in Lithuania.

“Recently however, I've heard some in Lithuania say that Lithuania does not need or want our help. Still I see significant reluctance to improve the country's legal systems. It seems that some of the country's leaders simply are not ready to or interested in implementing urgently needed reforms. I am saddened to see the public’s perception that rule of law is still not working effectively in Lithuania." Regina sighs a little deflated when she shares those thoughts with me.

Towards the end of the conversation I ask her to express some thoughts on what it takes to get Lithuania to grow stronger and better over the years to come. I'll let her words finish my little report from our coffee talk:

"Let me first say that it is deeply tragic to see so many young, talented and beautiful people leave this country. Some say that it is now no longer talk of emigration, but evacuation. It is therefore obvious that much more must be done to pave the way for good jobs and opportunities for the country's younger population. But it is also my opinion that we need a shift in mindset among some of the country's leaders.”

“Last but not least, I yearn to see far more of the population, young and old, engaged in voluntary public oriented organizations and activities. That is exactly what democracy for a large part is about, and it does not take much. Lithuania's people should begin to take such initiatives themselves. A good, democratic society consists of people who give of themselves to help each other. Lithuania has unfortunately still a long way to go in this respect.”

“I will conclude by saying that it is important for the nation to maintain good relations with all Lithuanians, and their descendants, now living in other countries.”

“Lithuania needs a new global strategy, and we in the ‘Lithuanian World Community’ will do our utmost to contribute to such a strategy. Lithuania has an enormously large group of smart Lithuanians and good hearts outside the country, and it is important that Lithuania invite to dialogue with them and seek their support and input to promote a better future for Lithuania, the country we all love. "

Text: Regina F. Narusis, J.D.

 Why is Lithuanian citizenship so important to Lithuanian emigrees ? The reasons why so many emigres posses a desire to regain and to maintain citizenship status with their country of origin are many. First and foremost, citizenship is the most important real tie to their homeland , for which they continue to posses an abiding love and affection. It is a symbol, if not tangible, and marker of one‘s identity throughout the world.

The Lithuanian World Community (Lithuanian: Pasaulio lietuvių bendruomenė or PLB) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization established in 1949 that unifies Lithuanian communities abroad. The Constitution of the Lithuanian World Community declares that it consists of all Lithuanians living abroad. The Community is active in 36 countries, including representation in Lithuania. Read more...

Text and photos: Aage Myhre

For the tens of thousands Litvaks who came to South Africa during the years 1860 – 1940, the Cape Town harbour was the first glimpse they had of their new homeland.

It is considered that around 90% of the approximately 80,000 Jews living in South Africa are of Lithuanian descent (the so-called Litvaks), which thus constitutes the largest pocket of Litvaks in the world! You are hereby invited to learn more about this unique Jewish community that still holds Lithuania alive in their hearts, museums and synagogues.

Greetings to VilNews from the Holy Land!

Postcard from Darius Degutis, Lithuania’s Ambassador to Israel and South Africa

Lithuania and Israel are 4000 kilometers apart but this does not prevent us from enjoying and developing a strong partnership. Together, our two countries are embarking on an agenda which is directed at our future, at the opportunities that the 21st century provide to us – we are expanding our economic ties, developing cooperation in the fields of high-tech and innovations, boosting the spirit of entrepreneurship, promoting tourism.

2010 was a remarkable year for our partnership: Israeli Foreign Minister paid a first ever official visit to Lithuania, we witnessed an exchange of seven high level Governmental and Parliamentary visits, three Lithuanian business forums were held in Israel, and a number of cultural events took place. A very positive year of 2010 was crowned by the visit of the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Andrius Kubilius, the first in 16 years.

We have promising plans for 2011 as well: the visit of President Peres to Lithuania is expected, Israel’s Minister of Trade and Industry will bring to Lithuania an Israeli business mission, Lithuania will participate in an International Tourism Exhibition in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem Book Fair, an Lithuanian IT companies are planning further expansion of their activities in Israel.

A very special place is devoted to the history of the Lithuanian Jewish community – the Litvaks. Their story covers the period of more than 600 years. Jews came to Lithuania in the 14th century and they were granted full privileges and rights by Lithuanian Grand Dukes Gediminas and Vytautas Magnus. Later in 1623 the Lithuanian state acknowledged self governed Jewish council which enabled Jewish community to carry its autonomous and fully fledged life.

President of Israel Shimon Peres once said, “you can not be Jewish unless you are Lithuanian or a Litvak as it is known in Yiddish language and Litvak is not just the name of the place, it is a unique character and a major culture”.

Vilnius was not just the main city for the Litvaks, it also served as a cultural and spiritual center for Jewish communities of the whole region. Even today we hear the echo of the wisdom of Elijah ben Shlomo or as he is widely known Gaon of Vilna (1720-1797).

Litvaks have left an important and deep footprint in the history of Lithuania. They contributed significantly to the development of culture, science, business not only in Lithuania and Israel, but in many other countries as well.

President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Samuel Bak, Menachem Begin, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Romain Gary, David Gering, Laurence Harvey, Jascha Heifetz, Grigorij Kanovich, Jacque Lipschitz, Icchokas Meras and many, many other most prominent people and outstanding personalities who are recognized and respected all over the world belong to the same family – the family of Litvaks.

But nothing brings Lithuania and Israel closer than our common passion for basketball. Sarunas Jasikevcius or Sharas as he widely is known in Israel is a true hero of our two nations. Equally loved and praised by every Lithuanian and Israeli, Sharas, by helping Maccabi team to win two European trophies, became a living legend for basketball fans all over Israel.

The European Basketball Championship of 2011 will be held in Lithuania. Shall we say that Lithuania becomes a champion by winning over Israel in the final...?

Ambassador Darius Degutis

Graduated from Vilnius University in 1986. Began his work career in the International Chamber of Commerce, Lithuania Branch. Later export Manager for the company Audėjas. Joined the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991, Nordic countries department. Was appointed Counselor and Deputy Head of Mission to the Lithuanian Embassy in Denmark, 1992. 1998-2001: Deputy chief of mission at the Lithuanian Embassy in USA. 2001-2004: Ambassador in Poland. 2009: Appointed Ambassador of Lithuania to the states of Israel and South Africa.
D. Degutis was awarded the Order for Merits to Lithuania the Commander’s Cross.

Text: Egle and Vytautas Dudenas

Alfonsas Eidintas: “Lithuanian Emigration to the United States, 1868-1950. Mokslo ir enciklopediju leidybos institutas. Vilnius 2005. pp 250

This book is based on the author’s research and his doctoral dissertation (1990) and is splendidly translated into English by Thomas A. Michalski, PhD, who initially undertook the project for the benefit of his adult children. The author was a member of the history faculty of Vilnius University, Lithuania’s Ambassador to the US (1993-1997), to Canada (1997-2000), to Israel/South Africa (2002-2005) and Norway (2006-2010). A. Eidintas is an author and co-author of many books.

The book covers the period 1868 through 1940 in detail, providing a great deal of statistics, historical background, the reasons for emigration, the hardships of immigrants, their organizations, and the eventual adaptation of immigrants to their new country. Some attention is also devoted to remigration to Lithuania, primarily during the period 1920-1940. The author devotes only twenty pages to the political emigration between 1944 and 1950. He writes: “As God is my witness, I did not wish to write about perhaps the most painful and meaningless wave of emigration from Lithuania. The topic really should be dealt with in a separate study. It was an emigration that did not develop naturally and possibly never would have occurred had Lithuania developed on its own and not been effected by the brutal actions of its neighbors”.

Vic Pakalnis here. I was born a Lithuanian – Canadian in a small northern mining town , Malartic , Quebec. My parents Vytautas Pakalniskis and my mother Elena Tamasauskas came to Canada after  World War II. They met and married and I was born in 1950. My grandparents also came over at the same time: Simas and Elena  Tamasauskas . They   taught  me Lithuanian at home ; I learnt French on the street from friends and English when I went to school . My grandparents told me of the glories of ancient Lithuania but also of the hard times under the Nazis and then the Bolsheviks.  It was a sad tale they recounted – my grandfather’s brother was a priest that was sent off to Siberia never to return.  I recall aunts and uncles that had settled in Detroit , Michigan sending packages back home and the stories of misery under Soviet rule . My parents and grandparents never did see Lithuania again  and I certainly had misgivings about visiting but with my 60th birthday approaching, my “ Bucket List”  beckoned , I decided to go  to Vilnius  with my  19 year old son, Peter . This was last summer: June 2010. The journey back home to a place I only imagined for many many years.

We only spent  a week  there – cost us less than $5k all in, but it was a  priceless experience and one you might think of having if you haven’t been to Lithuania recently or haven’t been at all . My son Peter and I came away with a number of great friends and 3 projects that we’re working on.

Vic Pakalnis with his son Peter and the Lithuanian Ambassador to Canada, Ginte Damusis. 

To prepare, we met with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Canada : Ginte Damusis ,   exceptionally  helpful. She provided contacts with the Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), the Lithuanian Institute for Public Administration and briefings on current issues in Lithuania.  The Embassy is quite helpful for business contacts and  even  tourist information . My background is in the mining industry and in the Ontario Public Service (32yrs with the Ontario Ministry of Labour )  and so I was interested in how the new democracy was  unfolding . My son is studying Political Science at Queen’s University , Kingston , Ontario  where I teach  presently .  So our first stop was at MRU ‘s  School of Public Administration . I delivered a lecture on Canadian public services . they were particularly interested in  how we evaluate leadership competencies in the public service . Ontario’s  TRIC to Leadership evaluates 4 key competencies – ability to transform ( T)  , manage change; deliver results ( R)  , good ideas are not sufficient , you need to show results , to lead by inspiration  (I)  not command and control and finally C for connects , across private and public sectors , across ministries , across oceans . Every senior manager from Deputy Minister to Director is evaluated on these competencies.

MRU  is a modern facility, a great learning environment  and the faculty and graduate students attending the session were impressive – they  knew exactly the issues  facing a  professional , non-partisan public service .  There was an interest in establishing an institution relationship  between MRU and Queen’s U.  ( Project #1) .  We’re hoping to deliver  public executive leadership training that might attract interest from other Baltic countries .  I found  the public services in Lithuania  to be less than they can be terms of customer satisfaction  , efficiency and in how they serve the elected government  of the day – the younger generation is ready to change that but there needs to be a renewal in the public service to make that happen .

Someone that has not an ounce of Lithuanian blood but has the soul of a Lithuanian is former Ontario deputy minister  of tourism, Thomas Gibson . He visits Lithuania annual and always enjoys it.  He advised me to meet up with VIC News editor, Aage Myhre when in Vilnius.  And so I did and I met a kindred spirit . He  showed off his town – the night clubs  - 20 or 30 at last count ,  the restaurants  , old Vilnius  and  new Vilnius  and as we sat in the Square  in front of the Presidential Palace sipping  Courvoisier Cognac  -watching the many brides and their bridesmaids touring the square ( picture of the bride et al)  he turned to me and said – “ You know , Napoleon Bonaparte  ( he enjoyed Cognac too) stood  20 feet from where you sit and on June 28th , 1812  addressed his troops before marching off to Moscow . “  Now every Canadian would know that 1812 is significant – it’s  in the War of 1812 that we fought and won the battle against the Americans  , in fact  in burning down the White House we gave the Americans an opportunity to paint it white .  So  as the brandy flowed ,  the plan for a reunion in   June 28th , 2012  took shape . Perhaps  we could get  a  gathering of a few  Canadian – Lithuanians ,   perhaps  get  that famous  poet and singer  and proud  Lithuanian–Canadian  Leonard Cohen to sing :  first we take Vilnius and then we take Berlin !  By the way, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has the hat that Napoleon worn on that day in Vilnius June 28th 1812.  Perhaps we get it and the Napoleon exhibit over for the occasion. (Project #2).

The Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) 

The trip to the Lithuanian Parliament, Seimas  was momentous – its bright , well organized  and  unlike parliaments in Ottawa and Toronto , it has windows !  The party system is similar to Canada‘s. The conservatives are in power  and two parties resembling the liberals and NDP are in opposition .  Outside the Seimas is an exhibit  with pictures , tank barriers and steel girders that stopped the Soviet tanks from occupying the Lithuanian parliament – Never take democracy for granted  -   Peter buried a rock we brought from Canada and  that we buried near the exhibit . if you find it , read the message and re-bury it please.

And finally the discussion  centered around Lithuania’s greatest need   -  a number of  options emerged and then   Egle ,   Aage‘s wife convinced me that that  Lithuanian’s greatest need was ENERGY . As part of the requirements for entry into the EU, Lithuania had to de-commission its Russian built nuclear plant . It provided 80% of the country’s energy .  It was replaced by an oil burning plant with oil piped in from Russia   . Its expensive and not particularly reliable and a source of greenhouse emissions . So what about a  Canadian  CANDU reactor , the safest nuclear reactor in the world , doesn’t use enriched uranium , and that doesn’t contribute to climate changing greenhouse gasses .  ( project #3 ) .  It would be good for Canada , Lithuania and neighbouring Baltic countries.

The four amigos : Zilvenas , Aage , Vic and Peter committed to change Lithuania for the better. 

So as I  came back to my life in Canada,  my time in Vilnius is still fresh in my mind, I‘ve recaptured  my Lithuanian roots and more importantly my son has  very much discovered  his roots – he is working on opening a business in Vilnius and is  working his political network in Ottawa to get that CANDU  reactor into Lithuania .   I’m working on the draft agreement with MRU and as for  VILNUS 2012 -  stay tuned !!!

Cheers

Vic

Vic Pakalnis , P.Eng. , MBA , M.Eng.

Professor

Kinross Professorship in Mining & Sustainability

The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining

Goodwin Hall - 25 Union st , Room 325B

Queen's University

Kingston , Ontario Canada K7L 3N6

Tel 613-533-3327

Fax 613-533-6597

pakalnis@queensu.ca

My son Peter in Trakai, Lithuania’s Middle Age capital. Peter loved Lithuania so much, he has already returned once for business – last autumn –  and will be again soon!

Summer in Vilnius is fantastic! The lively Rotuses (Town Hall) Square is the centre of it all, and Peter enjoyed very much moving around on a Segway (you see him on one in the street, to the right).