Balzekas Museum

I just spent the last week or so in Chicago at the annual meeting of the AAG, and while I was there I took the opportunity to visit the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture (and Grand Duke's Lithuanian restaurant!!). I've wanted to go for a while now, since I learned about the museum's exhibit on the Lithuanian Displaced Persons Camps in post-War Germany. Since that's where Chute and Tevuk spent several years before emigrating to the US, I hoped to get perspective about their lives and also some information about where to search for more records (since I'm not convinced the documents I got from ITS cover the extent of what exists).

Balzekas Museum
(6500 S. Pulaski Rd. Chicago IL 60629)

Beet soup!

Cepelinai!

The museum was well worth the visit, and I hope they make the "No Home to Go To" exhibit permanent. Most interesting for my family history purposes were a couple example documents that were part of the emigration process. The first is an affidavit of support from a resident family in the United States to the immigrating family residing in the German camps. Something similar must have been provided for Chute and Tevuk to come here. I am fairly certain it was the Žukauskas family in New Hampshire that gave sponsorship. I wonder if these records are kept somewhere by the US government. I don't think they would contain any information I don't already know, but I do enjoy seeing the small details they provide.

Example sponsorship document.

The second interesting document I saw at the museum was a "welcome letter" from the Displaced Persons Commission in Washington. The letter states that "Congress is interested in how displaced persons fare after settling in the United States" and that "it requires that each person who immigrated ... provide certain factual information" periodically for two years. I can't help but be cynical and believe that this had less to do with an interest in how people fare and more to do with surveillance of mistrusted or potentially dependent persons. If things were anything like they are today, there must have been politicians just looking for reasons to scale back the re-settlement programs. Nevertheless, it would be very interesting to find the reports that Tevuk would have been required to file. It's definitely something to follow up on.

Example "welcome letter"

A moldy old photocopy of Tevuk's Green Card

After looking through the rest of the museum, I asked if there was somebody I could speak to about family history research into the DP camps. I spoke with several people who took an interest in what I was doing, including Stanley Balzekas himself. I also spoke with a very knowledgeable genealogist by the name of Karile, who affirmed that I am eligible for dual citizenship and noted that she is able to do the required document translation. I am going to get the documents organized and send copies to her for preparation. Finally, it was suggested that I visit the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, which houses many documents from the Camps and other important moments in Lithuanian history (e.g. correspondence between members of the Lithuanian-American community and the members of the Lithuanian nationalist movement.

Lithuanian Research and Studies Center
(5600 S. Claremont Ave, Chicago, IL 60636)

I went the following day to the research center, and was greeted by some very kind and helpful archivists. Not only did they help me to find records from the Wolterdingen DP Camp (where Chute and Tevuk stayed), but they helped to read/translate documents, search books, and think about other ways to find information. Sadly the records are not digitized or indexed by name, so searching is difficult. I didn't find anything about Chute or Tevuk specifically. Mostly the documents they had were from the camp school, so there were names of students and teachers, but not much beyond that. I did find, however, an Algirdas Kisielius (born 1938) from Vilkaviškis, and suspect there is a chance he is connected to the family. He appears to have been a very good student, judging by his report card.

Report Card for Algirdas Kisielius

I'm not actually certain when Chute and Tevuk arrived in Wolterdingen, or if they were transferred there from another camp. If that is the case, there may be other records at the Center. I was also told some records are filed by the various organizations or trade schools that existed in the camps, so if I know what associations Chute and Tevuk had, I may find more that way. I will need to find out more about what they were doing and where they were and then check back. I'd actually really like to spend a few months in the archive and write a history of Lithuanian displaced persons, but that is a massive undertaking and would require years of professional work. Maybe someday.

One thing they didn't know at the archive was where I might find records concerning Tevuk's conscription and forced labor by the Nazis. I'm certain these records exist, since I know that Tevuk received small reparations from the German government in his later years. He never pursued it himself, they just tracked him down through records they held and started sending him money. Anyway, there must be some way to access the documents they used to do that.