Along with thousands of refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion of Eastern Europe, a young couple and their baby left Lithuania in the summer of 1944. They expected to return home at the end of the war but instead had to move further west into war-ravaged Germany, ahead of the approaching Soviet army. After miraculously surviving bombings and near starvation, they ended their flight in displaced persons' camps under American administration. In these camps three more children were born and a grandmother died. Unable to return to communist-occupied Lithuania, they found the chance to start a new life when a helpful stranger invited them to the United States. This memoir, created by their two daughters Audrone and Danute, aims to preserve knowledge of family history for the generations born in the United States who, not knowing Lithuanian, cannot access the information contained in journals, letters, and photos. The authors' father had chronicled the family's odyssey in a journal written in Lithuanian. This memoir includes translated excerpts from his journal in which he recorded his memories of pre-war Lithuania, his childhood on a farm, and his efforts to gain an education. He recounted the fate of relatives who remained behind, some of whom perished in Siberian exile. His journal provides insights into a complex era, in a country struggling to remain independent between two brutal dictators - Hitler and Stalin. In this fairly typical narrative of World War II refugees who come to America, readers will find a unique set of characters and unexpected twists of fate. Equally important here is the story of cultural transition, the often-painful adaptations to a new culture, along with the struggle to preserve one's own traditions and identity. This family history shows how much each generation has inherited from the past: we are complex, hybrid fruits on a transplanted tree.
About the Author: Audrone Barunas Willeke and Danute Barunas worked as a team to prepare this family history. Audrone is responsible for the text and the translations, while Danute prepared the layout and photos. Audrone, with a Ph.D. in German literature, taught at Miami University (Ohio) until her retirement to the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Danute is a graphic artist who has her own design firm. She lives in the Boston area and is an accomplished pastel artist. Both are fluent in English and Lithuanian and have traveled numerous times to Lithuania. They realize how much they have been shaped by their Lithuanian heritage and by the loving dedication of their parents who worked hard to create opportunities for their children in this new land. This memoir is a tribute to them as well as a gift to their descendants.