Keletas 1966 m. Pasaulio lietuvių jaunimo kongreso peticijos Jungtinėms Tautoms rengimo peripetijų

Abstract

In 1966 the first Lithuanian World Youth Congress was organized; and its main political highlight was the submission, to representatives of the United Nations, of a petition drafted and circulated by Lithuanian émigré youth demanding the re-establishment Lithuanian national independence. Documents held in the Vytautas Kamantas collection of the Lithuanian Emigration Institute Archives at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas reveal the details of how this massive endeavor was organized. The material consists mainly of correspondence between members of the same organization and even different organizations active in the U.S., all reflecting their Lithuanian- related activities and the hurdles they faced in implementing their goals as well as in co-operating among themselves. It is alleged that the petition condemning Soviet colonialism and demanding that Lithuania be granted freedom and independence was signed by roughly 140,000 Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and persons of other ethnic backgrounds. Many of those who signed heard about Lithuania‘s occupation by the Soviet Union for the first time in their lives.