Už žmogų, už laisvę ir už tėvynę : Sambūris "Šviesa" 1946–1957 m

Abstract

The academic youth organization called “Šviesa” was founded in 1946 in Tübingen, Germany. After the scouts and the Catholic ateitininkai, “Šviesa” was the third-largest organization of Lithuanian student youth in the West, with many chapters forming in German university towns as well as in France, Sweden, the United States, and Australia. The organization appealed to students wishing to emphasize their independent thinking; it proclaimed liberal and humanist ideals; and it championed the restoration of an independent Lithuanian state, principles of Western democracy, and a broadly conceived humanism based on respect for human freedom and toleration of human individuality and ideological beliefs. In presenting a brief survey of “Šviesa”, this article endeavors to decipher its “success formula“ in Germany, to review the circumstances of its founding, and to reveal its importance for, and influence on, academic youth and diaspora community activities as a whole.