Question of Lithuanian diaspora identity : analysis of Leonardas Andriekus' case

Abstract

The article raises the issue of person identity related to the concepts of ‘emigrant’, ‘expatriate’ and ‘refugee’. Kostas Ostrauskas, a representative of Lithuanian emigration, notes that conceptions ‘an expatriate’ and ‘a refugee’ should not be used interchangeably with the term ‘exile’. The attitudes towards the problem of identity expressed by Antanas Maceina, Juozas Eretas, Juozas Girnius and other representatives of Lithuanian Diaspora is also analyzed. The second part of the article addresses a concrete question of Leonardas Andriekus’ identity. Attempts are made to find out which category – emigrants, expatriates or refugees – he can be assigned to. Andriekus himself notes that he is neither emigrant, nor expatriate, because he did not emigrate; he is not an expatriate, because nobody exiled him; he is not a refugee, because he has not escaped from his native land. As he left Lithuania involuntarily, but did not escape, because to study abroad he was sent by Franciscans leaders, it may be concluded that Andriekus is a symbolic expatriate.