"Amateur Cultural Activities"

Displaced Persons living in the American-occupied zones of postwar Germany took steps to preserve Lithuanian culture and history.

After UNRRA established separate camps based on the national identity of the Displaced Persons, the DPs themselves began to administer their own camps. The DPs used signs, flags, and other symbols to identify the national origins of the particular camp.

Many Lithuanian camps, for example, erected miniature "Gedimino Stulpai"—or "Pillars of Gediminas"—in the central squares of the camp territory. Others also built miniature models of Lithuania's famous castle, the "Trakų pilis."

Pride of heritage also emerged in ceremonies, song and dance festivals, exhibits* ("parados") and other forms of "amateur cultural activities." These activities not only reminded the refugees of Lithuania, they also fueled the collective indignation about Soviet occupation of the homeland.

Seligenstadt, Germany, 1946. Lithuanians raise the national flag at the Displaced Persons camp. The women wear traditional folkdress.

*We have many more photos, for example, of the textile and doll exhibit that my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, helped organize in Schweinfurt; I'll get around to posting those, too.