I don't think you'll need a coat.

In The Long Road Home, Ben Shepherd details why the Baltic Displaced Persons valued education above most everything else. When I read that section, I also recalled an article, "Culture in Adversity," by Linas Saldukas published in Lituanus in 2006. I linked to Saldukas's article once before, but it's worth a close, second read.

Saldukas does a great job of explaining how the World War II DPs were different from other immigrants. He also clarifies how the distinct DP experience shaped the foundation of the refugees' cultural lives in America. Sometimes, the DP experience distorted American life.

The numbers of educated people who fled the Baltic countries at the end of World War II is astonishing. It's no wonder that our families taught us that an education was the most important form of wealth. The expression at home was, "moklsa nė nėšči ant nugaros," or (loosely) "an education isn't like something a beast of burden carries on its back."

Erlangen, Germany, Spring 1947. My Mom, on the far right, and her medical-school classmates return from lecture. Look how sharp all of these DPs looked!