The World Lithuanian Community: a primer in English
What the World Lithuanian Community is, where it came from in 1949, how its national communities, Seimas and board fit together, and what its youth wing does.
If you have Lithuanian roots and have ever been handed a leaflet at a church fair, sent a child to a Saturday school or bought a ticket for a folk dance evening, there is a fair chance the organisers belonged to a local branch of a national Lithuanian community. Those national communities are joined in a worldwide body, the World Lithuanian Community, or Pasaulio Lietuvių Bendruomenė in Lithuanian (often shortened to PLB). This primer explains in plain English what it is, where it came from and how it is put together.
Where it came from
The idea goes back to the displaced persons camps in Germany after the Second World War. By 1948 the Lithuanian refugees there knew that most of them would resettle overseas rather than go home. Exile leaders wanted a way to keep the scattered groups in touch, and the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania prepared two documents for the purpose. On 14 June 1949 it published the Lithuanian Charter, a short statement of principles, together with provisional rules for a worldwide community. That is why the organisation dates its origins to 1949.
As the refugees settled in the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, South America and elsewhere in Europe, they set up national communities on the model the Charter described. The worldwide body held its founding Seimas (its congress) in New York in August 1958. More than a hundred delegates came from twenty countries, adopted a constitution and elected the first board.
How it is put together
The World Lithuanian Community is a federation. Its building blocks are the national communities, one per country, and each runs its own affairs under its own statutes and the laws of its country. Above them sit a small number of worldwide bodies.
| Body | Lithuanian name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| National communities | kraštų bendruomenės | Run local chapters, schools and events in each country; elect delegates to the Seimas |
| Seimas | PLB Seimas | The highest body; meets at least once every three years, sets direction, elects the other bodies |
| Board | PLB valdyba | Carries out the Seimas's decisions between sessions; elected for three years |
| Control commission | Kontrolės komisija | Checks the accounts |
| Dispute committee | Konfliktų sprendimo komitetas | Interprets the constitution and settles disputes |
The constitution that ties these together is described in more detail on the page about how the World Lithuanian Community is organised.
The Seimas
For its first decades the Seimas met in North America, mostly in Chicago and Toronto, because that was where the largest communities and most of the volunteers were. After Lithuania restored its independence in 1990, the organisation moved closer to the homeland. A representation office opened in Vilnius in 1992, and since 1997 the Seimas sessions have been held in Vilnius.
Who belongs
The membership idea is broad. In principle, every Lithuanian living outside Lithuania, together with their family, is part of the community; there is no entrance exam. In practice, people take part through their national community: they pay a small yearly contribution, vote for local boards, send their children to the weekend school or help with events. National communities exist in several dozen countries on every inhabited continent. In 1992 communities in the former Soviet republics, sometimes called the eastern communities, joined as well.
What it does
Most of the visible work happens locally, but the worldwide bodies coordinate several areas.
- Education: support for Saturday and weekend schools, teaching materials and teacher seminars.
- Culture: the large song and dance festivals held in North America over several decades, and support for choirs, dance groups and exhibitions.
- Publishing: the monthly magazine Pasaulio lietuvis, issued since 1963, described on the page about the diaspora press.
- Scholarship: help in founding a chair of Lithuanian studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1984.
- Representation: speaking for Lithuanians abroad in dealings with Lithuanian institutions, including a joint commission with the Lithuanian parliament.
At our weekend school in Manchester, most of this is invisible. What families notice is the result: a textbook that someone in another country edited, a summer camp poster, a choir that turns up from a neighbouring town for the February 16 concert.
The youth association
Young people have their own structure. The first World Lithuanian Youth Congress took place in 1966, in Chicago and at camps in North America, and the World Lithuanian Youth Association (Pasaulio lietuvių jaunimo sąjunga) was founded in 1972. It brings together the national youth associations of young adults of Lithuanian descent and holds a world youth congress every few years in a different country. The head of the youth association also sits on the worldwide board, which gives younger members a voice at the top table.
A short timeline
- 1946: Lithuanian refugees in Germany set up a community of exiles at a meeting in Hanau.
- 1949: The Lithuanian Charter and provisional community rules are published on 14 June.
- 1958: The founding Seimas meets in New York and adopts the first constitution.
- 1963: The first issues of Pasaulio lietuvis appear.
- 1966: The first World Lithuanian Youth Congress is held.
- 1972: The World Lithuanian Youth Association is founded.
- 1973: The Seimas adopts the constitution in the form later amended several times.
- 1992: A representation office opens in Vilnius, and the eastern communities join.
- 1997: The Seimas meets in Vilnius for the first time.
What it is not
It helps to be clear about the limits. The World Lithuanian Community is not part of the Lithuanian state and does not issue passports, birth certificates or visas; those questions go to embassies and the Migration Department in Vilnius. Its constitution keeps it independent of any single political party, ideology or religion. And it is a voluntary organisation: most of the people who run its national communities do so in the evenings and at weekends.
For anyone who simply wants to find Lithuanian activities nearby, the practical step is to look for the national community of your own country and its local chapters. More pieces about community life abroad are collected in the community circle.
Agne Corrigan
Agne grew up in Klaipeda and has lived in Manchester for fifteen years, where she helps out at a weekend school and with community events. She writes about community life, travel and raising children between two cultures.