Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce in Chicago

03/23/2015

Saturday, April 11 @ 2PM
Author Tony Mankus presents his autobiography: Where Do I Belong? - An Immigrant’s Quest for Identity
As Congress considers a groundbreaking immigration reform bill, one Chicagoland resident releases an intimate portrayal of his incredible journey to America. After 20 years of writing, a local prominent attorney Tony Mankus officially releases a memoir, entitled Where Do I Belong? - An Immigrant’s Quest for Identity. The memoir sheds light on the human element of the immigration experience, an issue we often lose sight of among the heated political rhetoric surrounding this issue.
The captivating memoir outlines an emotional quest for identity in the context of the author’s immigrant experience. It traces parts of his life after he and his family were forced to leave their native Lithuania during the latter stages of WWII. It includes some childhood recollections of Lithuania (the author was only 5 when they left), their survival efforts during the final months of WWII in Germany, their experiences after the war in the DP camp in Kempten, Allgäu, immigration to the US in 1950, and the author’s teen years growing up in Elizabeth, N.J.
The memoir continues with the author’s efforts to make it as an adult in America and deal with cultural conflicts, identity issues, and feeling of not really "belonging." It concludes, finally, with the sense that he was beginning to blend into mainstream America, especially after he, his wife, and their four daughters visited the newly independent Lithuania in 2003 and 2005 - a closing of the circle, of sorts.
Tony Mankus, the author, is an attorney in private practice with his wife, Margarita Marchan-Mankus, who is also an attorney. They have four adult daughters: Clarissa, Camille, Margarita and Ariana. Clarissa is a manager with Northwest Mutual, a large financial services company in Milwaukee; Camille is a graphic designer with Bloomberg in New York City; Dr. Margarita is a Resident at the UIC Hospital in Chicago; and 1st Lt. Ariana, a 2013 graduate of the U.S.
Entrance Fee $5; Museum Members Free

11/01/2013

Christmas Sale at Museum’s Gift Shop has begun!!! We have a lot of books, ceramic candle houses, straw ornaments, amber and much more. Also, we have very special hand-finished gifts
from Lithuania for your loved ones. Made by “EtnoDesign” (located in Vilnius, Lithuania) so called “Rutusėliai“ or Woody Ruties – „a homely wooden ornament – fits in the palm of your hand adapting easily to the lives of people with beautiful hearts.“ (EtnoDesign).
Woody Ruties enjoy:
*swaying in a window
*hanging under a lamp
*decorating wall and furniture as well as doors
* playing hide-and-seek inside a bouquet or on a Christmas tree
*holding messages on a fridge
Most of all they delight to serve as postmen – silent messengers at any time and any place.
Just attach a Woody Ruties to a cheerful note and hang it
on the door of your beloved, or that of a neighbor then knock and run away :) .(EtnoDesign).

Photo by Ruta Akelaityte

09/09/2013

Chamber of Commerce members meeting at Grand Dukes on 23 th of August.

04/22/2013

Film Screening and Lecture: Friday, April 26 @ 7 p.m.
The Age of Czeslaw Milosz

Chicago Sister Cities International Vilnius Committee and Chicago Sister Cities International Warsaw Committee in partnership with the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture invite you to attend the screening of The Age of Czeslaw Milosz. This handsome documentary commemorates the 100th birthday of Czeslaw Milosz, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish-Lithuanian poet who's life spanned a century.

Famous cultural figures, friends, and family retrace the life and work of this extraordinary thinker, joined by Milosz’s own words and a wealth of archival material. Born in a cross-border region of Lithuania in 1911, Milosz grew up a polyglot, fluent in Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, English, and French. After studying law, Milosz traveled to Paris, where he published poems, fiction, and essays. This led him to Warsaw, where he spent World War II working for underground presses. Surviving N**i rule, he went on to serve as a cultural attache of Poland in Paris. In 1951, he defected to the West and wrote his most famous prose work, The Captive Mind. By 1960, Milosz had emigrated to the U.S. to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout, he continued to publish poetry that spoke in clear words to the human condition during times of tumult. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, Milosz returned to Poland, where he passed away in 2004 at the age of 93. More than a well-researched biography, The Age of Czeslaw Milosz is a lyrical reflection on a life spent in exile yet filled with humor, passion, and big ideas that often went against the spirit of the age. (Description courtesy of Facets Mulitmedia)
Directed by Juozas Javaitis, Lithuania (2011) 185 mins.
In Lithuanian with English subtitles.

After the film screening, Prof. John Merchant of Loyola University will discuss the film and its subject.

Admission: $5 | Members: FREE

Tickets at the door

Location: Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago IL 60629 Directions
This program is made possible in part by Grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the ECPC.

04/11/2013

Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce Meeting on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture. Kugelis and Refreshments. Members free, guests $10. Inga Lukauskiene, President of LinenMe, largest manufacturer of Lithuanian linen, will talk about starting business in the US and selling Lithuanian products.. R.S.V.P. 773-582-6500

01/19/2013