Athletic Cooperation between the Republic of Lithuania and Lithuanian-American community, 1935-1940

• In Event: Diasporic Routes: Lithuanian Communities' Networks Across the Americas

Abstract

Although general trends, key events and success stories (for example, Eurobasket titles in 1937 and 1939) in the saga of athletic cooperation between the Republic of Lithuania and Lithuanian-American athletes are known, some aspects of these relations remain unclear. This paper aims at exploring the organizational patterns of the Lithuanian-American community that bolstered this cooperation. It reveals the social profile of the most prominent individuals, the main organizations (such as American Lithuanian Sports Committee, and American Lithuanian Athletic Association), and the fundraising campaigns. Furthermore, the paper aims to reveal and explain some of the reasons that precluded even more cordial advancement of this partnership. We tentatively assert that these obstacles were not solely confined to interpersonal and inter-organizational conflicts among various groups, but also reflected broader dissatisfaction within certain ideological groupings of the Lithuanian-American community with the authoritarian regime in the Republic of Lithuania.

Short Bio

Egidijus Balandis is a Junior Research Fellow at the VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute. He is also a lecturer at the Vytautas Magnus University where he teaches several courses on a history of Lithuanian diaspora, intellectual history of Lithuanian exile, and civil society in East-Central Europe. He defended his Ph.D thesis “Sport in the Social Fabric of U.S. Lithuanians in the First Half of the 20th century” in November 2019.His research interests include history of Lithuanian diaspora, history of civil society and a social and cultural history of sports.

Author

• Egidijus Balandis, Vytautas Magnus University