Latvian here And resident of Chicago as well

I moved to Chicago form the UK a few months ago, and was very pleased to find Lithuanian dark bread at my local shop! (unfortunately it has been Americanised and is full of sugar, and low on carroway flavours) Back home it is quite common as we had a number of specialist bakeries. Now I know why

I am Latvian and grew up in Chicago. Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle," which was released in 1906, has a Lithuanian as its main character. Also, when I was growing up, the Lithuanian community was centered on the south side of Chicago, with the lake on one side and just about the worst slums you could imagine on the other three sides. I don't know how that worked out for them. Unlike Lithuanians, Latvians don't really like each other too much, so our families scattered all over the greater Chicagoland area. One last point. The name of the Lithuanian American newspaper cited in the video, Draugas, means "Friend." Now you know.

Yeah Chicago's really the "Eastern European" city in the US. It's got the largest population of polish people outside of Warsaw, as well as a whole neighborhood called "Ukrainian Village." Tons of immigrants from all over Eastern Europe , mostly polish people, Ukrainians and Russians though.

Could you do a video about Brazilian Lithuanians? I have always been so curious, especially considering how many they are

I'm from Chicago and I am used to meeting Polish, Irish, Russian and Lithuanian people. I even had an assistant principal who was Lithuanian. Not surprising when you live in the midwest.

Very true. The Chicagoland Metropolitan Area is a hotspot for so many European immigrant groups like Lithuanians,Poles,Serbians,Bulgarians,Ukrainians etc... Especially in the suburban areas of Chicago. The area is like a "Little Lithuania" . You can get various Lithuanian products from stores, bakeries and restaurants. Not as big as the Polish population but still relevant.

My Great Grandparents immigrated from Lithuania to Chicago in the late 1800s. Pretty cool to find out why.

I’m in Milwaukee and I’m part Lithuanian! It’s less than an hour away from Chicago. I’d love to go to the Lithuanian community center🇱🇹

Hello Chicago Lithuanian descent people! I am of Polish descent so I send my regards!

As Lithuanian living close to Lemont, I approve this video haha

Thank you for this video, im lithuanian and im from 110th and western on the southside, still in the city!

IDK about the North side but the 'strongholds" of Lithuanians was in Bridgeport and Marquette Park. I had many Lithuanian friends in Chicago Lawn/Marquette Park area. Last i knew,Lemont was the new "Lithuanian "enclave. The Chicago Areas are either Hispanic or African American these days. My Uncle's wife was Lituanian and lived near 69th and Damen for many years.

I am 1st generation American - my grandparents/mom were sponsored during the Displaced Persons act and relocated to Brighton Park/ Marquette Park - were I was raised all my life.

both of my father's parents were from vilnius. as i understand they both worked in the stockyards for some time . according to my aunt their experience was similar to the horror that Jurgis Rudkus from the book "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair lived. it says something about humans that there have to be laws to protect workers from hellish work conditions.

One of my Lithuanian friend's family here in Chicago has a summer house in Union Pier, MI. Her mother told me that part of the Lake Michigan shoreline, around the Indiana/Michigan border, is or used to be referred to as the Lithuanian Riviera.

Wow... !!! My best friend, It's always great. I wish you every day of your development. Have a happy day!

Lithuanians moved to lots of places , a year or so after 1911 my Great grandparents brought their first born ( my Nan) from Lithuania to the UK . Two of Gg's brothers lived here too . His sister Kate later wrote to him from Riga Latvia . So sad they never got to meet again after leaving Lithuania , South Lithuania shows up on my DNA ancestry .

Very interesting video. Every single time I go to a big city my soul feels like it’s being crushed.

As someone in the area, I actually know quite a few people with Lithuanian parents.

I was suprised how big of a community they had when I went there

Great video. You should do one about Latvians, especially in Philadelphia where the Society of Free Latvians (aka Letts) has existed since 1892.

Yes. I attended Maria High School; founded by a Lithuanian order of nuns. This is right across the street from Marquette Park where that structure you showed is. It has since been sold off to a charter school. The nuns didn't like us Irish! The neighborhood help strong but most moved out to the southwest suburbs.

I always wondered this my neighborhood of Brighton Park they still serve mas in the language of Lithuanian

My Great Great Grandparents came over from Lithuania in the first wave at the end of the 1800s. My Great Great Grandpa was a miner, and I have one of his ribbons from 1898 for the Mine Workers Of America and another one for the Lithuanians Society for Brotherly Charity of St Casimir from the 3rd of July 1904." I was born in Cicero, Chicago in 1973 and when I was a young child, I remember Cicero was still heavily Lithuanian. It was spoken in the streets and in the stores. My Grandma, Great Grandma and Great Great Grandma are long gone now, but I remember them speaking Lithuanian and cooking some of the best comfort food. As an adult now, I wish they were still around, so that I could better learn and appreciate my heritage and the Lithuanian culture. Thank you very much for sharing your video!

Cool video

we lithuanians hide in plain sight. you could walk past hundreds in your lifetime and not even know it. and in the end, only the lithuanians will recognize those lithuanians because no matter how little of a non existent explanation there is for it, people can recognize their own without understanding how or why or even knowing who they are.

Thanks to these guys who go outside of LT. In case of another russification of Lithuania, these guys will save our heritage!

I have never lived outside the US (I’ll be 22 later this year). From when I was 19 months old until I finished Kindergarten I lived in the Chicago area, whereas the rest of my life I’ve lived in New England. I’ve never met someone from Lithuania or another Baltic country, but after watching this I wonder if I would’ve met some Lithuanians had I stayed in Chicago for at least a few more years.

Since you are from Canada (as am I), you should do a video of Lithuanians in Canada. Teviške Žiburai is the weekly Lithuanian newspaper from Toronto.

Hey look, it’s me!

And then there is also Pennsylvania and California outside of Illinois where a lot of lithuanians are located

Hey i am Lithuanian and in Chicago

My dad's side is full Lithuanian but I know zero about this language or culture. I'm in Illinois near Chicago.

And Chicagoans have Lithuanians to thank for Baltic Bakery! Best breads that aren't that crappy soft white junk.

I did not know this! It is quite interesting. also bruh 69th view

It clearly says in your picture the newspaper was founded in the year 1909, not 1919 3:30

Cool information! Though in the photo at 4:08 - may be (I could be wrong) Ukrainians but definitely not Lithuanians. Nevertheless very informative content.

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Was Chicago Bears owner George Halas Lithuanian?

What are the top postal services in Lithuania? Just curious 🤔

Because the Russian Empire treated Lithuanians, etc. like crap. So, like my Polish ancestors, they left for Chicago. Same for the Soviet Onion, treated people terribly, communism not being any part of that treatment (dictatorship was).

You could expand the question and just say why so many eastern Europeans in Chicago. I went to graduate school in Chicago two decades ago, then the number of Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, and other eastern Europeans blew me away. And many were recent immigrants.

see people from the 1800s are they still in Chicago? like Family's had kids

Nice video! Not Lithuanian or American either.

Yes, time to attend my religious mASS with fellow Littlealiens... Ugh...

Not more than Serbians, Bulgarians and polish for sure

Been in Chicago my entire life and I've never seen, let alone met, a lithuanian

I live in Los Angeles, would never move to Shikago

Lithuanian Jews did not flee Russian rule. They escaped from anti-semitism in the Lithuanian countryside full of native Lithuanians.