Where'd they go? My people left Lithuania and went to: SOUTH AMERICA

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 8, 2009 at 7:37am

Here's a Wikipedia article about Lithuanians in Brazil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanians_in_Brazil

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 10, 2009 at 8:32pm

Do you have Lithuanian relative who went to Brazil, or Argentina? Or maybe you didn't even know that your great-uncle did. Here's the place to talk about that...or learn about that. I learned I have cousins in Brazil...and Brazil just got the 2016 Olympics....so let's form a troupe to go!

Permalink Reply by Tom S. on October 10, 2009 at 10:00pm

Richie,

Many Lithuanians ended up migrating to South America once the U.S. established immigration quotas in the early 1920s.

The Bremen website has many of the records on-line for Lithuanians emigrating through that port in the 1920s, most of whom were headed to South America.

Tom S.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 11, 2009 at 9:13am

Tom,
What would the URL be for that site? I'll put it on the main page.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on March 9, 2010 at 10:23am

I came across this advertisement for transport to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in a 1931 Biržai newspaper and thought it was interesting. When you look at the Bremen ship records, The Lloyd line, and the name of F. Missler in Buenos Aires, show up again and again.

Permalink Reply by Gloria Weber Baikauskas on June 30, 2010 at 10:57pm

If you talk to the families in Brazil in Sao Paolo State you will find out that their immigrant ancestors were promised free passage to Brazil, along with free coffee plantations they would own when they arrived. Instead they became like slaves....were slaves....and could not escape for a long time. This started in about 1927 to 1932, IIRC. They are all free now, but the resentment remains for many of them. This wasn't true of all those who went to Brazil.....just most of them in that time period.

As it happens one Baikauskas was the secretary at that Catholic Church in Buenos Aires. She was the daughter of Stanislovas Baikauskas who made his name more Spanish changing it to Estanislao.

There is one Baikauskas family in Sao Paolo.....the city.....and one Baikauskas family in Buenos Aires. I haven't found any in any of the other S. American countries so far. Both are from Antanas Baikauskas. Stanislovas was his youngest son with his I think second wife. The other in Brazil was his cousin from Kaunas.

Because of WWII the Lithuanians lost contact with their S. American family.....and the S. Americans assumed they were all dead in the war. I assume that is/was true of many families.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on September 1, 2010 at 8:14am

Gloria,
That's really useful insight; thanks! I'm sure the same happened to my probable cousins in Sao Paolo.

Permalink Reply by Gloria Weber Baikauskas on September 1, 2010 at 11:09am

There is a large Lithuanian community in Uraguay. The ones in Argentina are pretty much all in the old international airport vicinity around the church mentioned before in Buenos Aires. The later ones went to a more northern city area whose name escapes me. There is also a very large Lithuanian community in Sao Paolo, the city. I used to have good contact with them, but I was offline for a few years and lost those contacts.

I do still have one contact in Sao Paolo State who is Lithuanian. If you write to me offlist I will give you his name and email address, or FB page.