A new monograph by VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute scholar and historian Dr. Asta Petraitytė-Briedienė, titled „Mylėti Lietuvą iš tolo“: Lietuvos generaliniai konsulai Čikagoje Juzefa ir Petras Povilas Daužvardžiai” (To Love Lithuania from Afar: The Lithuanian Consuls General in Chicago, Juzefa and Petras Povilas Daužvardžiai), has been published. Congratulations to the author, and we invite everyone interested in the history of Lithuanian diplomacy and the fates of the Lithuanian diaspora to read this remarkable book.

Diplomats Dr. Petras Povilas Daužvardis and Juzefa Rauktytė-Daužvardienė, a husband-and-wife team, served as long-time Lithuanian consuls in the United States. From 1937 to 1983, their consular duties in Chicago, their diverse public activities, and their private lives were deeply intertwined with Lithuania and its citizens, both in the homeland and in the diaspora. Drawing on archival material preserved in Lithuania and the U.S., previously published scholarly works, and oral history, the book recounts the extraordinary life stories of the Daužvardžiai consuls. Their innate diplomacy and patriotism serve as an inspiring example of how to love, respect, and defend one’s homeland—even from afar.