On February 27, 2025, at the Vilnius Book Fair, historian and researcher at the VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute, Dr. Asta Petraitytė-Briedienė, presented her monograph “Loving Lithuania from Afar: Lithuania’s Consuls General in Chicago, Juzefa and Petras Povilas Daužvardis.” The event featured the author alongside Professor Juozas Skirius, Dr. Daiva Dapkutė, and Rimvydas Daužvardis.
Based on documents preserved in Lithuania and the United States, as well as testimonies from living witnesses, the book tells the extraordinary yet often overlooked story of consuls Juzefa and Petras Povilas Daužvardis. As a married couple, they served as Lithuania’s long-standing consuls in the U.S. from 1937 to 1983. Their diplomatic roles in Chicago, along with their public and private lives, were deeply intertwined with Lithuania and its people, both at home and in the diaspora. Their dedication, diplomacy, and patriotism serve as an inspiring example of how one can love, respect, and defend their homeland, even from afar.
Photographs by Jonas Petronis.
