Lithuanian Roots: A Paradigm Shift for the My Family

Rachela and Francis in Detroit, Mich.

For the whole story about my Christmas break, check here.

 My cousins in Lithuania are relatives of my great grandmother, Rachela Bielowska, who moved to the US when she was 19.  Over the years, family has kept in touch and this was my third time visiting them.  

 After the many discussions (in Polish I might add) about our family and Lithuanian history during this visit, I’m fairly certain that my great grandmother was NOT Polish and in fact Lithuanian, which means that my family is also not 100% Polish, but in fact 25% Lithuanian.  

The confusion in this lies in the history of Lithuania, which was explained to me in my first geography lesson with pierogi.  The western part of Lithuania, including where Rachela lived, was incorporated into Poland at one point in time.  Eventually, the western part of Lithuania became part of Russia and Poland was given former German territory that now includes cities like Wroclaw (Breslau) and Gdansk (Danzing). 

 During the Russian occupation, the Lithuanian language was banned, but Polish was allowed.  Thus, many of the older generations know Polish and Russian.  When Rachela immigrated to the U.S., she spoke Polish and Russian fluently and actually traveled from a Polish city with a Polish passport and settled into a Polish neighborhood where she always spoke Polish; but, according to our family, she was in fact Lithuanian.

 

It took a lot of stories about Rachela and the Lithuanian history before I finally realized that everyone was trying to tell me Rachela was Lithuanian even though she spoke Polish.  However, there really isn’t much harm in the switch, aside from crazy different languages and national pride, the cultures and foods are quite similar!