The Forgotten breakthrough of the 1960s: the beginning of the emigration of Lithuanians from the USSR

ENThe article deals with the hitherto unexplored issues of the emigration of lithuanians from the ussr to western countries. the main focus is on the factors that triggered the emigration process (the start of which coincided with de-stalinization and the thaw in us-ussr relations) and the scale of emigration. it seeks answers to the questions of what means were used by lithuanian families separated by the war to fight for the right to reunite and what resonance was caused by the appearance of the first compatriots, who escaped from the soviet union, in the free world at the turn of the 1960s. Only the most persistent families, who overcame bureaucratic hurdles and did not give up even after several setbacks, were reunited. the arrival of lithuanians, including political prisoners and deportees returning from siberia, galvanized and mobilized the lithuanian diaspora: people shared the latest news about life in the occupied homeland and the addresses of influential attorneys and politicians; they searched for the ways for their next of kin to emigrate. the political thaw did not last long, but the limited migration and family reunification that began during that period continued throughout the soviet era, right until 1990. [p. 94].