Lithuanian Immigrants

 Rubbing from the Ellis Island Wall-of-Honor -"Michael Kazalis" was my grandfather whom immigrated from Lithuania in 1910. Michael had battery acid poured deliberately into his right ear so he could leave the Czar's army and provide support for his suddenly deceased brother's family in America.

This photo from 1952 depicts my grandfather seated with my grandmother Beatrice on his left along with his stepchildren. Neither one of my grandparents could read or write in their own language due to a Czar Nicholas II decree forbiding the Lithuanian language be taught in Lithuanian schools. Children were to be Rusified. For the entire 63 years my grandmother was in the United States she never spoke a word in any language but Lithuanian. No one ever questioned her right. No one could.

"No matter how high we hold the star spangled banner, the ground of our ancestral origins is always at a different place from where we now stand"                Jim Kazalis Home   biography   9/11 story   brochure   contact us 9/12 syndrome   immigrants