JOSEPH KAZICKAS: ODYSSEY OF HOPE

The story of a Lithuanian immigrant's escape from communism to freedom in America and the return to his beloved homeland.
"... always pursue the maximum possible outcome in a situation ...". The statement is made by the former member of the resistance movement in Lithuania during the Second World War, a refugee in Germany, an immigrant to United States of America, a former academic and above all, a dedicated fighter for the independence of Lithuania:
Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas. The spirit in working was needed to manage what he has done
in business, in politics, and to assist in making the occupied country Lithuania a free country. He has met the all, the American Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald W. Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William J. Clinton and George W. Bush.
All of them were told about the situation of his beloved country. The aim of the contacts were to make the country independent from the occupation made by the Soviet Union. A man of patience he is who has had this dream for so many years. The book : " Odyssey of Hope " is a personal report of his life. It is the story of a man
who never forgot the most important aim of his work: To make Lithuania a free country. He could have been a remote academic in USA or a selfish businessman with limited interests making more money for the rich. No. He was qualified for being a good businessman making many personal contacts with people working for the America government. He succeed in combining business matters with a sense of social responsibility missing to-day among those who are responsible for the development of finance of USA the last years. To make it possible to change the economic system in
Lithuania - transferring the economy of Lithuania from centralized planning to a free market system - he hired two experts from USA: Howard University Professor Lawrence Summers and Professor Andrei Shleifer from the University of Chicago. A splendid action. My question is: Why are we not doing this more often asking teachers
working for the elite universities to make the world better setting up plans for countries who are not doing well for the time being and so we all could join the programme improving the life standard for many poor people? A challenge to the castles of knowledge: The elite universities. Joseph Kazickas knew how it was to be poor. He knew very well how to live in fear in an occupied country. Access to education was the key to his progress. In year 1941 he received BA in Economics from the university of Vilnius, Lithuania. Thesis: " Collectivization of he Lithuanian Agriculture " and in 1951, Ph.D. from Yale University Graduate School. Thesis: " Sovietization of the Czechoslovakian Economy ". But he left the academic world to make it private business- and that is also an interesting story. Read the book and you will learn how hard he worked. You learn a lot by reading the book about how to communicate the men with different political opinions never to forget the main aim of making the contacts: Making a better life for the people of Lithuania. " ...always pursue the maximum possible outcome in a situation ..." but
you must add: It is time consuming and the cost is a problem. But the wish to make
a change to support millions of people - it is worth the cost and the work - so far
Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas - Business Leader and a philanthropist with office in New York
and Vilnius. Nice to read that a Norwegian is mentioned assisting setting up private companies in the country: Tore Bu is working for the Coca Cola Company.
By reading the personal report - " Odyssey of Hope " I understand the political problems of Lithuania and the problems of Latvia and Estonia too. I found the book in book shop in Vilnius last year during the annual conference of The Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council (BAAC). I searched for a book contenting positive attitudes to the development of the Baltic countries due to the many negative reports published the last ten years of my work for the audiovisual archives of the countries. A good book - I do recommend the book.

MART LAAR: DER VERGESSENE KRIEG. DIE BEWAFFNETE WIDERSTANDSBEWEGUNG IN ESTLAND 1944-1956

Mart Laar has written a book about the forgotten and secret war in Estonia during the Second World War. I got the book which is written in German, at the one of the seminars set up by The Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council (BAAC). It is a well-written book about a tragic history of Estonia. The country was occupied by both the
Russians and the Germans and then again by the Russians. Few of us know that Estonians also join the Finnish Army to fight the Russians. The soldiers were called the " Finnish Boys ". The choice was not easy for those who wanted to fight for an independent Estonia. The German Army recruited many soldiers. The alternative was to join the Finnish Army. During the Winter War (1939-40)some Estonians had joined the Finnish Army to fight the Russians. In 1943 men from Estonia went to Finland. About 1.973 Estonians enlisted in the new Infantry Regiment 200. The regiment was known as " Finnish boys " or " soomepoisid ". The resistance movement against the last Russian occupation was set up in the forests of Estonia. When the war was close to an end, many hoped that it was was possible to make the country free again. But the fight for independence was not finished in 1945. The forest brothers went on fighting hoping that the Western countries would make it possible to
rebuild an independent Estonia. No. The fight went on for years and many of the Estonian leaders were killed in actions. A photo is published by August Sabbe who went on living in the forest to 1978. Russian soldiers and secret agents went on fighting the " Forest brothers " called " criminals " and many had no choice anymore
than to fight to the bitter end and got killed by the Russian soldiers. A tragic war
and a war forgotten by the countries who won the WWII.

MART LAAR: ESTONIA IN WORLD WAR II

COMMENTS TO THE SMALL BOOK, A PHOTO, A NORWEGIAN SOLDIER AND THE ESTONIA IN WWII

Bergum was his name. Thorvald Sandli Bergum.Age: Nineteen years of age. The year is 1944.The date is February 26. The Norwegian SS-Sturmann Thorvald is killed in action fighting the Russian soldiers. The Norwegian soldier is unknown to me. No photo of the young soldier has been published. I do not know his face. But three photos of his destroyed grave at Kreenholm close to Narva in Estonia have I seen. After having read the book about Estonia and the Second World War, written by Mart Laar, I returned to page 36 to study a photo of destroyed graves. I knew I had seen the photo in one or another book. "... German Army Soldiers'graves and corpses. Narva front,February 1944...". The text is put above the photo to tell you about the content of the photo. Three graves are shown. The grave in the middle of the three is the destroyed grave to the young Norwegian soldier, Thorvald Bergum. He was killed at Vaivara, Estonia and he was a soldier in 11. SS-Division Nordland, 23. SS-Panzergrenadier-regiment Norge(Norway),company six. Information about him is published in the book: " De som falt. Nordmenn drept i tysk krigstjensete ", NRK Aktivum.2009. The book is written by the Norwegian NRK jounalist Eirik Veum in close coopertion with Geir Brenden.I have written a review of the book and I remembered the photo mentioned. The photo is also published in Eirik Veum's book on page 251.
But the text about the content of the photo differ. Soldiers from 11.SS-Division Nordland are buried at Kreenholm close to Narva where also the Headquarter for the
11.SS-Division Nordland and 23. SS-Panzergrenadierregiment Norge is situated. It is
not a nice picture and a view is not recommended for those of you whose nerves are not in shape for unpleasant impressions.But I recalled having seen the photo in another book? Correct. I attended a seminar in Oslo some years ago dealing with the problems of those who had sided with the German occupants of Norway 1940-44. The seminar was was a good one chaired by professor Hans Fredrik Dahl. I met two interesting persons at the seminar: Geir Brenden and Fredrik Jensen. Geir Brenden is
a photo collector. He has a private collection of pictures taken by Norwegians
fighting for the Germans. Many of the pictures are taken during the fight in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Fredrik Jensen from Oslo had volunteered for Regiment
Nordland but came to the division Das Reich. He won the highest German military decoration during the war: The German Cross in gold. After having being wounded, he
completed the officer-school in Bad Tølz, Germany.I asked him about the reason for risking his life fighting on the Eastern from knowing that Norway was allied to the Russians. "... The reason was his anti-communist attitude and the fear of the Russian
regime... and I was wounded more five times fighting the communists " he told me.
For his age he looked well and he is still defending his choice. Anyway I bought a
book at the seminar from Geir Brenden: " Nordmenn på Østfronten.Deres egen historie i
bilder " by Egil Ulateig and Geir Brenden. At page 110 I found the wanted picture.
The same photo published in the book: " Estonia in world war II " and also published
in the book." De som falt. Nordmenn drept i tysk krigstjeneste. ". The English text
explaining the content: "... The graveyard of Division Nordland on the island Kreenholm by Narva. The losses in the course of a few days were so grate that the dead were waiting in queue to be buried. Many Norwegians were buried here. The Russians destroyed the graveyard when they took Narva...". So far this book. A history not wanted and forgotten by many Norwegians after the war but still a part of the history of the Second world war written by those who lost the war.
But let us return to the small but important book written by Mart Laar. 71 pages of
military history of Estonia. A history of a country who was occupied by the Russians
and later on by the Germans. The Estonia population had to make a choice. Many sided with the Russians and many joined the German Army and a third front was established too to fight for the independence of Estonia. The fight for a free Estonia has not been talked about after the war. For many Estonians the fight was not ended in 1945.
The guerrilla warfare in Estonian forests and marshes continued for more than a decade. The country was occupied by the USSR. The story of Estonia is a dramatic and a tragic story. Some figures about the situation: About 30 000 were killed in battles. About 80 000 people fled abroad. Estonia became independent in 1991.
In 1974, the late Norwegian politician, Haakon Lie, wrote a book about the Norwegian Communist Party and the German-Russian agreement of 1939-41. The small book is written by a man who never trusted the Russians and the history of the Baltic countries are a topic for the book too. The title of the book is: " Hvem kan vi stole på? En dokumentasjon om Norges Kommunistiske Parti under den tysk-russiske alliansen 1939-1941 " .
Mart Laar (b.1960) is an Estonian statesman, historian and a founding member of the
Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes. He was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002.

The book about Estonia and the WWII was given me during the conference of The Baltic
Audiovisual Archival Council(BAAC) in Tartu, Estonia, 2008.