Many documents and photographs belonging to Estonians are included in the exhibition. Foto: Siiri Lind

The exhibition was organized with the help of Honorary Vice Consul for the Republic of Estonia in Chicago Siim Sööt.

“No Home to Go To”, an exhibition organized by the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago, was opened at United Nations headquarers in New York on the 27th anniversary of the “Baltic Chain of Freedom”.

Fleeing battle fronts and fearing persecution, thousands of civilians continue to seek asylum in neighboring countries. Families, many with small children, seek safety and a better life. They languish in makeshift communities where food and accommodations are minimal and relief is hard to come by. Their plight is creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The above description appears to capture what is happening in today’s world. Yet these words describe what occurred more than seventy years ago, when displaced persons in Europe fled their homes and uprooted their lives in the last year of World War II, because of the advancing Soviet forces.

“No Home To Go To: Baltic Displaced Persons, 1944-1952” documents this earlier refugee crisis through the memories, documents, photographs, and memorabilia of families and individuals who lived through the experience of fleeing their homeland, living in displaced persons camps, and, finally, finding a new home in a new land. Wherever it is presented, the exhibition organizers feature additional insights and materials from former displaced persons and encourage the recording of these experiences through a physical and on-line survey.

These responses and additional materials can be accessed at the following website: www.balzekasmuseum.org

“No Home To Go To” is a traveling exhibition organized by the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago, Illinois. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Chicago Estonian House, the Latvian Folk Art Museum, and the Lithuanian Emigration Institute of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.

From October 7th to December 31st, the exhibition may be viewed at the Science, Industry, and Business Library at the New York Public Library, 188 Madison Avenue at 34th Street, New York  NY 10016.

Text and photos by

Siiri Lind