Leonardo Andriekaus Tapatybės Klausimas: Išeivis, Tremtinys Ar Pabėgėlis?
Question of Leonardas Andriekus Identity: Emigrant, Expatriate or Refugee?

Summary/Abstract: The article raises the problem of categorizes a person as emigrant, expatriate or refugee. In the first part, the article discusses the conceptions of emigrant, expatriate and refugee. Referring to the Vocabularies of Modern Lithuanian, Synonyms and International Words, the article compares them to the conceptions of exile, emigrant and exodus. K.Ostrauskas, the representative of emigration, states that conceptions ‘expatriate’ and ‘refugee’ should not be used. He replaces them with the term ‘exile’. In the second part, the article analyzes a concrete question connected with the question of L. Andriekus identity. It attempts to determine into which category – emigrant, expatriate or refugee – Andriekus should be placed. L. Andriekus himself states that he is neither emigrant, nor expatriate, because he has not emigrated nor has he been exiled. He also is not refugee, because he has not escaped from his native land. Since he left Lithuania involuntarily but did not escape, it can be concluded that L. Andriekus is an expatriate. The fact that in 1937 Franciscans leaders, exercising their power, sent for study abroad a group of clerics, among which was L. Andriekus, allows one to make such a conclusion. Such an action, even if with the best intentions, is understandable as direct exile.

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