Deep Baltic
@deepbaltic.bsky.social
Inside the lands between - travel, culture, interviews, long reads, photography from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
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Deep Baltic
@deepbaltic.bsky.social
· Dec 19
Amerikonka: Life Between Lithuania and America
by Rima Praspaliauskienė
On a warm afternoon in late April 2001, I walked down Gedimino, smiling at spring. I was jet-lagged from my first trip to America and still intoxicated by its nature, food,...
deepbaltic.com
Rima Praspaliauskienė grew up with stereotypes about the Lithuanian community in the US, but found herself beguiled after a move stateside
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
"If you come from a city where politeness is announced loudly – “Please move down the carriage!”, “Let the passengers off first!” – Riga’s tram etiquette can seem almost too quiet."
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...
The Quiet Courtesies of Riga: Learning to Share Space in a Small Capital
"For someone arriving from a city where queues are either aggressively policed or completely absent, this gentler discipline can be disorienting"
deepbaltic.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:47 AM
"If you come from a city where politeness is announced loudly – “Please move down the carriage!”, “Let the passengers off first!” – Riga’s tram etiquette can seem almost too quiet."
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
The scars of clear cutting, as opposed to selective cutting of a forest...Usma, Usma parish, Ventspils Municipality, in the Courland region of Latvia. #nature #geography #ecology #photo
December 11, 2025 at 11:41 PM
The scars of clear cutting, as opposed to selective cutting of a forest...Usma, Usma parish, Ventspils Municipality, in the Courland region of Latvia. #nature #geography #ecology #photo
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Interesting piece from a couple of months ago, about something that's become increasingly apparent in recent years - that Lithuania, historically the poorest Baltic state, is on the path to economically overtaking much-vaunted Estonia
news.err.ee/1609779081/t...
news.err.ee/1609779081/t...
Tõnis Saarts: How Lithuania overtook Estonia
In Estonia, there has been virtually no serious discussion about Lithuania's success and the reasons behind it. Instead, a self-assured arrogance prevails, a belief that we will soon reclaim our first...
news.err.ee
January 16, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Interesting piece from a couple of months ago, about something that's become increasingly apparent in recent years - that Lithuania, historically the poorest Baltic state, is on the path to economically overtaking much-vaunted Estonia
news.err.ee/1609779081/t...
news.err.ee/1609779081/t...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Classic Estonian movie 'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' selected for Berlin Film Festival news.err.ee/1609910857/c...
Classic Estonian movie 'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' selected for Berlin Film Festival
Grigori Kromanov's 1979 movie "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel" has become only the second Estonian picture ever to be selected in the Berlinale Classics program at the Berlin Film Festival.
news.err.ee
January 15, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Classic Estonian movie 'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' selected for Berlin Film Festival news.err.ee/1609910857/c...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Three of Latvia's Finnic languages – Courland Livonian, Salaca Livonian, Lutsi South Estonian – have developed popular written forms. Read about these orthographies, their development, and how they changed as these communities changed in my recently published article.
tinyurl.com/latviaonthea...
tinyurl.com/latviaonthea...
Lutsi and Livonian: Perspectives on Finnic language orthographies in Latvia
This article focuses on three endangered and/or dormant Finnic languages – Courland Livonian, Salaca Livonian, and Lutsi South Estonian – spoken in Latvia at the northern end of the Amber Road and the...
www.academia.edu
December 19, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Three of Latvia's Finnic languages – Courland Livonian, Salaca Livonian, Lutsi South Estonian – have developed popular written forms. Read about these orthographies, their development, and how they changed as these communities changed in my recently published article.
tinyurl.com/latviaonthea...
tinyurl.com/latviaonthea...
A protest rally in Chicago in 1988 against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania
(Image: Romualdas Požerskis, MO Museum Collection)
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
(Image: Romualdas Požerskis, MO Museum Collection)
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
January 14, 2026 at 5:23 AM
A protest rally in Chicago in 1988 against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania
(Image: Romualdas Požerskis, MO Museum Collection)
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
(Image: Romualdas Požerskis, MO Museum Collection)
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
In 1991, the night from Jan 12 to Jan 13, these innocent Lithuanian people were killed by the Soviet troops.
Teenager fatally shot in the back, young woman who was about to marry that summer crushed by a tank, fathers, newlyweds.
And the Nobel peace prize winner in Moscow.
Teenager fatally shot in the back, young woman who was about to marry that summer crushed by a tank, fathers, newlyweds.
And the Nobel peace prize winner in Moscow.
January 12, 2026 at 3:12 PM
In 1991, the night from Jan 12 to Jan 13, these innocent Lithuanian people were killed by the Soviet troops.
Teenager fatally shot in the back, young woman who was about to marry that summer crushed by a tank, fathers, newlyweds.
And the Nobel peace prize winner in Moscow.
Teenager fatally shot in the back, young woman who was about to marry that summer crushed by a tank, fathers, newlyweds.
And the Nobel peace prize winner in Moscow.
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Haralds Sīmanis - Ezers (Latvia, psychedelic rock) (1980)
https://redd.it/5fbb3e
https://youtu.be/x3oQFfbMrUQ
https://redd.it/5fbb3e
https://youtu.be/x3oQFfbMrUQ
Haralds Sīmanis - Ezers (Latvia, psychedelic rock) (1980)
youtu.be
September 12, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Haralds Sīmanis - Ezers (Latvia, psychedelic rock) (1980)
https://redd.it/5fbb3e
https://youtu.be/x3oQFfbMrUQ
https://redd.it/5fbb3e
https://youtu.be/x3oQFfbMrUQ
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Unknown photographer, Management Centre, 1985, USSR North-Western Integrated Power Grid, Riga, Latvia
January 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Unknown photographer, Management Centre, 1985, USSR North-Western Integrated Power Grid, Riga, Latvia
Reposted by Deep Baltic
My new article!
"How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it)
Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr
"How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it)
Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr
How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947
Top Secret MGB Investigation of Its Counterintelligence Failure
tinyurl.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:22 PM
My new article!
"How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it)
Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr
"How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it)
Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Visited the homeland, rode some buses & trams & trains, and walked some tiny streets.
January 4, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Visited the homeland, rode some buses & trams & trains, and walked some tiny streets.
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Guest on Latvijas Radio 1 this morning compares Trump's threats to Greenland to if Latvia declared it was forcibly taking the tiny island of Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga (which opted to join Estonia in 1919)
January 7, 2026 at 6:33 AM
Guest on Latvijas Radio 1 this morning compares Trump's threats to Greenland to if Latvia declared it was forcibly taking the tiny island of Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga (which opted to join Estonia in 1919)
"They also often used the phrase in accented Lithuanian – “But in Chicago…” meaning everything was better in the US. The Amerikonkas in their 60s looked rested and wore shorts despite their far-from-ideal bodies."
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
Amerikonka: Life Between Lithuania and America
"To be called an Amerikonka was not exactly a compliment. Neither my husband nor I aspired to become Americans or run away from Lithuania."
deepbaltic.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:27 AM
"They also often used the phrase in accented Lithuanian – “But in Chicago…” meaning everything was better in the US. The Amerikonkas in their 60s looked rested and wore shorts despite their far-from-ideal bodies."
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Baltic countries on alert after series of suspicious undersea cable outages ft.trib.al/FqOJeOx
Baltic countries on alert after series of suspicious undersea cable outages
Six incidents in six days follow a year without any reports of damage to underwater infrastructure
ft.trib.al
January 5, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Baltic countries on alert after series of suspicious undersea cable outages ft.trib.al/FqOJeOx
Reposted by Deep Baltic
The direct train running between Riga, Latvia, and Tallinn, Estonia, is ready to begin carrying passengers with inaugural ride scheduled on January 12.
January 6, 2026 at 9:47 AM
The direct train running between Riga, Latvia, and Tallinn, Estonia, is ready to begin carrying passengers with inaugural ride scheduled on January 12.
Reposted by Deep Baltic
the Lithuanian Metrica, an incredibly important historical compendium of basically every recorded legal case in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is mostly located in a cellar in St Petersburg
January 2, 2026 at 1:18 AM
the Lithuanian Metrica, an incredibly important historical compendium of basically every recorded legal case in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is mostly located in a cellar in St Petersburg
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Custom trashbin that says “Government’s promises”. Peetri (Tallinn suburb), Anno 2026
January 4, 2026 at 8:36 AM
Custom trashbin that says “Government’s promises”. Peetri (Tallinn suburb), Anno 2026
Reposted by Deep Baltic
One of my favorite Latvian authors Nora Ikstena passed away today. I have been fortunate read her work in English and Latvian. I also took my students to see Soviet Milk (Mātes piens) in the theaters during my last Baltic Immersion class. Ļoti skumjas ziņas...Izsaku līdzjūtību. 🇱🇻
🕯️ Pāragri pēc smagas slimības mūžībā aizsaukta latviešu rakstniece Nora Ikstena, LTV apstiprina tuvinieki.
Ikstenas zināmākais literārais darbs ir romāns "Mātes piens". Viņa sarakstījusi septiņus romānus, ir vairāku stāstu krājumu, biogrāfiju un eseju autore.
www.lsm.lv/raksts/kultu...
Ikstenas zināmākais literārais darbs ir romāns "Mātes piens". Viņa sarakstījusi septiņus romānus, ir vairāku stāstu krājumu, biogrāfiju un eseju autore.
www.lsm.lv/raksts/kultu...
January 4, 2026 at 6:12 PM
One of my favorite Latvian authors Nora Ikstena passed away today. I have been fortunate read her work in English and Latvian. I also took my students to see Soviet Milk (Mātes piens) in the theaters during my last Baltic Immersion class. Ļoti skumjas ziņas...Izsaku līdzjūtību. 🇱🇻
A map of Europe's mythical creatures produced by a team from Vilnius University features exotic beasts such as the wolpertinger, bukavats and Lizun (licker), as well as the distinctively Lithuanian shape-shifter the aitvaras
#DBarchives
deepbaltic.com/2021/12/07/m...
#DBarchives
deepbaltic.com/2021/12/07/m...
Mapping Folklore: Mythical Creatures of the Baltics and Beyond
Vilnius University Press's "Mythical Creatures in Europe" map collects creatures from every corner of the continent
deepbaltic.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:46 AM
A map of Europe's mythical creatures produced by a team from Vilnius University features exotic beasts such as the wolpertinger, bukavats and Lizun (licker), as well as the distinctively Lithuanian shape-shifter the aitvaras
#DBarchives
deepbaltic.com/2021/12/07/m...
#DBarchives
deepbaltic.com/2021/12/07/m...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
As someone who ate Kalev obsessively while living in Tartu, I am happy to see Lossi 36 feature an article that explains the history of the confectionery as well as its role in 🇪🇪's identity.
December 18, 2025 at 3:43 PM
As someone who ate Kalev obsessively while living in Tartu, I am happy to see Lossi 36 feature an article that explains the history of the confectionery as well as its role in 🇪🇪's identity.
Reposted by Deep Baltic
“But who were they seeking protection from, exactly? As the months that followed would show, more or less everyone.”
As almost the end of the year, will re-share my favourite piece I worked on in 2025 (and one of my favourites ever) - the stubborn Lithuanian village that maintained its independence amid general chaos, and tangled with multiple armies while doing so
meduza.io/en/feature/2...
meduza.io/en/feature/2...
How the aftermath of WWI made Perloja a republic
Story by Will Mawhood for The Beet. Edited by Eilish Hart.
meduza.io
December 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
“But who were they seeking protection from, exactly? As the months that followed would show, more or less everyone.”
Rima Praspaliauskienė grew up with stereotypes about the Lithuanian community in the US, but found herself beguiled after a move stateside
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
Amerikonka: Life Between Lithuania and America
by Rima Praspaliauskienė
On a warm afternoon in late April 2001, I walked down Gedimino, smiling at spring. I was jet-lagged from my first trip to America and still intoxicated by its nature, food,...
deepbaltic.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Rima Praspaliauskienė grew up with stereotypes about the Lithuanian community in the US, but found herself beguiled after a move stateside
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet")
deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Reposted by Deep Baltic
Three Russian border guards illegally crossed into Estonian territory and stayed for about 20 minutes, Bloomberg reports. The incident was caught on video. Estonia will summon Russia’s top diplomat in Tallinn and is boosting patrols in the area. Officials from both sides are set to meet today.
December 18, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Three Russian border guards illegally crossed into Estonian territory and stayed for about 20 minutes, Bloomberg reports. The incident was caught on video. Estonia will summon Russia’s top diplomat in Tallinn and is boosting patrols in the area. Officials from both sides are set to meet today.