Alexander Shtromas ( lt, Aleksandras Štromas; 4 April 1931 in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
– 12 June 1999 in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
) was a prominent
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n political scientist, dissident, professor and author.
Alexander Štromas was a cousin of
Irena Veisaitė
Irena Veisaitė (9 January 1928 – 11 December 2020) was a Lithuanian theatre scholar, intellectual and human rights activist.
She was awarded the Goethe Medal in 2012 for her contribution to cultural exchange between Germany and Lithuania.
L ...
,
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
and later Lithuanian scholar of German literature. Irena's mother and Alexander's father were siblings.
Biography
Shtromas was born in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania he was imprisoned in the ghetto. After he was saved from the ghetto, Shtromas was harbored by
Antanas Sniečkus
Antanas Sniečkus ( – 22 January 1974) was a Lithuanian communist politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania from 15 August 1940 to 22 January 1974.
Biography
Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of ...
. He studied at
Vilnius University
Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...
, and later finished at
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
. In 1964 Shtromas defended his doctoral thesis in law. Soon afterward Shtromas became a critic of the Soviet regime and was forced to emigrate. In 1973 he settled in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. There, he was appointed to a position in the
Department of Peace Studies at the
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...
by
Adam Curle
Charles Thomas William Curle (4 July 1916 – 28 September 2006), better known as Adam Curle, was a British academic, known for his work in social psychology, pedagogy, development studies and peace studies. After holding posts at the University ...
.
He later worked at
Salford University
, caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford
, mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things"
, established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...
, and, until his death, at
Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College is a Private university, private Conservatism in the United States, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan. It was founded in 1844 by Abolitionism, abolitionists known as Free Will Baptists.
Its missio ...
. Aleksandras Shtromas died on 12 June 1999 in the US, and was interred in
Petrašiūnai Cemetery
Petrašiūnai Cemetery ( lt, Petrašiūnų kapinės) is Lithuania's premiere last resting place formally designated for graves of people influential in national history, politics, arts, and science.
Location
Petrašiūnai Cemetery is located abo ...
in Kaunas. A book with tributes by fellow dissidents, academic colleagues and former students (mainly in English but also in Lithuanian and Russian) was published in 2008 in Lithuania, edited by Leonidas Donskis (XX a. žmogus: Aleksandro Štromo portretai).
Books in English
*
* ''Political change and social development: the case of the Soviet Union'' (1981)
* ''To fight communism: why and how?'' (1985)
* ''The Soviet Union and the challenge of the future'' (edited with Morton A. Kaplan, 1988)
* ''The end of "isms"?: reflections on the fate of ideological politics after Communism's collapse'' (edited, 1994)
* ''Totalitarianism and the prospects for world order: closing the door on the twentieth century'' (2003)
Articles
*
*
References
Aleksandras Štromas Retrieved on 2008-09-14
1931 births
1999 deaths
Vilnius University alumni
Moscow State University alumni
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian legal scholars
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Lithuanian political scientists
Soviet dissidents
Burials at Petrašiūnai Cemetery
Academics of the University of Bradford
Academics of the University of Salford
Hillsdale College faculty
Peace and conflict scholars
20th-century political scientists
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