Lithuania Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1750-1938 Auswanderungskartei der Litauendeutschen, 1750-1938, images. Index cards, arranged alphabetically by surname and given name, providing genealogical information on Lithuanians of German descent. Includes religious persuasion, maiden name, date of birth, children's names and years of birth, place of residence, cross-references to spouses and children, occupation, place of birth, father's name, and date when this information was compiled.
 * 1834-1897 Russians Immigrating to the United States, 1834-1897, ($). Records of 527,394 passengers who arrived at the United States between 1834 through 1897 and identified their country of origin or nationality as Armenia, Finland, Galicia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Russian Poles, or Ukraine. Index. Incomplete.
 * 1850-1934 Auswandererlisten, 1850-1934 (Hamburg passenger lists) at FamilySearch, images.
 * 1850-1934 Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 at Ancestry, ($) index and images.
 * 1855-1924 Hamburg Passenger Lists, Handwritten Indexes, 1855-1934 at Ancestry, ($) images.
 * Hamburg, Germany Emigrants at Findmypast, ($) index.
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast; index & images ($)
 * 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for New Zealand
 * 1940-1941 Stammblätter, 1940-1941, images. Pedigrees of immigrants recorded by the EWZ (Einwandererzentralstelle) (Immigrant Control Office) of migrants from Wartheland-Poland and Lithuania who were resettled in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. Includes names, dates and birthplaces of the emigrant, his parents, grandparents, and children; residence, occupation, and religion. Often includes a photograph of the immigrant.
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.
 * United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

Offices and Archives to Contact
KLAIPĖDA REGIONAL STATE ARCHIVES Naujoji Uosto 16, LT-92122 Klaipėda, Lithuania Telephone: +370 46 31 45 65 E-mail: klaipeda@archyvai.lt
 * Has some records of the port of Klaipėda, 1924-1931, 1938, 1940-1990

Finding the Town of Origin in Lithuania
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Lithuania, see Lithuania Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Lithuania Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Historical Background
In the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were all lands of the Grand Duchy.
 * With the Union of Lublin of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state personal union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries dismantled it in 1772–1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
 * As World War I ended, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, founding the modern Republic of Lithuania.
 * In World War II, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany.
 * Towards the end of the war in 1944, when the Germans were retreating, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. Lithuanian armed resistance to the Soviet occupation lasted until the early 1950s.
 * On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania passed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, becoming the first Soviet republic to proclaim its independence.

Emigration From Lithuania

 * Lithuanian diaspora: the majority of post-WWII Lithuanians live in North America (Canada and the United States) and across Europe (France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands and England), but are scattered across Russia and the former USSR, and smaller numbers in Mexico and Brazil.
 * Between 1880 and 1910, over 40,000 Lithuanian Jews immigrated to South Africa to avoid persecution. To date around 80% of the 75,000 Jews in South Africa (around 60,000) are of Lithuanian descent.
 * The Litvins in northern Belarus and westernmost Russia are of ethnic Lithuanian and Baltic origin.
 * Large numbers of Lithuanians went to the United States in 1867–1868 after a famine.
 * On 14–18 June 1941, less than a week before the Nazi invasion, some 17,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia, where many perished due to inhumane living conditions.
 * After the retreat of the German armed forces, the Soviets reestablished their control of Lithuania in July–October 1944. The massive deportations to Siberia were resumed and lasted until the death of Stalin in 1953. Under the pretext of Lithuania's economic recovery, the Moscow authorities encouraged the migration of workers and other specialists to Lithuania with the intention to further integrate Lithuania into the Soviet Union and to develop the country's industry. At the same time, Lithuanians were lured to work in the USSR by promising them all the privileges of settling in a new place.

For Further Reading
There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog: