Letter to My Family

Letter to My Family is a memoir of the life of Janina Dreslius Zdanys (1927-2018), discovered at the bottom of a desk drawer after her death. The book is divided into two parts. The first is a detailed accounting of life in Lithuania during the Great Depression of the 1930s; the effects of the invasion of Lithuania first by the Soviets, then by the Nazis, then by the Soviets again in the 1940s; and the story of her life in a refugee camp sponsored by the United Nations after the second world war. The second part of her book is the story of coming to America in 1949 to work as a farm laborer, as a factory worker, and eventually as a small business owner. It is the story of a life rich with hardship and struggle but also marked by a deep love for her family that enabled Janina not just to survive the many challenges that faced her but to triumph and to find joy in the face of adversity. This is not just the story of a woman and her family. It is a paradigm for the lives of immigrants to America who come here looking not for handouts but for opportunities, not to take anything away from anyone else but to give something back to the country that invited them in and provided avenues for contribution.