Alexander Shtromas

Alexander Shtromas
Alexandras Shtromas speaking on the Fall of the Soviet System, Geneva, Switzerland, August 1985
Born	April 04 1931(1931-04-04) Kaunas, Lithuania
Died	June 12 1999 (aged 68) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	Lithuanian
Fields	Political Science
Institutions	Bradford University Salford University Hillsdale College
Alma mater	Vilnius University Moscow State University
Known for	Human rights activism with participation in dissident movement in the Soviet Union

Alexander Shtromas (Lithuanian: Aleksandras Štromas; 4 April 1931 in Kaunas, Lithuania – 12 June 1999 in Chicago) was a prominent Lithuanian political scientist, dissident, professor and author.

Life

Alexander Shtromas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. His father was killed by the Nazis shortly after the German invasion. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania Alexander, along with his mother and sister, was imprisoned in the Kovno Ghetto in Vilijampolė. A Christian family helped him and his sister escape from the ghetto and hid them outside the city. However, Alexander would go back into the city to see his mother in the ghetto until she died.

After the Russians reoccupied Lithuania, Shtromas was found by a Soviet general who had known his father. This general took him in and raised him as his adopted son. he was saved from the Ghetto, Shtromas was harbored by Antanas Sniečkus.

He began his studies at Vilnius University, and later finished at Moscow State University. 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.

Aleksandras Shtromas died of lung cancer on June 12, 1999 aged 68.

Career

There, he was appointed to a position in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford by Adam Curle. He later served as Lecturer in Politicas at Salford University, and, until his death, as Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College in the United States.

Legacy

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. Zmogus: Aleksandro Stromo Portretai).

Major works in English

• Who are the Soviet Dissidents?. 1979.
• Political Change and Social Development: The Case of the Soviet Union. 1981.
• To Fight Communism: Why and how?. 1985.
• The Soviet Method of Conquest of the Baltic States: Lessons for the West. 1986.
• The Soviet Union and the Challenge of the Future with Morton A. Kaplan (eds.). 1988.
• The End of "Isms"?: Reflections on the fate of ideological politics after Communism's collapse (ed.). 1994.
• Totalitarianism and the Prospects for World Order: Closing the Door on the Twentieth Century. 2003.

• Dissent and political change in the Soviet Union Studies in Comparative Communism 12(2/3) (Summer/Autumn 1979): 212-244. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
• Dissent, Nationalism and the Soviet Future Studies in Comparative Communism 20(3/4) (Autumn/Winter 1987): 277-286. Retrieved February 17, 2022.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Donskis, Leonidas. Identity and Freedom. Routledge, 2015. ISBN 978-1138874411
• Woodhouse, Tom. Peacemaking in a Troubled World. Berg Pub Ltd, 1991. ISBN 978-0854965946

External links

• Remembering Aleksandras Shtromas Morgan Delp, The Collegian, December 4, 2014.
• Some Memories of Alex Shtromas Gordon Anderson, Professors World Peace Academy, December 18, 2002.
• A Baltic woman ahead of her time by Leonidas Donskis, The Baltic Times, March 23, 2016.

Credits

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