Concerning the risks and side effects of neo-Nazi marches, please read a history book or ask your grandparents.
Tracing Lena Grigoleit
A special trip on dates of your choice — tracing the admirable peasant Lena Grigoleit through the Memelland in Lithuania. The programme of course includes her former home villages — Bittehnen (Lith. Bitėnai) and Schmalleningken (Lith. Smalininkai) — as well as the Rombinus (Lith. Rambynas).
During this trip we will also visit the former city of Memel (today Lithuanian Klaipėda) and the Curonian Spit.
Below you will find a preliminary version of the trip description — it may still be supplemented or modified.
Full trip description
Download the trip description "Memelland and Curonian Spit" (PDF, 240 KB)
Recommended reading
We warmly recommend Ulla Lachauer's book "Paradiesstraße. Lebenserinnerungen der ostpreußischen Bäuerin Lena Grigoleit" — published by Rowohlt in 2007 and continually reissued.
Go directly to the book description
Changes in the state affiliation of Memelland
Here you can see the changes in state affiliation and shifts in the borders of Memelland between 1914 and 1995.
Lena Grigoleit grew up in Bittehnen and experienced the flight of 1945–1947 at the Kauschen estate. Her writings tell of that time and of the return journeys to the Memelland. Born in 1938.