Vytautas Petrulis, an emigrant chronicler and cameraman, died in the USA Culture

V. Petrulis was born in 1930. in Panevėžys. During the Second World War, he moved with his parents to Germany, to the Dillingen Displaced Persons (DP) camp.

Later he went to live in Canada, and in 1982 moved to the USA with his family.

While working as an architect, V. Petrulis found time not only to participate in the activities of the diaspora, but also chose the path of a film chronicler. For more than 6 decades, V. Petrulis recorded the life of the emigrant community, the events fostering the idea of ​​a free Lithuania in the USA and Canada on film and video tapes.

He has recorded fragments of the life of the famous archaeologist and anthropologist Marijas Gimbutienė, conversations with actress Rūta Lee, Vytautas Landsberg’s first visit to California, his lecture to the American Club, Vytautas Kernagis’s “Tarp girnų” concert in Los Angeles and other events.

In 2017, V. Petrulis donated almost two thousand filming and photography devices from his collection to the Museum of Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema.

Just a few weeks ago, the National Document Fund of the Central State Archives of Lithuania was supplemented by a unique video collection of V. Petrulis filmed and accumulated throughout his life, reflecting the life of the emigrants