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In multi-ethnic societies, one way in which ethnicity manifests itself is in classifying people according to their ethnic origin. Such classification is based on stereotyping and is typically achieved by emphasizing certain common characteristics rather than individual particularities. Both lived experience and folklore corroborate the fact that ethnic stereotypes, ethnic self-awareness, and identity are also influenced by historical circumstances. This article focuses on Lithuanians’ and Latvians’ attitudes towards Poles and Germans, and towards one another during the period between the eighteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries. The aim of this article is to reveal how the folklore of the two neighbouring nations, Lithuanians and Latvians, depicts the aforementioned ethnic groups; what historical events, cultural and social factors determined the similarities and differences in their portrayal in Lithuanian and Latvian folklore.

Straipsnyje trumpai apžvelgiamos vokiečių masonų karinės ložės, aptariamos jų ištakos, raida bei šios humanistinius principus puoselėjusios brolijos požiūris į karą. Konkrečiau analizuojamos dvi 1916–1918 m. šiandieninės Lietuvos teritorijoje veikusios karinės ložės „Vokiečių sargyba prie Nemuno“ (Deutsche Wacht an der Memel) ir „Vilnius liepsnojančiam kalavijui“ (Wilna zum Flammenden Schwert). Tyrimo tikslas – pateikti šiek tiek daugiau informacijos apie šias labai menkai žinomas masonų ordino šakas bei joms priklausiusius narius. The article offers a brief overview of German military Masonic lodges, their origin, evolution, and the attitude towards the war of the fraternity, which was known to foster humanistic principles. Two military lodges, the German Guard on the River Nemunas (Deutsche Wacht an der Memel), and Vilnius for the Flaming Sword (Wilna zum Flammenden Schwert), which operated in present-day Lithuania from 1916 to 1918, are subjected to a detailed analysis. As can be seen from the preserved and rather fragmentary information, the influence of the Freemasons in the Oberost was most tangible in 1916. This was mainly due to the high positions held by some of the members in the occupying administration. The most influential included General Adalbert Wegner, the governor of Vilnius and the grand master of the Prussian Grand Lodge “The Three Globes”, and Walther Pusch, the burgermeister of Kaunas. Wegner’s early death prevented the spread of wider Masonic activities across Lithuania and to some extent implementation of more lax forms of governance as regards the local population, as it was in the case of W. Pusch, whose good relations with the locals amid the occupation was a rare exception. In general, at the end of 1915 and the beginning of 1916, there were signs that the influential Masonic brotherhood, who cherished humanistic ideals, were leaning towards a more liberal administration of the occupied territories, which went against the strict policies of the military administration under Erich Ludendorff. However, the removal of most Masons from higher positions, and the restriction of their activities, suggests that the German Freemasons placed obedience to their military superiors and the Fatherland higher than the Masonic humanism, and mostly confined themselves to rituals, general assemblies and leisure activities.

Straipsnyje, remiantis Lietuvos centrinio valstybės archyvo medžiaga ir prieškario Lietuvos periodiniais leidiniais, nagrinėjamas žydų tautybės vaikų mokymasis 1920 m. įsteigtoje Kauno vokiečių gimnazijoje. Atskleidžiami 1925 m. atsiradę nesutarimai tarp vokiečių ir žydų dėl smarkiai pakelto mokesčio už vaikų mokymąsi gimnazijoje ne vokiečių tautybės asmenims. Dar didesnę konfrontaciją sukėlė antisemitizmo politika nacių valdomoje Vokietijoje, paskatinusi Lietuvos žydų protestus ir vokiečių boikotą. Atskleidžiami žydų bendruomenės veiksmai paimant savo vaikus iš Kauno vokiečių gimnazijos 1933 m. pavasarį ir steigiant jiems atskirą mokyklą – Kauno žydų gimnaziją dėstomąja lietuvių kalba. The present study is aimed at exploring the reasons for founding Kaunas Jewish Gymnasium with the Lithuanian language of instruction as well as its wider historical context. The article is based on the materials found in the collections of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania and available at the Lithuanian Central State Archives; the periodical publications of that time were also made use of. The article draws the reader’s attention to the fact that in the period after the First World War, when the independent state of Lithuania was founded, ethnic minorities were provided with a possibility of establishing their own national schools. Those schools were also attended by students of other nationalities, including Lithuanians. However, that was not typical of Jewish schools, which were attended exclusively by Jewish children. When the German gymnasium was established in Kaunas, it was attended by more than a hundred of Jewish children and a smaller number of children of other nationalities. The tuition fee was the same for all, irrespective of the nationality. However, the situation changed in 1925: the school-supporting society passed into the hands of Germans and issued the regulation that children of other nationalities should pay over three times more. The parents of the students, who were mostly Jews, objected to that regulation though they were not in the capacity to change the discriminating situation. Thus the children continued to attend the gymnasium, and their parents were made to pay the high tuition fee. When national socialists came to power in Germany with their leader Adolf Hitler in the position of the chancellor, the anti-Semitic manifestations became more widespread. The Lithuanian Jewish community expressed solidarity with the Jews in Germany by organizing protest meetings and announcing boycott of Germans in Lithuania. Under the circumstances, with the confrontation between Jews and Germans growing, the tension between Jewish and German students and their parents in Kaunas German gymnasium was also growing. In the spring of 1933, on the demand of the Jewish community, Jewish parents resolved to take their children from the German gymnasium. Jewish students that no longer attended Kaunas German gymnasium could continue studying in other Jewish gymnasiums in Kaunas. However, since the majority did not know the Hebrew language, the decision was made to establish a separate gymnasium with the Lithuanian language of instruction. This privately-supported gymnasium, Kaunas Jewish gymnasium with the Lithuanian language of instruction, opened in September 1933 and survived till the Soviet occupation. As the numbers of students were not big, the gymnasium experienced a constant shortage of resources.

Straipsnyje, remiantis pastaruoju metu gausiai leidžiamu memuarinės literatūros segmentu, apžvelgiama, kaip Klaipėdos krašto gyventojai - lietuvininkai ir vokiečiai - suvokia tautiškumą bei religiją, kokiais kriterijais vadovaujantis save priskiria vienai ar kitai tautinei ir konfesinei grupei. Apžvelgiami nauji šaltiniai ir esami istoriografijos darbai, akcentuojami ekonominiai, kultūriniai, religiniai skirtumai, kurie XIX a. pabaigoje - XX a. pirmojoje pusėje lėmė lietuviškosios savivokos sampratos skirtumus Didžiojoje ir Prūsų Lietuvoje. Tiriama, kaip tautiškumo suvokimas priklauso nuo kultūrinio ir religinio konteksto. Nustatyta, kad net ir tos pačios tautos, gyvenusios skirtingomis politinėmis bei religinėmis aplinkybėmis, atstovai, siekdami bendro tikslo, būdus tam tikslui pasiekti gali rinktis visiškai skirtingus.

Straipsnyje svarstomas klausimas, kaip kultūrinės, tautinės ir generacinės atminties struktūros lemia praeities pasakojimų reprodukavimą ir kaip šios struktūros padeda visuomenės metanaratyvus pritaikyti individualiems prasmės kūrimo bei interpretavimo poreikiams. Straipsnyje analizuojamas sudėtingas ideologijos ir biografinės atminties santykis: kokias išraiškas įgyja naujos visuomenės sovietinė ideologema asmeniniuose žmonių gyvenimo pasakojimuose apie savo gyvenimą pokarinėje Klaipėdoje? Kaip buvo kuriamas naujos visuomenės vaizdinys ir kokie jo struktūriniai komponentai aktualizuojami asmeninėse istorijose šiandieninėje rusakalbių bendruomenėje, kuri buvo itin gausi pokario Klaipėdoje ir aktyviai kūrė miesto tapatybę? Straipsnio pradžioje trumpai pristatomos bendresnės šio tyrimo ištakos ir paaiškinama, kodėl analizei pasirinkta Klaipėdos rusakalbių bendruomenė. Reziumuojant istorines studijas apie rusakalbių gyventojų migracijos procesus pokario Lietuvoje, parodomas socialinis kontekstas, formavęs kolektyvinės patirties ir atminties struktūras. Vėliau pereinama prie analitinio modelio pristatymo, paaiškinamos metodologinės ir empirinės medžiagos analizės prielaidos. Analizėje siekiama nustatyti, kiek rusakalbių šeimos istorijų naratyvuose naudojami struktūriniai rusifikuotos sovietinės tapatybės ideologijos komponentai ir kiek jie transformuojami. Tyrinėjant šias transformacijas lemiančius veiksnius siekiama parodyti kompleksiškas sąsajas tarp tiesioginės ir netiesioginės patirties, kolektyvinės atminties, kaip ideologinio darinio, ir miesto, kaip įvairių socialinių grupių gyvenamosios erdvės. Rusakalbių klaipėdiečių šeimos istorijų naratyvų analizė atskleidžia, kad šių žmonių papasakotos šeimos istorijos pertvarkomos paisant tiek asmeninių ir kartos poreikių, tiek siekiant išlaikyti lojalumą ne tik šeimai, bet ir valstybei, kurioje pasirinkta gyventi. In this article, I address an issue of how structures of cultural, national and generational memories are reproduced in the personalized narratives of the past, and how the meta-narratives of the society are adjusted to the needs of a person in constructing the meaning of the past. The article discusses the complex relationship between ideology and biographical memory: which expressions do individuals use in their personal life stories/family histories about life in postwar Lithuania, and how are the narratives structured by the idea of building a new society, which was a central constituent of the Soviet ideology? How was the image of a new society constructed in the Soviet times and which of its structural components are still actualized in personal life stories/family histories of today’s Russian-speaking community, which was the biggest ethnic group in postwar Klaipėda?The article starts with a brief introduction to the idea of this research and explains why it is focused on the Russian-speaking community in Klaipėda. Following an overview of historical studies on the migration of Russian-speaking people in postwar Lithuania gives a social and demographical profile of the context that structured the collective experience and memories. After an explanation of the analytical model and the methodological assumptions, I proceed to the narrative analysis of life stories/family histories told by Russian-speakers and explore how the narratives are structured by the ideology of the Russified Soviet identity and how this discourse is transformed. By investigating these transformations, I try to show the complex relations between direct and indirect experiences, collective memory as an ideological structure and a city as a living space of different social groups. The analysis of the life stories/family histories of the Russian-speaking community of Klaipėda supports the thesis that the family stories told by these people are transformed taking into account the personal and generational interests to display loyalty to their families and naturalized attachments to their place of residence.

Straipsnyje remiantis Vydūno knyga „Septyni šimtai metų vokiečių ir lietuvių santykių“ nagrinėjama Vydūno požiūrio į tautiškumą genezė, esminiai jos momentai bei kultūrinė recepcija. Akcentuojami kultūriniai ir religiniai skirtumai, kurie XIX a. pabaigoje atvedė prie lietuviškosios savivokos sampratos skirtumų Didžiojoje ir Prūsų Lietuvoje. Straipsnyje tiriama kaip per tautiškumo suvokimą buvo realizuojamos atsinešti dar iš nacionalinio atgimimo epochos lietuvybės idėjų plėtros ir įtvirtinimo modeliai, pagrįsti skirtingų kultūriniu ir religiniu kontekstu. Tyrimų rezultatai rodo, kad net ir tos pačios tautos, tačiau besivysčiusios skirtingomis politinėmis ir religinėmis aplinkybėmis, atstovai siekdami bendro tikslo, gali jo kelius suprasti visiškai skirtingai.

Remiantis vien pirminių šaltinių analize ir sinteze (straipsnyje panaudota trylikos Lietuvos centrinio valstybės archyvo (toliau – LCVA) fondų medžiaga, informacija, esanti publikuotuose dokumentuose, statistiniuose leidiniuose ir krašto periodinėje spaudoje), straipsnyje nagrinėjamas latvių konsulato Klaipėdoje raidos 1920–1940 m. etapai. Įvardijamos Latvijos konsulato steigimo, funkcionavimo ir uždarymo aplinkybės, išskiriami konsulų – Alfreds’o Misse, Peterio Kalcenavs’o, Karlio Freimanio, Janio Riekstiņš’o ir Janio Seskio – atvejai. Aptariama 1920–1940 m. Klaipėdoje veikusio Latvijos konsulato veikla, analizuojami Latvijos konsulato rangų pokyčiai, personalas, konsulų kultūrinė veikla. Based on the analysis and synthesis of primary sources, the article analyses the stages of development of the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda in 1920–1940. It specifies the circumstances of establishment, functioning and closure of the Latvian consulate with a focus on the following consults: Alfreds Misse, Peteris Kalcenavs, Karlis Freimanis, Janis Riekstiņš, and Janis Seskis. It discusses the activities of the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda in 1920–1940 and analyses the changes in the ranks of the Latvian consulate, its personnel and cultural activities of consuls. Until now the development of Latvian consulates in Lithuania has not received adequate attention from Lithuanian researchers. There are barely several publications on this topic in Lithuania. The works by Sandra Grigaravičiūtė and Zenonas Butkus are especially noteworthy. The topic was more extensively covered by Latvian researchers, namely Ē. Jēkabsons, V. Ščerbinskis and K. Kapenieks. The study on the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda in 1920–1940 is new, relevant and significant as it is the first comprehensive study revealing the appointment and activities of Latvian consuls in Klaipėda. The paper makes use of the previously unpublished archival data, periodical press, statistical publications, works of foreign historians. The research object is the circumstances of establishment, functioning and closure of the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda (1920–1940). The position of the Latvian consulate in the Klaipėda Region in 1939 also became the object of research. The article covers the period from May 1920 to February 1940. Year 1920 was selected as the starting point because it was the year of appointment of the Latvian career consular agent in Klaipėda Alfreds Misse, whereas the year 1940 marks the termination of activities of the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda after the transfer of Klaipėda to Germany. The aim of the article is to analyse the motives and process of establishment of the Consulate General of Latvia in Klaipėda and to reveal its activity fields in the period 1920–1940. The article discusses the activities of the Latvian consulate in Klaipėda in 1920–1940; it analyses the changes in the ranks of the Latvian consulate, its personnel and cultural activities of consuls. The analysis of primary and secondary sources prompts a conclusion that the Consulate General of Latvia was established in Klaipėda due to two reasons: 1) observation of events in the Klaipėda Region and collection of information; and 2) a numerous population of Latvians as foreigners in Klaipėda (the consulate intensified the relations with Latvians in the Klaipėda Region and sought to represent their interests). From May 1920 to February 1940 when the Klaipėda Region was transferred to Germany a total of 5 Latvian consuls were appointed to Klaipėda: Alfreds Misse, Peteris Kalcenavs (twice: 1924 and 1933–1934), Karlis Freimanis, Janis Riekstiņš, Janis Seskis (one of the most active Latvian consuls in the Klaipėda Region and Lithuania without the Klaipėda Region). The main fields of activity of the Consulate General of Latvia in Klaipėda were the following: participation in cultural events and educational campaigns. Latvian consuls in Klaipėda paid special attention to the Curonians in 1932–1933 and Latvian Jews in 1939. The analysis of the circumstances of formation of the Latvian consular corps in Klaipėda leads to the conclusion that the Consulate General of Latvia was one of the longest-standing foreign consulates in Klaipėda (1920–1940).

The geographical location of Sudovia and some historical circumstances made the place to be the first ethnic Lithuanian territory, which experienced a terrible loss of people, destruction of towns, villages and estates. The residents of Sudovia were spiritually traumatized and bore moral losses and afflictions after the Suvalkai Province of the Russian Empire was established. The territory was on the border with Prussia. The destructive war took place there in the years 1914-1915. A lot of time has already passed since then and people started forgetting the painful losses of the period. Perhaps, the harm caused by the war should be forgotten, however, without the knowledge of their past, people cannot evaluate the present and the future. The author tries to answers the questions and presents the readers with the description of losses and tribulations of Lithuanians during the war which took place one hundred years ago. The author noticed that the available historical descriptions of the terrible battles fought in Sudovia are few and fragmented, as if the place was not the cradle of the ethnic Lithuanian culture. Such ideas weaken our spiritual patriotic awareness and hinder deeper and more reasonable understanding why the restoration of the Republic of Lithuania was so important for the future of the nation.

Šiame straipsnyje, remiantis Lietuvos valstybės saugumo departamento 1939 m. kovo 1 d. pažymos „Lietuvos vokiečių kultūrinės ir ekonominės padėties duomenys 1938 m.“ analize, pateiktas dalinis vokiečių bendruomenei priskirtų lojalumo dimensijų vertinimas. Įvertinus suvestinėje fiksuotų lojalumo charakteristikų visumą ir pritaikius logistinės regresijos modelį, nustatyta, kad vokiečių moterų lojalumo šansai buvo didesni nei vokiečių vyrų. Taip pat teigiama, kad Pietų Lietuvos vokiečių bendruomenės lojalumo šansai buvo mažiausi, o palankiausi lojalumo šansai susiklostė Vidurio Lietuvos vokiečių bendruomenės atveju. Consideration of the development of the fate of the communities of national minorities is on the agenda of the present-day Lithuanian historiography and arouses considerable interest. This attempt is related to the aspiration to go deeper into the ins and outs of the development of the German community in Lithuania. The aim of this article is to reveal the characteristics of the fairly statistically fixed metric of the said community of 1938, collected by way of watching it. Lithuanian special operational services collected information about the moods prevailing in the groups of national minorities on a regular basis, and the German case was no exception. A secret certificate of the State Security Department of 1 March 1939 contained a survey of the 1938 cultural and economic situation of the Lithuanian Germans. The latter data summary contains the information about the German organisational structures (public organisations, confessional formations, establishments of institutional education and economic activities of the Germans (factories, enterprises, shops, mills, saw-mills and others, as well as independent agricultural entities). The author of the article, assessing the whole complex of loyalty characteristics recorded in the summary (the owners and their subordinates are referred to as loyal and disloyal, though, unfortunately, the data are incomplete) and applying the logistic regression model vhich established that chances of loyalty of the German women were greater than those of the German men. During the investigations, the present author was able to establish that chances of loyalty of the German community in southern Lithuania were slightest (they could have been determined by the factor of the border with Germany), and the highest chances of loyalty arose in the case of the German community in Central Lithuania. In the opinion of the present author, the ratio of persons belonging to another nation and the Germans on a defined territory also exerted influence on the characteristics of loyalty.