Search

There is no equivalent in any language of the world „knygnešys“. In other languages this term is often translated as a „book smuggler“. From the point of view of the tsarist Russia our “knygnešiai” (booksellers/book carriers/book distributors) were smugglers. After the rebellion of 1863, when the tsarist government of Russia prohibited the Lithuanian press, the period of “knygnešiai” and “daraktoriai” in Lithuania and beyond began. This period awakened the gigantic potential of the nation, infused people‘s hearts with love for people, language, culture, literature, and books. The future revolutionaries of the future Lithuanian nation grew up and matured in poverty schools, who, when the time came, invited the people to freedom and independence. The towns of Punskas and Seinai gave birth to a large number of “knygnešiai”, who, at the risk of their lives, liberties, personal or family assets, distributed Lithuanian books and press. Among them there were priests and secular people, intellectuals and ordinary people. The Seinai Spiritual Seminary, which was established in 1826, played a vital role in the revival of the Lithuanian nation. It was the distribution centre of illegal books across Užnemunė. The seminarians distributed the press in various ways, they spread it across the dioceze while going on their holidays, distributed it to their relatives who came to the seminary, sent them by post by placing or wrapping it in Russian newspapers. Four manuscript publications were edited in the Seminary. There were a lot of “knygnešiai” in our country. Not all of their names are known to the public today. Some people have almost disappeared from our collective memory. Some of them were from the caste of the clergy, such as Priest Antanas Milukas, Pastors of the Punskas Parish Simonas Norkus and Motiejus Simonaitis. The most well-known among the secular “knygnešiai” were Vincas Markevičius from Giluišiai village, Karolis Petruškevičius from Žagariai, Povilas Matulevičius from Kreivėnai and others. This article focuses on less known or forgotten but worthy “knygnešiai” of our country.

Antanas Trumpulis buvo tautosakos rinkėjo Mato Slančiausko talkininko Jono Trumpulio brolis. Nerasta duomenų, kad A. Trumpulis būtų buvęs brolio Jono ar Mato Slančiausko talkininkas renkant tautosaką. Jis mokėjo lietuviškai skaityti, gaudavo draudžiamos spaudos. Motinos teigimu, sūnus Antanas mokėjo ir latviškai. Domėjosi eilėmis, dainomis, susidaro įspūdis, kad ir pats mėgino eiliuoti. Jo byla – tai būdingas lietuvių spaudos skaitytojų (laikytojų) persekiojimo pavyzdys. Antanas Trumpulis was a brother of Jonas Trumpulis, a helper of Matas Slančiauskas, the collector of folklore. No data were found that Antanas Trumpulis would have helped his brother Jonas or Matas Slančiauskas in the collection of folklore. He could read Lithuanian and could get illegal press. According to his mother, her son Antanas also spoke Latvian. He was interested in poetry, songs, and we get the impression that he himself tried to write poetry. His case is an example of persecution of readers (keepers) of the Lithuanian press.

There is a big erratic block near Punskas on the crossroad in Kreivėnai. It was placed there by the residents of the village to commemorate Povilas Matulevičius - a book smuggler from the Punskas region. There is also a stone cross near the Venslauskas family’s residence place which was built in 1956 and is called the Matulevičius’ Piramide. The author analyses the mysterious life and the activities of Povilas Matulevičius. He tries to determine which information is true and which is not. There are no doubts about Matulevičius’ activities in book smuggling as well as his masonry skills (the church stairs, holy water containers etc.). However, there are differences between local stories and facts. There are a lot of unanswered questions. The documents do not provide information about his birth date. There are not any notes about Povilas Matulevičius and his activities in Lithuanian Historiography. Vincas Markevičius, who was the most important book smuggler in the region, did not mention Povilas Matulevičius in his memoirs.