156-527: The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania or Constituent Seimas ( Lithuanian : Steigiamasis Seimas ) was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was disbanded in October 1922. Following the last Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania
312-570: A month later. On 6 October 1922, the Constituent Assembly resigned. A new regular Seimas started on 13 November. The assembly passed approximately 150 laws, strengthened the state's administrative system, and laid the foundations of the future economic, social and cultural life in Lithuania. The Constituent Assembly continued to work for 29 months, held 257 plenary sessions and 963-panel sittings, and passed over 300 laws. Its main achievement
468-644: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian
624-679: A conversation the Tilsit Nazi Gestapo agent Heinz Gräfe [ de ] clearly stated to Stasys Raštikis that the Provisional Government was formed without German knowledge. Such a form, although not having anything against individuals, is unacceptable to the Germans. The current Provisional Government should be transformed into a National Committee or Council under the German military authority. The Nazi Germans did not recognize
780-402: A cross Or between his horns. Kaunas also has a greater coat of arms, which is mainly used for purposes of Kaunas city representation. The sailor, three golden balls, and Latin text "Diligite justitiam qui judicatis terram" ( English : Cherish justice, you who judge the earth ) in the greater coat of arms refers to Saint Nicholas , patron saint of merchants and seafarers, who was regarded as
936-645: A heavenly guardian of Kaunas by Queen Bona Sforza . According to the archeological excavations , the richest collections of ceramics and other artifacts found at the confluence of the Nemunas and the Neris rivers are from the second and first millennium BC . During that time, people settled in some territories of the present Kaunas: the confluence of the two longest rivers of Lithuania area, Eiguliai , Lampėdžiai, Linkuva, Kaniūkai, Marvelė, Pajiesys, Romainiai , Petrašiūnai , Sargėnai, and Veršvai sites. A settlement
1092-536: A member of the League of Nations . Most of the world's countries immediately recognized its independence. On 15 February 1922, it passed a law on land reform. It was a decade-long reform which nationalized land owned by the nobility and distributed it to the volunteers who fought in the Freedom Wars and to peasants who owned none or very little land. This way Lithuania's agriculture was based on small (20-50 ha ) farms. Over
1248-579: A new basis in front of the whole world innocent conscience. The Lithuanian Nation, exhausted from the terror of the brutal Bolsheviks , decided to build its future on the basis of national unity and social justice." and signatures. On 24 June 1941, tank units of the Red Army in Jonava were ordered to retake Kaunas. The rebels radioed the Germans for assistance. The units were bombed by the Luftwaffe and did not reach
1404-505: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of
1560-712: A result, Kaunas was an active participant in European urban life. The city also was a particularly important centre for the Lithuanian Armed Forces . In January 1919, during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence , the War School of Kaunas was established and started to train soldiers who were soon sent to the front to strengthen the fighting Lithuanian Armed Forces . Part of the Lithuanian armoured vehicles military unit
1716-618: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There
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#17328546620901872-586: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing
2028-679: A threat to the occupiers, were quickly arrested, interrogated and released to the reserve, deported to the concentration camps or executed, which made many, trying to avoid that fate, join the Lithuanian partisan forces. The army itself was initially renamed the Lithuanian People's Army but was later reorganised into the 29th Rifle Corps of the Soviet Union . In June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania in accordance with
2184-560: A wreath near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the presence of numerous audience. The Sicherheitsdienst confiscated the pictures of the wreath-laying ceremony, thinking that it could be dangerous for the German occupation policy in Lithuania . On 17 July 1941 the German civil administration was established. The government's powers were taken over by the new occupants. Nazi Germany established
2340-465: Is קאָװנע Kovne , and the names in German include Kaunas and Kauen . On Carta Marina from 1539, the city was named Cavm . The city and its elderates also have names in other languages (see Names of Kaunas in other languages and names of Kaunas elderates in other languages ). A 16th-century legend in the Bychowiec Chronicle claims that Kaunas was established by
2496-849: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of
2652-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in
2808-473: Is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with the earliest texts dating only to c. 1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek
2964-545: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents
3120-613: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he
3276-493: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,
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#17328546620903432-541: Is mandatory and its preamble starts with the words "In the name of Almighty God" (Lithuanian: Vardan Dievo Visagalio ). On 9 September a law was passed on the national currency, introducing the litas . On 1 October, it was introduced. Litas became one of the stronger currencies in Europe. On 16 February 1922, the Lithuanian University was established and had its statute approved on the initiative of V. Čepinskis
3588-612: Is the oldest city heraldic seal known in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The current emblem was the result of much study and discussion on the part of the Lithuanian Heraldry Commission, and realized by the artist Raimondas Miknevicius . An aurochs has replaced a wisent , which was depicted in the Soviet -era emblem that was used since 1969. Blazon: Gules, an aurochs passant guardant argent ensigned with
3744-617: Is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius , the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county [ pl ] in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire , it was the capital of
3900-459: Is twelve miles from Poseur." — Guillebert de Lannoy description of Kaunas during his trip between 1413–1414. In 1408, the town was granted Magdeburg rights by Vytautas the Great and in 1413 became the centre of Kaunas Powiat , in Trakai Voivodeship . Moreover, Vytautas ceded Kaunas the right to own the scales used for weighing the goods brought to the city or packed on the site,
4056-456: Is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian
4212-761: The Byelorussian SSR border. In the morning, the Lithuanian Government resigned, and the president left the country to avoid the fate of the Soviets' puppets and in the hope of forming a government-in-exile . Soon the Red Army flooded Lithuania through the Belarus–Lithuania border with more than 200,000 soldiers and took control of the most important cities, including Kaunas where the heads of state resided. The Lithuanian Armed Forces were ordered not to resist, and
4368-676: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of
4524-665: The French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Grand Army of Napoleon passed through Kaunas twice, devastating the city both times. A hill fort mound in Kaunas is named Napoleon's Hill. To prevent possible easy access through the city and protect the western borders of Russia, the Kovno Fortress was built. It is still visible throughout the town. Kovno Governorate , with a centre in Kovno (Kaunas),
4680-511: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As
4836-672: The Hanseatic League , and Hansa merchant office Kontor was opened – the only one in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By the 16th century, Kaunas also had a public school and a hospital and was one of the most firmly established towns in the whole country. Furthermore, in the 16th century Grand Duchess Bona Sforza achieved that the Kaunas Eldership should become a property of the Jagiellonian dynasty ; starting in 1533, she carried out
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4992-776: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to
5148-507: The Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915. During the interwar period , it served as the temporary capital of Lithuania , when Vilnius was seized and controlled by Poland between 1920 and 1939. During that period Kaunas was celebrated for its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, construction of countless Art Deco and Lithuanian National Revival architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, interior design of
5304-590: The Lithuanian Air Force remained on the ground. At the time, the Lithuanian Armed Forces had 26,084 soldiers (of which 1,728 officers) and 2,031 civil servants. While the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union , subordinate to the army commander, had over 62,000 members, of which about 70% were farmers and agricultural workers. After the occupation, the Soviets immediately took brutal action against
5460-441: The Lithuanian Air Force to be an example for other military units. The ANBO 41 was far ahead of the most modern foreign reconnaissance aircraft of that time in structural features, and most importantly in speed and in rate of climb. At the time, Kaunas had a Jewish population of 35,000–40,000, about one quarter of the city's total population. Jews made up much of the city's commercial, artisan, and professional sectors. Kaunas
5616-855: The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party , securing it 59 seats. The bloc of the Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party and the Lithuanian Peasants’ Union placed second with 28 mandates. The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania won 13 seats. Ethnic parties won ten seats (six to Democratic Jewish Union , three to the Central Polish Electoral Committee and one to the Lithuanian German Committee ). There were two non-partisan representatives. Later on,
5772-759: The Lithuanian Council of 20 members (to become the Council of the State of Lithuania as of 11 July 1918). It was this Council that adopted the Act of Independence on 16 February 1918, stipulating that a Constituent Assembly was to be convened as soon as possible. On 2 November 1918, the Council of the State of Lithuania passed the Fundamental Laws of the Provisional Constitution of the State of Lithuania, which said that
5928-529: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following
6084-516: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of
6240-414: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . Vladimir Dekanozov , a Soviet emissary from Moscow, gained effective power in Lithuania. Shortly afterwards, on 17 June 1940 the puppet People's Government of Lithuania was formed, which consistently destroyed Lithuanian society and political institutions and opened the way for the Communist Party to establish itself. To establish the legitimacy of the government and design
6396-454: The Nemunas and Neris rivers and the city that grew up there was named after him. A suburban region in the vicinity is named "Palemonas". According to historian Teodor Narbutt the Lithuanians previously worshiped god Kaunis whose statue was located in the current Kaunas Old Town near Neman River. In 1408 Vytautas the Great granted Kaunas the city rights and himself chose the coat of arms of Kaunas with aurochs . On 30 June 1993,
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6552-404: The Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Baltic states and much of Belarus, and the administrative centre for Lithuania ( Generalbezirk Litauen ) was in Kaunas ruled by a Generalkommissar Adrian von Renteln . Jews began settling in Kaunas in the second half of the 17th century. They were not allowed to live in the city, so most of them stayed in the Vilijampolė settlement on the right bank of
6708-465: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict
6864-485: The Second Polish Republic , Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania . It would hold this position until 28 October 1939, when the Red Army handed Vilnius over to Lithuania after its invasion of Poland . The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania first met in Kaunas on 15 May 1920. It passed some important laws, particularly on land reform, on the national currency, and adopted a new constitution. The military coup d'état took place in Kaunas on 17 December 1926. It
7020-406: The Slovak Republic ), was seeking the protection of its citizens and did not support the Nazis ' Holocaust policy. However, the Provisional Government did little to stop the anti-Jewish violence encouraged by the Nazis and the anti-Semitic leadership of the Lithuanian Activist Front . Minister of National Defence General Stasys Raštikis met personally with the Wehrmacht generals to discuss
7176-401: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and
7332-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of
7488-414: The Vilnius region belonged to Lithuania. Shortly after the defeat in the Battle of Warsaw , the withdrawing Red Army handed Vilnius over to Lithuania, in accordance with the agreement. From October 1920 till February 1921, the Constituent Assembly was adjourned because the Lithuanian-Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under General Lucjan Żeligowski seized Vilnius . Many representatives went to
7644-422: The Virgin Mary for saving him from almost drowning in the river, during the Battle of the Vorskla River , in 1399. Following the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, Kaunas Castle became a residence of the elder of Kaunas, and its military significance decreased. "After leaving Poseur , I arrived in a large fortified city of Kaunas. It has a very beautiful large castle standing on a cliff of the Nemunas River. Kaunas
7800-414: The Volok Reform . The greatest economic boom of Kaunas was in the late 16th – early 17th century, which led to construction of many brick masonry buildings throughout the city. In the early 17th century, the prosperity of Kaunas led to the beginning of the construction of the Wall of Kaunas , which, however, was not completed, due to later wars and economic reasons. In 1665, the Russian army attacked
7956-415: The ancient Lithuania and especially its earthwork mounds. Later, many of the Seminary students were active in Lithuanian book smuggling ; its chief main objective was to resist the Russification policy . Kaunas Spiritual Seminary finally became completely Lithuanian when in 1909 professor Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis became the rector of the Seminary, and replaced use of the Polish language for teaching with
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#17328546620908112-410: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,
8268-444: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,
8424-422: The temporary capital . Aleksandras Stulginskis was elected as the chairman and de facto president. As soon as 10 June 1920, it passed the third and final draft of the constitution. On 12 June 1920, a peace treaty was signed with the Russian SFSR . It was highly beneficial to Lithuania as Russia recognized its independence de jure (the first state to do so after 1918) and acknowledged that vast areas of
8580-405: The tertiary education institutions of Kaunas attract thousands of students annually. The city's name is of Lithuanian origin and most likely derives from a personal name , however the exact person is unknown and it is believed that he was the ruler of Kaunas Castle. The personal name Kaunas is derived from an adjective kaunus which means "who likes to fight". Other possible meaning of
8736-416: The unsuccessful coup attempt in June 1934 , Voldemaras was imprisoned for four years and received an amnesty on condition that he leave the country. During the interwar period , Kaunas was nicknamed the Little Paris because of its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, Art Deco architecture, Lithuanian National Romanticism architectural style buildings as well as popular furniture, interior design of
8892-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian
9048-453: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in
9204-432: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way
9360-468: The 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c. 1 AD, however in c. 500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts
9516-401: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from
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#17328546620909672-403: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion
9828-456: The Commander of the Armed Forces Vincas Vitkauskas , Divisional General Stasys Raštikis , Kazys Bizauskas , Antanas Merkys and most of the Lithuanian government members decided that it would be impossible, especially the previously stationed Soviet soldiers, and accepted the ultimatum. On that night before officially accepting the ultimatum, the Soviet forces executed the Lithuanian border guard Aleksandras Barauskas [ lt ] near
9984-462: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that
10140-487: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of
10296-422: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as
10452-410: The German border. After realizing this, NKVD started terror against the Raštikis family. His wife was separated from their one-year-old daughter and brutally interrogated at Kaunas Prison , his old father Bernardas Raštikis, three daughters, two brothers and sister were deported to Siberia . Soldiers, officers , senior officers and generals of the Lithuanian Army and LRU members, who were seen as
10608-498: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in
10764-514: The Lithuanian delegation departed to Moscow , where it later had to sign the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty because of the unfavorable situation. The treaty resulted in five Soviet military bases with 20,000 troops established across Lithuania in exchange for Lithuania's historical capital Vilnius. According to the Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Kazys Musteikis , Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys initially told that Lithuanians refused Vilnius Region as well as
10920-399: The Lithuanian language. Prior to the Second World War , Kaunas, like many cities in Eastern Europe , had a significant Jewish population. According to the Russian census of 1897 , Jews numbered 25,500, 35.3% of the total of 73,500. The population was recorded as 25.8% Russian, 22.7% Polish, 6.6% Lithuanian. It established numerous schools and synagogues and were important for centuries to
11076-418: The Lithuanian-American Holocaust historian Saulius Sužiedėlis, "none of this amounted to a public scolding which alone could have persuaded at least some of the Lithuanians who had volunteered or been co-opted into participating in the killings to rethink their behavior." Lithuanian police battalions formed by the Provisional Government were eventually enlisted by the Nazis to help carry out the Holocaust . In
11232-620: The Nemunas River (in Kaunas and Grodno ), which was the main front line of fights between the Crusaders and Lithuanians . Consequently, Kaunas Castle had a strategic importance, as it prevented the Crusaders from intruding deeper into Lithuania and its capital, Vilnius . In 1362, the castle was captured after a siege of several weeks and destroyed by the Teutonic Order. Lithuanian rulers Kęstutis and Grand Duke Algirdas arrived to help
11388-601: The Neris and Nemunas rivers. All of the city's streets were paved, horse-drawn transportation was replaced with modern bus lines, new suburbs were planned and built ( Žaliakalnis neighbourhood in particular), and new parks and squares were established. The foundations of a social security system were laid, three new schools were built, and new public libraries , including the Vincas Kudirka library, were established. Vileišis maintained many contacts in other European cities , and as
11544-649: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz
11700-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of
11856-509: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak [ pl ] attested that many of
12012-456: The Romans in ancient times . These Romans were supposedly led by a patrician named Palemon, who had three sons: Barcus, Kunas and Sperus. Palemon fled from Rome because he feared the mad Emperor Nero . Palemon, his sons and other relatives travelled to Lithuania. After Palemon's death, his sons divided his land. Kunas got the land where Kaunas now stands. He built a fortress near the confluence of
12168-571: The Russian garrisons, but the nervous Joseph Stalin replied, "No matter if you take Vilnius or not, the Russian garrisons will enter Lithuania anyway". He also informed Juozas Urbšys about the Soviet–German secret protocols and showed maps of the spheres of influence. Two of the military bases with thousands of Soviet soldiers were established close to Kaunas in Prienai and Gaižiūnai . Despite regaining
12324-607: The Soviet Union. After the occupation, the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service did not recognize the new occupiers' authority and started the diplomatic liberation campaign of Lithuania. In 1941, Kazys Škirpa , Leonas Prapuolenis , Juozas Ambrazevičius and their supporters, including the former Commander of the Lithuanian Army General Stasys Raštikis , whose whole family was deported to Siberia , began organizing an uprising. After realizing
12480-640: The Teutonic Knights in the 14th century against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The Lithuanians constructed a new wooden castle on the island of Virgalė, which stood at the confluence of the Nemunas and Nevėžio rivers; however in 1363 the Crusaders burned the castle. The wooden castle was rebuilt, but in 1368 the Crusaders attacked once again, destroyed the castle and, according to the chronicles, killed 600 pagan defenders, while they themselves suffered only three casualties. The Lithuanians attempted to rebuild
12636-801: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text
12792-504: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in
12948-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and
13104-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in
13260-588: The beloved historical capital, the Presidency and the Government remained in Kaunas. On 14 June 1940, just before midnight, the last meeting of the Lithuanian government was held in Kaunas. During it, the ultimatum presented by the Soviet Union was debated. President Antanas Smetona categorically declined to accept most of the ultimatum's demands, argued for military resistance and was supported by Kazys Musteikis, Konstantinas Šakenis , Kazimieras Jokantas , however
13416-580: The brutal 1st Motor Rifle Division NKVD responsible for the June deportation , and the puppet Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic regime commanders were forced to flee into the Latvian SSR through the Daugava River. The commander of the Red Army's 188th Rifle Division colonel Piotr Ivanov reported to the 11th Army Staff that during the retreat of his division through Kaunas "local counterrevolutionaries from
13572-537: The castle with masonry and higher, wider walls, four flanking towers , and surrounded by a moat , but before its completion the Crusaders attacked in the summer of 1369, expelled the Lithuanians from the island of Virgalė and with their masonry built Gotteswerder Castle . Gotteswerder Castle was captured after a five-week siege by the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army , led by Algirdas and Kęstutis, and two wooden castles were built close to it. Nevertheless,
13728-466: The castle's defenders, but the castle was already surrounded by the fortifications of the Crusaders, and they could only watch the collapse of the castle. Most of the 400 castle's defenders were killed in action, and commander Vaidotas of the Kaunas Castle garrison tried to break through with 36 men, but was taken and made a prisoner . It was one of the largest and most important military victory of
13884-494: The castle, and it turned into ruins. Subsequently, a jail was established in one part of the castle, in the middle of the 18th century. At the end of the 18th century, the castle was sometimes used to hold meetings of noble families of Kaunas Powiat. After the third and final partition of the Polish–Lithuanian state in 1795, the city was taken over by the Russian Empire and became a part of Vilna Governorate . During
14040-476: The city from the inside (secure organizations, institutions, enterprises) and declare independence. By the evening of 22 June, the Lithuanians had controlled the Presidential Palace , post office, telephone and telegraph, and radio station. Control of Vilnius and most of the rest of Lithuanian territory was also shortly taken over by the rebels. Multiple Red Army divisions stationed around Kaunas, including
14196-401: The city of Mažeikiai . In return, Latvia received the so-called Aknysta foreland (Latvian: Aknīste ) north of Rokiškis . In total, Latvia gained about 100 km² more than Lithuania. This treaty solved all border conflicts with Latvia and the border remains the same today. It became a foundation for good and healthy cooperation between the two nations. On 23 September 1921, Lithuania became
14352-530: The city several times, and in 1701 the city was occupied by the Swedish Army , during the Great Northern War . The bubonic plague struck the area in 1657 and 1708, killing many residents. Fires destroyed parts of the city in 1731 and 1732. In the first half of the 18th century, the northern wall and two towers of the Kaunas Castle collapsed, due to damage from river water, and this led to abandonment of
14508-618: The city. It was the first coordinated Lithuanian–German action. The first German scouts, lieutenant Flohret and four privates, entered Kaunas on 24 June and found it in friendly hands. A day later the main forces marched into the city without obstruction and almost as if they were on parade. On 26 June 1941 the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ordered the rebel groups to disband and disarm. Two days later Lithuanian guards and patrols were also relieved of their duties. Already in July, in
14664-607: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on
14820-543: The confluence of the two largest Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris , and is near the Kaunas Reservoir , the largest body of water in the whole of Lithuania. As defined by Eurostat, the population of Kaunas functional urban area , is estimated at 391,153 (as of 2021), while according to statistics of Kaunas territorial health insurance fund, there are 447,946 permanent inhabitants (as of 2022) in Kaunas and Kaunas district municipalities combined. Moreover,
14976-643: The culture and business of the city. During the Imperial Russian Army 's Great Retreat of World War I , Paul von Hindenburg 's German Tenth Army occupied Kaunas in August 1915. After Vilnius was occupied by the Red Army in 1919, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania established its main base in Kaunas during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence . Later, after the capital, Vilnius, had been annexed by
15132-537: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as
15288-471: The elections. The constituencies under Lithuania's control were able to elect 112 representatives, one per population of 15,000. Every citizen aged 21 and above was entitled to vote; the voting age threshold for the military was 17. The paragraph in the Provisional Constitution stating that the Constituent Assembly would gather in Vilnius was amended. The rights and duties of the parties and fines and punishment for
15444-527: The end of the national rebirth in Lithuania, the restoration of the state, resulting in the building of a legal foundation for the independent state. In addition to the fundamental laws (the standing Constitution, the land reform, the introduction of the Litas , and the establishment of the university ), other areas of life were regulated as well. The country switched to a metric system, Central European time , implemented executive control, and became an active player on
15600-522: The fighting between the Crusaders and the Lithuanians for the area went on until the Lithuanians eventually took control in 1404; it was an important point during the 1409 Samogitian Rebellion and the 1410 war with the Crusaders . Grand Duke Vytautas the Great funded Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kaunas (the construction was completed in 1400) to show his gratitude to
15756-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and
15912-548: The first issue of the daily Į laisvę (Towards Freedom) newspaper, the Independence Restoration Declaration was published, which had been previously announced on the radio. It stated that "The established Provisional Government of revived Lithuania declares the restoration of the Free and Independent State of Lithuania. The young Lithuanian state enthusiastically pledges to contribute to the organization of Europe on
16068-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of
16224-536: The former Bernardine Monastery Palace and St. George the Martyr Church . Only selected noblemen were permitted to study in the Seminary, with the only exception being peasant son Antanas Baranauskas , who illegally received the nobleman documents from Karolina Praniauskaitė . He began lectures using the Lithuanian language , rather than Russian, and greatly influenced the spirit of the seminarians by narrating about
16380-533: The front to defend the historic capital. Before adjourning it had created the so-called Small Seimas (Lithuanian: Mažasis Seimas ) consisting of the Chairman and six members of the regular Constituent Assembly who were authorized to pass urgent laws. In March 1921, after international arbitration , a border treaty with Latvia was signed. 21 km of coastline including the towns of Palanga and Šventoji were transferred to Lithuania. It also defended its interest in
16536-622: The future form of the state of Lithuania would be determined by the Constituent Assembly. The Law on the Election of the Constituent Assembly was adopted on 30 October 1919. Lithuania was divided into 11 constituencies, of which 5 were not controlled by Lithuanians at the time. The total designated number of mandates was 229, but the Polish-controlled Vilnius region and the French-controlled Klaipėda region were barred from
16692-833: The high-ranking officials of the state. Both targets of the ultimatum, Minister of the Interior Kazys Skučas and the Director of the State Security Department of Lithuania Augustinas Povilaitis , were transported to Moscow and later executed. Antanas Gustaitis , Kazys Bizauskas , Vytautas Petrulis , Kazimieras Jokantas , Jonas Masiliūnas , Antanas Tamošaitis also faced that fate, and President Aleksandras Stulginskis , Juozas Urbšys , Leonas Bistras , Antanas Merkys , Pranas Dovydaitis , Petras Klimas , Donatas Malinauskas and thousands of others were deported . Stasys Raštikis , persuaded by his wife, secretly crossed
16848-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to
17004-405: The historical coat of arms of Kaunas city was re-established by a special presidential decree. The coat of arms features a white aurochs with a golden cross between its horns , set against a deep red background. The aurochs was the original heraldic symbol of the city, established in 1400. The heraldic seal of Kaunas, introduced in the early 15th century during the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas,
17160-595: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by
17316-555: The international stage. During the term of the Constituent Assembly, Lithuania received de jure recognition from 16 states. Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of
17472-597: The interwar period and versatile modernism architecture . Kaunas was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, together with Esch-sur-Alzette and Novi Sad . The city is the capital of Kaunas County , and the seat of the Kaunas city municipality and the Kaunas District Municipality . It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas . Kaunas is located at
17628-564: The interwar period from ~18,000 to ~154,000 residents. Between the World Wars , industry prospered in Kaunas, which was the largest city in Lithuania. Under the direction of Mayor Jonas Vileišis (1921–1931) Kaunas grew rapidly and was extensively modernised. A water and waste water system, costing more than 15 million Lithuanian litas, was put in place, the city expanded from 18 to 40 square kilometres (6.9 to 15.4 sq mi), more than 2,500 buildings were built, plus three modern bridges over
17784-777: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced
17940-809: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of
18096-549: The meeting in which the ministers participated together with the former President Kazys Grinius , Bishop Vincentas Brizgys and others. Ministers expressed distress at the atrocities being committed against the Jews but advised only that "despite all the measures which must be taken against the Jews for their Communist activity and harm done to the German Army , partisans and individuals should avoid public executions of Jews". According to
18252-410: The members of the parliament (37 out of 150) had a college degree, with the group of self-taught representatives coming in second (26 out of 150). Seven representatives were graduates of a spiritual academy or a divinity school. The parliament had 8 female representatives. By way of seniority, MP Gabrielė Petkevičaitė–Bitė chaired the solemn inaugural meeting, with Ona Muraškaitė–Račiukaitienė , being
18408-558: The name of the city of Kaunas is that it is derived from an old adjective which is not in use anymore and which meant "deep", "low", "located in the valley". Before Lithuania regained independence, the city was generally known in English as Kovno , the traditional Slavicized form of its name. The Polish name is Kowno [ˈkɔvnɔ] , and the names in Belarusian include Koўна ( Kowna [ˈkou̯nɐ] ) and Каўнас ( Kawnas [ˈkau̯nɐs] ). The Yiddish name
18564-494: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It
18720-658: The new Provisional Government, but they did not take any action to dissolve it. The Provisional Government, not agreeing to continue to be an instrument of the German occupiers, disbanded itself on 5 August 1941 after signing a protest for the Germans action of suspending the Lithuanian Government powers. Members of the Provisional Government then went as a body to the Garden of the Vytautas the Great War Museum , where they laid
18876-409: The obstruction of the elections, agitation by state officials during work hours, destruction of visual ads and electoral lists, the exercise of coercion or bribery towards voters, agitation out of place and time. The elections took place on 14–15 April 1920. The voter turnout reached about 90%. The voters, both men and women, elected 112 representatives. The plurality of the votes went to the lists of
19032-459: The official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It
19188-454: The parliamentary structure would shift. By way of rotation, some representatives would step down to be replaced by new ones. As a result, 150 persons had held a seat at the parliament by the end of the term. Most representatives were very young: 26 of them were aged 30 or under, and only two 12 members of the parliament were 50 or older. Of them, 4 were members of the Jewish faction. The majority of
19344-618: The plans of Lithuania's "legal accession to the USSR", on 1 July, the Seimas of Lithuania was dismissed, and elections to the puppet People's Seimas were announced. The controlled (passports had imprints) and falsified elections to the People's Seimas were won by the Lithuanian Labour People's Union, which obeyed the occupiers' proposal to "ask" the Soviet authorities to have Lithuania admitted to
19500-600: The reality of the repressive and brutal Soviet rule, in the early morning of 22 June 1941 (the first day when the Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union ), Lithuanians began the June Uprising , which was organized by the Lithuanian Activist Front , in Kaunas, where its main forces were concentrated. The uprising soon expanded to Vilnius and other locations. Its main goal was not to fight the Soviets but to secure
19656-565: The rebellion was taking place in the country, the insurgents took Kaunas and the Proclamation of the Independence Restoration of Lithuania and the list of the Provisional Government were announced by Leonas Prapuolenis . The message was being repeated several times in different languages. The Provisional Government hoped that Nazi Germany would re-establish Lithuanian independence or at least allow some degree of autonomy (similar to
19812-532: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system
19968-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla [ be ] , Petras Gaučas [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through
20124-431: The shelters deliberately fired on the Red Army, the detachments suffering heavy losses of soldiers and military equipment". About 5,000 occupants were killed in Lithuania. On 23 June 1941 at 9:28 am Tautiška giesmė , the national anthem of Lithuania, was played on the radio in Kaunas. Many people listened to the Lithuanian national anthem with tears in their eyes. From Kaunas radio broadcasts, Lithuania learned that
20280-657: The situation. He approached the Kaunas War Field Commandant General Oswald Pohl and the Military Command Representative General Karl von Roques by trying to plead for him to spare the Jews, but they replied that the Gestapo is handling those issues and that they could not help. Furthermore, in the beginning of the occupation, the prime minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, Juozas Ambrazevičius , convened
20436-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in
20592-641: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in
20748-513: The time and widespread café culture. The interim capital and the country itself also had a Western standard of living with sufficiently high salaries and low prices. At the time, qualified workers there were earning very similar real wages to workers in Germany , Italy , Switzerland and France , the country also had a high natural increase in population of 9.7 and the industrial production of Lithuania increased by 160% from 1913 to 1940. The population of Kaunas increased 8,6 times during
20904-552: The time, and a widespread café culture. The city interwar architecture is regarded as among the finest examples of European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label . It contributed to Kaunas being designated as the first city in Central and Eastern Europe as a UNESCO City of Design , and also to becoming a World Heritage Site in 2023 as the only European city representing large scale urbanization during
21060-566: The wax processing, and woolen cloth-trimming facilities. The power of the self-governing Kaunas was shared by three interrelated major institutions: vaitas (the Mayor ), the Magistrate (12 lay judges and 4 burgomasters ), and the so-called Benchers ' Court (12 persons). Kaunas began to gain prominence, since it was at the intersection of trade routes and a river port . At the time, Kaunas became an important port and centre of trade with Western Europe , thus rapidly growing. In 1441, Kaunas joined
21216-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of
21372-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,
21528-401: The years 459,000 ha of land were distributed to over 65,000 people. The nobility was allowed to keep 80 ha of land and was reimbursed an average of 27 litas per hectare (equivalent to $ 2.70 USD under the exchange rate in 1922) for nationalized land. People who received land, except for the volunteers, were required to pay for the land for 36 years. The main goal, to adopt a new constitution,
21684-468: The youngest member of the parliament, acting as secretary. It was a major achievement for women at the time. In terms of trade, most members of the parliament were farmers (21). They were followed by teachers (18), officials, co-operators, and municipal workers (18), craftsmen and workmen (17), lawyers (13), priests and rabbis (12), military officers (13). The first meeting took place on 15 May 1920 in Kaunas ,
21840-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of
21996-561: Was a centre of Jewish learning, and the yeshiva in Slobodka ( Vilijampolė ) was one of Europe's most prestigious institutes of higher Jewish learning. Kaunas had a rich and varied Jewish culture . There were almost 100 Jewish organizations, 40 synagogues, many Yiddish schools, 4 Hebrew high schools , a Jewish hospital , and scores of Jewish-owned businesses. It was also an important Zionist centre. Initially prior to World War II , Lithuania declared neutrality . However, on 7 October 1939,
22152-422: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
22308-458: Was annexed by and became part of the Russian Empire . On 21 September 1917, Vilnius played host to the Lithuanian Conference which resolved that, to lay the groundwork for the independent Lithuania and regulate its relations with the neighbours, a Constituent Assembly, elected under the principles of democracy by all of its residents, had to be convened in Vilnius . The resolutions of the Conference were to be implemented by an executive body:
22464-431: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view
22620-427: Was established on the site of the current Kaunas Old Town, at the confluence of two large rivers, by at latest the 10th century AD and more settlements developed in the 11th century AD. Kaunas was first mentioned in written sources in 1361 and at the end of the 13th century the brick Kaunas Castle was constructed to defend the residents from attacks by the Teutonic Order . At the time only two brick castles stood near
22776-419: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on
22932-415: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages
23088-430: Was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c. 1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c. 1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in
23244-536: Was formed in 1843. In 1862, a railway connecting the Russian Empire and Imperial Germany was built, making Kaunas a significant railway hub with one of the first railway tunnels in the Empire, completed in 1861. In 1898 the first power plant in Lithuania started operating. After the unsuccessful January Uprising in 1863 against the Russian Empire, the tsarist authority moved the Catholic Seminary of Varniai , prominent bishop Motiejus Valančius and Samogitian diocese institutions to Kaunas, where they were given
23400-436: Was largely organized by the military, especially general Povilas Plechavičius , and resulted in the replacement of the democratically elected Government and President Kazys Grinius with a conservative nationalist authoritarian Government led by Antanas Smetona . Shortly afterwards, tension between Antanas Smetona and Augustinas Voldemaras , supported by the Iron Wolf Association , arose seeking to gain authority. After
23556-399: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c. 400 BC and c. 600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c. 800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of
23712-445: Was moved to Žaliakalnis , armed with advanced and brand new tanks, including the famous Renault FT , Vickers-Armstrong Model 1933 and Model 1936. In May 1919, the Lithuanian Aircraft State Factory was founded in Freda to repair and to supply the army with military aircraft . It was considerably modernized by Antanas Gustaitis and started to build Lithuanian ANBO military aircraft. The exceptional discipline and regularity caused
23868-492: Was reached on 1 August 1922. The constitution granted broad powers to the Seimas , the Parliament. It selected the Cabinet of Ministers and elected the President. The Seimas and the president were to be elected every three years in democratic elections. Lithuania was declared a democratic republic modeled after the example of France . Because of the Christian democrats' majority, the constitution clearly reflected Christian ideas. For example, it established that religious education
24024-412: Was the first permanent Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, which was adopted on 1 August 1922 to close the cycle of the prior provisional constitutions: The Assembly cemented the principles of western democracy grounded on the freedom of faith, consciousness, speech, the equality of nations and genders before the law, and the immunity of a person. The expiry of the Constituent Assembly's term marked
24180-535: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Kaunas Kaunas ( / ˈ k aʊ n ə s / ; Lithuanian: [ˈkɐʊ̯ˑnˠɐs] ; previously known in English as Kovno / ˈ k ɒ v n oʊ / )
24336-430: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside
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