Lithuanization (or Lithuanianization ) is a process of cultural assimilation , where Lithuanian culture or its language is voluntarily or forcibly adopted.
53-468: The Lithuanian annexation of Ruthenian lands between the 13th and 15th centuries was accompanied by some Lithuanization. A large part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained Ruthenian; due to religious, linguistic and cultural dissimilarity, there was less assimilation between the ruling nobility of the pagan Lithuanians and the conquered Orthodox East Slavs . After the military and diplomatic expansion of
106-455: A lingua franca ; Latin was used in relations with Western Europe. It was gradually reversed by the Polonization of Lithuania beginning in the 15th century and the 19th- and early-20th-century Russification of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . A notable example of Lithuanization was the 19th-century replacement of Jews (many Lithuanian Jews , but also Polish Jews ), until then
159-576: A Slavic suffix with the matching Litnuanian one: Antanaitis from Antanavičius (Polish: Antonowicz ). In modern Lithuania, which has been independent since the dissolution of the Soviet Union , Lithuanization is not an official state policy. It is advocated by groups such as Vilnija , however, whose activities create tension in Polish-Lithuanian relations . The former minister of education and science of Lithuania, Zigmas Zinkevičius , stated that
212-558: A group of Roman Catholic clergy and intellectuals. It initially called for Lithuanian patriotism and the defence of the Catholic church in the face of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church. In 1904 it adopted social objectives, but also began to adopt anti-Polish and nationalist viewpoints. The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (LKDP) was formally established in 1917, with its first congress held in Vilnius on 20 November 1918. It emerged as
265-575: A law was passed which allowed a student to attend Polish school only if both parents were Poles. This resulted in unaccredited schools, which numbered over 40 in 1935 and were largely sponsored by Pochodnia . A similar situation developed concerning German schools in the Klaipėda Region . Lithuanian attitudes towards ethnic Poles were influenced by the concept of treating them as native Lithuanians who were Polonized over several centuries and needed to return to their "true identity". Another major factor
318-403: A minority with a different language". After the termination of its validity, municipal authorities in Šalčininkai and Vilnius were ordered to remove bilingual Polish-Lithuanian signs, most of which had been placed during the period when such signs were permitted. In 2013, Vilnius regional court fined the administrative director of Šalčininkai District Municipality (where Poles constituted 77.8% of
371-570: A nationalist movement. After 1918, the name Ruthenia became narrowed to the area south of the Carpathian Mountains in the Kingdom of Hungary , also called Carpathian Ruthenia ( Ukrainian : карпатська Русь , romanized : karpatska Rus , including the cities of Mukachevo , Uzhhorod , and Prešov ) and populated by Carpatho-Ruthenians , a group of East Slavic highlanders. While Galician Ruthenians considered themselves Ukrainians,
424-456: A part of Zakarpattia Oblast in present-day Ukraine), became subordinated to the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11th century. The Kings of Hungary continued using the title "King of Galicia and Lodomeria" until 1918. By the 15th century, the Moscow principality had established its sovereignty over a large portion of former Kievan territory and began to fight Lithuania over Ruthenian lands. In 1547,
477-654: The Farmers' Party . Following the 1926 coup , the LKDP supported the Antanas Smetona government, but joined the opposition in June 1927. Several party leaders were imprisoned in 1928, and the party was finally dissolved in November 1935. The party was re-established in 1989, and won two seats in the 1990 Supreme Soviet elections . For the 1992 elections the LKDP ran in an alliance with
530-566: The Kingdom of Poland , and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austria-Hungary , mainly to Ukrainians and sometimes Belarusians , corresponding to the territories of modern Belarus , Ukraine , Eastern Poland and some of western Russia . Historically, in a broader sense, the term was used to refer to all the territories under Kievan dominion (mostly East Slavs). The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1772–1918), corresponding to parts of Western Ukraine ,
583-652: The Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees and the Lithuanian Democratic Party . The LKDP won eight seats in the single-member constituencies, whilst the alliance won 18 seats in total and emerged as the third-largest faction in the Seimas . In 1993, the party joined the Christian Democrat International . The party ran alone in the 1996 elections , winning 16 seats and becoming
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#1732854755324636-479: The Mongol Invasion of Kievan Rus' and a massive devastation of the core territory, the name Rus' was succeeded by Galician-Volhynian principality , which declared itself as Kingdom of Rus' . European manuscripts dating from the 11th century used the name Ruthenia to describe Rus' , the wider area occupied by the early Rus' (commonly referred to as Kievan Rus ' ). This term was also used to refer to
689-496: The Ruthenian Voivodeship was established in the territory of Galicia-Volhynia and existed until the 18th century. These southern territories include: The Russian Tsardom was officially called Velikoye Knyazhestvo Moskovskoye (Великое Княжество Московское), the Grand Duchy of Moscow , until 1547, although Ivan III (1440–1505, r. 1462–1505 ) had earlier borne the title "Great Tsar of All Russia". During
742-601: The USSR , as the Soviet government considered them to be Ukrainian. A Rusyn minority remained, after World War II, in eastern Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia ). According to critics, the Ruthenians rapidly became Slovakized . In 1995 the Ruthenian written language became standardized. Following Ukrainian independence and dissolution of the Soviet Union (1990–91), the official position of
795-493: The Vilnius Region was detached from the country after Żeligowski's Mutiny , however, the largest communities of Belarusians, Jews, and Poles ended up outside Lithuania and the special ministries were abolished. In 1920, Lithuania's Jewish community was granted national and cultural autonomy with the right to legislate binding ordinances; however, partly due to internal strife between Hebrew and Yiddish groups their autonomy
848-528: The 13th century, western Ruthenian principalities became incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , after which the state became called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ruthenia. The Polish Kingdom also took the title King of Ruthenia when it annexed Galicia. These titles were merged when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed. A small part of Rus' ( Transcarpathia , now mainly
901-484: The 1880s through the first decade of the 20th century, the popularity of the ethnonym Ukrainian spread, and the term Ukraine became a substitute for Malaya Rus' among the Ukrainian population of the empire. In the course of time, the term Rus became restricted to western parts of present-day Ukraine ( Galicia /Halych, Carpathian Ruthenia ), an area where Ukrainian nationalism competed with Galician Russophilia . By
954-590: The Carpatho-Ruthenians were the last East Slavic people who kept the historical name ( Ruthen is a Latin form of the Slavic rusyn ). Today, the term Rusyn is used to describe the ethnicity and language of Ruthenians , who are not compelled to adopt the Ukrainian national identity . Carpathian Ruthenia ( Hungarian : Kárpátalja , Ukrainian : Закарпаття , romanized : Zakarpattia ) became part of
1007-707: The Christian Democrats finished third, but the Bloc won 40 seats and were able to form a government without outside support. The LKDP finished third again in the 1926 elections and the bloc won only 30 seats as the Labour Federation saw its support almost halve. As a result, the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union was able to form a government with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and
1060-722: The EU's Advisory Committee, this violates Lithuania's obligations under Article 11 (3) of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . A Polish-Lithuanian woman protested when her last name (Wardyn) was Lithuanized to Vardyn. In 2014, Šalčininkai District Municipality administrative director Boleslav Daškevič was fined about €12,500 for failing to execute a court ruling to remove Polish traffic signs . Polish and Russian schools went on strike in September 2015, organised by
1113-710: The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania. Ruthenia Ruthenia is an exonym , originally used in Medieval Latin , as one of several terms for Kievan Rus' . Originally, the term Rus' land referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine . Ruthenia was used to refer to the East Slavic and Eastern Orthodox people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and
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#17328547553241166-717: The French and Spanish press as "troublemaking".) On 15 March 1939, the Ukrainophile president of Carpatho-Ruthenia, Avhustyn Voloshyn , declared its independence as Carpatho-Ukraine . On the same day, regular troops of the Royal Hungarian Army occupied and annexed the region. In 1944 the Soviet Army occupied the territory , and in 1945 it was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR . Rusyns were not an officially recognized ethnic group in
1219-613: The Kruonis Orthodox church. Thirteen Orthodox churches were demolished. Another target group for discrimination was the Poles; anti-Polish sentiment had appeared primarily due to the Polish occupation of Lithuania's capital Vilnius in 1920. Lithuanian Catholic priests (derogatorily called Litwomans in Polish) promoted Lithuanian in equal terms to Polish, which in many places had been used forced onto
1272-505: The Lithuanian nobility and began to call themselves Lithuanians ( Litvins ) gente Rutenus natione Lituanus , but still spoke Ruthenian . The Lithuanian nobility became largely Ruthenian, and the nobility of ethnic Lithuania and Samogitia continued to use their native Lithuanian. It adapted Old Church Slavonic and (later) Ruthenian, and acquired main-chancery-language status in local matters and relations with other Orthodox principalities as
1325-655: The Moscow principality adopted the title of The Great Principat of Moscow and Tsardom of the Whole Rus and claimed sovereignty over "all the Rus'" — acts not recognized by its neighbour Poland. The Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox and preferred to use the Greek transliteration Rossiya (Ῥωσία) rather than the Latin "Ruthenia". In the 14th century, the southern territories of Rus', including
1378-595: The Polish minority inhabiting the Vilnius region is composed of "Polonized Lithuanians" who "are incapable of understanding where they truly belong" and it is "every dedicated Lithuanian's duty" to re-Lithuanize them. Lithuanization promoted the cooperation of Polish and Russian minorities, who support the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania . The Law on Ethnic Minorities, which remained in force until 2010, enabled bilingual signage in areas that have "substantial numbers of
1431-771: The Rus'"), Boemus tells of a country extending from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea and from the Don River to the northern ocean. It is a source of beeswax , its forests harbor many animals with valuable fur , and the capital city Moscow ( Moscovia ), named after the Moskva River ( Moscum amnem ), is 14 miles in circumference. Danish diplomat Jacob Ulfeldt , who traveled to Muscovy in 1578 to meet with Tsar Ivan IV , titled his posthumously (1608) published memoir Hodoeporicon Ruthenicum ("Voyage to Ruthenia"). In Kievan Rus',
1484-535: The Slavs of the island of Rügen or to other Baltic Slavs, whom 12th-century chroniclers portrayed as fierce pirate pagans—even though Kievan Rus' had converted to Christianity by the 10th century: Eupraxia , the daughter of Rutenorum rex Vsevolod I of Kiev , had married the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1089. After the devastating Mongolian occupation of the main part of Ruthenia which began in
1537-715: The Ukrainian nation; and Ruthenophiles, who claimed that Carpatho-Ruthenians were a separate nation and who wanted to develop a native Rusyn language and culture. In 1938, under the Nazi regime in Germany, there were calls in the German press for the independence of a greater Ukraine, which would include Ruthenia, parts of Hungary, the Polish Southeast including Lviv, the Crimea, and Ukraine, including Kyiv and Kharkiv. (These calls were described in
1590-682: The decrease was the policy of Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party , which transferred students whose parents had "Lithuania" as their nationality on their passports to Lithuanian schools. After the party lost control, the number of schools increased to 91. Soon after the 1926 coup d'état , nationalists led by Antanas Smetona came to power. The nationalists decided to ban attendance at Polish schools by Lithuanians; children from mixed families were forced to attend Lithuanian schools. Many Poles in Lithuania were identified as Lithuanians on their passports, and were forced to attend Lithuanian schools. The number of Polish schools decreased to nine in 1940. In 1936,
1643-504: The duchy into Ruthenian ( Kievan Rus' ) lands, local leaders retained autonomy which limited the amalgamation of cultures. When some localities received appointed Gediminids (rulers), the Lithuanian nobility in Ruthenia largely embraced Slavic customs and Orthodox Christianity and became indistinguishable from Ruthenian nobility. The cultures merged; many upper-class Ruthenians merged with
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1696-629: The early 20th century, the term Ukraine had mostly replaced Malorussia in those lands, and by the mid-1920s in the Ukrainian diaspora in North America as well. Rusyn (the Ruthenian) has been an official self-identification of the Rus' population in Poland (and also in Czechoslovakia ). Until 1939, for many Ruthenians and Poles, the word Ukrainiec (Ukrainian) meant a person involved in or friendly to
1749-808: The early modern period, the term Ruthenia started to be mostly associated with the Ruthenian lands of the Polish Crown and the Cossack Hetmanate . Bohdan Khmelnytsky declared himself the ruler of the Ruthenian state to the Polish representative Adam Kysil in February 1649. The Grand Principality of Ruthenia was the project name of the Cossack Hetmanate integrated into the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth . The use of
1802-540: The element ruthenium from platinum ore found in the Ural Mountains . Claus named the element after Ruthenia to honor Russia . Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija , LKDP ) was a Christian-democratic political party in Lithuania . A Christian Democratic movement was established in Lithuania in 1890 by
1855-517: The government and some Ukrainian politicians has been that the Rusyns are an integral part of the Ukrainian nation. Some of the population of Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine have identified as Rusyn (or Boyko, Hutsul, Lemko etc.) first and foremost; a subset of this second group has, nevertheless, considered Rusyns to be part of a broader Ukrainian national identity. In 1844, Karl Ernst Claus , Russian naturalist and chemist of Baltic German origin, isolated
1908-519: The largest ethnic group in Lithuania 's major towns, with ethnic Lithuanians migrating from the countryside. Lithuanization was primarily demographic , rather than institutionalized. When Lithuania became an independent state after World War I , its government institutionalized Lithuanization. Around the time of Lithuanian independence , the country began moving toward the cultural and linguistic assimilation of large groups of non-Lithuanian citizens (primarily Poles and Germans). The Lithuanian government
1961-562: The largest party in the 1920 elections with 24 seats, and together with the Labour Federation and Farmers' Association , it formed the Christian Democratic Bloc, which together held 59 of the 112 seats. The 1922 elections saw the LKDP remain the largest party, but the Bloc lost its majority, winning only 38 of the 78 seats. As a result it was forced to govern with the support of independents. In early elections in 1923
2014-780: The locals by Polish Church authorities. It was often the case, that the parish was inhabited by Lithuanian-speaking people, yet they knew their prayers only in Polish, as the priests tried Polonizing them. Eugeniusz Romer (1871–1943) noted that the Lithuanian National Revival was positive in some respects, he described some excesses, which he found often to be funny, although aggressive towards Poles and Polish culture. For example, Lithuanian priests were forced to drive out of confessional boxes people who wanted to confess in Polish or refused to sing Polish songs that were sung in those churches for centuries during additional services, preferring Lithuanian instead. Anti-Polish propaganda
2067-524: The name Rus' , or Rus'ka zemlia (land of Rus'), described the lands between Kiev , Chernihiv and Pereyaslav , corresponding to the tribe of Polanians , which started to identify themself as Rus' ( Ukrainian : Русь, Русини ) approximately in 9th century. In a broader sense, this name also referred to all territories under control of Kievan princes , and the initial area of Rus' land served as their metropole , yet this wider meaning declined when Kiev lost its power over majority of principalities. After
2120-533: The newly founded Hungarian Kingdom in 1000. In May 1919, it was incorporated with nominal autonomy into the provisional Czechoslovak state as Subcarpathian Rus' . Since then, Ruthenian people have been divided into three orientations: Russophiles , who saw Ruthenians as part of the Russian nation; Ukrainophiles , who like their Galician counterparts across the Carpathian Mountains considered Ruthenians part of
2173-633: The party had split. In 1998, "moderns" established new party, Modern Christian-Democratic Union , which joined ranks with the New Union (Social Liberals) , the Liberal Union of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Centre Union by the summer of 2000. In 1998, the LKDP became associated member of the European People's Party . After winning only two seats in the 2000 elections , the party merged with
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2226-506: The population in 2011) €30 for each day of delay, and in January 2014 ordered him to pay a fine of over €12,500. Liucyna Kotlovska from Vilnius District Municipality was fined about €1,738. Bilingual signs, even those privately purchased and placed on private property, are now seen by Lithuanian authorities as illegal. The only exception is provided for names of organisations of national minority communities and their information signs. According to
2279-461: The principalities of Galicia–Volhynia and Kiev , became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which in 1384 united with Catholic Poland in a union which became the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. Due to their usage of the Latin script rather than the Cyrillic script , they were usually denoted by the Latin name Ruthenia . Other spellings were also used in Latin, English , and other languages during this period. Contemporaneously,
2332-506: The region its people called Rus' . During the Middle Ages, writers in English and other Western European languages applied the term to lands inhabited by Eastern Slavs . Rusia or Ruthenia appears in the 1520 Latin treatise Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium, per Ioannem Boëmum, Aubanum, Teutonicum ex multis clarissimis rerum scriptoribus collecti by Johann Boemus . In the chapter De Rusia sive Ruthenia, et recentibus Rusianorum moribus ("About Rus', or Ruthenia, and modern customs of
2385-510: The second-largest party. Following the elections, it formed a coalition with the Homeland Union . However, the coalition broke up in June 1999. Eventually, coalition was reestablished. Between 1997 and 1998, internal conflicts came to the public. Conflicting sides were "moderns" ( Feliksas Palubinskas , Egidijus Vareikis , Vytautas Bogušis , Algis Kašėta , Artūras Vazbys ) and "conservatives" ( Zigmas Zinkevičius , Petras Gražulis ). After 1998 congress, when Zigmas Zinkevičius became new leader,
2438-399: The term Rus/Russia in the lands of Rus' survived longer as a name used by Ukrainians for Ukraine. When the Austrian monarchy made the vassal state of Galicia–Lodomeria into a province in 1772, Habsburg officials realized that the local East Slavic people were distinct from both Poles and Russians and still called themselves Rus. This was true until the empire fell in 1918. In
2491-413: Was initially democratic, and protected the cultural traditions of other ethnic groups; a 1917 Vilnius Conference resolution promised national minorities cultural freedom. After World War I, the Council of Lithuania (the government's legislative branch) was expanded to include Jewish and Belarusian representatives. The first Lithuanian governments included ministries for Jewish and Belarusian affairs; when
2544-402: Was operated by the Jewish community; there were 49 Jewish grammar schools in 1919, 107 in 1923, and 144 in 1928. In 1931, partially due to consolidation, the number of schools decreased to 115 and remained stable until 1940. At the beginning of 1920, Lithuania had 20 Polish-language schools for Poles in Lithuania . The number increased to 30 in 1923, but fell to 24 in 1926. The main reason for
2597-409: Was referred to as Ruthenia and its people as Ruthenians . As a result of a Ukrainian national identity gradually dominating over much of present-day Ukraine in the 19th and 20th centuries, the endonym Rusyn is now mostly used among a minority of peoples on the territory of the Carpathian Mountains , including Carpathian Ruthenia . The word Ruthenia originated as a Latin designation of
2650-421: Was sponsored by the government; during the interwar period , caricatures and propaganda were published attacking Poles and depicting them as criminals or vagabonds . During the interwar, discussions started about returning to native Lithuanian surnames, as opposed to Germanization and Slavicisation (which included both Russification and Polonization ). These talks resulted in a draft law to this end, which
2703-529: Was submitted to the Seimas in 1939, but not accepted as insufficiently prepared. A special commission " Pavardžių atlietuvinimo komisija " (Commission for the Re-Lithuanianization of Surnames) was set up. Because of the talks on the issue, even though the law did not pass, many Lithuanians re-Lithuanianized their names themselves. Common approaches were to cut out the Slavic part of the suffix, e.g., " Kunčius [ lt ] " from " Kuncevičius [ lt ] " (equivalent of Polish Kuncewicz ) or replace
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#17328547553242756-400: Was terminated in 1924. The Jews were increasingly marginalized and alienated by the "Lithuania for Lithuanians" policy. As Lithuania established its independence and its nationalistic attitudes strengthened, the state sought to increase the use of Lithuanian in public life. Among the government's measures was a forced Lithuanization of non-Lithuanian names. The largest minority-school network
2809-519: Was the tense relationship between Lithuania and Poland about the Vilnius Region and cultural (or educational) restrictions on Lithuanians there; in 1927, the Lithuanian Education Society Rytas chairman and 15 teachers were arrested and 47 schools closed. Although the Lithuanian constitution guaranteed equal rights to all religions, the government confiscated Orthodox churches (some of which had been converted from Catholic churches). Former Eastern Catholic Churches were confiscated as well, including
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