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Birutė Society
The Birutė Society was the first cultural non-religious society of Prussian Lithuanians. Established in 1885 in Tilsit, East Prussia (present-day Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Sovetsk), the society was intermittently active until the outbreak of World War I. The society sought to preserve Lithuanian language and culture and protect them form Germanization. While it discussed linguistic and cultural subjects, the society never raised issues of social inequality or protested against the political regime of Kaiser Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Wilhelm II. The society prompted the division of Prussian Lithuanians into two main groups: religious conservative versus secular liberals. Birutė is best remembered for organizing festivals and celebrations that featured Lithuanian-language performances of various folk and patriotic songs as well as amateur theater performances, including the first Lithuanian-language theater performance in 1895. History Establishment and early activities The Lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania. The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river . Located in the region of Lithuania Minor, at various times, it was a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prussia and Germany until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. As a result of the 1923 Klaipėda Revolt it was annexed by Lithuania and has remained with Lithuania to this day, except between 1939 and 1945 when it was occupied by Germany following the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania. The population has migrated from the city to its suburbs and hinterland. The number of inhabitants of Klaipėda city shrank from 202,929 in 1989 to 162,360 in 2011, but the urban zone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polka
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ''polka'' referring to the dance is derived from the Czech word ''Polka'' meaning "Polish woman" (feminine form corresponding to ''Polák'', a Pole)."polka, n.". Oxford University Press. (accessed 11 July 2012). Czech cultural historian Čeněk Zíbrt also attributes the term to the Czech word ''půlka'' (half), referring to both the half-tempo and the half-jump step of the dance.Čeněk Zíbrt, "Jak se kdy v Čechách tancovalo: dějiny tance v Čechách, na Moravě, ve Slezsku a na Slovensku z věků nejstarších až do nové doby se zvláštním zřetelem k dějinám tance vůbec", Prague, 189(Google eBook)/ref> The word was widely introduced into the major European languages in the early 1840s. Origin and popularity The polka' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lietuvininkai We Are Born
''Lietuvininkai we are born'' (german: Als Litauer sind wir geboren, lt, Lietuvninkai mes esam gimę) is a Lithuanian-language patriotic and sentimental poem written by the German linguist Georg Sauerwein in 1879. It is a passionate defense of Prussian Lithuanian (Lietuvininkai) language and culture, rallying people to resist Germanisation attempts. However, at the same time the poem proclaimed love and loyalty to the Kaiser signifying that the rally was cultural and not political. It was inspired by Enlightenment ideas that archaic languages and traditions of minorities should be cherished, studied, and preserved. The poem was first published in the Prussian Lithuanian newspaper '' Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' in 1879. The poem was set to music in 1908 by the composer Stasys Šimkus and became the unofficial anthem of Lithuania Minor. Its shortened version uses only the 1st and 4th stanzas relevant to both Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major and replaces ''Lietuvininkai'' with ''Lietuvi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tauragė
Tauragė (; see other names) is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2020, its population was 21,520. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra River, close to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast, and not far from the Baltic Sea coast. Although first mentioned in 1507, Tauragė received its city charter only in 1924 and its coat of arms (a silver hunting horn in a red field) in 1997. Notable buildings in the city include the castle (19th c. Russian Empire Customs) (currently housinTauragė Region Museum , 19th c. Post office, beautiful buildings from the 20th c. inter-war period, several churches: the Lutheran (built in 1843), the Catholic (1904) and Orthodox (1933). Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish factories operate in the city. Nowadays Tauragė is famous for its car markets and adventure parks.
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Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having a small voluntary and mercenary military membership, serving as a crusading military order for the protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages. Purely religious since 1810, the Teutonic Order still confers limited honorary knighthoods. The Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order, a Protestant chivalric order, is descended from the same medieval military order and also continues to award knighthoods and perform charitable work. Name The name of the Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem is in german: Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus der He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Kaunas (1362)
The siege of Kaunas was laid by the Teutonic Order on the newly built Kaunas Castle in spring 1362. It was the first brick castle built by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After a month-long siege, the castle was captured and destroyed. Its commander Vaidotas, son of Kęstutis, and 36 others were taken captive. The defeat, followed by the destruction of Veliuona and Pieštvė the following year, severely weakened Lithuanian defenses along the Neman River and opened central Lithuania to Teutonic attacks. Background The Teutonic Order waged a decades-long crusade against the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania in attempts to conquer it and convert it to Christianity. The Neman River became the natural frontier and each side built a network of castles and fortresses along its banks. Lithuanian fortresses were wooden ( Kolainiai, Veliuona, Pieštvė, Paštuva, Bisenė) until they began building stone and red brick Kaunas Castle near the confluence of the Neman and Neris Rivers. Siege ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksandras Fromas-Gužutis
Aleksandras Fromas known by his pen name Gužutis (1822–1900) was a Lithuanian writer, one of the first authors of Lithuanian plays and dramas. Born to a family of an office worker, Fromas received some education at the Kražiai College. He worked in various government offices until he purchased a farm in 1853 where he lived and worked until his death. Encouraged by his neighbor Mečislovas Davainis-Silvestraitis, Fromas began publishing his texts in the Lithuanian press in 1884. While he wrote three novels, some short stories, and poems, he is mostly known as the author of the first Lithuanian plays. Thirteen plays are known; four of them were published during his lifetime. Most of the plays deal with heroic and romanticized episodes from the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other plays transformed traditional Lithuanian myths, including Eglė the Queen of Serpents and Jūratė and Kastytis, into literary dramas and dealt with realities of the 19th-century Lithuania, including the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Gold Mark
The German mark (german: Goldmark ; sign: ℳ) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the gold standard from 1871–1914, but like most nations during World War I, the German Empire removed the gold backing in August 1914, and gold and silver coins ceased to circulate. After the fall of the Empire due to the November Revolution of 1918, the mark was succeeded by the Weimar Republic's mark, derisively referred to as the Papiermark ("Paper mark") due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic from 1918–1923. History The introduction of the German mark in 1873 was the culmination of decades-long efforts to unify the various currencies used by the German Confederation.pp 205-218 https://books.google.com/books?id=GrJCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q&f=false The Zollverein unified in 1838 the Prussian and South German currenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garden Of Eden
In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genesis 2-3 and Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 28 and 31. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location: at the head of the Persian Gulf, in southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq) where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea; and in Armenia. Like the Genesis flood narrative, the Genesis creation narrative and the account of the Tower of Babel, the story of Eden echoes the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life. The Hebrew Bible depicts Adam and Eve as walking around the Garden of Eden naked due to their sinlessness. Mentions of Eden are also made in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smalininkai
Smalininkai (; german: Schmalleningken; pl, Smolniki) is a small city in Lithuania. It is located on the right bank of the Neman River, west from Jurbarkas, in the region of Lithuania Minor. Name The name describes a place of tar and pitch burners ("smala": tar, pitch; -ingken: village). History Since 1422 Treaty of Melno, it was a border village at the Lithuanian- Teutonic customs frontier. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) the village was a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights,Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215 and thus was located within the Polish–Lithuanian union, later elevated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the 18th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany, within which it was administratively located in the province of East ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krasnoznamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast
Krasnoznamensk (russian: Краснозна́менск, lit. ''Red Banner Town''; german: Lasdehnen (1734-1938), ' (1938-1946); lt, Lazdynai; pl, Lasdeny) is a town and the administrative center of Krasnoznamensky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Šešupė River, northeast of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast, and approximately to the south of the border with Lithuania. It has a population of History The earliest surviving German language record of Krasnoznamensk dates from 1521 under the name Haselpusch, meaning hazel bush in German, while Russian sources give the date of the earliest record as 1576 and other sources state that it was established in 1734. The village had a church by 1578, but it burned down in 1661 and the replacement building had to be taken down in 1869 due to severe structural defects. The town was part of the Kingdom of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order until 1525, and by Ducal Prussia afterwards. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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