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Lithuanian Conservative Election Societies
The Lithuanian Conservative Election Societies ( lt, Lietuviškos konservatyvų skyrimo draugystės) were several loosely connected political societies of Prussian Lithuanians active from 1890 to the German Revolution of 1918–19. They sought to elect Prussian Lithuanians to the German Reichstag and Prussian Landtag and to defend the use of the Lithuanian language. The societies managed to get two representatives to the Reichstag (Jonas Smalakys in 1898–1901 and, after Smalakys' death, in 1901–1903) and two to the Landtag ( in 1903–1918 and in 1913–1918). It is sometimes described as the first Lithuanian political party (the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania was established in 1895). History The first society, the Committee of the Lithuanian Conservative Society ( lt, Lietuviškos konservatyvų draugystės komitetas), was established in 1890 in Tilsit (now Sovetsk) by Martynas Jankus, Jonas Smalakys, Dovas Zaunius, and others. In 1892, the committee broke up to sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussian Lithuanians
The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai (singular: ''Lietuvininkas'', plural: ''Lietuvininkai''), are Lithuanians, originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuania, or Lithuania Minor ( lt, Prūsų Lietuva, Mažoji Lietuva, german: Preußisch-Litauen, Kleinlitauen), instead of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later, the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania Major, or Lithuania proper). Prussian Lithuanians contributed greatly to the development of written Lithuanian, which for a long time was considerably more widespread and in more literary use in Lithuania Minor than in Lithuania proper. Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation, most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran). There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were executed or expelled after World War II, when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
