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Meilė Lukšienė
Meilutė Julija Lukšienė Matjošaitytė (20 August 1913 – 16 October 2009) was a Lithuanian university professor, cultural historian, and activist. Educated at Vytautas Magnus University, Lukšienė became a professor of literature in 1944. In 1955, she defended her thesis on the works of Jonas Biliūnas to become the Candidate of Sciences. She headed the Lithuanian Literature Department of Vilnius University in 1951–1958. Due to tightening Soviet censorship after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the department was attacked for not devoting enough attention to communist literature and Lukšienė was dismissed from the university in early 1959. She then worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Pedagogy (merged into the ) until retirement in 1997. She researched the history of education focusing on the 19th century. In 1988, she became one of the co-founders of Sąjūdis, a political organization which sought the independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sąjūdis
Sąjūdis (, "Movement"), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis), is the political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988, and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis. Its goal was to seek the return of independent status for Lithuania. Historical background In the mid-1980s, Lithuania's Communist Party leadership hesitated to embrace Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost. The death of Petras Griškevičius, first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania, in 1987 was merely followed by the appointment of another rigid communist, Ringaudas Songaila. However, encouraged by the rhetoric of Mikhail Gorbachev, noting the strengthening position of Solidarity in Poland and encouraged by the Pope and the U.S. Government, Baltic independence activists began to hold public demonstrations in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius. Formation At a meeting a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Act Of 11 March
The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of March 11 ( lt, Aktas dėl Lietuvos nepriklausomos valstybės atstatymo) was an independence declaration by Lithuania adopted on March 11, 1990, signed by all members of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania led by Sąjūdis. The act emphasized restoration and legal continuity of the interwar-period Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union and lost independence in June 1940. It was the first Soviet republic of the 15 Soviet republics to declare independence from the Soviet Union. The other 14 Soviet republics would later declare their independence. These events (being part of the broader process dubbed the " parade of sovereignties") would lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Background Loss of independence After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century, Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaunas University
Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (VDU)) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the Polish–Lithuanian War, interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but in 1930 the university was renamed to ''Vytautas Magnus University'', commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of the Lithuanian ruler Vytautas the Great, who is known for the nation's Grand Duchy of Lithuania, greatest historical expansion in the 15th century. It is one of the leading universities of Lithuania, and has about 8,800 students, including Master's students and Ph.D. candidates. There are a little over 1000 employees, including approximately 90 professors. History Establishment of University The beginnings of higher education in Lithuania go back to the 16th century when in 1579 the college founded by Society of Jesus, Jesuits in Vilnius became a higher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Re-occupation Of Lithuania
The Soviet Union (USSR) occupied most of the territory of the Baltic states in its 1944 Baltic Offensive during World War II. Dear (2001). p. 85. The Red Army regained control over the three Baltic capitals and encircled retreating Wehrmacht and Latvian forces in the Courland Pocket where they held out until the final German surrender at the end of the war. The German forces were deported and the leaders of Latvian collaborating forces were executed as traitors. After the war, the Baltic territories were reorganized into constituent republics of the USSR until they declared independence in 1990 amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Soviet offensives and reoccupation By 2 February 1944 the siege of Leningrad was over and the Soviet troops were on the border with Estonia. Bellamy (2007). p. 621. Having failed to break through, the Soviets launched the Tartu Offensive on 10 August, and the Baltic Offensive on 14 September with forces totalling 1.5 million ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Literature
Lithuanian literature ( lt, lietuvių literatūra) concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in the Middle Ages. The edicts of the Lithuanian King Mindaugas are the prime example of literature of this kind. The Letters of Gediminas are another crucial heritage of the Lithuanian Latin writings. One of the first Lithuanian authors who wrote in Latin was Nicolaus Hussovianus (about 1480 – after 1533). His poem ''Carmen de statura, feritate ac venatione bisontis'' (''A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison''), published in 1523, describes the Lithuanian landscape, way of life and customs, touches on existing political problems and reflects the clash of paganism and Christianity. Joannes Vislicensis (1485–1520) wrote a poem - monument ''Bellum Prutenum'' (''Prussian war'') dedicated to a Battle of Grunwald ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interwar Lithuania
The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded many thousands of years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Balts, Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century (and also a short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania). The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. It remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to Christianization of Lithuania, adopt Christianity (beginning in the 14th century). A formidable power, it became the largest state in Europe in the 15th century through the conquest of large groups of East Slavs who resided in Ruthenia. In 1385, the Grand Duchy formed a dynastic union with Poland during the Jagiellon dynasty, Poland through the Union of Krewo. Later, the Union of Lublin (1569) created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that lasted until 1795, when the last of the Partitions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county 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 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 Romanticism architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, the interior design of 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World War. The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, when Invasion of Poland, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of the Second World War. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the Polish census of 1921, 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups: 13.9% Ruthenians; 10% Ashkenazi Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians. At the same time, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium
Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium ( lt, Vilniaus Vytauto Didžiojo gimnazija) is a gymnasium (high school) in Vilnius, Lithuania. Established in 1915, it became the first Lithuanian-language high school in the city. During the interwar period, the school was one of the key Lithuanian institutions in Vilnius Region which was incorporated into the Second Polish Republic and claimed by Lithuania. Many prominent Lithuanians worked (including two future Presidents of Lithuania) and studied (including future Prime Minister) at the school. Names The school was known under different names during its history: * 1915: Lithuanian Gymnasium Courses of Jonas Basanavičiaus, Mykolas Biržiška and Povilas Gaidelionis () * 1915–1918: Lithuanian Gymnasium of Rytas Society () * 1918–1921: Vilnius 1st Men's Gymnasium () * 1921–1944: Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium () * 1944–1949: Vilnius 1st Boys' Gymnasium () * 1949–1957: Vilnius 1st Secondary School () * 1957–2000: Vilnius Antanas V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, which located the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic Steppe. Biography Early life Marija Gimbutas was born as Marija Birutė Alseikaitė to Veronika Janulaitytė-Alseikienė and Danielius Alseika in Vilnius, the capital of the Republic of Central Lithuania; her parents were members of the Lithuanian intelligentsia. Her mother received a doctorate in ophthalmology at the University of Berlin in 1908, while her father received his medical degree from the University of Tartu in 1910. After Lithuania regained independence in 1918, Gimbutas's parents organized the Lithuanian Association of Sanitary Aid which founded the first Lithuanian hospital in the capital. During this period, her father also served as the publisher of the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Sanitary Aid Society
The Lithuanian Sanitary Aid Society ( lt, Lietuvių sanitarinės pagalbos draugija) was a Lithuanian society established in 1918 to provide medical care to refugees during World War I. First established in Minsk, the society purchased hospital equipment of a war hospital and relocated to Vilnius in July 1918. There it opened a hospital and continued to operate it until around 1941. Over the years, the hospital treated a total of about 300,000 patients. It was a charitable society, thus many of its treatments were provided at low cost or for free. After Vilnius incorporation into the Second Polish Republic, the society and the hospital were one of a few Lithuanian institutions active in Vilnius Region. The society and the hospital were headed by Danielius Alseika and, after his death, by Vytautas Legeika. History Establishment In early 1918, Minsk was occupied by the Germans. At the time, two Lithuanian physicians husband Danielius Alseika and wife Veronika Alseikienė worke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pranas Mašiotas
Pranas Mašiotas (1863–1940) was a Lithuanian activist and educator best known as children's writer and translator. Born in Suvalkija to a family of Lithuanian farmers, Mašiotas attended Marijampolė Gymnasium and studied mathematics at Moscow University. As a Catholic, he could not obtain employment in Lithuania and took temporary clerical jobs in Łomża and Riga before becoming math teacher at the Riga Gymnasium in 1891. He held this job until World War I forced him to evacuate to Voronezh where he became director of the Lithuanian girls' and boys' gymnasiums. He returned to Lithuania in 1918 and started working on organizing the education system in the newly independent country. He was vice-minister at the Ministry of Education from 1919 to 1923. He then became director of the . He retired in 1929 and focused on literary work. He died on 14 September 1940. Mašiotas was very active in Lithuanian cultural life. He joined and organized various Lithuanian societies, incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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