The ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' (literally: ''Lithuanian Newspaper'') was an influential

Lithuanian-language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, 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 t ...

newspaper published for

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 Lithuan ...

, an ethnic minority of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, a province of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. It was established in 1877 by Martynas Šernius (Martin Szernus) and Heinrich Holz in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

(Memel) and continued to be published until September 30, 1940. Initially it promoted pro-Lithuanian ideas and invited writers from Lithuania Major. Its early contributors included

Jonas Basanavičius Jonas Basanavičius (, ; 23 November 1851 – 16 February 1927) was an activist and proponent of the Lithuanian National Revival. He participated in every major event leading to the independent Lithuanian state and is often given the informal hon ...

Jonas Šliūpas Jonas Šliūpas (6 March 1861 – 6 November 1944) was a prominent and prolific Lithuanian activist during the Lithuanian National Revival. For 35 years, he lived in the United States working to build national consciousness of Lithuanian American ...

Georg Sauerwein Georg Julius Justus Sauerwein (15 January 1831 in Hanover – 16 December 1904 in Kristiania) was a German publisher, polyglot, poet, and linguist. He is buried at Gronau. Sauerwein was the greatest linguistic prodigy of his time and mastered ...

. The newspaper published news from the region, Germany and Lithuania, until 1918 part of Russia. It also included articles on Lithuanian history, culture, language, and patriotic poems, including ''

Lietuvininkai we are born ''Lietuvininkai we are born'' (, ) 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 peo ...

'' by Sauerwein and works by

Antanas Baranauskas Antanas Baranauskas (; 17 January 1835 – 26 November 1902) was a Lithuanian poet, mathematician and Catholic bishop of Sejny. Baranauskas is best known as the author of the Lithuanian poem '' Anykščių šilelis''. He used various pen names ...

. After ''

Aušra ''Aušra'' or ''Auszra'' (literally: ''dawn'') was the first national Lithuanian newspaper. The first issue was published in 1883, in Ragnit, East Prussia, Germany (newspaper credited it as ) East Prussia's ethnolinguistic part - Lithuania Mi ...

'', the first newspaper with contributors from both Prussian and Russian Lithuania, appeared in 1883, ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' became more pro-German and largely abandoned patriotic topics, leaving only articles concerning general news and religious matters. The shift in political attitude was also influenced by threats and economic pressure from German authorities. To counter this, a new more pro-Lithuanian newspaper, ''Nauja Lietuwißka Ceitunga'', was published in

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in 1890–1923. Šernius was editor-in-chief of ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' until it was acquired in June 1905 by the Siebert Press, publishers of vehemently pro-German '' Memeler Dampfboot''. After the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

was attached to Lithuania in 1923, ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' was a highly conservative pro-German newspaper. Reportedly, it was not profitable and was funded by

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In later years contributors included Pastor Martin Keturakaitis, Jonas Kikilius, Endrikis Radžiūnas, Kristupas Lokys,

Ieva Simonaitytė Ieva Simonaitytė or Ewa Simoneit (23 January 1897 – 27 August 1978) was a Lithuanian writer. She represented the culture of Lithuania Minor and Klaipėda Region, territories of German East Prussia with historically large, but dwindling, Lithuan ...

. ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' published various supplements, including German-language ''Beilage zu der Lietuviszka ceitunga'' and supplements for farmers (''Laukininkų prietelis'' in 1896–1900, ''Lietuvos ūkininkas'' in 1900, ''Laukininkas'' in 1929–1939). It also published free booklets to its subscribers, including shortened ''

The Jewish War ''The Jewish War'' is a work of Jewish history written by Josephus, a first-century Roman-Jewish historian. It has been described by the biblical historian Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history". ...

'' by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

in 1881 and ''Nusidavimai apie senuosius prūsus'' (on history of

Old Prussia Prussia (; ; ; ; ; //) is a historical region in Central Europe on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, that ranges from the Vistula delta in the west to the end of the Curonian Spit in the east and extends inland as far as Masuria, div ...

) by Nikodemas Jaunius in 1906. The newspaper used traditional German

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

script and Lithuanian language heavily influenced by German vocabulary and style. For example, the word ''ceitunga'' is a Lithuanianized version of German ''Zeitung'' (newspaper). ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga'' also capitalized all nouns in the

German fashion Germany plays an important role in the fashion industry, along with France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Spain, and Japan. German fashion is known for unconventional young designers and manufacturers of sports and outdoor clothi ...

and used

Fraktur Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. It is designed such that the beginnings and ends of the individual strokes that make up each letter will be clearly vis ...

letters, including letters ''w'' and '' ß'' that do not exist in today's

Lithuanian alphabet Lithuanian orthography employs a Latin-script alphabet of 32 letters, two of which denote sounds not native to the Lithuanian language. Additionally, it uses five digraphs. Alphabet Today, the Lithuanian alphabet consists of 32 Letter (alphabet) ...

. Initially it was published once a week, then bi-weekly (1900–1913), three times a week (1913–1932), and daily (1932–1940). Its circulation was about 700 copies in 1897, 700–800 in 1912, 5200 in 1931, and 3850 in 1935.

References

External links

Full-text archives of ''Lietuwißka Ceitunga''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lietuwisska Ceitunga Newspapers established in 1877 Publications disestablished in 1940 Defunct newspapers published in Germany Defunct newspapers published in Lithuania Defunct Lithuanian-language newspapers Lithuania Minor 1877 establishments in Germany