History * Istorija

Did you know (2) that

Lithuanian is the oldest living European language:

more about Language

Non-Lithuanian languages in Lithuania

Since Lithuania in middle ages was big country from Baltic to Black sea, people there spoke different non-Lithuanian languages. Many people still using those languages in Lithuania. People born on Lithuanian territory could be called Lithuanian citizens or Lithuanians (Do not confuse it with ethnic Lithuanians) regardless of speaking language, culture, ethnicity, name or religion. Some ethnicities came and left including Jews, Russians, Germans, Polish... It's like being guest in someone's home. Was nice when they or their descendants behaved like a guests and after leaving didn't forget hospitality. In fact hospitality and behavior of the guests are interrelated. Before 20 century tourism was not developed yet, poor people were not free to travel and reach people would have no reason to move from the east of Europe to the west, except prosecuted religious groups. Lithuania was in "Union" with Poland as equal partner, but Poland was as a converter and filter between progressive Europe and Lithuania. Unlike germanisation of Prussians, polonisation of Lithuania was more gentle long cultural historical process.

Can the person who is openly saying "Lithuania-my fatherland..." ( "Litwo-ojczyzna moja...") and was born in Lithuania, be considered Lithuanian, even if he said that in different then Lithuanian language? You bet - he can! Even Jewish can be called Lithuanian if he or she would say "Lithuania-my fatherland..." instead "Israel-my fatherland..." ;-)

Old Prussian language
was closely related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian and Latvian. Compare the Prussian word seme (zemē) and the Lithuanian žemė.
Prussian is an extinct Baltic language, once spoken by the inhabitants of Prussia in an area of what later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland and theKaliningrad Oblast of Russia). Language slowly extincted with the German colonisation of the area which began in the 12th century. The entire area has thousands of river names that can be traced back to an original Baltic language.
Conclusion: Famous Prussian's were more Lithuanian descent then German, including
Immanuel Kant -18th-century philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg. Defenately was at least half-Lithuanian, because his father was a
harnessmaker from Klaipėda, Lithuania.
and that territory should be inherited by Lithuania more then by any other country! ...(just joking ;-)

Did you know

Historically happened that many of the Greatest Polish people were from Lithuania:

Bronislaw_Komorowski president of Poland.

Jogaila - Władysław Jagiełło, king of the Poland-Lithuanian commonwealth.

Tadeusz Kościuszko was born in the village of Mereczowszczyzna. The area lay within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Pope_John_Paul_II - aka Karol Woityla, Jan Paweł II his mother was Lithuanian.

Joseph Pilsudski Józef Piłsudski, president of Poland, liberator.

Adam Mickiewicz, great Polish or Polish-Lithuanian poet , who wrote: "Lithuania - my fatherland...".

Czesław Miłosz, poet, the Nobel Prize in Literature. He said: "I am a Lithuanian to whom it was not given to be a Lithuanian."

Napoleon Orda was a Polish-Lithuanian musician, pianist, composer and artist.

Juliusz Słowacki, poet.

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, writer.

Eliza Orzeszkowa, writer.

Stanisław Moniuszko, musician.

Feliks Dzierżyński, politician.

Karol Podczaszyński, architect.

Jan Śniadecki, astronomer, mathematician, physicist.

Jakub Wujek, first translator of the Bible into the Polish language.

Joachim Lelewel, founding member of "Democratic Society for Unity and Brotherhood of All Peoples".

Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer, the first to formulate that it Earth is spinning around the Sun...just kidding!-he was Polish.

Did you know that
"The Jungle" is the Upton Sinclair's novel about Lithuanians in Chicago

This novel is required reading material in American schools.

The Jungle - 1906 novel about Lithuanians in Chicago, written by author and journalist Upton Sinclair.

"Most fearful they are to contemplate, the expenses of this entertainment. They will certainly be over two hundred dollars and maybe three hundred; and three hundred dollars is more than the year's income of many a person in this room. There are able-bodied men here who work from early morning until late at night, in ice-cold cellars with a quarter of an inch of water on the floor—men who for six or seven months in the year never see the sunlight from Sunday afternoon till the next Sunday morning—and who cannot earn three hundred dollars in a year. There are little children here, scarce in their teens, who can hardly see the top of the work benches — whose parents have lied to get them their places — and who do not make the half of three hundred dollars a year, and perhaps not even the third of it. And then to spend such a sum, all in a single day of your life, at a wedding feast! (For obviously it is the same thing, whether you spend it at once for your own wedding, or in a long time, at the weddings of all your friends.) It is very imprudent, it is tragic — but, ah, it is so beautiful! Bit by bit these poor people have given up everything else; but to this they cling with all the power of their souls — they cannot give up the veselija!"

— Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, Chapter 1

More about The Jungle

Did you know that

For the long time Lithuania was one of the bigest countries in Europe:

Year 1360: Lithuania 3 times bigger then Poland

Full map.

Year 1559: Lithuania lost access to Black See, and two times bigger then Poland

Full map.

The were times when Lithuania was ruled from Poland, Russia, Germany, but Lithuania always belonged to Lithuanian people regardless whatever language they spoke to please the rulers and survive. If you hear that Lithuania belonged to Poland, don't worry, just say "yeee, but most of that time Poland belonged to Russia, what about that", and you will have hot endless discussion.

Then Lithuanian King married Polish Queen, Lithuania adopted Christianity and united with Poland as "equal with equal". Many people still thinks that, because Lithuania was called Grand Duchy and Poland was called Kingdom, means Lithuania belonged to Poland. Wrong! - Kingdom - was the name of the state given be the Pope in Vatican. From Christians point of view, all states with non Christian religions were not worth such a noble name. Lithuania - last non-Christian country in Europe, couldn't be given the same status, despite the fact that it was tree times bigger country then Poland.

For more about Polish-Lithuanian relations see: Did You Know 3

Click here for the STORY about Polish queen Jadwiga and her husband Jagiello or in Lithuanian - Jogaila (see belove).

King of Lithuania, the title of rulers of Lithuanian state recognised by the Pope. The first of them was King Mindaugas who founded the Christian Kingdom of Lithuania; his successors, however, were known as Grand Dukes, due to Lithuania reverting back to paganism until the end of 14th century. Despite this, the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania referred to themselves as kings in Latin as "rex" (king), and Gediminas of Lithuania used this title in his letters while trying to ease pressure of the Teutonic Knights and negotiating the direct Christianisation of Lithuania from Rome rather than by neighbouring countries.

In 1429, the title of King of Lithuania was granted to Grand Duke Vytautas, after Lithuania had adopted Christianity, but he died prior to his coronation.
The third and the last king of Lithuania was proclaimed in 1918, during Germany's occupation of Lithuania at the end of the First World War. The Council of Lithuania elected German nobleman Wilhelm of Urach as king Mindaugas II hoping this would encourage Germany to allow Lithuania to become an independent country again. However, following the defeat of the Central Powers, the offer was rescinded and Lithuania became an independent republic. (source: Weekipedia.org)

Did you know that

King Jogaila Monument in New York

One of the biggest and most beautiful New York monuments was built for King Jogaila from Lithuania. Monument is in Central Park just behind Metropolitan Muzeum of Art :

Read article above about this Lithuanian King and Polish Queen.

Did you know that

Just by the entrance at New York Public Library you can see on the floor tile dedicated to Martin Radtke:

"I had little opportunity for formal education as a young man in Lithuania, and I am deeply indebted to The New York Public Library for the opportunity to educate myself.
In appreciation, I have given the Library my estate with the wish that it be used so that others can have the same opportunity made available to people".