War violence and its representation: a comparison of civilian experiences of the Great War on both sides of the former Russian-German border
ENThis chapter explores the violence experienced by civilians during the First World War from at least two perspectives. Covering the territories of East Prussia (part of the German Reich) and future Lithuania (part of imperial Russia in 1914), for example, the northern section of the former Russian-German border area, it not only seeks to contribute to creating a more comprehensive picture of the forms of violence perpetrated against civilians but also to compare the different acts of violence and its subsequent representation. The chapter is comprised of three parts. The first part aims to shed light on the current state of research, that is, what we learned from the historical studies published so far on the use of violence against the civilians during the First World War in East Prussia and Lithuania, what forms of violence were identified in those studies, and how the researchers explained the motives behind this violent behavior. The second part covers the process of gathering information on civilian experiences. It will confirm what we already know from previous historical research—that the process of gathering information on the acts of violence was, from the outset, not only driven by the goal of documenting them but also by the hope of being able to use this information for a variety of pragmatic purposes. At the same time, however, it will demonstrate the long-lasting nature and relevance of this goal even two decades after the war. The third part will focus on the representation of violence in the period up to World War II. It is aimed at exploring the depiction of perpetrators of violence against civilians. Our underlying goal is to shed light on the impact that the representation of violence had on the understanding of what actually happened—what remained from the multiple forms of violence after subjecting them to a number of filters of representation before they reached the audience and were translated into public opinion perceptions.
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