Litvakai Aukštosios Panemunės miestelyje : kasdienės gyvensenos ir santykio su kitomis etninėmis grupėmis ypatumai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Antisemitinė politika; Aukštoji Panemunė; Istorinės atminties vieta; Kasdien gyvensena; Kasdienė gyvensena; Litvakai; Litvakai, žydai, Aukštoji Panemunė, kasdien gyvensena, skirtingų etninių grupių santykiai; Skirting etninių grupių santykiai; Skirtingų etninių grupių santykiai; Žydai; Antisemitic politics; Aukštoji Panemunė; Co-cxistence; Co-existence; Everyday life; Lithuanian Jews; Litvaks; Litvaks, Lithuanian Jews, Aukštoji Panemunė, everyday life, co-cxistence; Place of historical commemoration.

ENIn the article, the history and everyday life of the Jews of Aukštoji Panemunė are analyzed by looking at the ways of cohabitation among Jews, Lithuanians, Germans, and Poles in this town which is now a district of Kaunas city with no ethnic Jews left. Jews are first mentioned as inhabitants of Aukštoji Panemunė in the early 1790 s. The article is the first attempt at exploring Jewish life in this town, mostly consisting of Jewish businessmen, land-owners, and rich people with a very clear political orientation in their daily lives. Up to now the most common assumption among the scholars of the Lithuanian 545 state has been that the Jews of Lithuania did not have equal rights with the rest of inhabitants and they were not close to ethnic Lithuanians. In this article, through a detailed study of one family migrating through Lithuania and finally settling in Aukštoji Panemunė and its vicinities, the author challenges almost all the prevalent prejudices and incorrect statements on this topic by showing that at least some Lithuanian Jews such as living in Aukštoji Panemunė were actually self-confident, hard-working, and friendly to Lithuanians.The tragical destiny of these Jews was deeply relived by Lithuanians because they were treated as equal partners, and sometimes even higher because of their wealth and professionalism. Aukštoji Panemunė as a Jewish living place eventually underwent physical destruction, but the Jewish tradition lives on in the spiritual tradition of everyday life and memories of Panemunės people. Jews are still alive in their talks and narratives, as well as in their political decisions and actions to preserve Panemunė as a place of historical commemoration. The empirical data gathered and presented in the article strongly opposes many an article by prominent Lithuanian historians and ethnologists. The author comes to the conclusion that no researchers took interest in exploring Panemunė and its Jewish heritage because of the politics of history whereby Jewish heritage is viewed as something alien to Lithuanian history. This article shows that Aukštoji Panemunė and its vicinities have assumed their present form because of the large Jewish community that lived here in the past. All the businesses that were run by Jews in the past in Aukštoji Panemunė and its vicinities are in operation to this very day. The historical Jewish community that once lived here exerts a significant influence on the people who live in Panemunė now. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Istorija / History