Žydų gyvenimo būdas ir tradicijos tarpukario Kauno priemiesčiuose

ENConclusions: 1. Vilijampolė, Lampėdžiai and Aleksotas during the interwar period were similar in their regional cultural peculiarities: the same geographical space and the lifestyle phenomena related to it, i.e. the landscape, the agricultural lifestyle, the same crafts and a similar, actively bilingual linguistic community. 2. For many years Vilijampolė was the area densely populated by the Jews. In the 18th century it was called a Jewish shtetl. During the interwar period one of the most populous Jewish communities lived in this area. Their living space was defined by their houses, and a complex of buildings related to religious rituals as well as a cemetery and local Jewish companies. 3. The most popular of the trades among the Jewish residents of Vilijampolė was merchantry. Especially popular were small-scale shop owners, craftspeople, merchants. Many of the Jewish settlers were owners of sawmills, mill- houses or metal shops. An additional business of the Jews of Vilijampolė was renting flats. The development of this trade was encouraged by the processes of external migration that took place in the interwar Vilijampolė. After the First World War the Kaunas Slabada Yeshiva of Israel Salanter became the Orthodox centre of the region and Jews from all over the world came to study here. 4. In the 1930s modernisation and urbanisation processes affected the life of Kaunas district (Aleksotas, Lampėdžiai and Vilijampolė). The relationship between the new elitist groups that were formed under the conditions of modernisation, and their environment changed greatly.The individuals representing the new elitist class (city officials, civil servants, the intelligentsia or businesspeople) not only chose their living place, but also selected ways of giving purpose to their relationship with their environment and the expression of that relationship. The relationship with the area changed because of urbanisation, modernisation and because of the liberalisation of the persons relationship with the environment. 5. The mentality of the local residents of Lampėdžiai in the 1930s was gradually changed with the manifestation of the city mentality. Jewish holiday-makers from the city partly colonised and urbanised the village and occupied the businesses of the locals. The traditional trades of the Lampėdžiai residents - agriculture and fishing - was changed by the city-type business, i.e. renting villas and summerhouses. On the other hand, both the fishermen and gardeners became a type of entertainment and leisure businesspeople. 6. In the 1930s the same processes of urbanisation and modernisation encouraged the residents of Vilijampolė and Aleksotas to change their lifestyles. During the interwar period Vilijampolė and Aleksotas became the industrial suburbs of Kaunas. Most gardener and farmer residents became factory workers in the 1930s. The process of modernisation from Kaunas to the periphery encouraged a modern lifestyle and offered new alternatives to the existing traditional one. It also formed a distinct regional community and changed the mentality of the people living in the suburbs. [From the publication]