Kristijono Donelaičio memorialas Tolminkiemyje

• Kitkauskas, Napaleonas
• Kitkauskienė, Laimutė

LTKnygoje pateikiama buvusios Tolminkiemio bažnyčios, klebonijos, mokyklos, kitų su lietuvių literatūros klasiko Kristijono Donelaičio gyvenimu ir kūryba susijusių pastatų, jų aplinkos, taip pat gimtinės Lazdynėliuose tyrimo medžiaga, prisimenama memorialo projektavimo ir kūrimo eiga, ekspozicijos įrengimas, rašoma apie K. Donelaičio palaikų paieškas, jų identifikavimą ir palaidojimą bažnyčios kriptoje. Publikuojama dokumentų-įstaigų raštų, laiškų, dienoraščių fragmentų. Pasakojama ir apie K. Donelaičio giminės palikuonis Vokietijoje. [Anotacija knygoje]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Donelaitis Kristijonas; Mažoji Lietuva; Tolminkiemis; Kaliningrado kraštas; Donelaitis Kristijonas; Lithuania Minor; Tolminkiemis; Kaliningrad region.

ENAlready in the 16ш century in the duchy of Prussia of that time about 15 km from the lake of Vištytis in a picturesque hilly place by the Šventainė river the settlement of Tolminkiemis was founded. Since November 1743 the first writer of Lithuanian classics, the parson of Tolminkiemis parish Kristijonas Donelaitis lived and worked there. In this little churchvillage he lived until his death on 18 February, 1780. In the 19th century and the beginning of the 20й1 century the buildings - the church, the parsonage, the widows' house built on the initiative of K. Donelaitis - still stood in Tolminkiemis. Being interested in the work and the personality of Kristijonas Donelaitis writer and publicist Ludwig Passargė and professor of Leipzig university Franz Oscar Tetzner visited the place in the 19th century. They were experts on literature, specialists. However, the Lithuanian nation to which K. Donelaitis dedicated his poem "Metai" still suffered from the oppression of foreigners and only started to go the road of revival, thus having neither enough forces nor possibilities to take care of the native home and the place of work of its gifted son. The press, the written word was forbidden in Lithuania Major; they even tried to wipe out the name of Lithuania from people's memory. In Lithuania Minor Eduardas Gizevijus, Vilius Kalvaitis, Morta Raišutytė, Martynas Jankus, Jurgis Sauerweinas and many other enlightened persons cherished the Lithuanian written language, the literature, collected folklore under unfavourable conditions but they could not do much in perpetuating the memory of the poet. World War II having passed, the life in Donelaitis's land stabilized gradually. Tolminkiemis became the settlement of Kaliningrad region and got a new name - Chistyje Prudy. [...]. [From the publication]