Reflections of the First World War and the German occupation in Lithuania between the wars: the transformation of perspectives

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Pirmasis pasaulinis karas, 1914-1918 (Didysis karas; World War I); Antrasis pasaulinis karas, 1939-1945 (World War II); Tarpukaris; Vokiečių okupacija; Nacionalizmas; World War I; World War II; German occupation; Between two wars; Nationalism.

ENIn the period between the wars, the Great War became a peculiar conscious and unconscious means for the measurement of time and memory (like in the Middle Ages, when historical time was counted from some important natural phenomena or a ruler's coronation). Personal narratives frequently began from the start of the Great War, and illiterate villagers, who usually didn't know the exact date of their birth, would say they were born "after serfdom," "before the Great War," or something similar. With the shortage of studies, the perspectives formed during the First World War must be reconstructed from various fragments reflected in separate articles, memoirs, and journals published in Lithuania between the wars. This article will examine what influence the years of German occupation had on Lithuanian nationalism, how the perspective on Germans and the German occupation formed, and its expression in Lithuanian publications between the wars. [Extract, p. 8]