"Lai kalba žygiai ir faktai": Panevėžio krašto žydai Nepriklausomybės kovose

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės kovos; Lietuvos kariuomenė; Nepriklausomybės kovos; Panevėžio kraštas; Panevėžio miesto istorija; Panevėžio žydai; Savanoriai; Žydai; History of Panevėžys city; Independence battles; Jews; Jews of Panevėžys; Lithuanian Independence Struggle; Lithuanian army; Panevėžys region; Volunteers.

ENThe Jews of Panevėžys region left their trace in the history of the Lithuanian Army Independence struggles. The contribution of Panevėžys inhabitants is not the most important or memorable in the overall context of Lithuania, but it is sufficiently important to be known in a broader field than the field of the local history dissemination. The Jewish community of Panevėžys region didn‘t give the country the greatest number of heroes who died for the freedom of the country and can not present the longest list of the people honored for their merits in Independence Battles. In the period of 1919-1923 the part of Jews of Panevėžys region served in the Lithuanian Army and some of them joined the Partisans quarters, which later became the part of the regular army. There was the number of Jews, who fifteen years later were recognized as the Volunteers - Army founders, but most of them were soldiers who obeyed the announced mobilizations in the region, became soldiers, who understood that they would have to defend their country with a weapon and who honestly performed their duty during the hardest period of the country.The Panevėžys region Jews after completing their military service and returning to their native places turned to regular daily activities, lived the ordinary citizens’ lives. However, the experience of military service was not completely forgotten and in the 1930s when there appeared the tension of international geopolitics and internal fronts of the country. Panevėžys inhabitants became actively involved in the activities of the Jewish Soldiers Union. The Panevėžys branch was not the most abundant, but it should be acknowledged that it was one of the most active one in the entire Union. It constantly and purposefully concentrated members of the Panevėžys regional divisions for a joint work, encouraged to strengthen the armed forces of the region, contributing to the renewal of the armament of the Fourth Infantry Regiment named by Lithuanian King Mindaugas dislocated near Panevėžys. Panevėžys regional divisions generously were donating to the State Arms Fund. The fate of the majority of Jewish soldiers in Panevėžys was the same: in summer or early autumn of 1941 they were brutally murdered in the same country for which they fought in Independence fights. Such destiny could not avoid even those Jews, who were awarded the medals of the Founders Volunteers. [From the publication]

• Jews as Lithuanian army soldiers in 1918-1940 (a quantitative analysis) / Vytautas Jokubauskas, Hektoras Vitkus. Lithuanian Historical Studies. 2021, vol. 25, p. 99-133.
• Women at war: public relief for the Lithuanian army, 1918-1920 / Mindaugas Sereičikas. Acta historica universitatis Klaipedensis. 2021, t. 42, p. 149-169.
• Žydų kariai Lietuvos (lietuvių) Nepriklausomybės kovose 1919–1923 metais. Ką žinome apie jų motyvus? / Hektoras Vitkus. Acta historica universitatis Klaipedensis. 2019, t. 38, p. 163-185.