Lithuania in the spatial concepts of Germans and Prussian Lithuanians

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Erdvinės koncepcijos; Prūsų Lietuva; Mažoji Lietuva; Lietuvos vaizdiniai; Spatial concepts; Prussian Lithuania; Lithuania Minor; Images of Lithuania.

ENImages of what Lithuania was over the course of the long nineteenth century have been severely affected by the order established on the political map in the “age of extremes.” The modern Lithuanian state began to be created in 1918 on territory that the German army “liberated” from the Romanov monarchy in 1915. For that reason, the name “Lithuania” became, as a general rule, associated with the areas of Russia populated by Lithuanian speakers. However, in the nineteenth century, there existed a much greater diversity of concepts describing Lithuania. Both the name “Lithuania” and the meaning behind this concept changed more than once, and in the consciousness of many people, Lithuania was not simply an area under Romanov control. The best example of this phenomenon is the fact that a large percentage of the Germans and the Lithuanians living in Germany in the nineteenth century understood Lithuania in a very different sense. In Prussia and within the Germanspeaking body of knowledge that influenced the Germans and Prussian Lithuanians, “Lithuania” was the name applied to a particular area in the northeastern part of East Prussia. The specific borders of this space changed depending on the meaning assigned to this name. [Extract, p. 371]