Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The article is devoted to the new ethnographic and social research results on the Karaitic religion’s minority in Lithuania and Poland. After the last partition of Poland in 1795 main part of Karaites lived in Russia and was given some privileges by the tsars too. When Poles regained their independence and created new Polish Republic Karaites declared full loyalty towards it. During II World War Karaites were not ex-terminated by the Nazis like Jews although they easily could be taken for Jews because in Karaitic liturgy Hebrew language is still present. Today in Lithuania there are two main Karaitic centres: in Trakai and Vilnius with two churches still open. While visiting Trakai it is worth to see Karaitic wooden houses with three windows situated next to a road being a sign of presence of Karaitic community composed of 154 persons.

The article recollects the history and activity of the National Museum in Szczecin. This institution, established as the Museum of West Pomerania in 1949, possesses rich collections of Polish and European art (old masters and modern art), collections of ethnographic and archaeological objects of Pomerania, of numismatics and an interesting maritime section. There is also a large ethnographic collection of non- European objects. The museum employees have been conducting their research in non-European countries for years, publishing their results in the museum publications. In the beginning the establishment of the Section of Non-European Cultures and gathering of the above mentioned first African collections were the result of the co-operation with institutions of sea and maritime economy that had helped in the organisation of expeditions to Africa. The paper characterises the above mentioned collection and educational work of the museum.

Symbols, as a certain expression of signs, may be examined when concentrating on social functions of a sign or on logical functions of the same sign. This article deals with the place of signs (gestures) in communication not only in the eyes of the representatives of semiotics but also in the eyes of anthropologists and ethnologists. This article is restricted to the first group of gestures when non-verbal gestures appear as a part of ritual behaviour that is they are used in everyday situation at the moment of greeting. It is a hand-kissing which is the object of research in this article. The aim of the article is to reveal the origin of hand-kissing and follow the development of this gesture in Lithuania in the 20th century. The tasks there are: to examine forms of the expression of hand-kissing; to determine functions of ethical norms which regulate hand-kissing with regard to a sex, age, social status, degree of acquaintance; to show modifica­tions of the expression and normative functions of this gesture in a certain period of time. The work is grounded on the data of field works from the territory of the Republic of Lithuania collected in ethnographical expeditions in 1998-2005 by the author herself, and it is also based on the archive manuscript collections, as well as works on non-verbal communication published by other researchers.

The article is devoted to the new results of underwater archaeological investigations of dugouts from the Lake Plateliai (Žemaitija, West Lithuania) and the cultural landscape of their sites. In this article we will discuss on three dugouts, found in the surroundings of Pilies Island (Castle Island) and peninsula of Šventorkalnis (Saint Mountain) in the western part of the lake. Dugout Nr. 1 was found not far from the remains of the bridge. Dugouts Nr. 1-2 distinguish for their decorative details – back parts are ‘gracefully’ raised, there are some other decorative as well as practical elements. Dugout Nr. 3 was found not far away from Pilies Island, southwards from the remains of the old bridge, which connected the island with the Šventorkalnis peninsula. The absence of the front part of the dugout and the stones inside it give us a hint that the dugout might have been sunk deliberately. Most probably, the dugouts were mainly used for communication between the peninsula (the manor) and the island (the castle). All three dugouts were found in the line, where the distance between the peninsula and the island is the shortest. These coinsides with safe sailing manner – to reach land choosing the shortest way.

The article is devoted to the new underwater archaeology research results on mediaeval bridges in Lithuania. Localization of the bridge in Plateliai had been known for a long time thanks to visible timbers on the surface of the lake, during the period of low water. In 1998 Vladas Žulkus, in cooperation with group of divers, defined the detailed localization of the bridge’s sequence, the condition of its relics and some details about the building’s structure also were defined. Further underwater surveys were made after taking up cooperation in a field of underwater researches between the Centre of History of Western Lithuania and Prussia (Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology at present) at Klaipėda University and the Institute of Archaeology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The relics of other late medieval bridges were also discovered in Dubingiai at the Asvejos Lake and in the place called Zarasai in the lake of the same name.

The article is devoted to the report on the underwater archaeological research, July 03-20, 2006, where relicts of the late medieval bridge at Kryžiavonės kalva and Lake Plateliai area, Lithuania were investigated. The research work team was formed from two institutions. The students of Underwater Archaeology specialization together with members of Academic Club of Underwater Research, Department of Underwater Archaeology, UMK took part from Polish side. Underwater archaeologist Prof. Vladas Žulkus (KU Rector at present), scientific workers of Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology together with Archaeology specialization students, Department of History, KU, took part at this project from Lithuanian side. The main goal of the works was clear localization and schematization of the bridge, preparing visual information (photos, paintings) of its particular details. Members of the working group had to define the Kryžiavonės kalva placement contours of the shoal, also making the detailed charts and paintings of the underwater locality.

The article is devoted to the new historical research works on Polish reactions to the annexation of Klaipėda by Germany in 1939. Poland took into consideration the possibility of the German occupation of Klaipėda from the end 1938. The Foreign Minister J. Beck declared to the British ambassador in Warsaw H. Kennard that the government maintains a restrained attitude in case of a crisis caused by the issue of Klaipėda. Simultaneously, in interviews for the press, he categorically denied any possibility of Poland and German agreement at the expense of Lithuania. In spring and summer of 1939 the Polish government was very anxious to maintain good relationships with Lithuania. The policy of neutrality declared by Lithuania was received with great satisfaction.

The article is devoted to the results of the new historical investigations concerning the functions of Navy Forces on the Baltic Sea in interwar period. The military authorities of all particular states of Baltic region have had quite different conceptions of their own Navy Forces development at that time in case of some serious military conflict. Enough important influence of such differences may be certified to the objective reasons, concerning the state of Baltic Sea as close area sea, as well as to economic and military potential of each particular state in Baltic region.

The article is devoted to the military history research of Vilnius and Lithuanian rudiments of the Polish 13th Lancers Regiment. At the end of 1918 the situation with the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was complicated as the German Army had left this area and the Red Army wanted to take it over. It is worth noticing that Polish society was willing to organize military self-defence to protect themselves from Bolshevik attacks. The most important moment of forming the Polish units was at the end of December 1918 at Pośpieszka estate where the 1st Lancers Regiment of Vilnius was formed. Then it fought the Bolsheviks at the end of 1918 and in January 1919. This way the new page of Polish military history was opened.

The year 1923 was a critical moment in the history of the Weimar Republic. Due to Germany’s delay in paying war reparations, French and Belgian forces occupied the Ruhr region in January. Shortly afterwards the Lithuanians seized Memel (now Klaipėda), which in the Treaty of Versailles had been declared a Free City with a French Governor and garrison. German public opinion was outraged by this situation. In the press, a campaign against Lithuania was started. The article is devoted to publish the results of research on the military potential of Reichswehr in East Prussia in January 1923. The hypothesis concerning the military Reichswehr impossibility to influence the Klaipėda events has to be examined in this article.