Klaipėdos universitetas

The article compares historical literature that conveys the Soviet story of ‘liberation’ of Memel/Klaipėda during World War II, and compares them with post-war German publications dealing with the issue of seizure of Klaipėda that emerged in the post-war period. On the basis of this comparison, verification is sought of the story of ‘liberation’, highlighting its major factual and interpretational problems. The analysis corrects some episodes of the story of Klaipėda’s seizure, thoroughly covering the course of World War II events in the approach of the Eastern Front toward Klaipėda during the period from October 1944 till the end of January 1945.

This article analyses commemorations of World War II events in the northern part of former East Prussia, comparing discourses and practices of commemoration in post-war Klaipėda region and Kaliningrad oblast. It reviews the socio-cultural developments in this region and distinguishes between private and public forms of commemoration. Author argues that two main plots were important in the public commemoration of war: the plot of “liberation” and that of the victory achieved in the “struggle against Fascism”. Analyzing the public commemoration of these plots, it distinguishes and exhaustively examines its three functions: legitimation of territorial subordination, founding myth, and payment of homage to the warriors as strategies of regime legitimation and the formation of valuable orientations.

The objective of the article is verification of the images related to the pro-Nazi orientation of population of Klaipėda Region in 1930’s which was formed in propaganda discourse and Lithuanian Soviet historiography during the interwar and post-war period. Disassociating the material from the incriminatory attitude, which prevailed in Soviet historiography, the authors analyse the support for National Socialism in Klaipėda Region, define the reasons for this support, characterize the motives for involvement in the local pro-Nazi structures of the local population, and the aims of the NSDAP for maintaining these structures. The article distinguishes three stages of adaptation of National Socialism in Klaipėda Region as well as peculiarities of this adaptation.

The article analyses the relation to the past of Lithuanian identity orientation in the interwar Klaipėda with reference to cultural memory theory. It defines the semantics used in Lithuanian identity ideology, highlights the differences in the concepts of “Lithuanianicity” between local (Prussian) Lithuanians and the state of Lithuania, analyses the possibilities of introduction of Lithuanian identity orientation into public communication, as well as plots and motifs of the past, which were used for such introduction. It also researches formation and structure of the Prussian Lithuanian’s self-image of the past, and the methods used in interwar Klaipėda of consolidating this self-image into public culture of commemoration.

The article aims to systematize the historiographic knowledge of Klaipeda’s self-government and local administration, to show research problems and to propose potential directions for prospective research. The author distinguishes three stages in the development of local administration, analyses the particularities of these stages, explores the state of local administrative structures, competence, and mechanisms, and discusses the accessibility of sources necessary for research of such topics. Special attention is given to the research results of administration systems from 1945-1990, as well as a review of issues related to the legal status between a sovereign and the citizenry of Klaipėda while it was part of the state of the Teutonic Order.