Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Teaching history of genocides has taken a special place in the school history course. This article describes basic methodological principles of teaching the genocides topic in the school history course. There are defined teacher’s methodical mistakes in the process of teaching the history of genocides. The article is focused in the importance of using cross-curricular themes and different aspects in teaching the history of genocides. There is a based conclusion about the necessity of the organization of teaching the history of genocides from the point of the social psychology. There is a question defined on the comparative teaching of history of genocides.

During the interwar period in Europe, internal disturbances were not an uncommon form of domestic tension and conflict. This paper looks into the concept and characteristics of domestic disturbances in Lithuania in the period 1918 to 1940. The aim is to show the opportunities for organising such disturbances and the legal regulation of their control, including the use of the army to quell them. The legal regulation of the possibilities to use the army during the disturbances, and the situational circumstances of using troops in such cases in Lithuania, are compared with similar cases in other East-Central European countries, such as Estonia, Latvia and Poland.

The paper presents a morphological classification of revolutions in Western culture, and focuses on the transformation of the revolution into a political idea, the gravitation of the concept of revolution from implications of ‘returning to the essence’ towards ‘a breakthrough to the essence in the future’, the differences between national, class and social revolutions, and ultimately, concepts of revolution of everyday life and hybrid revolution. In the context of the changes in the idea of revolution, the question is raised as to how the concept of revolution, having experienced numerous differences in notional content, can be applied to armed and unarmed attempts at the transfer of power in Lithuania in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Jewish immigration, which increased in East Prussia particularly after the Crimean War (1853-1856) because of an immigration policy that had been liberal for decades, brought especially young Litvak families to the region. They came with the decided endeavour to leave a part of their Litvak traditions behind and to establish themselves in Prussia. Which Jewish identity did they pass on to their children, who grew up as citizens of the Reich? And how did the identity of the grandchildren’s’ generation unfold? That very prominent change of identity is shown on the basis of one family that proves to be exemplary for Jews who immigrated in the second half of the 19th century. Several generations can be defined. The generation of the immigrants had children who explicitly felt German. The life of the grandchildren was connected to the decision for forced migration and thus with commitment to a new chosen homeland (in most cases, Palestine), in which the mental relationships to their home region were shaped in a very ambivalent way.

The article focuses on a relevant problematic issue: the importance and value of the Middle Ages and their battles for the historical culture and for the consciousness of society of the nationalism era. In order to answer the question – firstly, from the perspective of Lithuanian historiography, historical culture, and the manifestations of the historical memory of the society – we invoke the potential of an interdisciplinary approach (i.e., historiography, literature, and cultural studies). The 19th-20th c. history of the research into and the interpretations of the Lithuanian Medieval battles, including the battle of Durbė, are studied in a wide thematic and problematic context. Taking a historiographical orientation towards the long term (longue durée) structural changes, we make a stop at the history and the position of the Medieval battles in the context of national movements. We also pay attention to the transformations of Lithuanian historiography which occur in the interpretations of the battle of Durbė in the Lithuanian historical culture. The hypothesis of the changes of the images, the importance, and the position of the battle of Durbė battle is formulated on the basis of the materials of historiography, literature studies, and cultural history.