Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The paper analyses the impact of his interest in 19th-century East Prussian ethnic culture on the activities of Richard Jepsen Dethlefsen (1864–1944), one of the pioneers of monument protection in the region. Dethlefsen’s important activity in the area of recording and protecting the East Prussian cultural heritage also implied an acquaintance with the cultural values of Prussian Lithuania, whose roots were formed by the Reformation in the Duchy of Prussia; by Romanticism, which actualised the history of Prussia and the Prussian tribes; and a few other factors. Despite the impact of nationalism paradigms in the German Empire in the late 19th century, Dethlefsen’s activities contributed to the understanding of the intentions of his contemporaries to consider East Prussia as a unique cultural space, whose historical conditions predetermined the survival of the uniqueness of several ethnic regions, by emphasising it as a value of the East Prussian province to be protected. The concept of pluriculturalism of the former East Prussia, as revealed in Dethlefsen’s work, remains a relevant guideline for cultural heritage policy in west Lithuania (the former Klaipėda region).

On the turn of the 19th c., the composition of the students in Königsberg University changed. After the 3rd Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1795), the number of Polish students in it went up, however, after the foundation of the Duchy of Warsaw, it immediately dropped again. The Polish students who had studied abroad grew up into famous figures of culture and science. They promoted the development of cultural and scientific centres and of their network in Europe.

The article presents the first programme of publishing Lithuanian secular literature in Prussian Lithuania proposed and carried out by Martin Ludwig Rhesa, professor of Königsberg University. The first publication of Donelaitis’ poem The Seasons prepared by Rhesa will be discussed by assessing Rhesa’s contribution to it: the editing, translation, and provision of the scientific part (a research study-article and scientific comments). The first reviews of The Seasons which started appearing in Königsberg and Germany in the period of 1818 to 1820 will be examined.

Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714-1780), who was born and lived in Prussian Lithuania, was a Lutheran priest, therefore, it was not surprising that his poem “The Seasons”, as it was observed a long time ago, reflected the Lutheran ideology prevailing in Prussia at that time. To date, the links of Donelaitis’ poetry with the that time hymnals of Prussian Lithuania have not been paid sufficient attention to, although the texts of a high artistic level published in the hymnals, mainly translated from the German originals, were bound to contribute to the mature poetic expression demonstrated in the writing of the poem to be considered the first masterpiece of the Lithuanian belles lettres. The issue was raised in the monograph by L. Gineitis “Kristijonas Donelaitis ir jo epocha” [Kristijonas Donelaitis and his Epoch], however, the author did not indicate the particular hymnals by means of which Donelaitis could have become acquainted with the church hymns that influenced his poetic imagination. That is understandable, since, during the Soviet times. Some important hymnals stored in the foreign libraries were unknown to, or unavailable to, Lithuanian scholars.

The article analyzes the mechanisms of institutionalization of the collective memory of regional identity, as its significant dimension, and assesses discursive strategies used by different politicians. The author discloses the principal elements of the regional identity in the Soviet period and analyzes the practices of collective memory and historical consciousness in the period of 1945 to 1990. The relationship of the history policies of the Soviet period and the contemporary political processes is demonstrated.