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- After the Insurrection of 1863, the
Russian government was greatly concerned about the Polish influence
upon the Lithuanians. That influence had been demonstrated by the
Lithuanian involvement in the insurrection. The Russians determined
that the only way to prevent further problems was to
"russify" the Lithuanian people. An important tool in
accomplishing this goal was the suppression of the publication of materials in
the Latin alphabet, requiring instead the use of the Cyrillic
alphabet, which would eventually accustom Lithuanians to the
Russian language.
- This prohibition of the printing in the
Lithuanian language, which had lasted for 40 years (from 1864 to 1904) was
known as the Press Prohibition period. However, even though the purpose
of this prohibition was to eliminate all forms of ethnic identity in the Lithuanian people, its effect was the opposite.
The Press Prohibition gave birth to a national consciousness, which ultimately
resulted in a patriotic and political movement for an independent
Lithuanian nation.
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- The
rise of the 'Knygnesiai' (Lithuania’s Booksmugglers)
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- When Lithuanian people could not
publish materials in their own language in the Russian controlled area
of Lithuania Proper, they began to do this in the German controlled area
of Lithuania Minor (East Prussia) and to smuggle them across the
border. While the book smuggling movement began in the religious
community, where the use of prayer books printed in the Cyrillic
alphabet was tantamount to a renunciation of the Christian faith, the
great Book Smuggling Period ultimately involved other books,
periodicals and newspapers which were patriotic and political in
content. Ausra (The Dawn, 183 3-1886), Varpas (The Bell,
1889-1905), Apzvalga (The Review, 1890-96) and Tevynes
Sargas (The Guardian of Homeland, 1896-1904) were important
periodicals, printed in East Prussia, which merged the religious and
political motives. Thus, the resistance to the prohibition raised a national
consciousness and determination of purpose, laying the foundation for
the independence movement. We can easily understand why this
historical event is of utmost importance and a source of great pride
to the Lithuanian nation.
- Book smugglers themselves,
at first motivated by religious conviction and later by national pride and
adventure, were the great heroes of this endeavor. The smugglers
risked their freedom and their lives, carrying the materials across
the heavily guarded German-Russian border. The determination to
continue the smuggling went on through the years of the prohibition as new
generations joined the struggle.
- At first, the Russian government was not
very severe in their punishments of smugglers, even allowing legal and
public protests and some publications in the Latin alphabet. The
Russians attempted to gain acceptance of the Cyrillic among the
Lithuanians by various methods, such as the free distribution of books
in the Cyrillic. However, as the resistance grew stronger, the
punishments grew harsher. Penalties for the crime of book smuggling
included fines, imprisonment, exile to Siberia and banishment. The
German-Russian border was organized into three lines of soldiers who were stationed
across a few kilometres apart from guarded Lithuania. Anyone who did not stop at
the border was ordered to be shot. Captured smugglers were sent to Siberia
for three to five years and imprisoned locally for one to five years.
In spite of this, the amount of materials smuggled into Lithuania
increased
steadily.
- While accurate statistics are not
available, estimates of the number of copies of printed materials
annually smuggled into Lithuania during the last 10 years of the
prohibition range from 30,000 to 40,000- which is double the amount of the previous 10
years. From 1891 to 1901, customs officials seized 173,259 books and
periodicals. It is estimated that from 1891 to 1893, 38,000 pieces of
Lithuanian literature were confiscated at the Prussian-Lithuanian
border. In the two years from 1900 to 1902, the total number reached more
than 56,000, which indicated that more materials were being printed
abroad, and not that the confiscation methods had improved. Clearly, the
task of stopping this traffic in book smuggling was becoming more and more
problematic for the Russian government.
- In the face of such continuing resistance
and growing wide-spread availability of materials in the Lithuanian
language, Russian officials gradually realized that their methods had the opposite effect
that their policy intended. Thus, in 1897, Russia's Council
of Ministers officially discussed the prohibition and concluded that it was a
failure, which had resulted only in a new Lithuanian nationalism,
turning the public opinion against the Tsarist regime. Finally, in 1904,
as a result of the Russian-Japanese War and the need to reconcile its
minority populations, the Russian government cancelled the prohibition
of Lithuanian press.
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- Profiles
of the 'Knygnesiai'
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- While it is not known how many persons
actually participated in or were punished for book smuggling,
information about many of these heroes is available. Encyclopedia
Lituanica includes articles on the following booksmugglers: Juozas
Angrabaitis, Antanas Baltrusaitis, Jonas Balvocius,
Jonas Berzanskis, Jurgis Bielinis, Pranciskus Butkevicius,
Stanislovas Didziulis, Juozas Kaukas, Petras
Matulaitis, Petras Mikolainis, Michael Oginski, Morta
A. Raisukyte, Juozapas Rugis, Martynas Sidaravicius,
Henrikas Sroka, Pranciskus Urbanavidus, Jonas Uzupis,
Motiejus Valancius and Antanas Vytartas. It goes
without saying that there were numerous other booksmugglers whose
names will never be known to the history.
- Motiejus Valancius,
the Bishop of Samogitia from 1850 until 1875, was the first to undertake the
printing of materials abroad and their illegal distribution. He enlisted
a number of priests in his endeavor. In 1870-71, eleven of his
collaborators were arrested and sentenced at the first trial of book
smugglers. As a result, two 'ammateur' booksmugglers, S. Raciukas and S.
Kulakauskis, and five priests, Antanas Brundza, Pranas
Butkevicius, Kazimieras Eitutis, Motiejus Kaziliauskas
and Vincas Norvaisa were sent to Siberia.
- Jurgis Bielinis,
known as the "king of the booksmugglers", organized a
book-distributing centre in Garsviai, a village in Panevezys district for supplying
publications to the Northern Lithuania.
- Rev. Martynas Sidaravicius
organized a centre in Sudargas, a village in Sakiai district. Juozas Angrabaitis,
Juozas Antanavicius, Antanas Baltrusaitis, Domas Miklius
and Seravinas Kuseliauskas
assisted him in
writing, printing and distributing.
- Juozas Kancleris worked
independently in the transportation and distribution of the suppressed
publications in the Southern
Lithuania.
- The main centres in Samogitia were
established by Rev. M. Jurgutis in Kretinga and by Liudas
Vaineikis in Palanga. Vaineikis was arrested in 1900, jailed for
two years and exiled to Siberia with 24 of his associates.
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- From an article in 'Genealogija' (Volume IV),
1994.Reprinted with permission.
- Only extracts from the above-mentioned
article had been reprinted
