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26-712: After the first national Lithuanian newspaper Aušra ceased publication in 1886 due to financial difficulties, activists sought to either revive or replace Aušra . A group of Lithuanian students in Moscow organized publication of short-lived Šviesa , a monthly pro-Catholic newspaper that failed to satisfy liberal activists. Lithuanian students in Warsaw , led by Vincas Kudirka, Jonas Gaidamavičius , and Juozas Adomaitis-Šernas , organized society Lietuva ( Lithuania ). The society first thought of reviving secular Aušra , but decided against it as it could have resurrected disputes with

52-628: A group of Lithuanian students in Warsaw which established Varpas and became its editor. Since Lithuanian-language publications were banned , he attracted police attention. He first fled to Ragnit (now Neman ) in 1890, but the German police intended to hand him over to the Russians. He then returned to Šakiai with fake papers and left for Bremen in 1892. In 1894, he briefly returned to Lithuania to live with Vincas Kudirka , but soon emigrated to

78-649: A number of literary works by various Lithuanian authors: Pranas Mašiotas , Vincas Kapsukas , Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė , Jonas Vileišis , Žemaitė , Šatrijos Ragana , Jonas Biliūnas , Povilas Višinskis , Sofija Pšibiliauskienė , and others. Hoping to raise artistic quality, their works were reviewed by Kudirka and Stasys Matulaitis . Works by foreign authors were also translated and published in Varpas . Academic articles on Lithuanian language and attempts to standardize it were published by Jonas Jablonskis . Future President of Lithuania Kazys Grinius also contributed to

104-415: A quarter of Varpas content was related history. However, unlike Aušra , it rejected Romantic idealization of heroic past (which lead to two failed uprisings in 1830 and 1863 ) and concentrated on more practical and useful contemporary history. Writers believed that understanding of current European politics could provide more beneficial than glorification of the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Varpas

130-627: A result of financial issues. After the Russian authorities denied permission to publish a Lithuanian newspaper in Vilnius , Jonas Šliūpas proposed to publish it in East Prussia , Germany . However, he was perceived as too radical, and Jurgis Mikšas, the printer, invited Jonas Basanavičius to become its first editor. During its three years of existence, Aušra had a total of five editors. After Mikšas had to resign for personal reasons, Šliūpas

156-506: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919) . Overall, the content of Varpas was extremely varied. In an attempt to unite various political fractions, efforts were made to include liberal, socialist, Catholic, and other articles. One column could contradict another. Even though Kudirka officially edited just the first few issues of Varpas , he is widely considered to be the driving force behind

182-835: The Russian Empire since the Uprising in 1863 . It was prohibited to publish anything in the Lithuanian language using the Latin alphabet ; the government wished to force the people to use Grazhdanka , a Cyrillic alphabet . Printing in the Latin alphabet was organized abroad, mostly in Lithuania Minor; knygnešiai (literally: book smugglers ) would carry the printed materials across the German-Russian border. This

208-585: The United States where he worked as editor of the Lithuanian weekly Lietuva  [ lt ] . He published about 20 popular science books about biology, ethnology, geography, history of writing. Adomaitis was born in a small village near Lukšiai where he attended a primary school. He then studied at the Marijampolė Gymnasium , but in the sixth year his father died and he returned to

234-597: The United States. In December 1895, Adomaitis became editor of the Lithuanian weekly Lietuva  [ lt ] published in Chicago and continued to edit it until 1912. He was replaced by Bronius Kazys Balutis as the editor, but continued to work as an assistant editor until June 1918. Adomaitis emphasized the need for education as it was the primary means to lift oneself from poverty and misery. In addition to writing some 2,000 articles to various periodicals, he also published about 20 popular science books about

260-509: The circulation did not exceed 1,000, it was a significant event as it marked the beginnings of the Lithuanian national rebirth that eventually resulted in an independent Lithuanian State (1918–1940). This period, between 1883 and 1904, when the Lithuanian press ban was enforced by Tsarist authorities, has been referred to as the Aušros gadynė (the Dawn Period). The printing ceased in 1886 as

286-856: The clergy. Thus in January 1889 appeared a brand new newspaper Varpas . It attempted to unite liberal, socialist, and Catholic fractions of the Lithuanian National Revival . Despite various difficulties (financial strains, delivery through underground knygnešiai network) it lasted longer than any other Lithuanian periodical of the period. Varpas played an important role forming ideas of Lithuanian nation and standardizing Lithuanian language. For example, in 1890 Kudirka published recommendations regarding Lithuanian orthography: he suggested to replace common "sz" and "cz" borrowed from Polish with new "š" and "č" borrowed from Czech. Both new letters are now integral part of standard Lithuanian. Varpas

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312-722: The demise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, writers looked for internal reasons for the historical failures. However, the newspaper still called for development and strengthening of distinctively Lithuanian culture separate from Polish. Political demands included autonomy for Lithuania, but not resurrection of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Towards the end of its publication and the Russian Revolution of 1905 , Varpas became more socialist, including co-editor Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas , future leader of

338-590: The family farm. Adomaitis wanted to continue his studies and left for Warsaw in 1882. He began contributing to the Lithuanian press in 1885. He published articles in Aušra printed in East Prussia and Unija and Lietuviškasis balsas published in the United States. He also wrote about the Lithuanian National Revival for the Polish weekly Kraj  [ pl ] in Saint Petersburg. Adomaitis joined

364-420: The newspaper did not have a clear and well-defined agenda. Basanavičius did not envision Aušra as a political publication; in the first issue he declared that the newspaper would deal only with cultural matters. However, Aušra soon took on a nationalistic agenda. Aušra helped to crystallize many ideas about the Lithuanian nation and the definition of a Lithuanian. It started to reject the ideas of resurrecting

390-542: The newspaper. Au%C5%A1ra Aušra or Auszra (literally: dawn ) was the first national Lithuanian newspaper. The first issue was published in 1883, in Ragnit , East Prussia , Germany (newspaper credited it as Lithuanian : Ragainė ) East Prussia's ethnolinguistic part - Lithuania Minor . Later it was published monthly in Tilsit (present-day Sovetsk ). Even though only forty issues were published and

416-432: The newspaper. Because the publication was illegal, many authors used various pen names and pseudonyms that changed frequently; a few articles were unsigned. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to determine actual authors. Overall, about 90 to 150 people (called varpininkai ) contributed to Varpas , including a number of the contributors to Aušra . Varpininkai organized annual conferences and meetings to discuss direction of

442-406: The newspaper. The printing was discontinued. After Aušra was discontinued, new Lithuanian-language periodicals appeared. Varpas (literally: The Bell ) was a secular newspaper, while Šviesa was more conservative and was a religiously oriented publication. The newspaper was published outside Lithuania proper because of the Lithuanian press ban that had been enforced by the authorities of

468-756: The newspaper. Up until his death in 1899, Kudirka wrote and edited influential column Tėvynės varpai ( Bells of the Homeland ) where he published articles on a variety of subjects: advocating unity among various social classes and political fractions for the greater benefit of the entire nation, satirical short stories mocking Russian authorities, theoretical articles about journalism and literature, etc. Other editors included Juozas Adomaitis-Šernas , Jurgis Šaulys , Antanas Milukas , Petras Mikolainis , Martynas Jankus , Juozas Bagdonas  [ lt ] , Povilas Višinskis . The newspaper, in line with its goal to promote Lithuanian language and literature, also published

494-514: The old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The authors started to think about an independent Lithuanian nation-state. It published on many different subjects like agriculture or reports from Lithuanian communities in the United States , but history was the most popular. The foreword of the first issue began with a Latin proverb , Homines historiarum ignari semper sunt pueri , or People ignoring history remain children forever . They built upon

520-585: The planet Earth and the Solar System (1896), geography (1899, 1902, 1906), dinosaurs (1900), biology (1901), forces of nature (1904), meteorology (1907), domesticated animals and plants (1901), hygiene and microbes (1905), ethnology (1903), ancient history (1904), history of writing (1906), etc. These books, published before there were any Lithuanian schools, were intended to fill the education gap. Adomaitis remained unmarried. He died in 1920 in Chicago and

546-424: The works of Simonas Daukantas , the first historian, who wrote history of Lithuania in Lithuanian and painted an idealized image of the mighty Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Aušra was critical regarding the forceful Polonisation executed by the Polish clergy and Tsarist Russification. One of the main aims of Aušra editors was to gain the usage rights to Lithuanian language and to revive its prestige. The newspaper

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572-522: Was also a political newspaper, criticizing Tsarist policies, demanding abolition of the Lithuanian press ban and other Russification practices, and requesting equal cultural and political rights for all nations within the Russian empire. Varpas also maintained an anti-Polish position, but abandoned some oversimplified prejudice against Poles and Polonized Lithuanians that was apparent in Aušra . For example, instead of blaming foreigners (Poles or Russians) for

598-514: Was directed at the intelligentsia and therefore limited its readership. The peasants did not appreciate that Aušra was secular and did not embrace Catholic traditions. Juozas Adomaitis-%C5%A0ernas Juozas Adomaitis known by his pen name Šernas (1859–1922) was a Lithuanian non-fiction writer. He contributed to the Lithuanian-language newspapers Aušra and briefly served as editor of Varpas . In 1895, he moved to

624-500: Was entrusted to oversee future publications. However, he ran into conflicts with Basanavičius, who was living in Bulgaria . Šliūpas also had issues with the German authorities due to his involvement in nationalistic movements and had to leave Prussia in 1884. The other editors, Martynas Jankus and Jonas Andziulaitis, did not engage in polemic writing and the controversies calmed down. Soon Mikšas ran into debt and could no longer support

650-573: Was geared towards intelligentsia with stated goal to rise Lithuanian national consciousness and, ultimately, to achieve autonomy within the Russian Empire . Influenced by Polish positivism , Varpas argued that Lithuanians could achieve this through work, economic development, education, and other non-violent means. Therefore, much of the articles included discussions about improving land reform, school system, health care, transportation network, etc. Some articles were more practical "how to" guides, but most remained theoretical lectures and discussions. About

676-414: Was one of the ways Aušra would reach its readers. The other way was in sealed envelopes. More than 70 people contributed to Aušra . The writers, or Aušrininkai , came from families of well-to-do peasants that started to appear after serfdom was abolished in 1863. Most of the authors received education in the Russian universities and were fluent in Polish. Because of frequent changes in editorial staff,

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