The Russification Policy in Lithuania: The Case of Kazys Škirpa

Abstract

This article sheds some light on the early life of Kazys Škirpa (1895–1979), a prominent military offi cer and statesman of interwar Lithuania. Škirpa was best known for his efforts to re-establish Lithuanian independence with the support of Nazi Germany after his country was annexed by the Soviet Union during the Second World War. For this reason, evaluation of his personal biography has previously been neglected by scholars. Striving to fi ll this research and knowledge gap, this paper hypothesises that the formation of the future politician was deeply infl uenced by processes that took place during his youth in Russia. Škirpa’s biography offers a fascinating insight into changes in the Russian Empire. The changes included the two trajectories of Russifi cation; “from above” and “from below” and the transformation of the loyalty principles as well – social- religious loyalty became ethnonational. Russian governmental policy was to categorise its population on the basis of formal criteria. Škirpa’s biography demonstrates how the representatives of various ethnic groups (including Lithuanians) bypassed bureaucratic peculiarities to develop their national identity, which worked against the raison d’être of the empire. However, at the same time these representatives of the various ethnic groups remained “ideal subjects” of the Tzar. It was the First World War that contributed to the realisation of the national and political aspirations of such ethnic communities. The article also includes some of Škirpa’s previously undiscovered personal documents, which were found in the Russian archives.