ithuania. Page 1(2).

1. Lithuania's Ethnography

The Vilnius region was very much Lithuanian in character, but over the late 19th century many Lithuanian rural inhabitants became either polonized or belorussianized. Lithuanian language "islands" can still be found in western Belarus. To state that it is unnatural to join Vilnius to Lithuania is flawed! It is Lithuania, not Poland nor Belarus, that has influenced its character. What other nation has so many deep historic bonds with Vilnius than Lithuania?

The late Dr. Adolfas Sapoka, a trained historian who had done much research in the archives and libraries of Vilnius, Warsaw, Riga, Konigsberg, and Prague, had a postumous edition of his work, VILNIUS IN THE LIFE OF LITHUANIA, Toronto, 1962, which was translated into English by Ernest J. Harrison, the British Vice Consul to Lithuania in 1920. The following paragraphs better "clarify" the confused ethnography of the Vilnius and eastern Lithuanian region:

"In the Vilnius District, great linguistic changes occurred in this period [19th century] among the rural peasant masses. Various authors of the first half of the 19th century and other sources testify that Lithuanian was still spoken at the time in many parishes where, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was spoken no longer."
"According to Michael Balinski's data (his book was published in 1849), Lithuanian was spoken not only on the right bank of the Neris but in many places in the southern part of the Vilnius country, although in many places there were mixtures with Whiteruthenian [Belorussian] and Polish, while near Vilnius itself only Polish was spoken. ..."
"However, in many places the Lithuanian language was replaced by the Whiteruthenian, rather than Polish, and still more often by a strange sort of Slavonic mixture which its users themselves call the "common folk's" language ("po prostemu") and call themselves "Locals" (Tutejszy)--no longer Lithuanians--but neither Poles, nor Whiteruthenians. Only in the northern part of the Vilnius county, a sizable Polish linguistic island had formed prior to the Polish occupation of 1920. Elsewhere there were but scattered islets. During the nineteen years of Polish occupation the position undoubtedly must have changed and, in many places, the unconscious mass of "Locals" may have been Polonized." "But no one has hitherto detailed authoritatively the process of denationalization of the Vilnius region. The available literature contains a great deal of nonsensical and contradictory statements."
". .., it is impossible to rely upon conflicting statistics. it is readily observable that the figures change according to the nationality of the census-takers. At one time the Russian census officials listed all the "Tutejszy-Locals" as Whiteruthenians whom they did not distinguish from Russians, while on the other occasion all Catholics were undoubtedly listed as Poles. Later, when the Polish occupational authorities carried out a census, the figures emerged even more pro-Polish. Such census figures are relied upon by Poles to substantiate their claims to Vilnius and its districts. There can be no doubt whatsoever that these figures are incorrect. Unfortunately, no truly objective data about the linguistic apportionment of the population of this region are available at this time. No impartial census of the population of this region has ever been taken. The mass of the inhabitants were not nationally self-determined by the time the Polish occupation came and never raised that question, contenting themselves with the assertion that they were "Local people" (Tutejszy) and that was all."
"There had never been any mass immigration to the Vilnius district either from Poland or from Whiteruthenia, ...The Whiteruthenian-Lithuanian boundary must lie somewhere along the line dividing the population into the religions of Eastern Orthodox and Catholic segments. This line approximately corresponds to the Lithuanian-Soviet frontier fixed by the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1920. As a general rule, the Whiteruthenians had been, since the ages of antiquity, Eastern Orthodox believers, or later, Uniates, many of whom were forcibly driven by the Tsar's authorities into Orthodoxy in 1839. Consequently, where the "Locals" are Orthodox, they are mostly Whiteruthenian by origin, including some who migrated into Lithuanian lands, and where the "Locals" are Roman Catholics--they are most likely Lithuanians who had forgotten their original language." "Reverting to the Polish question, it must be emphasized once more, that only the Whiteruthenian language has infiltrated into the Lithuanian country by natural expansion, whereas Polonization was only something brought in as a "gift" from Warsaw by the Lithuanian nobility. This fact is not disputed by the Poles. For instance, a Polish propaganda publication about the Vilnius district, in examining the dialectic peculiarities of the local Polish language, affirms the distinctive features and diversity of this speech from other Polish dialects and concludes thus: "Not only different attributes of language are present here but the origin itself and development of the Vilnius dialect of the Polish language are different. As is well known, it was not the Polish colonization worthy of note that gave birth to it, and not the gradual intrusion from a neighboring land of Polish dialects into an area of alien speech, because Vilnius region is nowhere contiguous to purely Polish areas. It is but an island surrounded on all sides by Whiteruthenians and Lithuanians.
...It may be affirmed today only that the Polish language in the Vilnius District has mushroomed on an alien soil and in a distinctive manner which was not encountered anywhere else". ("Wilno i ziemia wilenska" I. p.219) Subsequent Polish propagandists similarly do not call the Vilnius region a Polish country from time immemorial, and do not term it a colonized country or one denationalized from a neighboring land, though they affirm that most of the inhabitants are presently Poles."

Vilinius Demographics

Furthermore, I would like to add that the capital city of Vilnius cannot in any way have evolved apart from Lithuania. Vilnius is a Lithuanian city--being nearly 50% Lithuanian, as reported in LIETUVOS TSR ATLASAS (Lithuanian SSR Altas, Moscow, 1981). Only the environs of the Vilnius region and Salcininkai county are predominantly Polish. But what does Poland care about an isolated, non-contiguous language island? Does anyone again propose that Belarus invade and occupy eastern Lithuania? Historically, Grodno (Gardinas) was part of historical Lithuania. Perhaps Lithuania should expand again south across the Nemunas (Niemen) River?

In closing, historians will point out that ancient Baltic tribes occupied vast areas before the twelth century that today are Slavic. And until the 19th century, Lithuanians were native to the Vilnius region. No Polish colonization had ever taken place in Lithuania except for the period of Poland's rule over eastern Lithuania from 1920-1939, when settlers were brought in. The history of the Vilnius area was always a part of the ancient Lithuanian state. Vilnius was in the heart of the Aukstaitija (Highland) area, the cradle of the Lithuanian state. It was the Lithuanian Grand Duke, Gediminas (1275-1341), who founded the new capital in 1323.

Artificial and Natural Communities (Poles versus Russians)

In regards to my comment about "artificial communities", this term only refers to the Soviet-era, Russian colonists. Polish speaking inhabitants and Belorussians are natural to the Lithuanian landscape. The joint authors, Romuald J. Misiunas and Rein Taagepera, in their text, THE BALTIC STATES: YEARS OF DEPENDENCE 1940-1980, University of California Press, 1983, p. 206, concluded that "The considerably transient nature of the Russian-speaking colonies in Latvia and Estonia helped to reduce their vested interest and social power, but it also impeded cultural integration. They were guests who largely chose to ignore the republic language and culture, and expected their hosts to adjust themselves.
...The mechanization of agriculture, a higher birthrate, and the successful decentralization of industrial development during the 1960's assured that Lithuania's labor increase predominantly came from Lithuanian cradles.
... The Lithuanians continued to preserve a strong majority position in their country. They actually increased their share in Lithuania's population from 79% in 1959 to 80% in 1970 and 1979, partly through a slow assimilation of the Polish minority."

2. Archaeological Findings and some Modern History

Before the Western Rus area was populated by Slavs, Baltic tribes lived in the area. This is a known archaeological fact. Dr. Marija Gimbutas, Senior Lecturer in Indo-European Studies at the University of California, wrote in her scholarly text [Ancient Peoples and Places: The Balts, Frederick A. Praeger Inc., New York 1968]:

"Baltic river and place names cover the entire area from the Baltic Sea to western Greater Russia. There are many Baltic words borrowed by the Finno- Ugrians and even by the Volga Finns who lived in eastern Russia, and historic records from the eleventh-twelfth centuries mention a warlike Baltic tribe, the Galindians, above the river Protva near Mozhajsk and Gzhatsk, south/west of Moscow. All this points to Baltic peoples having lived in Russia before the expansion of eastern Slavs. ..."

". ..In 1962, the Russian linguists Toporov and Trubachev published a study entitled [Linguistic analysis of the hydronims in the upper Dnieper Basin]. They found that more than a thousand of the river names in the upper Dnieper Basin are of Baltic origin, as their etymology and morphology show. This book has produced positive evidence of a prolonged ancient Baltic occupation of present/day Byelo/Russia and the western parts of Greater Russia."

So much for the fiction of Western Rus's former possession of the Vilnius area and other eastern Baltic lands. In further support of my argument against your contention are the writings from Dr. Adolfas Sapoka, historian (1906-1961). His interest as a historian concentrated on the complexities of Lithuania's relationship with Poland, both in its political and cultural aspects. One of his most important works was [Lietuvos Istorija/History of Lithuania, 1936] and [Vilnius Lietuvos Gyvenime/Vilnius in the Life of Lithuania, 1962]. Both his lectures in universities and writings reflect a dependence on primary sources which he regarded critically and with caution. His conclusions reflect a similar sobriety. He has written:

". ..When a single Lithuanian state was in the process of formation, the eastern boundary of the Lithuanian settlements passed approximately through the riverhead sources of the Neris and the Nemunas. The last Whiteruthenian (Belorussian) outposts were Izeslavl, Mensk, and Lohoisk. Only in the south had the political expansion of the Rus-Ukrainians of Volhynia advanced as far north as Naugardukas (Novohrodek), Slonim and Volkovysk areas. Even Gardinas (Grodno), originally a Lithuanian fortress, was held by the Volhynians.
..In the days of Mindaugas, the first historic ruler of Lithuania, the Gardinas-Naugardukas areas were recovered and the principality of Polotsk and perhaps those of . .., Borisov and Mensk were annexed. ..." "The internal system of the annexed Ruthenian (Belorussian) lands was not disturbed by the Lithuanians for a long time and in some places the former princes were left in possession. However, the nearest Whiteruthenian districts were directly joined to the nuclear Lithuanian state and were governed from Vilnius. This was the Principality of Vilnius--or Lithuania in the narrow meaning of the term--Lithuania propria. ..."

"The so-called "Vilnius District" of our age, lay approximately in the centre of the aforesaid two Palatinates (Vilnius and Trakai Palatinates) which, together with the purely Lithuanian Zemaitija (Samogitia), formed the predominantly Lithuanian kernel of the ancient Lithuanian state. Only from the most easterly and southerly of the frontier areas a Whiteruthenian element gradually infiltrated into the Lithuanian regions. ..."

Dr. Adolfas Sapoka summarizes concisely in one chapter of his postumous book, [Vilnius in the Life of Lithuania, 1962] the following observation:

"Generally speaking, there exists a great deal of a mix-up regarding the linguistic relations in the Vilnius district or eastern Lithuania. Lithuanian areas in many instances were cut up or bisected by Slavicized "Locals", and appropriately by both the Whiteruthenians and Poles for their propaganda purposes. In some places, the language divisions are measured not by parish or commune enclaves but reach into villages and families. For example, one family of Ivanauskas gave one member each to the Lithuanians, Whiteruthenians and Poles and every one of the brothers are prominent in their respective nationality groups. Islands of Lithuanians are to be found quite far in the east, and Slavicized islands are encountered west of Vilnius. The complicated medley of linguistic relations can be visibly expressed only by marking it out on a map. However, even Polish and Russian scholars hostile to Lithuanians acknowledge that out of these mixed-up and intertwined linguistic relations emerges a clear-cut boundary of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox believers, and that this boundary more or less coincides with the dividing line of diverse folk cultures and diverse folk customs. The eastern frontier of Lithuania should be looked for along that line. As noted already, this would approximate the frontier fixed by the 1920 Lithuanian-Soviet Peace Treaty."

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