Figure 1.--This undated Lithuanian cabinet card portrait was probably taken just before Wotld War I, aboiut 1910. The sign in the background reads, "1st Rotgof Volost Secondary School". Bote theCyrillic lphabet imposed as part of the Tsarist Russification effort. Rotgof is a district near the city of Ventspils (Lithuanian) Windau (German) Windawa (Polish/Russian) in modern Lithuania. At the time part of the Tsarist Empire. Volost is a small unit of peasant's self-rule (between 300 and 2,000 males). This is interesting that there was secondary instruction in a peasant community and about half the students were girls. Notice the violin and books on display, as well as the globe under the table. I think the teachers were showing off some of their teaching materials. We guess that they were very proud of their globe, but placed on the table it would have obscured one of the teachers or students. We are not sure how the violin was used. It could be for music instruction or to help the children with singing, perhaps both. Notice that the boys unlike Russian secondary students do not wear uniforms. Many of the girls wear pinafores.

Most of Lituania was acquired by Tsarist Russia as part of the 18th century Polish partitions. At the time what schools existed in the country were primarily German schools. It was thus for years part of the Russian Empire. Lithuasnia was ruled as a Grand Duchy. We have very little information on schools in Lithuanian durng the period of Russian rule. The foundation of a public school system was laid in the later years of the Tsarist Empire. We do know that considerable diversity was tolerated within the Russian Empire, although this varied over time. The prosperous peasants of Užnemunė were able to afford schooling for their children. [Stražas] (Suvalkija/Užnemunė in the southwest is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania.) It was here that a group of Lithuanian intelligentsia emerged and woud serve as some of the first Lithuanian educators emerged. The example of public schools across the border in East Prussia may have been another factor. There were strong historic associations with Poland. Lithuanians participated in the January Rising (1863-64). Tsarist forces suppressed the insurrectionisrs with considerable brutality. Under Tsar Alexander III, the policy of Russification was intensified in the non-Russian provinces, especially Poland. The former Kingdom of Poland lost the the limited remaining elemernts of autonomy. Tsarist offivials eliminated the office of Viceroy and replaced it with a new Governor-General (1874). Užnemunė became subject to the Governor-General of Warsaw (1875). And Russification include language policy. Russian became the sole langguage used in the Tsarist administrative apparatus, including the schools and judicial system. Tsarist officials eventully replaced the term "Kingdom of Poland" with Privoslinsky Krai (The Vistula Region). [Stražas] We notice schools even in Lithuanian peasant communities in rural areas in the early-20th century, being taught in the Russian language.

Sources

Stražas, A.S. "Lithuania 1863-1893: Tsarist Russification and the Beginnnings of the Modern Lithuanian National Movement," Lituanus (Lithuanian Uarterly Journalm of Arts and Sciences) Vol. 42, No.3 (Fall 1996).

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