| Abstract [eng] |
This thesis analyzes the genesis and spread of the tradition of Lithuanian professional historiography in 1904–1940. This is the first attempt to undertake a detailed interpretation of the theoretical underpinnings of the then science of history in Lithuania. The examination of theoretical and methodological orientations of the science of history in Lithuania in the context of the changes of European historiography is an essential part of this study. The processes of the development of the profession of a historian and of the culture of history in Lithuania analyzed in this paper have a certain European dimension as well. The culture of history, the profession of a historian, and the theory and methodology of history are the categories whose identification and analysis in Lithuania of the first half of the 20th century forms the core of the pursuits of this study. The development of historiography is inextricably connected to the society in which it unfolds. In this, Lithuania is certainly not a pioneer in Europe. However, most processes in Lithuania, even if delayed, proceeded according to the European model. It suffices to mention that, when the University of Lithuania was founded in Kaunas in 1922, its professors taught the youth determined to study history using the newest literature published in Europe 2–5 years ago. On the other hand, the development of the profession of a historian in Lithuania faced specific issues – for a while, even the basic conditions for that were not available. The debates of cultural intelligentsia of the beginning of the 20th century on whether a special society for those interested in studying history should be established or not showed that the interest in history was not yet sufficiently specialized and there was a lack of a critical mass of history researchers. On the other hand, historical narratives about Lithuania‘s past popular in those days were already oriented towards the well-known European example of the search for a national history. This paper explicates how, by 1940, a science of history with its own method, a European orientation, and a new vector of searching for new historical sources, was formed in Lithuania. The thesis suggests the concept of the Kaunas historical school to label this phenomenon. |
