LITHUANIAN ARCHIVES IN THE PAST AND AT PRESENT

by Laima Tautvaisaite istorijos.archyvas@centras.lt
 
Director of the Lithuanian State Historical Archives

    
    The emergence of archives in Lithuania is associated with the formation of the Lithuanian State in the first half of the 13^th century. However, the oldest Lithuanian archives did not survive: it was destroyed by numerous wars and fires.

    The Grand Duke’s chancery’s archives became completely formed in the 15^th century and than acquired the title of the Lithuanian Metrica. Historians who have studied the Grand Duchy of Lithuania have long recognize the importance of the "Lithuanian Metrica" as a fundamental and unique collection of archival sources for the study of the society, economy, and history of the Lithuanian, Latvian, Byelorussian, and Ukrainian lands from the 15^th through the end of the 18^th century.

    By the end of the 14^th -15^th centuries, in connection with the inauguration of Christianity (Catholicism) in Lithuania and the privileges granted to the Bishop of Vilnius, Lithuanian Catholic nobility, and the city of Vilnius by Jogaila the Grand Duke of Lithuania (in 1387), archives of bishoprics, monasteries, magistracies of towns and feudal families began to form up. Moreover, land and castle courts of justice in districts (established in the second half of the 16^th century) and other institutions had archives of their own. The Third Lithuanian Statutes - medieval code of law, issued in 1588, gave careful consideration to the matter of archives protection.

    The 16^th century witnessed a number of wars against the strengthening Russian state over Russian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian lands ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The need for an ally in those wars, coupled with the wish of the middle and petty gentry to obtain more rights already granted to the Polish feudal lords, drew Lithuania closer to Poland. The Union of Lublin in 1569 united Poland and Lithuania into a commonwealth. In accordance with the Lublin Act the united countries agreed to have a single ruler. He was to be elected in Poland and crowned in Cracow. The signing of new treaties with foreign countries was to be made by mutual agreement. Both countries agreed to have a common currency.

    Lithuania maintained the title "Magnus Ducatus Lithuania" (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). It also maintained its separate administrative offices. The treasury and the army remained separate too. But, in general, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was greatly weakened by the Union, while Poland strengthened its position among East European countries.

    Until the 19^th century, the archives were usually kept at the places of their origin. However, frequent fires and wars, especially in the middle of the 17^th and beginning of the 18^th centuries, swept away a lot of archival documents at the above mentioned institutions.

    The rising domination of the big magnates, as well as the 16- 18^th century wars against Russia and Sweden over Livonia, Byelorussia, and Ukraine, weakened the Polish-Lithuanian Republic. The end of the 18^th century saw three divisions of the Commonwealth by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. In 1795 most of Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. The most important Lithuanian archives were then transferred to Russia. The Lithuanian Metrica, part of Crown (Polish) Metrica, and all the state chancery records of the Commonwealth were transported to St. Petersburg and passed over to the disposal of the Imperial Cabinet.

    Starting with the middle of the 19^th century, the archives system was gradually growing more centralized. The Vilnius archives of Early Records Books were founded on April 2, 1852 according to the Tsar’s personal decree. The bodies responsible for the establishment of the archives were the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Popular Education. The archives was established in order to be able to access and preserve official files of the institutions of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Document protection and registration were improved, and in 1872 the first catalogue of the archives’ fonds (archival units), compiled by the first director, Nikita Gorbachewski, was issued. On the other hand, activities of the above mentioned archives were closely connected with those of the Vilnius Archeographical Commission established in 1864. In the period between 1865- 1915 the Commission published more than fifty volumes of historical sources and related reference works.

    Documents belonging to the institutions of the Russian Empire were usually kept at the places at their origin in the charge of the institutions that had produced them. However, between 1872 and 1876 many records of gubernial (district, province) institutions were consolidated in a special repository, namely the Joint Archives of Vilnius’s Institutions. Beside it the archives of Vilnius City, M. Muravyov’ s Museum (since 1898), and other ones were functioning.

    When war broke out between Russia and Germany in the summer of 1914, Lithuania literally turned into a vast battlefield. At the start of the war Russian troops invaded the German territory, including the Prussian lands neighboring Lithuania. Quite soon, however, the Germans ousted the Russian army from their country and invaded Lithuania’s territory. By the autumn of 1915, actually all Lithuania was occupied by the Germans and the country was severely ravaged by the invaders.

    World War I and the devastation of the former Russian Empire caused a great deal of damage to the Lithuanian archives. A lot of archive material was evacuated to Russia and scattered there, but part of it was destroyed in 1914-1915.

    In 1918 the restored independent Republic of Lithuania encountered great problems in the area of archival maintenance. In the period between 1919-1921 the State Archeological Commission was engaged in archival problems in Lithuania. Its purpose was to collect and preserve cultural and historical monuments, and take care of the Lithuanian cultural heritage including the archives. On the basis of the peace treaty concluded between the Soviet Russia and the Lithuanian Republic on July 12^th, 1920, Lithuania managed to retrieve part of the evacuated archives' fonds.

    The Central State Archives were established in Kaunas by the order of K. Bizauskas, Minister of Education, on 19 October, 1921. The purpose of these archives was to collect and preserve all records of former state and local government institutions, take care of archives belonging to private persons, and accommodate archival documents recovered from Russia.

    Among archives that existed in the Republic of Lithuania, the Kaunas City Municipal Archives, and the Kaunas Archives of Archbishop’s Curia and Consistorium should be specially mentioned. In addition, a lot of unique documents from the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were kept at the Department of Manuscripts at Kaunus University.

    In spite of a certain amount of progress, achievements in the field of archive development were rather insignificant during the interwar period.

    When Vilnius, the historic capital of Lithuania, was occupied by Poland from 1920- 1939, the main archives were the States Archives and the Vilnius City Archives. They kept custody of the other part of the old holdings of Lithuania’s archives.

    The historically complicated years under the Soviet rules were tough not only for the Lithuanian people, but also for Lithuanian archives. The occupation of Lithuania in June 1940 marked the beginning of the destruction of the country’s political system and self-dependence as well as an all-out sovietisation of the archives including the imposition and enforcement of the Soviet archival system. On August 5, 1940, the council of Ministers of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, following suit with other Soviet republics, laid the responsibility for archives management and preservation with the Ministry of the Interior.

    The Lithuanian archives were greatly damaged again during World War II. Archival documents were transported to the USSR and Germany, and some of them were destroyed.

    In 1944 the occupational Nazi regime was replaced by a Communist one. Archival reorganization proceeded under the Soviet pattern. Its essential features included archives centralization, ideologization of their activities, classification of archives material as secret, restriction of access to it, and the formation of a pro-Soviet archives staff. The system of Lithuanian archives came to be under the jurisdiction of the corresponding Moscow departments, and its activities were strictly controlled. The cultural heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Republic of Lithuania was actually neglected, and relations with the archives of foreign countries were never tolerated for a long period of time.

    In 1961 the archives ceased to be subordinate under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. Restrictions on archival activities were lifted a little.

    We have managed to recover a rather great lot of archives that were formerly removed. On the other hand, many archival documents from Lithuania were transfered to other archives in the USSR and Poland. After several reorganizations in 1957- 1968, the basis was laid for the network of archives consisting of seven state archives and ten regional archives. It should be mentioned, however, that during those years the Lithuanian archives made some notable progress as well, namely the recovery of a number of archival records from other countries, and the development of a sound state archival system.

    On the very eve of the restitution of an Independent State during the period of our nation’s struggle for Independence, the Lithuanian archives proposed the Law on Archives and it was adopted by the Parliament on February 13, 1990. It was the first Law on Archives promulgated in the territory of the former Soviet Union and proclaimed that the public archives are the property of Lithuania, legalised private property on private archives, abolished parallel archives systems, and placed the archives of the communist party, the KGB, and the Ministry of Interior under the authority of the national archival service.

    The archival legislation in Lithuania is based upon the principle of provenance of records and the so called "life cycle" approach. The "life cycle" approach allows us on one hand to put all kinds of records in the same legal framework, while on another hand to increase the responsibility of creating agencies for the preservation, arrangement, and maintenance of records. When drafting the Law it was considered that it is vital that the national archives service must not only be regarded as a repository for non current records but also as a partner in the current administrative work.

    At present, the system of state archives consists of the Lithuanian Archives Department at the Government of the Lithuanian Republic, their state archives, three specialized archives, and ten regional archives. The legal basis for the functioning of the archives is the Law on archives promulgated by the Parliament on 5 December, 1995, the Regulations on the Lithuanian State Archival Fond, the Regulations on Preservation, Management, Research, and Access to the Particular Part of the State Archival Fond, Regulations on the Register of the Lithuanian Archival Fond, the Statute of the Lithuanian Archives Department, the Regulations regarding the Transfer Abroad of documents of Lithuanian Archival Fond, non-state Institutions, and Private Persons.

    According to the regulations mentioned above, the State Archives accumulate records of state and local government institutions, popular organizations, and individuals as well as preserve, manage, restore, research, and publish these records. The State Archives provide advice to institutions and organizations regarding the organization of records, management, and preservation of documents; they also handle inquiries of institutions and individuals.

    The Lithuanian archives are open to public. All archives have reference rooms where, while observing the regulations, one can research archival records. Records of state institutions (except a few, the access to which is restricted by law) are available for reference. Documents transferred to the state archives by individuals and non-state institutions are accessible according to the terms set by the owner. Records in poor physical condition are not available for reference, and are substituted for by microfilm copies. The Reference rooms provide access to indexes, descriptions, catalogues, and reference books. Consultations with experienced archivists are available here, too. Upon a user’s request, photocopies and microfilm copies of documents can be made.

STRUCTURE OF THE LITHUANIAN ARCHIVES SERVICE

    The Lithuanian Archives Department of the Government of the Lithuanian Republic is the highest authority in the field of archives and records management. It is entitled to build and implement the State policy in that field, administer the State Archival Fond and State Archives, manage the Register of the Lithuanian Archival Fond, and issue permissions to export copies of documents. The standard acts adopted by the Department are compulsory upon all corporate bodies and officials.

Address: Mindaugo g. 8, LT-2609 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 651 137
Fax N^o: (370-2) 652 314
E-mail: arch.dep@post.omnitel.lt

The Lithuanian State Historical Archives is the biggest and most important source for investigation of Lithuanian history from ancient times until the founding of Independent Lithuania in 1918. The archives' documents can be divided into several complexes:

• the archival units of the acts issued by central and local government institutions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 15-18^th centuries (Microfilms of the Lithuanian Metrica are kept there);
• documents of institutions established by the Russian Empire in the provinces of Vilnius, Kaunas and Suvalkai, 1792-1918;
• documents of the most prominent families, especially of the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Radziwill, Sapieha, Oginski, Tyszkiewicz and others), 15^th- middle 20^th centuries;
• records of institutions that were established during the Kaiser Germany occupation, 1915-1918.

    The archives keeps documents of ecclesiastical institutions and congregations, from the 15^th – beginning of the 20^th centuries, and vital records (birth, marriage, and death) of the different religious communities (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, and etc.) up to the year 1940, and civil registration records up to the year 1995. On the January 1, 2001, the former Lithuanian Archives of Vital Statistics was joined with the Lithuanian State Historical Archives.

    Some historians believe that the first Jews came to Lithuania in the 12^th century. The Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas (1316-1341) invited artisans and merchants from Western Europe to come to his country. But whether there were any Jews among those who came we do not know. Many more Jews came to Lithuania in the 15^th century. Some of them settled in ethnographical Lithuania at that time. But the majority of the Jews moved further and spread into the vast Slavic areas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the 14^th century there were several towns with Jewish communities. Vytautas the Great (1392-1430) took measures to speed the economical development of the country. Among other steps, he backed Jewish colonists, granting them charters of privileges. The first ones were issued in 1388 and 1389. The Jewish communities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were under the direct jurisdiction of the ruler. Actually, for some centuries the rights of Jews differed but very slightly from those of the gentry. Therefore, in the course of time, the Jews of Lithuania formed a class or layer of freemen.

    They managed to mold themselves into a closed, almost totally isolated religious and cultural community. Their religion was one of the most important reasons that they did not assimilate with the surrounding people. And for many Jewish generations they kept on living in such a way. Over the course of time the number of Jews was increasing. In the second part of the 16^th century there were 120,000 of them in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Before the last partition of the Lithuanian-Polish state, in 1795, the number of Jews was estimated to be 250,000. But only some 10 to 15 thousand Jews out of that number lived in proper or ethnographical Lithuania.

    In the course of the 19^th century, when Lithuania was under the Russian rule, a great number of Jews moved into genuinely Lithuanian areas from the Eastern and Southern regions of the former Lithuania state. Consequently, the Jewish population in ethnographical Lithuania grew nearly 25 times larger by the end the 19^th century. It surpassed 300,000 at that time. Before 1795 the Jewish population in Vilnius - the capital of Lithuania - was 7500. By the end of the 19^th century there lived about 63,000 Jews in this town. Actually, this figure represents 45 per cent of the Vilnius population. But this city was known not only for the great number of Jews living in it. Already in the first half of the 17^th century Vilnius was a major cultural centre. Many famous rabbis and Jewish scholars lived and worked in it. And they made a very great contribution to the Jewish theological literature, the golden age of which came at this particular time. Actually, Vilnius was for some time the main seat of Jewish culture in Europe in general.

    Later, during the first half of the 19^th century, Vilnius again became the centre of the Jewish enlightenment in East Europe. That is why Vilnius was known among the Jews of the world as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania."

    When the first World War began, about 100,000 Jews left Lithuania. Many of them were forcibly evacuated by the Russians. A great many stayed in Russia. When the war ended and Lithuania became independent, part of them returned. But the biggest part of them never came back to Lithuania. All these facts are known to you. But I want to remind you of it, because all of them are reflected in our archival records.

    The Lithuanian State Historical archives preserve more than one and a half million files (storage units) dating from the 15^th century until 1918 (with vital records up to 1940). There are about 16 kilometres of shelves.

Address: Gerosios Vilties g. 10, LT-2009 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 237 482
Fax N^o: (370-2) 237 612
E-mail: istorijos.archyvas@centras.lt

    The Lithuanian Central State Archives contain 22 kilometres of shelves and 3 million files for the period of 1918 through 1990.

    The documents here are divided into some periods, too:

• Documents from the period of 1918-1940 pertaining to the Republic of Lithuania’s central and local government institutions: the fonds (archival units) of the Cabinet of Ministers, the President’ s office, various Ministries, the diplomatic corps, municipal and regional area chiefs, scientific, cultural, educational, civil and religions organizations and societies, and etc.
• Documents from the Polish occupation of southeastern Lithuania during 1919-1939: the fonds of the Vilnius Magistrate’ s office, local government agencies, societies and private individuals.
• Documents of the occupying Nazi authorities for 1941-1944: the fonds of the Generalkommissar and Gebietskommissars, the security and criminal police, the Jewish ghetto, municipal and area chiefs, prisons, as well as others.
• Documents from the Soviet occupation periods of 1940-1941 and 1944-1990: the fonds of the Supreme Soviet, the Council of Ministers, various ministries, boards and committees, and collections of noted figures in the areas of science and culture.

    Between the two World Wars, the Jewish population in Lithuania was about 154,000. It made 7.6 per cent of the total population.

    Over 90 per cent of the Jewish children of school age attended their separate schools. Jewish schools were more or less subsidized by the Lithuanian Government. But mainly they were maintained by private Jewish organizations. There were about 300 Jewish elementary schools, 20 high schools, and a teacher’ s seminary. The language of instruction in those schools was Hebrew or Yiddish.

    There were rather many Jews who were well educated. For instance, from 35 to 43 per cent of the country’ s physicians and over 50 per cent of Lithuania’ s lawyers were Jews. And I’ d like to add, that the Jews owned 77 per cent of Lithuania’ s commerce and over 20 per cent of its industry. A comparatively large number of various Jewish publications came out every year. I should like to remind you that they managed to publish six Jewish dailies, one of which was in the Russian language.

    They had their separate sport organizations. And you might be interested to know that the Archives keeps more than 600 files of the Jewish sport organization "Makabi" for the period 1922-1939. A very important role in the cultural life was played by the Jewish Historical and Ethnographical Society. Besides that society, there were several other cultural and scientific organizations and groups. Maybe the best known to you is the YIVO institute for Jewish Research, that was founded in Vilnius in 1925.

    In Kaunas, which was the capital of the Lithuanian Republic between the two World Wars, there were two Jewish theatres. But apart from those professional theatres, there were a number of amateur theatre groups in the provinces.

    As for politics, the Lithuanian Jews took part and were active in their own political organizations. They did not join Lithuanian political parties.

    During the Nazi occupation the fate of Jews in Lithuania was the same as in other European countries. After the second World War, the number of Jews decreased considerably. Part of them emigrated to Israel. At the same time, some Jews moved to Lithuania from various parts of the Soviet Union. For many of them Lithuania became the stepping-stone to emigrate to the West easier and quicker.

Address: O. Milašiaus g. 21, LT-2016 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2)734 709
Fax N^o: (370-2) 765 318
E-mail: slucgraz@takas.lt

    The Lithuanian New State Archives, that was founded in 1993, accumulate and preserve documents of state institutions, popular organizations, and individuals, dating from 1990; provide institutions with consultations on the organization of records management, administration, and preservation of documents.

Address: Mindaugo g. 8, LT-2009 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 652 253
Fax N^o (370-2) 652 253

    There are also three specialised archives as well, holding specific records in Vilnius.

    The Lithuanian Particular Archives preserve documents of the former Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic division of KGB, USSR, dating from 1940 to 1991, and documents of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Ministry of Interior dating from 1944 to 1990 that witness the genocide of the Lithuanian people in the USSR. Beside these records, there are preserved documents of communist, social-democratic, and socialist organizations, dating from the 19^th century until 1991 in the Lithuanian Particular Archives.

Address: Gedimino pr. 40, LT-2001 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 613 431
Fax N^o: (370-2) 613 431

    The Lithuanian Archives of Literature and Art keeps documents belonging to the state institutions, popular organizations and private persons, reflecting the development of culture and art in Lithuania from the 16^th century until the present day. The Archives’ inventories include records of theatres, editorial boards, artists’ unions, literary workers and artists.

Address: Mindaugo g. 8, LT-2009 Vilnius
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 652
624 Fax N^o: (370-2) 652 624

    The Lithuanian Archives of Image and Sound was founded in 1955. Although the name and structure of the archives has been changed, the main goal of its activities remains the same. The Lithuanian Archive of Image and Sound supervises all of the audiovisual part of the National Archive’ s Fond.

    Six and one half million meters of original films - the whole history of Lithuania’ s cinematography consisting of 6000 film titles - are housed in this Archives. The oldest documents date back to 1919. The part of films, produced before the Second World War, is not significant - approximately ten screening hours, but this part of the collection is of great importance to us. Also, a lot of documentary films were lost during the War, a part of them was transferred to foreign archives and may even be currently unidentified. The largest part of the above collection consists of films, produced by state-owned studios during the Soviet period.

    It would take two years of non-stop listening for those interested to get introduced to all the material deposited in the Archive’s sound recordings. At present the Archives possesses the collection of over 12,000 titles of sound recordings. The oldest sound recording dates back to 1907.

    The archives' photography collection consists of 400,000 original items and 150,000 master/user copies. The oldest documents date back to 1856. The collection contains a wide range of photographic types, such as glass-plate, nitrate and acetate negatives, and color prints. This is the largest national collection, reflecting all spheres of life.

    At present, the updated computerized photo document search project is under development and the aim is to adopt it in the nearest future.

Address: O. Milašiaus g. 19, LT-2016 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel. N^o: (370-2) 768 209
Fax N^o: (370-2) 764 489
E-mail: Lietuvos.vg.archyvas@takas.lt

    So, Vilnius, with six state archives, is the most prominent center of Lithuanian archives.

    The other ten archives, which are in fact regional archives, are situated in major regional centres. They include the State Archives of Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai, Alytus, Panevezys, Marijampole, Taurage, Telsiai, Utena, and Vilnius. The regional archives (except for Kaunas) generally keep records of local administrations dating from 1940 up to now.

    As of January 1, 2001, the various Lithuanian Archives under the Department of Archives have preserved more than than 101 shelving kilometres (101921.3 m) of records dating from the 15^th century up to the present day. Currently, the total staff of the state archiveal system includes almost 600 people: managers, specialists, clerks, and workers.

    Changes in the political, social and economic situation set complex tasks for the archival system. It is necessary to work up a conception for the development of the Lithuanian archives, to give the archives a character of scientific, cultural, and information institutions. For the moment, there is no computer based retrieval system but traditional finding aids such as inventories and indexes are available for all the records and are quite detailed. The project on the creation of the National Register of Archives is continuing but it is not completed yet.

    Our participation in professional international cooperatives and programs is of great benefit to us and helps us to overcome inherited problems and accept international archival standards, to solve emerging new problems such as the management of electronic records, to acquire information on records kept in different countries which are related to the history of Lithuania, and to enrich our holdings with copies of documents. On the other hand, through professional cooperation we can contribute our part in the culture and history of European people.