Krzysztof Buchowski
A ban on printing Lithuanian-language texts using the Latin alphabet was part of the program to Russify Lithuanian lands that came to action after the January Uprising; All publications were required to be printed in the Cyrillic script. The evolution of the Lithuanian language faced the threat of extinction. In 1867, Bishop Wołonczewski came up with the idea of printing Lithuanian publications in Prussia. The brisk entrepreneur Jurgis Bielinis took charge of organizing the venture, smuggling the first batch of brochures across the border in a sack. (…)
Krzysztof Buchowski is a professor at University of Białystok.
The full story of the Samogitians’ fate and the nature of ethnic emancipation movements in the region will soon be published in English.