This book discusses the emergence of orphaned, abandoned and poor child care in Lithuania from the early 20th century to the beginning of World War II. In particular, it focuses on how poor child care practices were influenced by the nationalist and political discourse, and how orphanages became privileged institutions for nation building. Emerging during World War I and the early postwar humanitarian crisis, the Lithuanian orphaned and destitute children's assistance network remained managed mainly by private actors. The field remained highly competitive. Until the early 1920s, concurrence had an eminently ethno-national character and the Lithuanian network was challenged by stronger Polish poor child assistance institutions. Nation-building goals did not prevent the emergence of political concurrence within separate ethno-national assistance networks. Even if political concurrence did not stop cooperation within the ethnic community, it did confirm the multiple character of national mobilization and consolidation processes in which otherness is by no means only ethnic in content.--

This book discusses the emergence of care for orphaned, abandoned and poor children in Lithuania from the early twentieth century to the beginning of the Second World War. In particular, it focuses on how such practices were influenced by nationalist and political discourses, and how orphanages became privileged institutions for nation building. Emerging during the humanitarian crisis following the First World War, the Lithuanian orphaned and destitute children’s assistance network had an eminently ethno-national character, and existed in parallel with, and was challenged by, Polish poor child assistance institutions. By analysing such care for children, this book explores concepts such as the nation state and citizenship, as well as the connections between poverty, childhood and nationalism.

The proclamation of Belarusian independence on March 25, 1918, and the rival establishment of the Soviet Belarusian state on January 1, 1919, created two distinct and mutually exclusive national myths, which continue to define contemporary Belarusian society. This book examines the processes that resulted in this dual resolution in the context of World War I and the subsequent Russian Revolutions. Based on original archival material, Lizaveta Kasmach scrutinizes the development of competing concepts of Belarusian nationhood in the context of rivaling national aspirations and imperial policies. The analysis convincingly demonstrates the divisions within the nationalist movement, both politically between the moderates and socialists, and geographically between German-occupied territory with Vilna as a center versus Russian-controlled territory around Minsk. Besides the case study of Belarusian nation-building efforts, the book is a contribution to the study of the First World War in East Central Europe, approaching the war and its aftermath as a mobilizational moment in the region.

The volume focuses on violence during the breakdown of East Central European states brought by one of the most violent periods in modern European history: from the start of the Great War in 1914 until 1923 when Europe, finally, achieved peace after a series of civil conflicts and interstate wars. The contributors offer several case studies that cover the vast region stretching from the Baltic states to Hungary. They explore different types of violence against its civilian populations with a particular focus on communal violence committed by civilians onto their neighbors. They suggest that disintegration of state power brought by the Great War was a key condition that produced violence. Yet the process of post-WWI state building was equally or more violent as nascent East Central European states institutionalized the use of violence to achieve their political agendas.

This book explores how the Lithuanian state was created and shaped by the Great War from its onset in 1914 to the last waves of violence in 1923. Tomas Balkelis investigates the effects of the war on the evolution of Lithuanian society by telling the stories of war veterans, volunteers, POWs, paramilitary fighters, and refugees.