Krajowcy

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The Krajowcy (the "border-landers" or "locals", Lithuanized as krajovcai) was a group of mainly Polish-speaking intellectuals from the Vilnius Region who, in the beginning of the 20th century, opposed dividing the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth along ethnic and linguistic lines. They were mostly descendants of the nobles of Grand Duchy of Lithuania but identified themselves with the Polish culture and maintained a sense of loyalty to the commonwealth. However, they did not support the Polish federalists who dreamed of resurrecting the commonwealth and thought of the Grand Duchy as an integral part of Poland. Krajowcy wanted to neutralize ethnic nationalism by proposing creation of civil society in the former territory of the Grand Duchy which would include Lithuanians, Poles, Jews, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and other nations. The national identity was not important as long as the person would identify with and feel loyalty to the Duchy. The state would be formed based not on ethnicity, but on citizenship.

The democratic Krajowcy, led by Michał Römer (1880-1946) and Tadeusz Wrublewski (1858-1925), sought to establish a state together with Belarusians whose national movement just started. They did not want to cut the cultural ties with Poland as they were a natural part of Lithuanian history and heritage. Democratic Krajowcy ideas were based on principles of humanism, democracy, and equality among nations. However, the Krajowcy were scattered and few in numbers and therefore could not organize a greater movement. They also came late as the Lithuanian national awakening had already happened and their views proved to be outdated.

Bishop Antanas Baranauskas (1835-1902), held views similar to the early Krajowcy (although he was not one of them). He did not trust Lithuanian national activists^{[citation needed]}. Even though he wrote about "our dear nation" in the Lithuanian language, he was against disintegration of the former Grand Duchy into ethnic entities: he was against both Lithuanian and Polish nationalism, and hoped that the Lithuanian and Polish languages and cultures could co-exist and expand together.

[edit] References

Krapauskas, Virgil (2000). Nationalism and Historiography: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Historicism. New York: Columbia University Press, 38-40, 95, 159. ISBN 0-88033-457-6.
Staliūnas, Darius (July 2005). "From Ethnocentric to Civic History: Changes in Contemporary Lithuanian Historical Studies". Occasional Papers No.7: Emerging Meso-Areas in the Former Socialist Countries: Histories Revived or Improvised? 21st Century COE Program Slavic Eurasian Studies, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University. Accessed 8 October 2006.
(Lithuanian) Kulakauskas, Antanas (2003). "Lietuvių ir lenkų santykiai XX a. pradžioje". Gimtoji istorija: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės. (CD)Vilnius: Elektroninės leidybos namai. ISBN 9986-9216-9-4
(Polish) Miknys, Rimantas (1999). "Wilno i Wileńszczyzna w koncepcjach Michała Römera i krajowców".