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Paper short abstract:

The inhabitants of Southeastern Lithuania experienced a lot of violence and uncertainty during the 20th century. Most of which were inflicted upon them by supra-regional actors which fought for the control of this region. To escape violence, people started to identify as “locals”.    

Paper long abstract:

The inhabitants of Southeastern Lithuania experienced a lot of violence, hardships and uncertainty during the 20th century. Most of which were inflicted upon them by supra-regional actors.

Poles, Lithuanians and representatives of other ethnicities lived in the territories of modern-day Southeast Lithuania for hundreds of years. After World War I, the war between newly created Poland and Lithuania broke out. Over the issue of which country should control these territories. During the Polish-Lithuanian war, local inhabitants suffered from both sides of armed forces. Each side wanted to portray the local inhabitants as 100 per cent Poles, or Lithuanians and exerted repression on everyone, who identified differently.

During World War II, the violence and uncertainty continued. Polish and Lithuanian partisans were fighting each other to make towns and villages of Southeastern Lithuania “ethnically pure”. Local inhabitants suffered as a consequence.

To avoid violence and repressions, inhabitants of this region started to identify as “locals”. People claimed to identify with their region, their village, their town (such as Salcininkai, Eisiskes) and with other local people. This was their strategy to distance themselves from Polish and Lithuanian national and ethnic identity, for which they could be persecuted. During my presentation, I would like to present how these people were handling uncertainty during difficult times and how it affected their identity.

This presentation is based on the ethnographical data, which I acquired during my qualitative field research in the Southeast of Lithuania from 2016 to 2019.