The Portrait of the Protests of Vytautas Magnus University Students (1922–1939): Conflicts and Clashes

Abstract

Characteristic features of the students’ activities of the only university in the inter-war Lithuania – Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas – dealt with in the article were the expression of student protests and discontent as a result of the twists and turns in the domestic and foreign politics of the country and the internal problems of the University. The forms and substance of the collective behaviour of the active and eager academic youth pointed to the presence of unresolved urgent matters both inside and outside the University. The students’ political demonstrations of 1926 and 1938 were the direct response of young people to the political tensions in the country. It is noteworthy that the political opposition was also engaged in fuelling youth resistance by making use of student organisations, shielded by the autonomy of the University, as tools in their fight against the ruling majority. The political landscape was diverse with Catholic, nationalist and socialist segments there, thus the animosity ranging from usual routine friction between groups to serious conflicts crossing the University boundaries. The patriotically-minded students were particularly sensitive to the insinuations by Poland and Germany, the countries hostile to Lithuania, and considered them as insults to the national dignity and peaceful stance of Lithuania. Lithuania being a young national state reborn in 1918, the vices of its society (outbreaks of nationalism) engulfed the young generation, including students; the notorious case of “Jewish corpses” at the University represented the tendency described above. Several amended versions of the University Statute provoked students into expressing their discontent with the internal matters of the University, into protection of freedoms and active selfdefence. The protests under consideration ranged from accidental to consistent, while substance-wise they ranged from political to internal-institutional.