A Short History of Lithuania to 1569: Centennial Edition

by Josef A. Katzel, Daniel K. Berman (Editor)

A HISTORY OF LITHUANIA-published in Kaunas in 1921-broke new ground, as the first 20th-century Russian-language history of Lithuania presented as a highly accessible text for a general, non-academic Russian-speaking readership, which represented a substantial portion of the country's population at the time. The work is divided into three eras: (1) Legendary (until the early 13th century), (2) the Golden Age (1204-1386) and (3) Preparation for a Real Union (1386-1569). Presenting the material in a way that is reader-friendly, with short chapters (containing summary headings at the top), lively writing with explanatory notes at the bottom of the pages and accompanying visuals in the form of charts and maps that he drew himself, as well as four appendices (including one on the Jews in Lithuania), the author's approach is surprisingly modern, anticipating the "Made Simple"-and, more recently, the so-called "Dummies" and "Idiots"-series that followed decades later, designed to render what might otherwise be difficult and abstruse subject matter easily accessible to a general audience. The book also has value as a historical artifact: i.e., the context in which it was produced-and the response it elicited (expulsion of the author and his family from the country by the dictator who came to power in a 1926 coup)-imbues it with added meaning and significance. In a sense, the book represents a case study in the power of the written word and the repercussions that its exercise can generate. A century later, at a time of heightened assault on both truth and freedom of speech worldwide-with authoritarianism steadily on the rise-these themes remain as timely as ever. This centennial edition, translated into smooth and idiomatic English, includes an introduction written by the author's grandson (a Harvard graduate and PhD in political science), in which he describes the detective work through which he solved various mysteries relating to the book. He also describes the interesting parallels that were impressed on him-including the striking similarities between the dictator Augustinas Voldemaras and the present-day American authoritarian politician Donald J. Trump.

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Josef A. Katzel (Iosif Alexandrovich Katzel, 1890–1930) was the only son of Alexander Iosifovitch Katzel (Александр Iосифовичъ Кацель/Александр Иосифович Кацель, b. 1862), who tutored a teenage Lenin while both were enrolled in law school at Kazan Imperial University in 1887. Josef graduated with high marks from the Department of Economics at the prestigious Petrograd Peter the Great Polytechnic Institute in December 1916, with a specialization in political economy. Soon after the Bolsheviks came to power in the October 1917 Revolution, Katzel fled with his family to neighboring Lithuania, just as it was declaring its independence from Russia. There he authored his groundbreaking HISTORY OF LITHUANIA. Unfortunately for the author, his book was noticed promptly upon publication by Augustinas Voldemaras (1883–1942), a Lithuanian nationalist/fascist political figure who had briefly served in 1918 as the country’s first prime minister. A known Nazi sympathizer and confirmed antisemite, Voldemaras wrote a rambling, scathing and largely baseless condemnation of the book in a leading Lithuanian journal, resulting in the suppression of the publication of the second volume. After Voldemaras came to power as dictator following a successful coup in 1926, he expelled Katzel and his family from the country, on the pretext that they had been discovered to be Russian spies. Forfeiting his business holdings and property, Katzel crossed through Poland with his wife and two young daughters to Germany. Ever resilient, he promptly reestablished himself in Berlin, opening a British-style men’s haberdashery that he named Krawatten-Joe (Necktie Joe), just across from the legendary KaDeWe department store, in the bustling city center. Although the business thrived, he soon met with an adversary that no amount of effort or resourcefulness could overcome: kidney disease—at a time when there was no effective treatment for it—to which he succumbed on 10 March 1930. His remains are interred at the Old Weissensee Jewish Cemetery in Berlin. While in Kaunas, Lithuania, he founded a Russian-language university preparatory academy and a Russian-language academic journal «Экономическая жизнь Литвы» (The Economic Life of Lithuania). In addition to being a published writer and cartoonist in pre-Soviet Russia, he was a pianist and polyglot (English, French, German, Hebrew, Russian and Yiddish). He was also known as a devoted husband to his wife, Rose, and loving father to his two daughters, Shura and Ira.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publishers - BookBuzz - for giving me access to this book as an E-ARC via Netgalley. All opnions are my own.

I wanted to read this book because I recently watched a video on Lithuanian mythology and realised that I know next to nothing about Lithuania even though it’s just across the Baltic Sea from me. More so, I really like medieval history and this book stopped in the late 1500s it sounded perfect for my interest.

The book is titled “A Short History”, and the chapters are very concise, which I think is good because there are a lot of historical people mentioned and when the chapters are clearer and concise it was easier to keep all the names apart. Very easy to read.

What I knew before of Lithuanian history was mostly around the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – and that was after 1569 – when Kutzal’s book ended. All in all, an interesting read and I think I know more about Lithuania now.

[Iolo Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting read

This short book appealed to me because I am particularly interested in medieval history, and this is a country that I don’t know that much about.