Final Theses of Students of Faculty of Law in Lithuania: 1925-1939

The study examines the final students’ theses of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lithuania (later – Vytautas Magnus University), which was the only one university during the interwar period in Lithuania. Thus, it was the only place where lawyers were prepared. The research is based on the different branches of law, considering structure, literature, legal acts, jurisprudence students used in their theses, and the Lithuanian legal language of that time. The most valuable and interesting quotes of students are presented, the teachers who assessed their works are named, and the fates of the students and teachers are revealed. The research covers over five hundred students’ final theses written between 1925 and 1939. Namely, such a number of final theses are held in the Department of Manuscripts of Vilnius University Library. Noteworthy that around one thousand students graduated in law during the interwar period in Lithuania. Each of this thesis was reviewed in the series of four articles published in the Lithuanian language (Deviatnikovaitė, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2020d). This article summarizes all four articles and presents final conclusions. The theses reveal not only how the Faculty of Law educated lawyers, but also the legal topicalities of Lithuania at that time. Students wrote about various issues of civil, criminal, administrative, constitutional, labour, and international law. Historical, comparative, and analytical methods were used in the research.

The Phenomenon of the 18th Century Institutional Printing House of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: The Case of the Franciscans

Many of the printing houses in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that operated during the 17th-18th centuries belonged to institutions the biggest part of which consisted of Catholic monk monasteries. Despite belonging to one group, the development path of each printing house and its contribution to book culture has unique features. Of the four institutional prin­ting houses operating in the 18th century in Vilnius, the printing house of the Franciscan Conventuals Monastery was the first to be closed and its operations terminated. The purpose of the article is to identify the following causes behind the issues and eventual closure of this printing house. Based on the expenses and income book of this printing house for the period 1752–1769 (it is preserved at the Department of Manuscripts of Vilnius University Library,) this paper examines various aspects of the Vilnius Franciscan Conventuals monastery printing house: funds, sources of equipment and paper, building location, relations with employees and hired craftsmen, orders, sources of income, profitability. In order to better understand the specificity of the institutional press, an effort was made to establish a link between the research outcome and the wider context by addressing the question of the impact of both the society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Franciscan Order itself on the destiny of the printing house. In addition, the book of expenses and income reveals new biographical data about Vilnius engraver Franciszek Balcewicz.

Professional publishing and Lithuanian books in the first two-thirds of the 19th century in Lithuania: The case of the Zawadzki firm

Successfully profiting from textbook publishing as the typographer at Vilnius University, Józef Zawadzki (1781‒1838) established one of the most important and most successful book publishing, production, and distribution companies of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century in the territories of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt. The Zawadzki firm represented the new category of professional publishers. Over the first seventy years of the firm’s existence at the firm’s expense were published 122 Lithuanian books, as well as printed about 50 Lithuanian publications at their authors finances. The attitude of the members of Zawadzki family regarding the publishing of Lithuanian books essentially changed. While the Józef Zawadzki was indifferent towards them, in the middle of the 19th century Adam Zawadzki (1814‒1875) outcompeted other professional book publishers and distributors, and monopolized the publishing of Lithuanian books in the Samogitian Diocese, becoming not only the most important publisher of Lithuanian books, but also their printer and distributor. The successful realization of Adam Zawadzki’s business plans was partly due to his longstanding contacts with the most active figures of Lithuanian written culture, with whom he maintained a new form of cooperation based on authorial royalties, partly due effectively distribution of published matter, using first stationary bookstore in the periphery, located in the west of Lithuania (which served as a retail and wholesale trade enterprise), various ways of non-stationary book trade, services of a commercial library and advertising. Owing to Adam’s efforts, the Zawadzki firm made a significant contribution uniting main forces of authors and publishers of Lithuanian books in 19th century Lithuania, renewing the repertoire of Lithuanian books, as well as giving Lithuanian book publishing, production and distribution features characteristic for a modern business. A model of dealing with censorship through illegal publishing, developed with the publication Apej brostwą błaiwistes arba nusiturieima, was used throughout all the forty years of the press ban and helped raising several generations of literate Lithuanians and bringing Lithuania and Lithuania Minor closer together.

Which Piotr Skarga’s Edition of Żywoty Świętych Was Used for Translation into Old Church Slavonic: The Life of St. Procopius of Scythopolis

The article deals with a small private episode of the general topic of research into Cyrillic translations of an extensive Polish book Żywoty Świętych by Piotr Skarga, a Jesuit and the first rector of the Vilnius University. Using as an example the Old Church Slavonic life of St. Procopius of Scythopolis, translated from Skarga’s book and contained in two manuscripts originating from the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, the author shows that a comparison of the Church Slavonic translation with its Polish original, taking into account all textual changes made in the lifetime editions of Żywoty Świętych makes it possible to determine the exact edition used as a source for the Old Church Slavonic the translation. At the same time, this will serve as a chronological marker indicating the time before which the translation could not have appeared

Psychosocial Aspects of Deliberate Physical Suicide Attempts by Children and Adolescents

Background and objectives: Suicide is a topical issue in Lithuania and all around the world. It is the second most common cause of death among young people. There is a lack of research studies on the psychosocial aspects of adolescent suicide in Lithuania. This study aimed to evaluate demographics, life circumstances, and health conditions as factors related to suicide attempt in adolescents. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed at the Children’s Hospital (Vilnius University Santara Clinics). Medical documentation of adolescents treated in this hospital after suicide attempts from January 2011 to April 2018 were analyzed. Results: There were 117 cases of hospitalization due to suicide attempts during this period, and 102 cases were included in the study. There were 83.8% female and 16.2% male patients with an average age of 15.02 ± 1.9 years (p = 0.405); 40.6% of patients lived in divorced families, 17.7% lived in orphanages, 4.2% lived in foster care, 36.4% suffered from parental alcoholism, and 17.2% experienced suicide in their close surroundings. They had comorbidities (girls 72.5%, boys 68.8%), mostly depression (31.3%), were suffering from bullying (54.1%) or violence (26.0%), and 85.4% showed signs of other types of self-harm (girls more often (p < 0.001)). Most of them chose to cut for suicide attempts (86.0% girls, 56.2% boys). In 52.8% of cases, the attempt was spontaneous and 34% relapsed. Thirty-four events occurred in March (18.9%) (p = 0.688).Conclusions: Our study revealed the possible circumstances related to adolescent suicide attempt. Female gender was more common overall and males were more likely to carry out more potentially lethal methods. Other common associated factors were a lack of prosperity in family life, experience of bullying, violence, comorbidities, and the early spring period. Signs of any self-harm could be an indicator of later suicide attempt.

About the Joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian R&D Project ‘Strengthening of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Lithuania and Ukraine: Finding the Cross-Border Solution’ and Its Results for the Period of 2020-2021

The Joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian R&D Project ‘Strengthening of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Lithuania and Ukraine: Finding the Cross-Border Solution’ was undertaken during the period of 2020-2021 by teams of scholars from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and Vilnius University. The main aim, process, and results (achievements) are discussed in this note.

Individual Multilingualism of Students and Their Commitment to Learning German: A Pilot Study of the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University

The importance of promoting individual multilingualism is repeatedly emphasised worldwide in didactic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies. The prior knowledge of the learners and the networking of languages is pointed out in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. For this reason, the principles and methods of multilingual didactics play an important role in foreign language teaching due to their positive effects. Therefore, the question is increasingly being addressed how individual differences and progress of the learners regarding their linguistic backgrounds can be taken into account in language teaching.This article examines the question of whether and how Lithuanian university students see their multilingual repertoire as a resource for learning German. For this purpose, a survey was carried out among the Philology students of Vilnius University who study German as an optional course. The aim of this pilot study was to find out whether the students' previous knowledge of other languages helps them to learn German, or whether they see the influences of their mother tongue and other foreign languages as an obstacle that affects them negatively. The data obtained from the questionnaire presents the students' attitudes towards multilingualism, their multilingual skills and language awareness, as well as their language-related experience in acquiring German as a foreign language. The respondents' answers were processed using the method of the qualitative content analysis with a deductive-inductive approach. The results of the survey show that the majority of the students encountered the methods of multilingual didactics and see the multilingual competence as an important advantage for learning other foreign languages. Despite the language interference, the benefits of language skills outweigh the learning process. The students give examples based on their experience of how they use other languages for learning German and show well-developed metalinguistic awareness (e.g. language comparisons) and metacognitive skills (e.g. learning strategies).It is planned to continue this study by interviewing students from other faculties of Vilnius University (Medicine, Law, etc.) comparing their multilingual skills and metalinguistic awareness with the Philology students.

Individual Multilingualism of Students and Their Commitment to Learning German: A Pilot Study of the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University

The importance of promoting individual multilingualism is repeatedly emphasised worldwide in didactic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies. The prior knowledge of the learners and the networking of languages is pointed out in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. For this reason, the principles and methods of multilingual didactics play an important role in foreign language teaching due to their positive effects. Therefore, the question is increasingly being addressed how individual differences and progress of the learners regarding their linguistic backgrounds can be taken into account in language teaching.This article examines the question of whether and how Lithuanian university students see their multilingual repertoire as a resource for learning German. For this purpose, a survey was carried out among the Philology students of Vilnius University who study German as an optional course. The aim of this pilot study was to find out whether the students' previous knowledge of other languages helps them to learn German, or whether they see the influences of their mother tongue and other foreign languages as an obstacle that affects them negatively. The data obtained from the questionnaire presents the students' attitudes towards multilingualism, their multilingual skills and language awareness, as well as their language-related experience in acquiring German as a foreign language. The respondents' answers were processed using the method of the qualitative content analysis with a deductive-inductive approach. The results of the survey show that the majority of the students encountered the methods of multilingual didactics and see the multilingual competence as an important advantage for learning other foreign languages. Despite the language interference, the benefits of language skills outweigh the learning process. The students give examples based on their experience of how they use other languages for learning German and show well-developed metalinguistic awareness (e.g. language comparisons) and metacognitive skills (e.g. learning strategies).It is planned to continue this study by interviewing students from other faculties of Vilnius University (Medicine, Law, etc.) comparing their multilingual skills and metalinguistic awareness with the Philology students.

Stanisław Batys Gorski’s botanical research in the Białowieża Primeval Forest during the 1820s

The first scientific description of the flora of the Białowieża Primeval Forest (Puszcza Białowieska) was published in 1829 in Stanisław Batys Gorski’s paper “O roślinach żubrom upodobanych, jakoteż innych w puszczy Białowiezkiey [About preferred plants of the European bison and other plants from the Białowieża Primeval Forest]”. This publication comprised the first critical evaluation of the plant species present in the forest based on several field surveys during 1822, 1823 and 1826 by Gorski, and it dismissed the popular hypothesis that the European bison ( Bison bonasus) survived there because some of its preferred forage plants were exclusively found in the forest. To assess the importance of Gorski’s contribution to studies on the flora of the Białowieża Primeval Forest, we critically evaluated all his materials on the topic, including manuscripts, plant specimens collected by Gorski now preserved in Vilnius University Herbarium and his published works, and also traced all mentions and references to Gorski’s studies in later botanical works devoted to the Białowieża Primeval Forest.

Sport and Contemporary Culture

This publication presents manuscript of the famous Russian-Lithuanian philosopher Vasily Seseman (1884-1963) accompanied by a preface. The manuscript "Sport and Contemporary Culture" is the text of Seseman's manuscript collection, which is located in Vilnius University (F122-79). Manuscript is a preparatory text for the article "Time, Culture and Body" (first published in 1931 under the pen name "V. Chukhnin", and then in 1935 under his real name). In "Time, Culture and Body" Sesemann develops his ideas concerning the objectifying attitude, which leads to human's alienation towards body and time. Sesemann claims that the time is perceived as a meaningful entirety only when the time is contemplated from the point of view of work. Work is a purpose-attaining activity where subjective creativity is oriented towards an objective result in future. Working in pursuit of one's goals helps to avoid facing the emptiness of time, but at the same time it alienates the present. Work helps the subject to overcome his individual limitations and to become a part of the objective culture. By hiding behind the results of an objective activity people avoid direct contact with the time because it may appear as an interruption of meaningful relations and as a boredom. The tendency to objectify time is accompanied by the process of objectification of body. Previously, a primitive person could trust his body more than tools. In the modern culture body is gradually downgraded because tools, machinery and even separate institutions take over its functions. In this way the centre of culture is moved to the world of objects which is beyond a subject's control and body plays a merely auxiliary part. A person can overcome his alienation towards time and body only by being wakeful - here and now, by self-knowledge and self-control. Sesemann describes the self-control as the practical ability and mood, which he called "presence of mind". In this state of mind person is able to fing oneself, concentrate and mobilise all his strength to his utmost, maintain inner composure, calmness and balance of spirit.