The Economy

[kandrathe]

Did they not continue to teach in Lithuanian? The Soviets oppressed or removed the Poles (as did the Nazis during their stay, apparently) and the Polish side of the university was essentially eradicated. Not that this was undisputed before, there had been fifty years of bickering about Polish vs. Lithuanian before that. But, in the end, my understanding from scanning what I can find is that some subjects were taught in Russian, but that this was a Lithuanian-language university.

My read on it was that Stalin trusted the Lithuanians more than he did the Poles, so the Soviets mounted a campaign to "de-Polanize" what they declared to be Lithuania. "Stalin resolved national questions by ethnic cleansing." It was really not so much pro-Lithuanian, as it was anti-Polish. Poland and Lithuania have a long shared history of cooperation going back to the 1300's.

Imagine going into Britain and deporting anyone with Angeln, Saxon, or Jutish blood. It's not unheard of... I recall El Cid. Or, closer to home, uprooting the Europeans from North America, Australia and New Zealand to return the land to the indigenous peoples.