Strangers and Sojourners - The Politics of Jewish Belonging in Lithuania, 1914-1940

Oct 3, 2026

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This dissertation investigates how Lithuanian Jews positioned themselves toward Lithuanians and the Lithuanian state during democratic nation building and, after the 1926 military coup d’état, under authoritarian rule. Across interwar political transformations, Lithuanian Jews developed distinct strategies to argue for their belonging, drawing on historical, political, cultural, and linguistic evidence. It examines a public discourse portraying Jews as both integral and conditional participants in the national project.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages306

Reading Time12 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Chapter 1: “A‘People’ within the Jewish People”: 23

The Lithuanian Jew as Native, 1914-1922

Chapter 2: Jewish Reconstruction: 76

Autonomy and Its Discontents, 1921-1925

Chapter 3: From Bulota’s Cap to Smetona’s Pen: 115

Lithuanian Jewry and the 1926 Coup D’état

Chapter 4: “Forget Versailles”: 161

Between Rights and Privileges in the Illiberal State, 1927-1931

Chapter 5: A Kingdom in Crisis, 1932-1940 208

Conclusion 261

Bibliography 267

UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Strangers and Sojourners: The Politics of Jewish Belonging in Lithuania, 1914-1940 Permalink [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6336g000](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6336g000) Author Casper, Michael Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation [eScholarship.org](eScholarship.org) Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Strangers and Sojourners: The Politics of Jewish Belonging in Lithuania, 1914-1940 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy In History by Michael Phillips Casper 2019 © Copyright by Michael Phillips Casper 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Strangers and Sojourners: The Politics of Jewish Belonging in Lithuania, 1914-1940 by Michael Phillips Casper Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor David N. Myers, Chair This dissertation investigates how Lithuanian Jews positioned themselves vis- à -vis Lithuaniansand the Lithuanian state in the era of democratic nation building and, after a military coup d’étatin 1926, under an authoritarian regime. Across these dramatically different interwar political contexts, Lithuanian Jews honed different strategies to advance the idea that they belonged to Lithuania, leaning on historical, political, cultural and even linguistic evidence. At the same time, they negotiated a contradictory public discourse about them that held that Jews were integral to, and yet conditional participants in, the Lithuanian national project. I argue that, at its core, Lithuanian Jewish belonging consisted of two parts: the Russian Jewish liberal tradition and a deep-seated sense of localness, if not indigeneity. These traditions sometimes worked in tandem but were often in tension. I trace the arc of Lithuanian Jewish political self-fashioning by looking closely at sources including the Yiddish and Lithuanian daily press, memoirs, literary production and public celebrations. I begin by looking at a group of Jewish cultural activists who, from the 1910s to 1920s, made significant inroads with Lithuanian intellectuals to advance the cause of Jewish indigeneity in a multiethnic Lithuania. In the early years of statehood, democratism, rights and the system of cultural autonomy for minorities were important vehicles for Jewish integration, and yet they were contested concepts within the Jewish community, which was fractured between Jewish parties including, most significantly for this dissertation, Zionists and Folkists. To that end, I analyze debates between party spokespeople, especially Jacob Robinson and Yudl Mark, including an exchange over the meaning of the Yiddish term doikayt, or “hereness.” I follow how Jewish supporters of democratic rights reformulated their ideas and positions under Antanas Smetona’s authoritarian government, which required Jews to present as unified and loyal, despite rising anti-Semitism among the Lithuanian middle class. By the 1930s, some Lithuanian Jews came to support Smetona’s project and the Jewish place in it, while others continued to demand the rights they were promised in the wake of World War I. Finally, I look atthe phenomenon of the Jewish study of Roma and the Romani language, which I argue was away for Jews to demonstrate their relative rootedness. The dissertation of Michael Phillips Casper is approved. Sarah Abrevaya Stein Ivan T. Berend Nathaniel Deutsch Kenneth B. Moss David N. Myers, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vi Vita ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: “A‘People’ within the Jewish People”: 23 The Lithuanian Jew as Native, 1914-1922 Chapter 2: Jewish Reconstruction: 76 Autonomy and Its Discontents, 1921-1925 Chapter 3: From Bulota’s Cap to Smetona’s Pen: 115 Lithua

FAQs

What time periods and political contexts does the dissertation cover?

It covers the interwar era, focusing first on democratic nation building and then on the authoritarian regime after the 1926 military coup d’état.

How does the dissertation explain Lithuanian Jewish “belonging”?

It argues that belonging consisted of two parts: the Russian Jewish liberal tradition and a deep sense of localness, sometimes framed as indigeneity.

What types of sources does the dissertation use?

It analyzes Yiddish and Lithuanian daily press, memoirs, literary production, and public celebrations to trace political self-fashioning.

Oct 3, 2026

Upload by Adam