VMU Now and Before Atnaujinta: 2010-12-18 14:39:40
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A Free University for a Free Lithuania
The university embodies a nation‘s progress, advancement, and creative thought. Thus when on February 16, 1918 Lithuanians declared their political independence and began creating their state institutions, the scholars among them saw the establishment of a Lithuanian university as one of the most important tasks ahead. And when in 1919 Lithuania lost its historical capital Vilnius, it fell upon the second-largest city, Kaunas, to serve as the country‘s political, economic, and cultural center for the next twenty years.
It was here that Lithuania‘s intellectuals first organized a Program of Higher Education that gave rise to the university. Later, in response to the growing demand for a publicly financed, fully-fledged university, the Program of Higher Studies was reorganized, broadened, and designated as the University of Lithuania on February 16, 1922. This is considered to be the University‘s official founding day. On June 7, 1930, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Ancient Lithuania‘s most popular leader, Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, the University of Lithuania was renamed Vytautas Magnus University.
From the very beginning the University was a dynamic and largely self-governing institution of higher learning. Its statute allowed it a high degree of autonomy. As an independent institution of the Lithuanian state, it was fully funded by the latter and only formally subject to the Ministry of Education.
During the entire interwar period of national independence it was a vitally important center of Lithuanian cultural, scholarly, and civic life as well as a fountain of modern intellectual thought. Most of the country‘s political and cultural leaders were associated with it, either as teachers or as students. For example, the country‘s first and third president, Antanas Smetona, was an occasional associate professor in the Humanities Faculty; and the list of famous professors included Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, Balys Sruoga, Pranas Dovydaitis, Mykolas Römeris, Petras Leonas, Mykolas Biržiška, Vaclovas Biržiška, Viktoras Biržiška, Stasys Šalkauskis, Tadas Ivanauskas, Kazimieras Būga, Jonas Jablonskis, to mention several of the most important Lithuanians.
This list of native professors was complemented by a distinguished roster of foreigners, including the Swiss linguist Alfred Senn (Alfredas Sennas), the Swiss literary scholar Joseph Ehret (Juozas Eretas), the Latvian-German ethnographer Eduards Volters (Eduardas Volteris), the Germanborn German professor Horst Engert, the French-born English instructor Raymond Schmittlein, the Nordic multinational philosopher Vasily Sesemann (Vosylius Sezemanas), and the Russian cultural historian Lev Karsavin (Levas Karsavinas). All of these foreign-born scholars as well as those born in Lithuania had received their own education at non-Lithuanian universities, usually in Germany, Switzerland, France, and/or Russia, thus giving VMU a truly international flavor.
It did not take long for VMU to educate dozens of students who soon became leaders of Lithuanian public and cultural life, both in the country itself and later in exile. A short list of them would include the historians Adolfas Šapoka, Zenonas Ivinskis, Juozas Jakštas, and Vincas Trumpa; the philosophers Antanas Maceina and Juozas Girnius; the economist Domas Cesevičius; and the writers Salomėja Neris, Bernardas Brazdžionis, Antanas Vaičiulaitis, Kazys Boruta, Antanas Gustaitis, Jonas Aistis, Antanas Miškinis, Henrikas Nagys, Juozas Grušas, Antanas Škėma, Vytautas Mačernis, and Henrikas Radauskas.
The interwar VMU was unique in its spirit of intellectual liberty; the lively interaction among its faculty and students; and its varied and vigorous community life. During nearly two decades of independence between both world wars VMU had seven rectors and produced 3,790 graduates. In 1922 it had 1,168 students taught by 102 teachers; in 1931 there were 4,475 students instructed by 220 teachers, the latter number growing to 490 by 1937.
Loosing Freedom, but Keeping Hope Alive
When in October 1939 Lithuania regained control of its ancient capital, Vilnius, both the government and the scholars set about resuscitating the ancient University of Vilnius (which from 1921 to 1939 had functioned as the Polish Stephen Bathory University). Meanwhile, the summer of 1940 saw the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, i.e., the replacement of Lithuania‘s semi-democratic national independence with a Communist Russian-controlled dictatorship. This resulted in the closing of the several faculties.
The students, however, did not disband; most of them joined the underground; some helped organize the 1941 June Revolt against the Soviets and persisted in it; and some students and professors took positions in the 1941 Provisional Government.
VMU renewed its operations when the Nazis were replaced by the returning Soviets in the fall of 1944; two years later the latter again named it Kaunas University. Many students joined the anti-Soviet resistance, taking up leadership positions in the forces that fought a hopeless guerilla war against the Communists from 1945 to 1952.
In 1950 the university was shut down by the Soviets for good and remained so for nearly 40 years.
The Soviet occupation regime tried to transform Kaunas into a closed industrial city devoted at best to the technological, medical, and agricultural sciences and bereft entirely of the social sciences, the humanities, the theology, and the philosophy in which the nation‘s historical memory and the traditions of a free university had been embodied.
These traditions were nurtured and fostered in exile. As World II drew to a close and the second Soviet occupation approached, the greater part of Lithuania‘s academia fled to the West. While living largely in displaced-persons camps, the erstwhile professors and students reconstituted their former corporations or created new academic societies as they hoped to return to VMU in a liberated Lithuania.
Eventually, with the hardening of the divide between the democratic West and the Communist East and the intensification of the Cold War, the displaced persons‘ dreams of returning to a freed Lithuania evaporated; yet the academic exile community never forgot its commitment to keep the spirit of a Lithuanian university alive.
The University Reborn
When in the late 1980s winds of change began blowing in the Soviet Union and thereby reawakening hopes of Lithuanian freedom, the U.S.- based World Lithuanian Symposia of Science and Creativity, which starting in 1989 joined scholars from both sides of the crumbling Iron Curtain, were especially significant in stimulating the efforts that ultimately led toward the resuscitation of VMU.
In 1989 VMU became the first autonomous institution of higher education not only in Lithuania but in what then still was the Soviet Union as a whole. The date when VMU got off to a flying start as the first autonomous University is a significant event not only for Kaunas, but also for the whole Lithuania.
‘The university had to start totally from scratch; however, the community then was very enthusiastic. Young people, despite the risk demonstrated their faith and devotion to the idea of re-establishment, at that time the sense of community was very strong, people felt as a part of a strong dynamic movement. And that is still felt now’, says Rector of Vytautas Magnus University prof. Zigmas Lydeka.
The University’s Present
Even though two decades, if compared to the millennium, may seem a short period of time, the young University strived to explore every possible avenue that is the reason why nowadays members of VMU community take pride in being a part of the university and having the opportunity to contribute to its development.
Nowadays the University is an integral part of the celebrating state and together with all Lithuania commemorates the millennium of the first mention of the name. The feeling of an importance of the millennium is inwoven everywhere: in speeches of honorable academics, in students’ discourse and even in official documents – diplomas. Students who graduated this year were amazed to learn that they have exclusive diplomas, marked with a special sign of the millennium.
Just like twenty years ago the reestablishment of a free university in a free Lithuania seemed difficult if not outright impossible, so today VMU is nothing if not ambitious in looking forward to a time when it is not only a modern, but also a leading institution of higher education that actively participates in the life of world-class universities.
Vytautas Magnus University has set itself the task of putting people and their personal dignity first, which entails recognition of their achievements and individuality; showing openness to, and toleration of, various cultures and worldviews; achieving leadership positions in research and teaching of the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and biomedicine; developing international networks and intercultural communications; fostering international studies in the Lithuanian language; becoming relevant to challenges facing world universities; and promoting novel research and modern teaching.
Extracts from the album “Vytautas Magnus University: Memory, People and Ideas”.
