Language:
English
Year of publication:
2005
Titel der Quelle:
Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe
Angaben zur Quelle:
1-2 [54-55] (2005) 54-90
Keywords:
Antisemitism
Abstract:
Notes that Jews had considerable rights in the first five years of the Lithuanian Republic. The 1926 coup brought to power an authoritarian but not antisemitic president. Smetona rejected calls for anti-minority measures, while advocating an ethnic state, where only Lithuanians were first-class citizens. From 1929 the world economic crisis seriously affected Lithuania and Jews began to experience discrimination in government employment, education, etc. Fewer Jews were elected to office than before. Popular antisemitism sometimes led to violence, but the guilty parties were punished. In 1939 antisemitism increased significantly, with the Lithuanian Entrepreneurs' Association finally gaining the influence it had been seeking for some time. Economic reforms were directed toward Lithanianizing the economy, partly by reducing the role of Jews in business. Jews were portrayed as disloyal to the country, which would later lead to disaster. However, interwar Lithuania is depicted as having been a much more comfortable place for Jews than almost anywhere else in Eastern Europe, where antisemitism was prevalent on many levels.
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