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Sejny/Seinai and Punsk(as) area: Lithuania inside Poland

The Northeasternmost area of Poland is unique in the world. This is the only area beyond Lithuanians where Lithuanians make up the majority of the population (~80%). Lithuanian atmosphere is felt here even better than in Lithuania itself. There are more Lithuanian monuments here than in any Lithuanian region of comparable population, 5 Lithuanian museums, and even many regular buildings and bus stops adorned with Lithuanian symbols.

The Lithuanians who live in this area are indigenous, their forefathers had lived in the region for thousands of years (rather than having ever been immigrants to Poland). However, after both Lithuania and Poland became independent from the Russian Empire in 1918, a brief Polish-Lithuanian war ended with Poland taking over the region, something that still vertebrates among the local populations.

A bus stop with the Lithuanian columns of Gediminas sign

Punskas, the capital of Lithuania in Poland

The capital of Poland's Lithuania is Punsk (Punskas). The majority of its 1200 inhabitants are Lithuanians.

At the heart of the town is Accension church where most masses are celebrated in the Lithuanian language. Nearly all the inscriptions and plaques inside are in Lithuanian as well. Lithuanian Catholic figures are depicted and Lithuanian ethnic patterns adorn the interior. A privilege of King Sigismundus of Poland-Lithuania who ordered the Punsk church to have a Lithuanian-speaking priest is also proudly presented. Even during the communist era, the local Lithuanian priest Dirmeika managed to Lithuanize the church interior further by adding stained glass windows that includes a coat of arms of Lithuania.

Church of Punskas

Ethnic Lithuanian patterns in the interior of the church

Next to a footpath to the church, a series of Lithuanian monuments stand.

One of them is dedicated to the Lithuanian partisans of the "Suwalki triangle" 1944-1955, as this area of Poland with a significant Lithuanian population is called (a.k.a. "Suwalki Gap" in English). When Lithuania was re-occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944, these partisans supported the Lithuanian partisan efforts in Lithuania by providing a link to spread information to the Western World (see below).

Another monument is dedicated to the 1941 exiles to Lithuania, one of the chapters of history that are different in the Punsk/Sejny region than in the Lithuania-proper. In early 1941, Punsk/Sejny was ruled by Nazi Germany, while Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union; allied at the time, the two totalitarian regimes signed a treaty to "exchange people", with Poland's Lithuanians to be deported to the Soviet Union in return to Germans from Soviet-occupied Lithuania. These deportations were a tragedy to a community for which Punsk itself was always their homeland and cultural Lithuania. Some 11000 Lithuanians were deported (perhaps 50% of the total number), although some half of that managed to return later. The monument has only dates inscribed on it (1941-01-10 - 1941-03-22), a practice quite common in the Punskas area, where many monuments were built during times Lithuanians were discriminated against (before 1990) and thus had their dedications concealed beneath numbers and abbreviations.

Left to right: monument to the Lithuanians exiled to Lithuania, a stained-glass window inside the church with Lithuanian symbols on it, and a monument to the Lithuanian partisans in the Suwalki triangle

There are also monuments for St. Casimir, 500th anniversary of Punskas (1597-1997). Most monuments are in the form of wooden poles but the St. Casimir monument is built of stone.

All over Punsk, wooden monuments have been constructed for key Lithuanian events and figures: February 16th (the Lithuanian independence declaration; the monument includes the names of the signatories of the declaration and liberty bells), Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas (first Lithuanian pilots to fly across the Atlantic). Many of the wooden Lithuanian monuments of the region were constructed by Zenonas Knyza, a famous wood crafter.

February 16th monument in Punskas

Punskas also has two Lithuanian museums: the Old Rectory Museum within the old rectory of Punskas church and Juozas Vaina Ethnographic Museum located in the basement of Punskas's Lithuanian House, a hub for Lithuanian cultural activities (built in 2004).

Lithuanian House of Punskas

Both museums include lots of Lithuanian traditional crafts and memorabilia, much of it related to this unique region, such as the unique Žolinių vainikai - straw and grass contraptions/sculptures which the villages make for the Žolinė summer festival and then bring into the church. On the first floor of the Lithuanian House, one may see the original 1936 chapel-post that used to adorn the crash site of Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas "Lituanica" plane in what is now Western Poland. The monument there has been replaced while the original one was moved here for safekeeping.

Traditional Žolinių vainikas in the Old Rectory Museum

Inside the Juozas Vaina Museum

According to Polish law, in Punsk gmina the village names could be written in both Lithuanian and Polish, as the gmina is Lithuanian-majority. Thus, plaques with bilingual names greet the visitors at most of the area's villages, including Punsk / Punskas itself. This makes the area the only place outside of Lithuania where placenames could be written in Lithuanian language on the official signs.

A sign with Lithuanian and Polish names of a Punksas area village at its entrance. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The street names, however, could only be written in Polish. That said, many of Punskas streets are named after Lithuanian events and figures even if in Polish:
-11 Marca (March 11th - the date of Lithuanian independence restoration in 1990).
-Dzukow (Dzūkians, the sub-group of Lithuanians who live in southeast Lithuania and also form the majority in Punsk area, their unique dialect predominating here).
-Partyzantow Litewskich (Lithuanian anti-Soviet Partisans).
-Dariusa i Girenasa (Darius and Girėnas).

March 11th Street in Punskas

Many other streets are named after historical figures that are equally revered in Poland and Lithuania and associated with times when these two nations were not separated, including Adam Mickiewicz (Lithuanian: Adomas Mickevičius), Tadeusz Kościuszko (Tadas Kosciuška), Emilii Plater (Emilija Pliaterytė). The local Lithuanian writer Albinas Morkus also has a street name after him.

Punskas has two Lithuanian schools standing side-by-side (as well as a kindergarten). Darius and Girėnas School teaches the younger children, while the March 11th Lyceum is for the older kids. Punskas/Seinai area is the only remaining place outside Lithuania where children can get an education entirely in the Lithuanian language (with just a few lessons, such as the Polish language and history, using Polish as a medium of instruction). The schools are among the key reasons how the Lithuanian community survived while similar indigenous Lithuanian communities in Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia were assimilated (Lithuanian schools had been banned there). While Lithuanians were discriminated in Poland as well, especially during the 1920-1940 Polish-Lithuanian conflict over Vilnius Region (not recognizing the then-recent Polish conquests, Lithuania claimed Punskas as well), the establishment of Lyceum was permitted in 1956, as the communist rule in Poland was more lenient towards ethnic minorities (and religion) than was the Soviet Union regime in Lithuanian areas outside of the Lithuanian SSR (Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast). In addition to schooling, various Lithuanian ethnic activities were also permitted, as long as they were not deemed "anti-communist" (in Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast, such activities were largely banned in 1944-1990 and heavily limited in the 21st century as well).

Students of the March 11th Lyceum in Lithuanian folk costumes

The complex of Lithuanian schools also has multiple monuments. One 5,1 m tall by Algimantas Sakalauskas was dedicated in 2000 to the 400th anniversary of the schools in Punskas (the metal cross on its top was built by Romas Karpavičius). Two others were built by the 52nd (2011) and 57th generations of the Lyceum. The square between schools has a Cross of Vytis composition. The complex also has dormitories as the Lyceum is partly a boarding school, with some Lithuanians who live further away in Poland also sending their children here to get them an education in Lithuanian.

Punskas school anniversary monument near the March 11th Lyceum

Cross of Vytis at the school square looking from drone

Lithuanian / Baltic open-air museums around Punskas

The greatest modern gem of the Punskas area that lacks counterparts anywhere in Lithuania itself is the Prussian-Yotvingian settlement in Ožkiniai village (2 km south of Punsk). Prussians and Yotvingians were Baltic tribes (related to Lithuanians) annihilated by German crusaders; they remained pagan and left few historical descriptions. Nonetheless, a local Lithuanian businessman Lukoševičius enthusiastically builds up this romanticised reimagination of a prehistoric Baltic village since 2001. It certainly feels atmospheric, with a small castle surrounded by a ditch, a village, four different temples dedicated to four elements, places for sacred fires, stones of the "Baltic zodiac", Baltic heroes' path of fame, and more monuments inscribed in runes, Old Prussian words, and Baltic symbols. The settlement is well integrated with the local forest and no modern edifices are visible from any locations. One can feel as in the past; both Poles and Lithuanians bring their excursions here and Baltic neo-pagans celebrate their holidays. In addition to the reimagined prehistoric village, a Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan bunker was built here, as well as a monument to anti-Soviet activist Petras Cidzikas, who is named here as king of Lithuania Jaunutis II.

A small wooden castle surrounded by a ditch in the Prussian-Yotvingian complex

Another part of the Prussian-Yotvingian farmstead. Symbols are abound: some well-known, others mysterious. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Jaunutis II Monument

A more traditional open-air museum (Skansen) is located going from Punsk towards Sejny. It includes a 19th-century 5-building farmstead full of materials, moved here in 1992 from Vaitakiemis village (originally owned by Rožė Grigutienė). There is also a barn and an inn built from scratch (the inn serves as a Lithuanian cuisine restaurant in the summers), and all these are outflanked by a modest Battle of Žalgiris monument which depicts a sword, Jogaila, and Vytautas, the Medieval Lithuanian cousins who celebrated a joint Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights (monument built by Zenonas Knyza in 2010). An annual amateur village theater festival takes place in the skansen's barn, with such amateur theater (called "barn theater" - "klojimo teatras") being an especially potent tradition of the Punskas area, although the times when every village had its own troupe are now somewhat in the past. A commemorative stone in front of the Skansen's inn is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lithuanian theater (1906-2006).

Punskas Skansen from above

The inn of Lithuanian skansen in Punsk. The stone in front is dedicated to Lithuanian theater. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Žalgiris Monument

The third take on the region's Baltic history is provided at the Eglinė (Jiegliniec) Hillfort north of Punskas. This Yotvingian hillfort was formed in the 9th-10th centuries and was crowned by a wooden castle in the 13th century. The wooden castle was abandoned, however, as the Teutonic Knights advanced, and nothing of that castle remains. The Lithuanian owner of these grounds Audrius Jankauskas however turned the atmospheric hillfort surroundings into a museum, building several wooden monuments here, such as the 2004-2008 monuments to the defenders of Eglinė by Zenonas Knyza. The monument consists of two wooden statues of Baltic soldiers. The owners have also created a museum room where they exhibit copies of the original materials that had been excavated in the hillfort by the archeologists.

Sculptures for the defenders of Eglinė

While it may be possible to visit the open-air sections of the museums alone, it is certainly worthwhile to visit together with the caretakers, as the histories may be difficult to understand without explanations, especially so in the Prussian-Yotvingian Settlement.

Lithuanian villages around Punskas (and their monuments)

Many villages around Punskas have Lithuanian population majorities. The local Lithuanians are keen to celebrate their culture by building monuments by their own hands and money.

An example could be the village of Kampuočiai, where a local Lithuanian Juozas Pečiulis constructed three memorials in front of his home: one huge commemorative stone dedicated to the March 11th declaration of Lithuania's independence (the first such monument in the world), one wooden pole for the Baptism of King Mindaugas, and another wooden pole for knygnešys (book-carrier) Vincas Kaminskas.

March 11th Memorial in Kampuočiai, with its builder on the left

Baptism of Mindaugas memorial in Kampuočiai

Knygnešiai is a common topic for Punskas area monuments. A monument for knygnešys P. Matulevičius was built in Kreivėnai in 1956, while another one for knygnešys Karolis Petruškevičius (1858-1934) was built in front of the church of Žagariai [Żegary] by M. Jančiulienė in 2017. Knygnešiai were the "smugglers" who were smuggling Lithuanian language literature into the Russian-Empire-ruled Lithuania at the time the Lithuanian language had been banned there (1864-1904). The 19th-century era Lithuanian fight to be able to read in Lithuanian, risking their lives to bring in Lithuanian books, may resonate in the Punskas area even more than in Lithuania itself as, in Punskas, Lithuanian is not the official national language, leading to a constant need to actively oppose linguistic drift. This may be a reason why there are far more monuments to knygnešiai in the villages around Punskas than in any area of Lithuania itself.

A fragment of Knygnešys Karolis Petruškevičius monument in Žagariai

Knygnešys memorial in Kreivėnai

Other topics for the memorials include the Lithuanian partisans and the Lithuanians exiled to Lithuania in 1941. Two such monuments are built side-by-side in Burbiškiai, one of them dedicated to the local partisan Jurgis Krušnys who had his childhood in Burbiškiai and fell in the name of Lithuania's freedom in 1945 on the other side of the border, and another one dedicated to the Burbiškiai people who were exiled to Lithuania in 1941.

Two monuments at Burbiškiai

Possibly the oldest Lithuanian monument in the area is the one built in Burbiškiai in 1930 by the local St. Casimir Society chapter commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Grand Duke of Lithuanian Vytautas the Great. The monument includes Vytautas's image and stands in a location where Lithuania is visible. Currently, it includes a straightforward inscription but the original inscription may have been more cryptic, as with the Polish-Lithuanian conflict still in full swing at the time, the full inscription likely could not have been chiseled in 1930. For every monument with a straightforward inscription, there are several with more cryptic inscriptions that consist just of abbreviations or dates, the meaning of which the village people know. It is common for the villages to have their crosses where they go to pray.

Vytautas Monument in Burbiškiai. The water here separates Poland and Lithuania, with the land beyond the water belonging to Lithuania

Some of the larger Lithuanian villages have their churches and Lithuanian primary schools that either offer full education in Lithuanian or just Lithuanian language as a subject (due to urbanization and lower birth rates, the number of schools is declining).

For example, Žagariai (Žegary) church was constructed in 1985 (which was possible due to a more lenient-towards-religion communist regime in Poland than that in the Soviet Union). It includes both Lithuanian and Polish plaques, but more of them are in Lithuanian, as well as a monument to the 1990 Earth's Day that includes metal interpretations of Lithuanian and Polish coats of arms.

Žagariai Church

Lithuanian inscription on the Žagariai Church

Lithuanian partisan sites around Punskas

When Lithuania was re-occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944 and the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan war began there, Lithuanians of the Punskas region were very supportive of it. Some Lithuanians of the Punskas region fought and died in Lithuania, while others helped Lithuanian partisans who used Poland (and Punskas region) as a region through which they kept contact with the West in the years 1945-1954. Some 20 partisans were located here to facilitate these connections, supported by the local Lithuanians.

Reimagined Lithuanian partisan bunker at the Prussian-Yotvingian settlement in Ožkiniai

Among the numerous monuments for Lithuanian partisans in the Punskas area, the largest one is built at the site where two Lithuanian partisans were killed in 1949 12 15. The killed partisans were Captain Jurgis Krikščiūnas-Rimvydas who was responsible for communications in the Dainava County (Apygarda) of Lithuanian resistance, and his helper Vytautas Prabulis-Žaibas. A cross is located on the site of the final hiding place of the partisans, while a larger memorial with hollow crosses of Vytis was built nearby.

Memorial at the place of death of the Lithuanian partisans

Cross at the site of death of the Lithuanian partisans

At another location, a wooden gate with Lithuanian symbols marks the birthplace of a Lithuanian partisan.

Lithuanian crafts marking the birthplace of a Lithuanian partisan

Seinai (Sejny) Lithuanian heritage sites

The largest town in the area is Sejny (Seinai, pop. 6000). It is an old diocesan center, anchored on the 1632 Virgin Mary church. The castle-like former priest seminary and monastery stands nearby. Sejny was once a Lithuanian town and the early 19th-century creators of the seminary claimed that people in the Sejny area "speak little Polish". During the Lithuanian National Revival Sejny was an important center of Lituanity where a Lithuanian "Šaltinis" newspaper used to be published since 1906.

Church of Seinai

In 1897 a Lithuanian poet Antanas Baranauskas became Sejny bishop. His sculpture was constructed in 1999 in front of the church under Lithuanian efforts (author Gediminas Jakubonis). Baranauskas is buried under the church and both Lithuanian and Polish commemorative plaques dedicated to him are inside the church. As is common in the region, the plaques list two different names: the Lithuanian plaque uses "Anatnas Baranauskas" while the Polish plaque uses "Antoni Baranowski". At that time, it was common to translate names like any other word, so the same person would call himself/herself one way when writing in Lithuanian and another way when writing in Polish; in fact, this tradition continues, with many local Lithuanians having Polonized names in their passports but using Lithuanian names when speaking or writing in Lithuanian.

Antanas Baranauskas statue

Author of the Lithuanian National Anthem Vincas Kudirka as well as Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas (who later wrote a semi-autobiographical book on priest's celibacy/love dilemma), both studied at the seminary as well. Out of the 25 students in 1829, 21 were ethnic Lithuanians.

The former priest seminary of Seinai

Currently, however, only some 8-17% of the town's population are ethnic Lithuanians and in the streets, the Polish language predominates. This is due to mixed families drifting towards Polish and due to a fact that, unlike in Punsk, Seinai for a long time lacked a Lithuanian school and Lithuanian mass within its church (the Lithuanian mass was only restored in 1983). Still, in sheer numbers, these ~500-1000 Lithuanians are the second largest number in the area only to Punsk.

Lithuanian and Polish plaques for Baranauskas in the church

The Lithuanity of Sejny was reinvigorated by the Republic of Lithuania itself. In 1999, it constructed a Lithuanian House here that houses a Lithuanian consulate but goes beyond that, also being a hub for Lithuanian activities and having a Lithuanian restaurant. In 2005, Lithuania funded the construction of "Žiburys" Lithuanian School, continuing the tradition of the original "Žiburys" School established in 1918 but closed in 1919 when Poland occupied Seinai (see below). The decor of "Žiburys" School includes stained glass windows for the king of Lithuania Mindaugas, Grand Duke Vytautas, and Grand Duke Kęstutis.

Lithuanian House of Seinai

Stained-glass window at the "Žiburys" school

Heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian War

The final fate of Seinai (and Punskas) was decided in the years 1919-1920. Both Lithuania and Poland were newly independent after a long Russian Imperial rule over them both. However, as before the Russian Imperial rule Poland and Lithuania were a joint country (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), some Poles disputed where the new border between Poland and Lithuania should run, leading to a war. The power in Seinai/Sejny switched many times these years, but the 1920 capture of the town by Polish forces proved to be final (the Poles continued their advance on Vilnius and Eastern Lithuania, and the bitter Polish-Lithuanian territorial dispute continued until World War 2).

A grave of a Lithuanian volunteer of the Polish-Lithuanian war in Seinai cemetery

Berżniki (Berznykas) village cemetery is full of the reminiscences of those days. Lithuania has built a gravestone with the inscription "To those who died for motherland freedom" there for its fallen soldiers of the 1920 battle who are buried in the local cemetery. Some Poles protested the inscription claiming that these soldiers died when attacking Poland. One opponent was a local priest who initiated the construction of a neighboring "Ponary cross" for "Polish civilians killed by Lithuanians in World War 2" (even though the Berżniki cemetery has no graves of such victims, nor any graves of perpetrators). On the other side of the Lithuanian memorial, a stone with a list of Polish-conquered cities in 1920 now stands (among them the Lithuanian town of Druskininkai). Furthermore, an "alternative" memorial for Lithuanian soldiers was built by the Polish side - a cross beyond the cemetery wall where an inscription declares that Lithuanians helped the Russians to attack Poland. All these events created diplomatic friction and even caused Poland's Lithuanians to appeal to a Vatican nuncio claiming the priest's actions were against the Christian spirit.

Lithuanian volunteer graves at Berżniki

The true events of the era were such: "Lithuanian" and "Pole" were a political choice rather than just ethnic categories: many people of Eastern Lithuania spoke Polish better than Lithuanian even though they were of Lithuanian origins (due to a centuries-long linguistic shift). Lithuania considered them to be Lithuanians, while Poland considered them Poles (and sometimes even considered the entire Lithuanian nation to be a subset of the Polish nation). A war started and its results still cause some Poles and Lithuanians to dislike the other nation, especially so in the very areas where the war was fought. This hate came through during World War 2 when there were both Poles who murdered Lithuanian civilians and Lithuanians who murdered Polish civilians (the Berzniki cross, however, remembers only the latter).

Interestingly, the "Polish-speaking Lithuanian" tenet that could have defined many people of eastern Lithuania (Vilnius region) in the 1910s (and was used as a pretext for Polish conquests there) did not even apply to the people of Punsk-Sejny region, who had remained Lithuanian-speaking and never spoke Polish natively. Punskas and Seinai simply were "at the wrong place at the wrong time" and Poland conquered it despite the Lithuanian-speaking majority here, as this was just a small region on the way of their armies.

The 1919-1920 Polish-Lithuanian war partly overlapped with the Polish-Soviet (Polish-Russian) war, that's why Lithuanians are accused by Poles of having been helping Russians (even though Lithuanians and Russians had a different agenda and even fought against each other in the same volatile 1918-1922 period, as Russians tried to reconquer Lithuania in the same way as they tried to reconquer Poland).

Ponary Cross towering above the Lithuanian graves

Elsewhere in the Sejny area this "competition in monuments" is also visible. While historically Lithuanian, many villages around Sejny are now predominantly Polish, and the Polish version of history thus predominates in stone. In Sejny itself, the former priest seminary was turned into a Kresy (i.e. Eastern Poland) museum, where Lithuanians are almost not mentioned at all despite forming a major part of the local population; the plaque for Vincas Kudirka was removed at the time. Likewise, when Lithuanians built a tile "Susitaikymas - tai pasirinkimas / Pojednanie to wybor" ("It is a choice to make peace") in the main square of Sejny, Poles overshadowed it with a monument to Armia Krajowa, a World War 2 organization that has been accused of murdering Lithuanian civilians (but otherwise fought for Polish independence and has hero status in Poland).

Susitaikymas - tai pasirinkimas stone in Seinai

On the other hand, in Punskas, where Lithuanians predominate, a plaque on a house commemorates a 1918-1919 HQ of Punskas valsčius (district) that operated there, where even the prime minister of Lithuania Mykolas Sleževičius visited. This was during the time Lithuania ruled the area.

Plaque for the 1918-1920 Lithuanian valsčius in Punskas

Other historic lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within Poland

Punsk and Sejny area forms just a small part of Podlaskie (Lithuanian: Palenkė) Voivodship. This territory of 1,200,000 inhabitants with a capital in Bialystok (Lithuanian: Balstogė) was part of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy until the Polish-Lithuanian Union of Lublin (1569). The name "Palenkė" means "[A Lithuanian land] next to Poland". The modern voivodship was established in 1999 but its coat of arms reminds its history: it is a combination of the Polish eagle and Lithuanian vytis. Vytis is also used in the coats of arms of Bialystok, Bransk, and other cities/towns; many cities/towns of the area have historical Lithuanian names that are not a simple transliteration of the Polish ones.

There is a surviving 1545 border post of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Prussia some 114 km south of Punsk, deep inside Poland today.

While the Lithuanian-speaking area has shrunk over time and was certainly bigger 100 or 300 years ago, the southernmost portions of Palenkė likely were never Lithuanian-speaking, despite having been ruled by Lithuania.