Sąjungininkai ir (ar) priešai: tautinių mažumų įvaizdžiai Lietuvos šaulių sąjungos, Latvijos Aizsargi ir Estijos Kaitseliit ideologijose

This paper deals with concepts of images of ethnic minorities in the ideologies of the LithuanianRiflemen’s Union, the Latvian Aizsargi, and the Estonian Kaitseliit, with the aim of identifyingfactors that predetermined qualitative changes in these images in the different periods of activityof these paramilitary organisations. In addition, possible functions of the images of ethnicminorities in the ideologies of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian riflemen are analysed. Thestudy is based on the presumption that, in the ideologies of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union,the Latvian Aizsargi and the Estonian Kaitseliit, the formation of the images of ethnic minoritiesin the different periods of activity of these organisations (the struggles for independence,the formation of the parliamentary system, authoritarian coups and presidential power, andnational political crises) was predetermined by the practice of attaching ethnic groups to therelative camps of allies or foes, and by the policy of dividing ethnic minorities into groups of‘reliable’ and ‘unreliable’.Key words : paramilitarism, Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, Aizsargi, Kaitseliit, ideology, imagesof ethnic minorities. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v28i0.92