The environment of Königsberg library in the time of Donelaitis. The fate of collections after 1945

The present article is a contribution to the research in the intellectual biography of Kristijonas Donelaitis.It aims to discuss the environment of Königsberg libraries in mid-18th c. not only as an institutional, butalso an intellectual environment of the studies of Donelaitis which ought to be analyzed more in depththan it had been analyzed before. The first part of the article summarizes the efforts of Lithuanian, German,and Russian schollars after 1945 to save and reconstruct the funds of Königsberg libraries destroyedduring WW2. The second part presents the environment of the ancient Königsberg libraries as a spaceof communication opportunities where student Donelaitis could find the principal literature. The contextraises another issue that is merely mentioned in the article: next to the “public“ libraries, there was anumber of personal collections in Königsberg. Some of them belonged to professors of theology whoselectures were attended by Donelaitis. Therefore, one can reasonably raise a question about the impact ofscholars in Königsberg on Donelaitis in the years of his studies