Events of 1918 and their consequences in present day Lithuanian history textbooks

The end of the Great War became a breakthrough in the history of Lithuania. Young people are provided with systematic knowledge about the period at school. After rebuilding independent Lithuania in 1990, teaching history, in particular recent, was reformed. There occurred a need for new textbooks instead of the withdrawn Soviet ones. First a didactic aid “Recent History” was published, and the first textbook of the history of Lithuania from 1915 to 1953 was developed by A. Gumuliauskas. The author cast light on the circumstances and factors which determined the origins and the consolidation of the Lithuanian statehood. Later on, the so-called integrated textbooks were used. The first textbook of that type was published in 1998 and had several editions. Polish-Lithuanian relations in the interwar years are presented there in compliance with the recommendations of the Polish-Lithuanian bilateral expert committee. It seems that the work of the committee contributed to the elimination of the stereotypical negative image and Poland and Poles from the Lithuanian textbooks. All the Lithuanian textbooks present the events of 1918 as part of the world’s history which enabled the Lithuanian state to come to existence