The Memory of fighting General Żeligowski's troops at the battle of Širvintos-Giedraičiai in Interwar Lithuania

ENThis article provides an analysis of how a battle of marginal militarily importance became one of the cornerstones of Lithuanian military pride during the interwar period. The event under scrutiny is the Lithuanian-Polish battle near Širvintos and Giedraičiai that took place on 17th–21st November 1920 and ended with the restoration of the status quo ante. However, it was precisely this episode that later memory discourse reshaped as a victory that stopped Polish plans to occupy Lithuania, a victory that was comparable even to the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In order to discuss the issue in detail, this article delves into the memory layers of the battle of Širvintos-Giedraičiai in Lithuania up to 1940, outlines the experiences and memories of participants in the battle, traces what meanings they sought to send to the public, and deals with the issue of the links between these meanings and the national historical narrative. It is argued that the primary goal of public remembrance was to encourage people to fight for Vilnius and to foster hope of its recovery.