1914-1939 m. Vokietijoje paskelbtų atsiminimų apie Didįjį karą Rytprūsiuose publikavimo dinamika ir turinys

ENThis article seeks to establish chronological time frames defining the dynamics of publication of “memory texts” on the theme of the Great War in East Prussia published in Germany between 1914 and 1939 and to research the trends of content transformation determining the given time spans. The research is based on statistical analysis of bibliographic sources (the works of Fritz Gause and Ernst Wermke), content analysis and structuralist narratology approaches. The research shows that no less than 453 “memory texts” on the reflections of the Great War in East Prussia were published in Germany between 1914 and 1939. About 78 “memory texts” came out in the publishing centres of East Prussia in the interwar period. It not only made it possible to highlight predominant topics related to this theme but also to reveal the dynamics of circulation of these topics in German textual discourse. The 1914 to 1916 phase is regarded as the most significant in this dynamics. It was an “active” period of reflection on the “East Prussian” experience in the Great War giving rise to the underlying narratives of the “Russian occupation”, “Russian rule”, “Russian time” and “Russian crimes”, specific types of memoirs, diaries, reviews and visual representations, and fundamental mythemes involving the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Moreover, that time interval is notable for the vigorous production of texts generating such messages.Later phases, i.e. 1917–1919 and 1920–1939 (the latter period only relatively may be split into 1920–1933 and 1933–1939) are significant for understanding the fact that the ultimate prospects of development were provided to the politically driven themes involving the Battle of Tannenberg, Paul von Hindenburg, General Erich Ludendorff, the battles of the Masurian Lakes (9–14 September 1914 and the “Winter Battle” (7–22 February 1915)), and the rebuilding of East Prussia, as well as the depiction of German and Russian military operations in East Prussia – all that evidenced to the shift towards the trajectory of shaping a heroic, monumental narrative. Nonetheless, the so-called theme “understanding Russians” underwent a relatively intensive development including the narrative on the Battle of Gumbinnen as a counterpoint to the Tannenberg myth. [From the publication]