Dienoraštis

LTSkaitytojui pateikiamo dienoraščio rankraštis yra saugomas Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos rankraštyne1. Jis susideda iš penkių ranka rašytų sąsiuvinių, kuriuose apimamas laikotarpis nuo 1915 m. pavasario iki 1917 m. vasaros: pirmas sąsiuvinis - 1915 m. balandžio 23 d.-gegužės 18 d., antras - 1915 m. gegužės 19 d.-rugpjūčio 27 d., trečias - 1915 m. rugpjūčio 30 d.-1916 m. kovo 2 d., ketvirtas - 1916 m. kovo 11 d.-spalio 19 d., penktas - 1916 m. lapkričio 6 (19) d.-1917 m. liepos 23 d. (rugpjūčio 5 d.). Dienoraštis parašytas lenkų kalba Balčių dvare (Stulgių parapija, Kelmės (nuo 1917 m. - Skaudvilės) apskritis, dabar Raseinių rajono Nemakščių seniūnija) vokiečių okupacijos metais. Nacionalinė biblioteka įgijo rankraščius po pusės amžiaus - 1972-aisiais iš Tado Naujalio, gyvenusio Žaliakalnyje, Kaune [p. 6].

ENWładysław Wielhorskis (1885-1967) diary is a unique testimony about the German occupation in Samogitia during World War I. It consists of five hand-written notebooks covering the period from spring 1915 to summer 1917. The first notebook is dated 13 April-23 May, 1915, the second - 19 May-17 August 1915, the third - 30 August 1915-2 March 1916, the fourth - 11 March-19 November 1916, and the fifth - 6 (19) November 1916-13 July (5 August) 1917. The diary was written in Polish on the Lewnoniewski's family manor in Balčiai (Stulgiai parish, now eldership of Nemakščiai, Raseiniai district). The diary was a souvenir to Wielhorskis wife, Celina Wielhorska née Lewnoniewska, whom the author married shordy before the outbreak of WWI. The writing of the journal also coincided with the birth of their first daughter, Anna Wiktoria. The diary serves as a local chronicle showing the occupation of Samogitia from landowner s perspective. It contains descriptions of military activities, as well as relations with the occupation administration. The author, a graduate of agriculture from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, also writes about economic affairs, analyzing the impact of occupation on the economy, both of the manor and the entire country.With a more stable situation on the front and regained access to the press first in German from East Prussia and later from other regions of Germany, and after a while in Polish, Wielhorskis attention drifted towards political journalism. The author became a well-known journalist in the early 1910s, when he regularly wrote to the Polish press in Kaunas. When the occupation authorities introduced the possibility of traveling to other occupied regions, Wielhorski stopped writing his diary on a regular basis. Becoming increasingly active in politics, he ceased writing the journal and apparently never returned to it. Another work of such genre is his “Memoirs about the Experiences in Soviet Captivity” written during a cruise from the Middle East to Great Britain in 1943.