Draudžiamos lietuviškos spaudos platinimo keliai į Kauną ir Pakaunę

LTStraipsnyje apžvelgiamas draudžiamos lietuviškos spaudos organizavimas ir platinimas 1864–1904 m. Kaune ir Pakaunėje, carinei administracijai uždraudus raštą lotyniškais rašmenimis, atskleidžiamos didžiulės inteligentijos pastangos ginti ir puoselėti gimtąjį žodį, pasiaukojama knygnešių veikla. Vienu svarbiausių draudžiamų lietuviškų spaudinių kelių į Kauno guberniją ir jai priklausiusias Pakaunės vietoves šiuo laiku tampa Nemunas, kuriuo gabenami leidiniai iš Sudargo–Jurbarko draudžiamų lietuviškų knygų centro, kurio steigėjai – kunigai Martynas Sederevičius ir Kazimieras Marcinkevičius.

ENThe agrarian reform project conceived by Tsar Alexander II, according to which Lithuanian farmers were freed from serfdom in 1861, did not achieve the expected results. In 1863, a strong wave of uprising broke out, in which the inhabitants of Užnemunė and Kaunas province took part. The Tsarist Russian administration deployed enormous forces to quell the uprising. After the Tsarist administration banned printing in Latin characters and wanted to introduce Lithuanian writing in the Russian alphabet, Cyrillic, the bishop of the Samogitian diocese Motiejus Valančius (1801–1875) actively opposed this ban, as well as the degrading authority of the Catholic Church and organized book publishing in Prussian town Tilžė (Tilsit). Martynas Sederevičius, the priest of Sudargas, and Kazimieras Marcinkevičius, the dean of Jurbarkas, at once responded to Motiejus Valančius' call to oppose the press ban. Sederevičius and Marcinkevičius became probably the most important persons who brought together book smugglers, organized their well-coordinated and purposeful groups, fully supported the distribution of books in Kaunas and Pakaunė, and can be said to have directly paved the way for Lithuanian books to reach Kaunas and Pakaunė readers. In Pakaunė, a part of the Lithuanian nobility also took care of the distribution of the Lithuanian press and books. The book smugglers were helped, cared for and fully supported by the landowners Daugirdas', Juškevičius', Burba's and other families. Secret Lithuanian schools were established in the manors of the nobility; they supported the book smugglers financially, took care of their safety and hid during the persecution of the Tsar's gendarmes.