User:Marcelus/sandbox/1

Zinkevičius was already partially discussed on W:RSN in 2008.

Zigmas Zinkevičius is a Lithuanian historian and linguist, now deceased, known for his multi-volume history of the Lithuanian language. He was an active politician, Minister of Education of Lithuania and a member of the ultranationalist organization Vilnija. As minister, he became famous for his efforts to close Polish schools in Lithuania and for his efforts to "relithuanize" Polish people. His writings are full of prejudice against Poland, Poles and the Polish language. Under the guise of being scientific, he presents numerous theories, the main goal of which is to deny the "Polishness" of Poles in Lithuania. As a result, his writings on Polish topics are not credible. I do not comment on his competence in the Lithuanian language, because I am not competent myself. Below is a brief summary of his activities by researcher Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska and examples of Zinkevičius' controversial and often false statements. Zinkevičius is a fairly frequently quoted author on Wikipedia, for example in the Poles in Lithuania article. Where his theses don't miss the truth, I think you can certainly find other sources, so his exclusion won't be a problem.


 * Excerpt from Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska's article The Ethnolinguistic Essence of Lithuanian Nationalism and the Anti-Polonism of Lithuanians in the late 1980s and early 1990s:
 * ''Speaking about the anti-Polonism of the late 20th century, one cannot ignore the theory, widely propagated in the media at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, of "polonised Lithuanians". This was a thesis taken from the interwar ideology, which was later propagated, among others, by a contemporary leading Lithuanian linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius. In 1996-1998 he held the office of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania in the government of Gediminas Vagnorius' government, contributing to the intensification of the policy of Lithuanianisation policy of the so-called South-Eastern Lithuania. In the early 1990s Zinkevičius propagated the view that there are "no Poles" in Lithuania - there are only "polonised Lithuanians" who should be facilitated to return to the bosom of the nation. There were voices raised on the necessity to "relithuanise" Poles, who had been "forcibly" polonised in their time, to which Lithuanian Poles reacted very negatively. The above-mentioned linguist belonged to the group of promoters of the thesis of "tutejszy" and "po prostu". He was one of a group of scholars who proved the theory of the so-called "wicz", which boiled down to the claim that the so-called local residents living in the Vilnius region, whose surnames end in "vich" and who speak a Polish-Belarusian dialect, are ethnic Lithuanians. He wrote: "In this part of the country are very popular all kinds of myths - nonsense spread by polonophiles. [...] The local language of Poles, which we have to deal with north of Vilnius and more or less up to Vilnius [...], is Belarusian. However, try explaining this to those who don't want to hear it. They will start proving to you that it is a local Polish dialect. Is this not a myth? And abroad in Lithuania the same language, which does not differ in anything, is called Belarusian". (...) Later, this theory was developed by another Lithuanian historian, Alvydas Butkus, who calls the language of the Polish minority in Lithuania "relative language". In his opinion, this variety of language came to Vilnius at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Therefore, it cannot be any of the dialects of the Polish language. (...) In 1988 nationalist organisation Vilnija (Vilnius region) was established, which is still active today. Its main aim was the fastest possible Lithuanianisation of the so-called South-Eastern Lithuania (Vilnius region) (...) From the very beginning of its existence it had a mainly anti-Polish character and as a "public benefit" organisation, which aims to promote the Lithuanian language and culture in the so-called Eastern Lithuania (Vilnius region), it was subsidised from the state budget. The most prominent activists of Vilnius during the period in question were, among others, the above-mentioned scientists - Zigmas Zinkevičius and Alvydas Butkus, but also other members of the Sąjūdis initiative group (Romualdas Ozolas and Professor Arnoldas Piročkinas). The chairman of the association - Kazimieras Garšva - for 20 years held the position of a "social advisor" at the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania, and the members of Vilnius have held high official, advisory and scientific positions since the establishment of the organisation.''


 * An excerpt from a review of the Zigmas Zinkevičius book "The history of the Lithuanian Language" written by Robert Boroch:
 * Zinkevićius' book also deals with the sensitive issue of Polish-Lithuanian contacts and the "intentional Polonisation" of Lithuania (...) Zinkevićius completely excludes the credibility of Polish sources and studies (Zinkevicius uses the term "occupation activity" in relation to Polish activities on Lithuanian territory"). He believes that the polonisation that took place in Lithuania during the "Polish occupation" was also reflected in scientific literature (...) The influence of the Polish language on the Lithuanian language, according to Zinkevićius, was significant, however, he comments as follows: "From the very beginning, the Polish language in Lithuania formed independently. A specific variety of the language was formed (Poles called it Lithuanian Polish), which is still used in oral form. And it is from this language, and not from the language used in Poland, that the Polish borrowings in the Lithuanian language originate". (s. 245). Researcher divides the Polish language into the language used in Lithuania and the language used in Poland. He does not explain the criteria of such a division, allowing one to think that Vilnius Polish cannot be regarded as an integral part of Polish, which, of course, is wrong, as differences in pronunciation cannot constitute a distinctive feature sufficient to distinguish a given language. Zinkevićius' position is justified only from a propaganda point of view. The division into Vilnius Polish and Polish as separate and independently functioning linguistic systems makes it possible to place Polish in Lithuania in the position of a secondary and dying language, which does not have its own grammar, and any scientific and literary activity is not recorded by this language. Zinkevićius, I believe, intentionally does not mention the Polish press currently published in Lithuania (...) From a philological point of view, Zinkevićius' book is a valuable voice in the scientific research on the Baltic languages, all the more so because the work has been presented to a wide range of readers - due to the language of the lecture, which is English. However, it seems to me that the weakness of the work is its lack of objectivity, mixing ideology and scientific facts.

Examples of some controversial, misleading or straight-up false statements from his book:
 * Восточная Литва в прошлом и настоящем (1996, Eastern Lithuania in the past and present, (according to review by Jan Jerzy Milewski):
 * Vilnius region under Polish rule became backward and served as a springboard for expansion into neighboring countries
 * Lithuanians had it worse than under Tsarism, they had no press and could not defend themselves in court
 * Lithuanians were prosecuted for distributing newspapers, national education of children, listening to Kaunas radio
 * After the occupation of Vilnius in 1920 by Zeligowski there were pogroms against Lithuanians
 * In 20 years only 20 Lithuanians graduated from the university (in fact only in 1929 there were 42 Lithuanians)
 * During the interwar period there was an almost complete denationalization of Lithuanians (in fact, Lithuanians were particularly resistant to attempts at Polonization)
 * The Home Army was a colonial army, rearmed by the Germans
 * During the war, Polish priests promised 40 days of indulgence for every Lithuanian killed
 * Stalin settled 200,000 newcomers from Belarus in order to polonize Lithuania

p. 316: ''According to the terms of the 1944 treaty between the USSR and Poland, approx. 200,00 people were repatriated from Lithuania. Among them there were many Lithuanians who identified themselves as Poles in order to escape Stalin's terror because we all know there is no better cover against Stalinism than pretending to be Polish; the countryside was filled with immigrants from the neighboring Byelorussian districts, who inundated the Vilnius territory and became "Poles" (...) Lithuanian (and even Russian) schools were extensively changed into Polish schools. The Stalinist Polonization of the Vilnius territory had begun and was more brutal that that of the Poles during the occupation'' - that's just absurd p. 319: It was forbidden to speak Lithuanian publicly [in communist Poland] until 1950 (by phone - as late as 1990) - total absurd
 * The history of the Lithuanian language (1996):
 * p. 80: Poles formed the absolute majority in the ecclesiastical chapter of both [Lithuanian] dioceses. They did not even attempt to learn Lithuanian - that's incorrect priests were learning a language, first two bishops of Vilnius, who were born in Poland Andrzej Jastrzębiec and Jakub Plichta knew the local language, Polish clerics were in Lithuania before the union, they needed to learn the language in order to preach the new faith
 * p. 244: Poles sought not the union of both countries, but rather the annexation of Lithuania to Poland. That is exactly what happened in 1569 in Lublin - Lithuania wasn't annexed to Poland in 1569, GDL was a junior partner but still a part of the closer union
 * p. 245: Right from the start the imported Polish language in Lithuania began acquiring its own unique traits. The so-called Lithuanian Polish language was forming (the Poles call it "polszczyzna litewska") and is still spoken in these regions today. It was from this language, and not from the Polish spoken in Poland, that Polonism began flowing into Lithuanian - artificial divide between Polish language spoken in central Poland and in Lithuania, ZZ tries to prove that the "real Polish" was never actually spoken in Lithuania
 * Samuelis Boguslavas Chilinskis (...) while abroad decided to translate the Bible into Lithuanian (...) Howevery because of the hostile attitude taken by influential activists in the Synod, especially by the Pole Jan Krzysztof Kraiński (a Lithuanian Bible bein an unnecessary luxury) and their intrigues, the work was seriously criticized (supposedly it was "full of mistakes") and its publication was stopped - that's literally ZZ imagination not based on anything
 * p. 256: There were relatively few true Poles (those coming from Poland) because the laws did not allow them to get a job or acquire lands - ZZ refers here probably to the ban on the acquisition of estates and the assumption of offices by noblemen from outside the GDL, as expressed in the second statute, ignores the fact that this ban was lifted by the Union of Lublin and the Sejm constitution of 1607. Which is confirmed by the practice
 * p. 256: Polish priests fought against all that was generally Lithuanian, hence thry were against the "pagan" Lithuanian language which seemed to them the antithesis of the "Catholic" Polish language. It is a known fact, that peasants were punished for saying their prayers in Lithuanian. Lithuanian was diven out of Vilnius churches: they stopped giving Lithuanian sermons in the oldest parish church at St. John's in 1738. Schools were assigned the task of merging all the Commonwealth's ethnic groups into one common national group which was to be Polish - ZZ is consecutively painting an image of a forceful polonization. The author later omits to mention that a grammar of the Lithuanian language began to be published en masse in Lithuania in the same year
 * p. 256-257: Polish-speaking priests used to address and give sermons to Lithuanians peasants in a flawed language filled with Polonisms (...) they used the same jargonized language when they wrote religious books (...) In this way great damage was done to the normal development of Lithuanian - that's the way languages normally develope, they borrow words from other more developed languages, just like English is filled with French words. ; the use of this foreign language in official establishments resulted in the distortion of Lithuanian personal names and toponyms - Polish-speakers were using Polish surnames, for ZZ this is something abnormal. It is a historical justification for denying Lithuanian Poles the right to write their names in Polish. Once again there is talk about "strange, unnatural language" used by Polish speakers in Lithuania
 * p. 287: ''The diocesan hierarchy [late 19th century] considered it a crime for a priest to speak Lithuanian, and called such a person "litvoman", a heretic and insulted him in many ways. Since early times they still considered Lithuanian to be a "pagan" language which God does not understand" - no references to back up this claims, they are repeated numerous times
 * p. 302: The names of people and places changed. Officially people had to use Polonized form of their surnames, which were the only ones priests were allowed to record in birth certficates - not true, no reference
 * p. 312: The recovered [in 1939] Vilnius territory was not as economically advanced as independent Lithuania and it was difficult to integrate it - popular myth that Vilnius region suffered deep backwardness when it was part of Poland; Many people who identified themselves as Lithuanians no longer spoke their ancestral language (...) Polish activists did their utmost to ensure that Polonization would continue - even during the war only interest of Polish people was to denationalize Lithuanians, as they were doing in interwar period
 * p. 314: Germans did not prohibit [after 1941] the opening of Lithuanian schools in eastern Lithuania (...) Unfortunately, all this was presently undermined by the Polish underground (...) because of its [Homey Army] "activities the Lithuanian spirit was completely obliterated in many place

That's not all, basically, every time any Polish matters appear in the book, they are presented in an extremely negative light. Here I quoted the most obvious absurdities, but my accusation applies to all ZZ's writing that is permeated with anti-Polish bias.Marcelus (talk) 21:16, 6 April 2022 (UTC)