This book discusses the emergence of care for orphaned, abandoned and poor children in Lithuania from the early twentieth century to the beginning of the Second World War. In particular, it focuses on how such practices were influenced by nationalist and political discourses, and how orphanages became privileged institutions for nation building. Emerging during the humanitarian crisis following the First World War, the Lithuanian orphaned and destitute children’s assistance network had an eminently ethno-national character, and existed in parallel with, and was challenged by, Polish poor child assistance institutions. By analysing such care for children, this book explores concepts such as the nation state and citizenship, as well as the connections between poverty, childhood and nationalism.
Inhoudsopgave
1. The Future of the Nation: The Emergence of Poor Children as a Problem.- 2. The Great War over Children, 1914–1918.- 3. Rehabilitating Children: Lithuania and International Humanitarian Aid, 1918-1923.- 4. The New Interwar Order: Children, Rehabilitation and Discipline, 1923-1940.- 5. Final Remarks.
Over de auteur
Andrea Griffante is a Senior Research Fellow at the Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius. After graduating at the University of Trieste, he received his Ph D in history from the University of Klaipėda, Lithuania.