Presentation of the book "From Memoirs, Diaries, and Notes" by Karolis Račkauskas-Vairas

On November 24 at 6:00 PM, we invite you to the presentation of the book "From Memoirs, Diaries, and Notes" by writer and diplomat Karolis Račkauskas-Vairas (1882–1970), which will take place at the Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Public Library, Laisvės al. 57. The event will feature the publication's compiler, editor, and author of the commentary, Dr. Dalia Cidzikaitė, a researcher at the Lituanistika Department of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, and historian Dr. Kastytis Antanaitis, a lecturer at Vytautas Magnus University. The conversation will be moderated by historian Dr. Monika Šipelytė, head of the National Library's Lituanistika Department. The book was published by the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing Centre of the National Library of Lithuania (book editor Teresė Paulauskytė, designer Saulius Bajorinas). Writer, translator, press worker, public figure, and diplomat Karolis Račkauskas-Vairas left quite detailed memoirs about the dramatic period for Lithuania from 1939 to 1944. The author of the memoirs reveals many details about the cultural and social situation in Lithuania at that time, especially in Kaunas, and his own experiences as a witness to that period. K. Račkauskas-Vairas's ego-document is also part of the history of the National Library of Lithuania. The author, who served as executive secretary at the State Central Library from 1940 and was appointed deputy director in the autumn of 1944, tells not only about Kaunas controlled by two occupation regimes but also about the National Library of Lithuania and the people who worked there, supplementing the rather sparse history of the library's first decades with new information. The book also includes excerpts titled "Notes from Wartime Lithuania," published in the US Lithuanian newspaper "Laisvė" in August 1946, from the diary written by Račkauskas-Vairas between 1941 and 1944, which fill a chronological gap in the main ego-document, as well as photographs of K. Račkauskas-Vairas and his close circle, and indexes of personal and place names. The event will discuss the cultural, political, and social situation in Kaunas from 1939 to 1944 and the controversial personality of K. Račkauskas-Vairas, vividly described by Stasys Michalkevičius-Michelsonas, editor of the US Lithuanian socialist weekly "Keleivis": "<...> he was an interesting personality: an ex-cleric, an extremely hardworking and productive pen-worker, writer, poet, newspaper editor, and finally a founder of companies, a speculator, and an unfortunate diplomat." There will also be a discussion about the reliability of the ego-document author's voice and the challenges that arise when evaluating personal testimonies as a historical source. The book will be available for purchase at the event.