Historical outline of the short activity of the Karaite Public Primary School in Troki, 1918-1923

Abstract

The aim of the scientific article on the general Karaite school in Trakai in 1918–1923 is to discuss five years of the only Karaite school that operated in the first years after Poland regained independence. Karaims are currently the smallest ethnic minority in Poland, which has retained its cultural identity, partly due to the importance of knowledge and science as superior religious values. The word karaim itself means the reader, which is why the schools in which the skills of reading the scriptures were so important. The first official information about the Karaite school in Trakai comes from 1576. The activities of the school were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War and the hostilities forced the Karaims to leave Trakai. The history of the Karaite school in Trakai appears again in archival documents from the interwar period. The article was prepared on the basis of archival documents kept in the Lithuanian Central State Archives, in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius in the document collection of the Archives of the Karaim Clerical Administration in Trakai and in the Lithuanian Central State Archive in Vilnius in the fond of the Vilnius School District Board in the files of the school inspectorate of the Trakai district. This text discusses the activity of the Karaim general school in Trakai (1918–1923), taking into account school conditions, organizational and structural changes, the curriculum, methods and forms, and the composition of teachers and students, and shows the importance of the Karaite school for Karaims and the Trakai community. The short years of operation of the Karaite school in Trakai testify to its phenomenon, because it was the only school of a religious minority in the period in question, which constituted the basis for the development and preservation of their cultural identity for the Karaims.