The acquaintance of Jonas Basanavičius with the Jews of Marijampolė

Lithuanians and Jews, young and old, met each other in the yard or streets but schools were also important place to meet new people. Jew children often learnt in Lithuanian gymnasiums for several reasons:  Lithuanian schools were better than Jewish, or  sometimes closer to home, besides children could learn Lithuanian there, which was vital if the Jews wanted to study at the university. The Jews who graduated from Lithuanian schools, distinctly from the Jews graduating from the Jewish gymnasium where they learned Hebrew or Yiddish, did not have to take the Lithuanian language entrance exam.  It was an obstacle to study at the university to quite a number of Jews in the third decade of the 20th century.

Jonas Basanavičius, an important future personality in the interwar Lithuanian history, was a student at Marijampolė gymnasium and the entry of his diary dated June 1, 1870,  tells about being kept in for two hours ‘‘together with Samuel Tuvin, the Jew“ * It was the penalty for their  late walks which were not allowed at the gymnasium.

*Cited from Raila Eligijus, The Moses of Lithuaniahood. The story of Jonas Basanavičius life and health, Naujasis Židinys-Aidai, 2019, p. 30.

One more noteworthy fact is that the first photograph of Jonas Basanavičius and his classmates in Marijampolė gymnasium was taken by Leon Anscher – one of the first photographers in Marijampolė. The graduates of the gymnasium (J. Basanavičius in the centre) went to his studio in 1873. From this black and white photograph taken at the end of the 19th century we know how J. Basanavičius looked like at the time. Probably, it is his first and earliest photograph.