TThehe BBalaltticic SSeaea RRegionegion Cultures,Cultures, Politics,Politics, SocietiesSocieties EditorEditor WitoldWitold MaciejewskiMaciejewski

A Baltic University Publication Case Chapter 5 The Karaim community in Éva Ágnes Csató

Karaims have been living in Lithuania for about Caspian Sea and the Dnieper estuary. They six centuries and are considered ‘original inhab- were later divided into three main groups. One itants’ of the country (see National Minorities group remained in the . Another group in Lithuania. : Centre of National moved to , and a third group left for Researches of Lithuania, 1992). The Karaim at the end of the fourteenth century. The group, which is an officially acknowledged reli- three groups developed their own dialects. By the end of the 17th century there were about 30 Karaim communities in eastern Central Europe. Their number was, however, drastically reduced as a result of epidemics and wars in the 18th century. Karaims gained support from the administrative and political authorities of their respective countries. They were given privileges, and their independent status as a religious com- munity was acknowledged. The shifting political map of Europe Figure 84. Karaim symbols. Ill: Éva Á. Csató shaped the fate of the Karaim people. The Crimean communities belonged to Tsarist Russia and later to the Soviet Union. Halich gious community, gets support from the state was a part of Galicia, which belonged to the for the development of its culture. Its religious Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, but after World and administrative leader is the so-called Ullu War I it came under Polish rule, as did Trakai Hazzan, a title now held by Jozef Firkovich. and Vilnius. The Karaim Religious Society is the main World War II changed the political situa- administrative organ of the community and the tion again. The Karaims became citizens of the legal owner of the community properties. The Soviet state, a change which had serious con- Lithuanian Karaim Cultural Society is respon- sequences for them. The traditional Karaim sible for taking care of the cultural heritage. settlements were weakened. Many Karaims The community has about 250 members. left for Poland or countries in the West. The There are other Karaim communities, namely collapse of the Soviet Union has again created in Russia, in the , both in the Crimea and in Halich, and in Poland. Most of the Lithuanian Karaims live in Vilnius, Trakai. The most important task of the Karaim communities today is the revitalisation of community life. The Karaim organisations make efforts to create opportunities for young Karaims to learn their history, religion, lan- guage and traditions

1. The Karaim national identity Karaims consider themselves to be descendants of Kipchak Turkic tribes who once lived in the Figure 85. Karaim inscription on a gravestone in Trakai, tribal union of the Khazar empire between the Lithuania, Photo: Alfred F. Majewicz

Language and multilingual societies 272 The Karaim community in Lithuania a chance for the scattered communities to revi- talise their activities.

2. The Karaim religion Karaims are believers of the Old Testament. Their religion does not recognise the post- biblical tradition incorporated in the Talmud and the later rabbinical works. The beginnings of this religious movement can be traced back to the 8th-11th centuries. Today there are two main groups of believers: the Turkic (= European) Karaims on the one side and the Oriental (= Non-Turkic) Karaites on the other side. Turkic-speaking Karaims differ from Oriental Karaites with respect to their ethnic and cultural identity. The Karaim house of worship is called kenesa. There are today two functioning kenesas in Lithuania, one in Vilnius and one in Trakai.

3. The Karaim language Figure 86. Karaim sanctuary (kenessah) in Trakai, Karaim is a Kipchak Turkic language. Elements Lithuania. Photo: Alfred F. Majewicz of folklore and material culture such as tales, proverbs, riddles, folk-poetry, and names of dishes also remind us of the Turkic origin of pendence in 1990, the Karaims adopted a new the Karaims. orthography based on the Lithuanian one. The Karaim is today an endangered language. best dictionary is written in Cyrillic, with Polish The only community that has preserved its and Russian equivalents. The only comprehen- language up to now is the one in Lithuania. sive grammar is in Russian. The most important There are about 50 people who can still use it religious texts have recently been published by in everyday conversation. Mykolas Firkovich in Lithuanian orthography. The maintenance of their mother tongue is the most urgent task facing the Karaims today. 4. Swedish-Karaim contacts The former Ullu Hazzan, Mykolas Firkovich (1924-2000), published a textbook containing European Protestants took an early interest in a grammar and texts for children. A project the Karaim belief. A number of western schol- aiming at the documentation of the spoken ars visited the Karaims in order to discuss ques- language has been carried out with the financial tions of religion. In 1690, the Swedish professor help of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Gustaf Peringer was sent by king Charles XI to A multimedia CD has been published by the the Karaims in Lithuania and Poland. In his Tokyo University of Foreign Studies to help work Epistola de karaitis Lithuaniae, he com- young Karaims to learn about their language. mented upon the Karaim language and quoted Until the 20th century Karaim literacy was as a sample the first verses of Genesis. based on the knowledge of Hebrew, the holy language. Hebrew characters were also used for 5. Karaim literature writing Karaim. In the later period, the orthog- raphy was based on the writing systems of the A significant secular literature started to devel- countries in which the Karaims lived, i.e. Polish op in the 19th century. The inter-war period in Poland, and Russian in Tsarist Russia and the was for the Karaims, just as for the other Baltic Soviet Union. After Lithuania gained its inde- nations, a time of national upheaval, also with

Language and multilingual societies The Karaim community in Lithuania 273 Table 7h. Turkic minority languages of the BSR

Turkic Territory Number Earliest Cross-ethnic speakers written communication records

! Karaim Lithuania, Poland, 1,000 16th c. di- or triglossia, Ukraine Turkic and/or Slavic communities (†)Tatar Belarus + 17th c. † Khazar Ukraine, ?Poland (6th–10th c.)

regard to the conscious cultivation of their English translation (King James’s Bible mother tongues. Karaim intellectuals became 1611/1769): aware of the necessity to develop a literary lan- guage and published periodicals in Karaim. [1–2] So persecute them with thy tempest, and There are still some Karaims writing literary make them afraid with thy storm. works in their language. A new theatre play [3–5] Fill their faces with shame; that they may written in Karaim was performed in 1997 in seek thy name, O LORD [forever]. Trakai. Transcription:

Sample of a manuscript of the Karaim [1] Alej kuvhun alarny tavuluj byla, da vicho- Bible (Ps 83: 15–16) ruj [2] byla alhasatkyn alarny. Tolturhun juźliariń Henryk Jankowski [3] jeńgilliktiań, da kolsunlar Sˇemijni, ey H! Translated into the north-western or Troki/ [4] Ujatly bolsunlar da alhasansynlar dunjaha Trakai dialect of Karaim. [5] diejiƒ [...]

In formal Hebrew characters:

(for technical reasons, two dashes above two gimels, marking a fricative [γ], were disregarded)

Selected, transcribed and rewritten in formal Hebrew characters by Henryk Jankowski

Figure 87. Sample of a manuscript of the Karaim Bible (Ps 83: 15–16). Photo: Henryk Jankowski (The manuscript is kept in the private collection of Ms Mariola Abkowicz in Poland).

Language and multilingual societies 274 The Karaim community in Lithuania LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

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