Summary

Adaptation under the conditions of historical turning points: the beginning and end of the Soviet period in the narrations by Panemunėlis people

Irena Šutinienė

The older generation of Lithuanians experienced several historical turning points which in substance changed not only the state but also the lives of nearly all its people. Historians call such radical destructive events as being the historical ones, which are, as a rule, investigated at political, economic and social structural level, dissociated from daily life of people, although these events are those which substantially affected the individual fates of many people. An attempt is made in the present paper to discuss some social and cultural aspects of society’s radical changes at a micro level – their expression in daily life and mentality of people. Thus, the traits of adaptation of older generation to Soviet totalitarian regime and its collapse at the turning points are analysed as there traits are revealed in culture traumas and collective memory. The events at the start of the Soviet period and its end, as well as their consequences are examined from the autobiographical narrations and viewpoints of people which survived these events.