The Kražiai massacre

The art studio Kurz & Allison was a major late-19th century publisher of chromolithographs based in Chicago. They established their reputation with images of the American Civil War published in the 1870s. In 1894, they produced a lithograph showing the Kražiai massacre in 1893 in a small town in Samogitia, news of which reverberated across the world. The events are said to have started with an imperial decree by Alexander II of 22 June 1893 to pull down the closed Benedictine monastery and Benedictine church in Kražiai. The community resisted the decision, and took turns to guard the church day and night, but on 21 November an order was issued to remove them. On 22 November, the police were joined by several hundred Don Cossacks, who broke the resistance of the believers by force. Nine people were killed in the attack, 50 were wounded, and dozens were arrested and put on trial. However, they succeeded in saving the church from being demolished.
The world was outraged by the Kražiai massacre and the policy of the Russian government towards Catholics. Thousands demonstrated in Western Europe and the United States, protests were sent to the emperor, and the press published articles condemning Russia. This lithograph was made in the context of these events. The artist tried to show the brutality and the cruelty of the Cossacks in attacking peaceful people. The situation of Kražiai and the church are imaginary. The lithograph was used as a prototype for a poster about the events in Kražiai published by Lithuanians in the United States, but the appearance of the church was changed in order to look more like the real structure.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

The art studio Kurz & Allison was a major late-19th century publisher of chromolithographs based in Chicago. They established their reputation with images of the American Civil War published in the 1870s. In 1894, they produced a lithograph showing the Kražiai massacre in 1893 in a small town in Samogitia, news of which reverberated across the world. The events are said to have started with an imperial decree by Alexander II of 22 June 1893 to pull down the closed Benedictine monastery and Benedictine church in Kražiai. The community resisted the decision, and took turns to guard the church day and night, but on 21 November an order was issued to remove them. On 22 November, the police were joined by several hundred Don Cossacks, who broke the resistance of the believers by force. Nine people were killed in the attack, 50 were wounded, and dozens were arrested and put on trial. However, they succeeded in saving the church from being demolished.
The world was outraged by the Kražiai massacre and the policy of the Russian government towards Catholics. Thousands demonstrated in Western Europe and the United States, protests were sent to the emperor, and the press published articles condemning Russia. This lithograph was made in the context of these events. The artist tried to show the brutality and the cruelty of the Cossacks in attacking peaceful people. The situation of Kražiai and the church are imaginary. The lithograph was used as a prototype for a poster about the events in Kražiai published by Lithuanians in the United States, but the appearance of the church was changed in order to look more like the real structure.

Text author Rūta Janonienė