Karys (literary: soldier) is a Lithuanian-language military magazine published since 1919. It is a magazine about the Lithuanian Army and is geared towards the soldiers and the general public. During the interwar period (1919–1940) it was published weekly in Kaunas by the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania and the General Staff of Lithuania. During World War II, it was a magazine of the Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions. During the Soviet period (1950–1990), it was published monthly by Lithuanian veterans in New York. After the restoration of independence in 1990, it is once again published monthly by the Ministry of Defence. The circulation was 4,000 copies in 1920, 33,000 copies in 1940, 1,650 copies in 1983, 22,000 copies in 1991, 3,000 copies in 2005.
History
Interwar and World War II
The first 8-page issue appeared on 22 May 1919 titled Kariškių žodis (Word of Soldiers) in Kaunas. At the time, the newly established Lithuanian Army was fighting in the Lithuanian–Soviet War. The magazine was renamed to Karys in October 1920 by editor Jonas Laurinaitis who believed that kariškis not a proper Lithuanian word. The weekly magazine printed military news, reports from soldiers' lives, memoirs from the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, popular science articles on military science or weapons, works of literary fiction, humorous anecdotes. It also published one-time supplements on individual units of the Lithuanian Army. When military education became compulsory in Lithuanian schools in 1929, Karys was distributed among students as well. To attract them, poetry and short story contests were organized. Under editor Simas Urbonas (1936–1940), the magazine grew to 28 pages and increased publication frequency to twice a week. At the time, it was a richly illustrated magazine printed using intaglio technique. In the first 20 years, Karys had some 5,000 contributors. The number of contributors grew from 26 in 1919, to 65 in 1923, 148 in 1926, 256 in 1929, 414 in 1931, to about 500 in 1935–1938.
When Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, Karys was discontinued and replaced by pro-Soviet daily Karių tiesa (Soldiers' Truth) on 6 July 1940. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Karys was reestablished in Vilnius as the weekly magazine of the Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions on 23 December 1941. Despite heavy censorship and lack of paper, editor Urbonas managed to increase the circulation to up to 40,000 copies. It also served as recruitment platform for the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force of General Povilas Plechavičius in early 1944. The anniversary edition in May 1944 was marked by a 20-page issue printed in color. In mid-1944, Lithuania was re-occupied by the Soviet Union as a result of the Operation Bagration and Karys was discontinued. Most of its editors and contributors fled to Germany ahead of the advancing Red Army. The magazine was briefly revived in Berlin and Weimar as a supplement to newspaper Lietuvis.
In United States
The magazine was revived again in United States by Stasys Butkus, secretary of the editorial board of Karys since the first issues who continued to work on Karys until his death in 1961, and Augustas Astrauskas who agreed to provide financial support. They invited Urbonas to resume editorship. The first issue (24 pages) appeared on 23 November 1950. The monthly magazine reoriented itself to cater to Lithuanian veterans, both privates and officers, thus merging the traditions of pre-war Karys and Kardas. After Urbonas had to resign due to health issues, Domas Penikas became the editor. During his tenure the circulation dropped to just 250 copies.