Kazimiero draugija jaunimui auklėti ir globoti, Polish: Litewskie Towarzystwo Wychowawcze i Opieki nad Młodzieżą im.
Kazimierza) was a society of the Lithuanians living in Vilnius (Wilno, Vilna) Region which was controlled by the Second Polish Republic but claimed by the interwar Lithuania.
Vilnius Region was captured by Poland after the Żeligowski's Mutiny in October 1920 and officially incorporated into the Second Polish Republic in April 1922.
Lithuania claimed the region and declared Vilnius (Wilno, Vilna) as its capital leading to a prolonged dispute.
In early 1922, Lithuanian priest Nikodemas Raštutis [lt] proposed to establish a society for the education of the youth.
Other members included Ignas Budzeika (treasurer), Konstantinas Aleksa (secretary), Domicelė Palevičienė, and Nikodemas Raštutis.
[3] As Lithuania–Poland relations grew tenser, the Polish authorities began closing local chapters of the Society of Saint Casimir in 1934.
[15] On 25 November 1937, Polish police searched the office of the Society of Saint Casimir as well as the residences of its chairman and two board members.
[17] After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Vilnius Region was occupied by the Soviet Union and then partially transferred to Lithuania in October according to the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty.
When a branch in Adutiškis lent several books to non-members, local officials sued responsible society members including its chairman Vincentas Taškūnas.
[16] At various times, the society operated 26 kindergartens[10] (9 before 1937, 16 in 1939–1940, and one unknown year),[1] 39 public reading rooms, and one primary school in Wojciuliszki.
Chapters often organized local musical evening or staged amateur theater plays (so-called barn theatres).
[21] For violating these rules, the chapters faced fines (usually of 200 Polish złoty) or, less frequently, arrests of its activists (up to 14 days).
More crosses were built during the Catholic Jubilee in 1933 (in commemoration of the 1900th anniversary of the traditional year of Jesus's death and resurrection).
[24] News about the incident spread widely in Lithuania causing an uproar; the Union for the Liberation of Vilnius published a 48-page booklet Išniekinti kryžiai (Desecrated Crosses) about this and other incidents,[16][25] including about Gubertas Rukšėnas, chairman of a local chapter in Vaišniūnai [lt], who was killed by a Polish border guard on 16 February 1934.
Lectures were given on the goals of the Society of Saint Casimir, activities and recordkeeping of local chapters, freedom of association, cooperation, sport, and collection of Lithuanian folklore.