Klaipėda Region | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919–1923 | |||||||||
 Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||||
 Historical map of Memelland and the northern part ofEast Prussia | |||||||||
| Status | Special territory underLeague of Nations protection | ||||||||
| Capital | Klaipėda | ||||||||
| Common languages | German Low German Lithuanian | ||||||||
| Presidents of the Directorate | |||||||||
• 1920–1921 | Arthur Altenberg | ||||||||
• 1921–1923 | Wilhelm Steputat | ||||||||
• 1923 | Erdmann Simoneit | ||||||||
| Legislature | Seimelis | ||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
| 10 January 1919 | |||||||||
| 10–15 January 1923 | |||||||||
• Annexed by Lithuania | 19 January 1923 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 2,657 km2 (1,026 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Currency | Papiermark | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Lithuania | ||||||||
| History ofBrandenburg andPrussia |
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| Present |
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TheKlaipėda Region (Lithuanian:Klaipėdos kraštas) orMemel Territory (German:Memelland orMemelgebiet) was defined by the 1919Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province ofEast Prussia, when, asMemelland, it was put under the administration of theEntente'sCouncil of Ambassadors. The Memel Territory, together with other areas severed from Germany (theSaar andDanzig), was to remain under the control of theLeague of Nations until a future date, when the people of those regions would be allowed to vote on whether or not the land would return to Germany.[1] Today, the former Memel Territory is controlled byLithuania as part ofKlaipėda andTauragė counties.
In 1226, DukeKonrad I of Masovia requested assistance against thePrussians and otherBaltic tribes, including theSkalvians who lived along theNeman (Memel) River. In March 1226, Holy Roman EmperorFrederick II issued theGolden Bull of Rimini, which provided that theTeutonic Knights would possess lands taken beyond the Masovian border in exchange for securing Masovia. Afteruprisings of the Baltic Prussian tribes in 1242 to 1274 failed, the Order conquered many remaining western Balts inLithuania Minor, including the Skalvians,Nadruvians andYotvingians. In 1252, the Order constructedMemel Castle where the Dangė river flows into the Neman, at the north end of theCuronian Spit. In 1422, after centuries of conflict, the Order and thePolish–Lithuanian union signed theTreaty of Melno which defined a border betweenPrussia and Lithuania. Although Grand DukeVytautas of Lithuania wanted the border to be coextensive with the Neman River, the treaty border started north ofMemelberg and ran southeasterly to the Neman. This border remained until 1918. After the Treaty of Melno was signed, many Lithuanians returned to northeastern Prussia, which became known as Lithuania Minor in the 16th century.[citation needed]
AfterWorld War I ended in 1918, the Klaipėda Region was defined as a roughly-triangular wedge, with the northern border being the Treaty of Melno border, the southern border following the Neman River, and on the west abutting theBaltic Sea. In 1923, fearing that the western powers would create a free state, Lithuanians took control of the region and, as part of larger regional negotiations, incorporated the region into theState of Lithuania. In March 1939, Lithuaniaacquiesced to Nazi demands and transferred the Klaipėda Region toGermany. AsWorld War II came to an end in 1945, the Soviet Union incorporated the region into theLithuanian SSR. Since 1990, the area of the Klaipėda Region has formed part of the independentRepublic of Lithuania, as part ofKlaipėda andTauragė counties. The southern border established by the Treaty of Versailles defines the current international boundary between Lithuania and theKaliningrad Oblast of theRussian Federation.[citation needed]
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| pre-1252 | Curonian andScalovian tribes |
| 1252–1525 | Livonian Order andMonastic State of the Teutonic Knights (also Monastic State of Prussia) |
| 1525–1657 | Duchy of Prussia, a fief of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (with Prussia inpersonal union withBrandenburg since 1618) |
| 1657–1701 | Duchy of Prussia, a sovereign state in personal union with Brandenburg, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (together also calledBrandenburg-Prussia) |
| 1701–1871 | Kingdom of Prussia |
| 1871–1918 | Kingdom of Prussia, part of theGerman Empire |
| 1918–1920 | Free State of Prussia, part ofWeimar Republic |
| 1920–1923 | Council of Ambassadors |
| 1923–1939 | Republic of Lithuania |
| 1939–1945 | Germany |
| 1945–1990 | Lithuanian SSR, part of theSoviet Union |
| 1990–present | Republic of Lithuania |
The eastern boundaries ofPrussia (from 1871, part of theGerman Empire), having remained unchanged since the Treaty of Melno in 1422, became a matter of discussion following World War I as the newly-independent states of Poland and Lithuania emerged. The separatistAct of Tilsit was signed by a few pro-Lithuanian-orientedPrussian Lithuanians in 1918 and demanded the unification ofPrussian Lithuania withLithuania proper. It is traditionally viewed by Lithuanians as expressing the desire of Lithuania Minor to unite with Lithuania, but the majority of Prussian Lithuanians did not want to join with Lithuania,[2] and the Prussian Lithuanians, at 26.6% of the population, did not make up a majority of the region.[3]
The division of Prussia was also promoted by Poland'sRoman Dmowski[4] inVersailles who acted on the orders ofJózef Piłsudski. The purpose was to give the lower part of the Neman River and its delta, which was located in Germany and called the Memel River, to Lithuania, as that would provide her access to theBaltic Sea, and Lithuania itself should be part of Poland. Those ideas were supported by French Prime MinisterGeorges Clemenceau.[5]
In 1920, according to theTreaty of Versailles, the German area north of theMemel River was given the status ofTerritoire de Memel under the administration of theCouncil of Ambassadors, and French troops were sent for protection. The German delegation at theParis Peace Conference, under the leadership of CountUlrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau immediately protested that decision and stated on 9 May 1919:
[Memellanders] including those whose mother-tongue is Lithuanian, have never desired a separation from Germany;...they have always proved themselves a loyal constituent part of the German community...moreover, Memel is an entirely German town...which has never in its whole history belonged to Lithuania or to Poland.[6]
To that claim, the Allied Powers responded the following:
The Allied and associated Powers reject the suggestion that the cession of the district of Memel conflicts with the principles of nationality. The district in question has always been Lithuanian; the majority of the populace is Lithuanian in origin and in speech and that fact the city of Memel itself is in large parts German is no justification for maintaining the district under German sovereignty, particularly from the view of the fact that the port of Memel is the only sea outlet for Lithuania[7]
Following the evacuation of German troops from Memel, the French took over the temporary military administration of the region on 15 February 1920 under the leadership of General Dominique Odry.[8][9] This was supplemented by a civilian one headed byGabriel Jean Petisné in 1921. The French administration proved problematic, as it was accused by the Lithuanian population of siding too closely with the pro-GermanLandes Directorium and subsequently of siding with Polish civilian and military representatives.[7] As a result of that backlash, Odry left his post shortly after coming to Memel and handed the responsibility of the administration over to High CommissionerGabriel Jean Petisné. During the French administration, the idea of an independent state of Memelland grew in popularity among local inhabitants. The organisationDeutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund (German-Lithuanian homeland federation) promoted the idea of aFreistaat Memelland, which later should return to Germany. It had 30,000 members, both ethnic Germans and Lithuanians, or about 21% of the total population.[citation needed]
On 9 January 1923, three years after the Versailles Treaty had become effective, Lithuania occupied the territory during theKlaipėda Revolt,[10] mainly by militias that had entered the region from Lithuania. At the same time, France had started theOccupation of the Ruhr in Germany, and the French administration in Memel did not take any significant counteractive measures against the rebels. On 19 January, the territory was annexed by Lithuania, and thefait accompli was eventually confirmed by the Council of Ambassadors in 1924.[citation needed]
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At theKlaipėda Convention, signed by the Council of Ambassadors and Lithuania, the area was granted a separate parliament, two official languages, the capacity to raise its own taxes, charge custom duties, and manage its cultural and religious affairs, and was allowed a separate judicial system, separate citizenship, internal control of agriculture and forestry, as well as a separate social security system. The Council of Ambassadors accepted the resulting arrangement and confirmed the autonomy of the region within the Republic of Lithuania. On 8 May 1924, a further Convention on the Klaipėda region confirmed the annexation, and a resulting autonomy agreement was signed in Paris. In the Lithuanian-German Arbitration and Settlement Agreement (Schieds- und Vergleichsvertrag) of 29 January 1928, the Republic of Lithuania and theWeimar Republic agreed "as a sign of the friendly nature of their relations" to conclude, among other items, a border settlement agreement that included the status of the Memel Territory.[11]
Importantly, the annexation gave Lithuania control of a year-round, ice-free Baltic port. Lithuania made full use of Klaipėda's port by modernising and adapting it largely for its agricultural exports. The port reconstruction was certainly one of the larger long-term investment projects enacted by the government of Lithuania in the interwar period.
The inhabitants of the area were not given a choice on the ballot as to whether they wanted to be part of the Lithuanian state or part of Germany. Since the pro-German political parties had an overall majority of more than 80% in all elections to the local parliament (see election statistics below) in the interwar period, there can be little doubt that such a referendum would have been in favour of Germany. In fact, the area had been annexed fromKingdom of Lithuania to themonastic state in the 13th century, and even many Lithuanian-speakers, regarding themselves as East Prussians, declared themselves "Memellanders/Klaipėdiškiai" in the official census (see below for demographic information) and did not want to belong to a Lithuanian national state because of the strongGermanisation in the late 1800s. According to the Lithuanian point of view, Memellanders were viewed as Germanized Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanised.[12]
There was also a strong denominational difference since about 95% of the inhabitants of Lithuania Minor wereLutherans, and more than 90% of Greater Lithuanians wereCatholics. Following theAgreement concerning theEvangelical Church of the Klaipėda Region (German:Abkommen betr. die evangelische Kirche des Memelgebietes) of 23 July 1925, concluded between theDirectorate of the Klaipėda Region and theEvangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union, achurch of united administration of Lutheran andReformed congregations, the mostly-Lutheran congregations (and a single Reformed one in Klaipėda) in the Klaipėda Region were disentangled from the Old PrussianEcclesiastical Province of East Prussia and formed theRegional Synodal Federation of the Memel Territory (Landessynodalverband Memelgebiet) since it ranked an Old Prussian ecclesiastical province of its own.[13] An ownconsistory in Klaipėda was established in 1927, led by ageneral superintendent (at first F. Gregor, elected in 1927, succeeded by O. Obereiniger, elected by the regional synod in 1933). The Catholic parishes in the Klaipėda Region belonged to theBishopric of Ermland until 1926 and were then disentangled to form the newTerritorial Prelature of Klaipėda under PrelateJustinas Staugaitis.
The government of Lithuania faced considerable opposition from the region's autonomous institutions such as theParliament of the Klaipėda Region. As the years passed, claims were becoming more and more vocal for the reintegration into a resurgent Germany. It was only during the latter period that Lithuania instituted a policy of Lithuanisation. That was met by even more opposition, as religious and regional differences slowly became insurmountable.
After theDecember 1926 coup d'état,Antanas Smetona came to power. As the status of the Memel Territory was regulated by international treaties, the Memel Territory became an oasis of democracy[citation needed] in Lithuania. Lithuanian intelligentsia often held marriages in Memel/Klaipėda since Memel Territory was the only place in Lithuania that hadcivil marriage; in the rest of Lithuania, only churchmarriages were allowed. Thus, Lithuanian opposition to Smetona's regime was also based in Memel Territory.
At the start of the 1930s, leaders and members of pro-Nazi organizations in the region were put on trial by Lithuania "for crimes of terrorism". The 1934–1935trial of Neumann and Sass in Kaunas can be presented as the first anti-Nazi trial in Europe. Three members of the organizations were sentenced to death, and their leaders imprisoned. After political and economic pressure from Germany, most of them were later released.
The local parliament had 29 seats, one for every 5,000 inhabitants. Men and women over the age of 23 had the right to vote.[14][15]
See also the results of the January 1919 elections to theNationalversammlung.[16]
| Year | Memeländische Landwirtschaftspartei ("Agricultural Party") | Memeländische Volkspartei ("People's Party") | Sozialdemokratische Partei ("Social Democratic Party") | Arbeiterpartei (Worker's Party) | Communist Party | Others | Lithuanian People's Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 38.1%: 11 seats | 36.9%: 11 seats | 16.0%: 5 seats | — | — | Others 9.0%: 2 seats | — |
| 1927 | 33.6%: 10 seats | 32.7%: 10 seats | 10.1%: 3 seats | — | 7.2%: 2 seats | — | 13.6%: 4 seats |
| 1930 | 31.8%: 10 seats | 27.6%: 8 seats | 13.8%: 4 seats | 4.2%: 2 seats | — | — | 22.7%: 5 seats |
| 1932 | 37.1%: 11 seats | 27.2%: 8 seats | 7.8%: 2 seats | 8.2%: 3 seats | — | — | 19.7%: 5 seats |
| Unified German Election List | Greater Lithuania Parties | ||||||
| 1935 | 81.2%: 24 seats | 18.8%: 5 seats | |||||
| 1938 | 87.2%: 25 seats | 12.8%: 4 seats | |||||
A Lithuanian census carried out in the region in 1925 found its total population was 141,000.[17] Declared language was used to classify the inhabitants, and on this basis 43.5 percent were German, 27.6 percent were Lithuanian, and 25.2 percent were "Klaipėdan" (Memeländisch).[17] Other sources give the interwar ethnic composition as 41.9 percent German, 27.1 percent Memeländisch, and 26.6 percent Lithuanian.[18][19]
| Population | German | Memelandish | Lithuanian | other | Religion | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 141,645 | 41.9% | 27.1% | 26.6% | 4.4% | 95%Evangelical Christians | [20] |
| 141,645 (1930) | 45.2% | 24.2% (1925) | 26.5% | — | Evangelical Lutheran 95%, Roman Catholic (1925) | [21] |
Overall, Prussian Lithuanians were more rural than Germans; the number of Lithuanian speakers in the city of Klaipėda itself increased over time due to urbanization and migration from villages into cities and later also from remaining Lithuania (in the city of Klaipėda, Lithuanian-speaking people made up 21.5% in 1912, 32.6% in 1925, and 38.7% in 1932*). Foreign citizens might include some Germans who opted for German citizenship instead of Lithuanian although the German government pressured local Germans to take Lithuanian citizenship so that the German presence would remain. There were more Lithuanian-speakers in the north of the region (Klaipėdos apskritis and Šilutės apskritis) than in the south (Pagėgių apskritis). Other locals included people of other nationalities who had citizenship in Lithuania, such asJews.
In the 1930s, a novel by local authorIeva Simonaitytė[22] based on family history illustrated the centuries-old German–Lithuanian relations in the region.
The authoritarian regime of Smetona enforced a policy of discrimination and Lithuanisation and sent administrators from Lithuania, and German teachers, officials, and priests were fired from jobs. Local inhabitants—both Germans and Prussian Lithuanians—were not accepted for state service in Memel Territory. People were sent fromKaunas instead.
Until 1938, no governor was appointed from the local Prussian Lithuanians. That policy led the Prussian Lithuanian intelligentsia and some local Germans to organise a society in 1934 to oppose Lithuanian rule. The group was soon dismantled.[24]
Election results in Memel Territory were irritating[citation needed] for the authoritarian Smetona regime, and it attempted to "colonise" Memel Territory with Lithuanians. The Lithuanian settlements Jakai and Smeltė were built. The number of newcomers increased from 5,000 in 1926 to 30,000 in1939.
Lithuania introduced a hardline Lithuanisation campaign, which led to even deeper antagonism between local Prussian Lithuanians, Memellanders, Germans and newcomers.[25]
By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control of the situation in the Territory. In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after an oral ultimatum had caused a Lithuanian delegation to travel toBerlin, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign AffairsJuozas Urbšys and his German counterpartJoachim von Ribbentrop signed theTreaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone for 99 years in the port of Memel that would use the facilities erected in previous years.
Hitler had anticipated that aboard aKriegsmarine naval ship and at dawn[26] sailed into Memel to celebrate the returnheim ins Reich of the Memelland. That proved to be the last of a series of bloodless annexations of territories separated from the Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, which had been perceived by many Germans as a humiliation. German forces seized the territory even before the official Lithuanian ratification. The United Kingdom and France, as after the revolt of 1923, took no action. It was under those conditions that theSeimas was forced to approve the treaty in the hope that Germany would not press any other territorial demands upon Lithuania.
Still, the reunion with Germany was welcomed by the majority of the population, both Germans and Memelanders.[27]
According to the treaty, the citizens of the Memel Territory were allowed to choose their citizenship: either German or Lithuanian. 303 people or, counting family members, 585, asked for Lithuanian citizenship, but only 20 requests were granted.[28] Another term stated that persons who had settled in the Memel Territory during the occupation period from 1923 to 1939 should emigrate. About 8,900 Lithuanians did so. At the same time, Germany expelled about 1,300 local Memel and Lithuanian Jews and about 40 Prussian Lithuanians.[citation needed]
High Commissioners
Plenipotentiaries
Governors
Transitional Commissioner for the Integration of Memelland
AfterNazi Germany took over the area in 1939, many Lithuanians and their organizations began leaving Memel and the surrounding area. Memel was quickly turned into a fortified naval base by the Germans. After the failure of theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union, the fate ofEast Prussia and Memel was sealed. By October 1944, the inhabitants of the area, without ethnic distinction, had to make a decision whether to stay or leave. Nearly all of the population was evacuated from the approachingRed Army, but the city itself was defended by the German Army during theBattle of Memel until 28 January 1945. After its capture, only six people were found in the city.
At the end of the war, the majority of the inhabitants had fled to the West to settle in Germany. Still, in 1945–1946, there were around 35,000[29] local inhabitants, both Prussian Lithuanians and Germans. The government of the Lithuanian SSR sent agitators into thedisplaced persons camps to make promises to former inhabitants that they could return and their property would be restored. From 1945 to 1950, about 8,000 persons were repatriated. Bilingual Lithuanian-German returners were viewed as Germans.
The few remaining ethnic Germans were then forciblyexpelled, with most opting to flee to what would becomeWest Germany. People who remained in the former Memel territory were dismissed from their jobs. Families of notable local Lithuanians, who had opposed German parties before the war, were deported toSiberia. In 1951, theLithuanian SSR expelled 3,500 people from the former Memel Territory toEast Germany. In 1958, when emigration was allowed, the majority of the surviving population, both Germans and Prussian Lithuanians, emigrated to West Germany; this event was called a repatriation of Germans by the Lithuanian SSR. Today these formerly Lutheran territories are mostly inhabited by Lithuanians who are Catholic and byOrthodox Russians. However, the minority Prussian LithuanianProtestants historically were concentrated in these regions, and some remain to this day. Only a few thousand are left.[30] Their continued emigration is facilitated by the fact they are consideredGerman citizens by theFederal Republic of Germany. No property restoration was performed by theRepublic of Lithuania for owners prior to 1945.[31]
Although maintaining that the Memel Territory in 1939 was re-annexed by Germany and acknowledging that Lithuania itself was occupied in 1940 by theSoviet Union, Lithuania, after regaining independence on 11 March 1990, did not restore autonomy to the Memel Territory.[32][33]
Apie norą susijungti su nuskurdusia Lietuva daugumai lietuvininkų negalėjo būti nė kalbos.
Tr.: The majority of Prussian Lithuanians did not even want to talk about unification with poor Lithuania.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The strong lithuanization policy from Lithuanian State gave the inverse effect, reflected by anti-Lithuanian dispositions among Germans and local Lietuvininkai people. The forms of Lithuanization policy were not acceptable for Klaipėda region local Lietuvininkai people. Having no other alternatives, they started to nestle themselves with much more known for them German national identity
Media related toMemelland at Wikimedia Commons
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