1939: Lithuania

After the World War Lithuania, together with other small Baltic nations, regained her independence from Russia, lost at the end of the 18th century. The Soviet Union accepted the resurrection of these nations, and as long as it was itself absorbed in domestic problems and followed an international policy in favor of collective security, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland were quite secure in their recently acquired independent political existences. But because of increasing economic nationalism throughout Europe and the developing war economy of Germany and other great Powers, these small states could not achieve economic prosperity, and their standard of living remained very low. As economic units they were too small to influence the general tendency towards self-sufficiency, and politically they were too weak to have a voice in the political problems of Europe. Their only hope of retaining real independence lay in the establishment of an effective system of collective security.

Unfortunately, events suddenly took a tragic course, and the small Baltic countries with their military and economic weaknesses could not expect, in the face of a European war, to defend by their own strength their newly regained independence. Under the system of power politics, the independent existence of all small nations is, at best, precarious. This is even more true of a country like Lithuania, situated in a strategic but indefensible position on the Eastern Baltic between two great European countries, Soviet Russia and Germany. Sooner or later Lithuania was bound to be dominated by one or the other of her powerful neighbors.

During 1939, Lithuania seemed at first destined to become a German satellite. After the conclusion, however, of the German-Soviet agreement of August 1939 by which the Soviet Union was granted a free hand in the Eastern Baltic, recognized by Germany as a Russian sphere of influence, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania became virtual protectorates of the Soviet Union. (See also BALTIC ENTENTE.)

Memel.

Protectorate Created by the League of Nations.

After the reconstitution of Lithuanian independence in 1922, the question of Memel and Vilna became the most troublesome one confronting the republic. Memel, a thin strip of land lying along the river Niemen on the northern border of East Prussia and inhabited by a population of about 150,000, had been preponderantly German since the 13th century. It formed a part of the German Empire until the Versailles Treaty detached it from Germany and set it up as a protectorate under the League of Nations. The purpose of the protectorate (not unlike the régime set up by the Versailles Treaty for the city of Danzig) was to give to the newly created republic of Lithuania an outlet to the sea, which it would otherwise lack.

In January 1923 while the status of Memel under the League was still somewhat uncertain, it was seized by Lithuania. A special inter-allied commission sent to investigate the situation had to bow to the fait accompli, and the League Commissioner was withdrawn. The territory of Memel was, however, not unconditionally attached to Lithuania, but was made semi-autonomous by a Convention signed in Paris on May 8, 1924. The Memel Convention set up under Lithuanian sovereignty an autonomous Parliament or Landtag, and Executive, called the Memel Directorate. Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan were the guarantors of the Memel Convention and of Lithuanian respect for the autonomous régime so created.

Nazi Influence in Memel.

While occasional difficulties presented themselves, the Memel Convention functioned satisfactorily on the whole until 1935. In the elections to the Landtag of 1935, the Nazis won a majority under the leadership of Dr. Ernst Neumann. While at that time the National-Socialists in Memel did not demand reunion with Germany, the difficulties between the Lithuanian Government and the Nazi-dominated Memel Directorate were constantly increasing.

In the elections to the Landtag of December 12, 1938, the National-Socialists polled 87.1 per cent of the total vote. The elections were conducted under the slogans, 'Home to the Reich' and 'One people, one state, one Fuehrer.' While considerable intimidation of the voters, after the familiar Nazi pattern, prevailed during the elections, there remained, nevertheless, little doubt that the majority of the inhabitants of Memel favored a reunion with Greater Germany. The Nazi storm troopers of Memel really dominated the territory, and at the end of 1938 the Lithuanian authority there was more nominal than real. It became quite apparent that Memel would remain under Lithuanian sovereignty only as long as power politics would allow it, and that the fate of the territory would be decided neither by its inhabitants nor the Lithuanian Government. Whenever Germany considered the time ripe to resolve in her favor the Memel question, without serious complications, she would do so, and the Lithuanian Government would be compelled to bow to her might. After Munich no one expected that the nations responsible for the autonomous régime in Memel — especially Great Britain and France — would fight to protect it.

Annexation by Reich.

After the final absorption of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 the German Government felt that the time had come to strike also in Memel. Juozas Urbsys, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, was invited to Berlin and presented with a virtual ultimatum. The Lithuanian Government went through the formality of consulting Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, the guarantors of the Memel Convention of 1924 which forbade Lithuania to surrender Memel without their consent. The outcome was, however, certain in advance and Lithuania, under compulsion by Germany, did not even wait for the official answer of the four Powers. On March 22, a non-aggression treaty between Germany and Lithuania was signed in which Memel was officially returned to the Reich. In order to make allowance for the economic needs of Lithuania, Germany promised, in the non-aggression pact, a Lithuanian free port zone in Memel. Both countries assumed in the pact 'the obligation neither to proceed against one another by force, nor to support an attack from a third side against one of the two sides.' (See also GERMANY.)

New Government.

The surrender of Memel under the Nazi threat of invasion brought about the resignation of the Lithuanian Cabinet of Premier Vladistovas Mironas and the appointment of a Government dominated by the military, with General Jonas Cernius, chief of the Army General Staff, as Premier. The new Government included some representatives of the opposition and was to be a government of national concentration to resist further pressure from abroad. The economic situation of Lithuania became, after the loss of Memel, considerably worse, and one of the main problems with which the new Government was faced was the absorption by the country of about 12,000 refugees from Memel, of whom 3,000 were Jews who had fled Nazi persecution.

Establishment of Diplomatic Relations with Poland.

After the establishment in 1938 of diplomatic relations between Poland and Lithuania, and when the threat of Nazi Germany to both countries had become apparent, the two Slavic nations embarked on a policy of friendly economic, as well as political, cooperation. Railway and postal communications, which had been interrupted since 1920, were resumed between them. A commercial treaty based on the principle of the most-favored-nation clause was signed; and a cultural rapprochement between Poland and Lithuania manifested itself. On the other hand, Germany exerted great pressure on the Lithuanian Government to increase Germany's share in the exports of agricultural products from Lithuania. In spite of many difficulties, it seemed in the summer of 1939 that the economic situation of Lithuania, upset by the loss of Memel, would return to normal.

Effects of the War in Poland.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and two days later Great Britain and France declared war on the Reich. Lithuania, together with the other Baltic and Northern States of Europe, remained neutral in the great struggle for power that was beginning in Europe. But the success of the Nazi Blitzkrieg in Poland brought into Lithuania thousands of Polish citizens, soldiers and civilians, who had fled from advancing German troops. The small republic was suddenly faced with a relief problem which far exceeded her economic means. When on September 17, Soviet Russia, following a concerted plan with Germany, invaded Poland from the north and east, and was approaching the city of Vilna, the Lithuanian Government proclaimed general mobilization.

Effects of Russo-German Agreements on Baltic States.

It soon became apparent that the German Government had made a deal with Soviet Russia by which the Eastern Baltic was to be recognized as an exclusively Russian domain of influence. Germany paid the price of the Soviet alliance by dividing Poland with Russia and by giving her a free hand in the Baltic. The Baltic States, which until the Russo-German agreement considered the Reich their potential enemy and aggressor and based their hopes of maintaining independence mainly on the opposition of Soviet Russia to German expansion in the Baltic, were now faced with a radically changed situation.

The Russo-German agreement of August 1939 marked the beginning of a new Russian imperialism in Northern Europe. The Soviet Government, taking advantage of the European War, realizing that no opposition would be now forthcoming from the western democracies, and having the express consent of Germany, proceeded to expand its influence in Northern Europe. The three small Baltic States had no alternative but to submit to the demands of the Soviet Government. One after another, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had to yield to virtual ultimatums and grant military and naval bases for the Red Army. On October 10, a Russo-Lithuanian mutual assistance pact was signed, which included, in return for Lithuanian favors, the cession by Russia of the territory of Vilna to the Lithuanian State.

Vilna.

Source of Friction.

The question of Vilna, the ancient capital of Lithuania, had been the main source of friction between Poland and Lithuania since the Polish General Lucian Zeligowski captured the city in October 1920. Despite Lithuanian protests the Conference of Ambassadors, faced with a fait accompli, ratified Poland's retention of Vilna in 1923. Lithuania never recognized the decision of the Conference of Ambassadors, and refused to have any dealings with Poland so long as Vilna was not returned. Vilna was proclaimed the capital of Lithuania in the Lithuanian Constitution, and for eighteen years a state of affairs, described by some as 'neither war nor peace,' existed between the two countries. In March 1938 Poland, imitating Hitler's methods, took advantage of the European crisis following the annexation of Austria by the Reich, and forced the Lithuanian Government by an ultimatum to establish diplomatic relations with her.

Russo-Lithuanian Pact, Transfer of Vilna.

In the partition of Poland, Russia was granted the eastern and northern part, including Vilna territory. In population, the latter is overwhelmingly Polish and Jewish, Lithuanians forming only a small minority. But Lithuania continued to claim Vilna in the name of historic rights, the city having been for centuries its capital. Finally by the Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance treaty of Oct. 10, 1939, the city of Vilna and the Vilna region were transferred to the Lithuanian Republic. The new treaty reaffirms the peace treaty of July 12, 1920, between Lithuania and Russia, in which the latter had recognized Vilna as part of Lithuania. Once more Vilna and the Vilna region which, in the terms of the mutual assistance pact, were 'unlawfully wrested from Lithuania by Poland,' are again under Lithuanian sovereignty.

The pact further provides that the two contracting countries, the Soviet Union and Lithuania, 'undertake to render each other every assistance, including military, in event of aggression or menace of aggression against Lithuania, as well as in event of aggression or menace of aggression against the Soviet Union over Lithuanian territory, on the part of any European Power.' For the purpose of protecting Lithuania, the Soviet Union was granted the right to maintain in Lithuania land and air armed forces. The treaty provides also that its stipulations shall in no way affect the sovereign rights of the contracting parties, in particular their State organization, economic and social systems, and military measures; and that the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs shall be maintained. (See also U.S.S.R.)

Lithuanian Reoccupation of Vilna.

Lithuanian troops marched into Vilna on October 27 and were received with cheers of joy by the population. The next few days were marked by some anti-Semitic riots provoked by nationalistic Polish students. Those disturbances were quickly suppressed and the Lithuanian authorities have shown themselves capable of maintaining law and order in the newly acquired territory. The Government granted equality of rights to the Poles and Jews in the Vilna region.

Refugee Problem; Economic Distress.

In the newly occupied territory the Lithuanian authorities found most distressing conditions. Several thousand Poles and Jews who had fled before the Nazi invasion from Western and Southern Poland into Vilna, remained there without any means of subsistence. Immigration into the Vilna region became even heavier after the partition of Poland. Thousands of additional Jews, crossed the frontier into the Russian-occupied territory. While no accurate figures are available, it is certain that at least 50,000 refugees from Poland were living under most difficult economic conditions in the Vilna region, at the time of the Lithuanian occupation. The needs of the refugees were far beyond the economic means of the Lithuanian Government, a situation which brought about a serious financial crisis. As a result of the resignation of the Finance Minister, General Jonas Sutkus, on Nov. 10, the whole Cernius Cabinet submitted its resignation to the President. A new Cabinet was formed on November 21 by Antanas Merkys, former Mayor of Kaunas and Administrator of the Vilna territory. The new government, a coalition, was less dominated by the military, and more representative of the middle class. (See also RELIGION: Jews.)

At the end of 1939 the economic situation in Lithuania, especially in the newly recovered Vilna region was still deplorable. The refugee problem was far from solution, and the refugees had to be helped by charitable organizations abroad, especially by those in the United States. The Lithuanian Government showed great generosity and sympathy for the victims of war, but was in no position to give effective aid to the thousands of refugees. Politically Lithuania seemed to be secure as a satellite of Russia, and her domestic problems were left entirely within her own jurisdiction. The Russian troops stationed on Lithuanian territory kept themselves isolated from the population and refrained from spreading Communistic propaganda. The Lithuanian Government, wise enough not to take revenge on the Polish population of Vilna, has introduced a liberal policy which eventually may develop Polish loyalty to the Lithuanian State. The future of Lithuania, depends, of course, on the outcome of the war.

Panevezys-Saldutiskis Railway Case.

See PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE.