THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Statutes
of the three interwar presidents are placed in the park in front of the
Historical Presidential Palace in Kaunas. Picture: Statues of Aleksandras
Stulginskis (front) and Antanas Smetona.
Photo:
Aage Myhre
After Lithuania re-won its freedom in 1918, a Polish military invasion led to an annexation of eastern Lithuania (including the capital city Vilnius) to Poland. This was never recognized and Lithuania remained at a state of war with Poland, with the new government city Kaunas officially designated the “Temporary capital”. “We won’t calm down without Vilnius” became a popular slogan and organizations like the “Union for the Liberation of Vilnius” sprung up with the Lithuanian-Polish territorial dispute becoming one of the keystones of interwar Lithuania’s policy.
Interwar
Lithuania strived to let the world know of its existence. Left is the art deco
Resurrection church, built to be the largest church in the Baltics and an
important landmark of rapidly expanding Kaunas. Right are Steponas Darius and
Stasys Girėnas, the first Lithuanian pilots to cross the Atlantic (1933). They
subsequently died in air disaster, becoming instant martyrs.
The main western powers recognized Lithuania only in 1922 as they preferred a stronger Poland to counter the German and Soviet threats. But by 1922 it was already clear that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would not be reborn as the Poles ceded many eastern lands to the Soviets in the Treaty of Riga.
Unlike the part of Lithuania that was in the Russian Empire, Lithuania Minor remained under German rule except for its northernmost part, the Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland), which was detached from Germany due to its Lithuanian majority. As the Lithuanian Republic was still unrecognized, Klaipėda Region remained under League of Nations rule. In 1923 Lithuania supported a revolt in Klaipėda Region and the new directory (government) of Edmonas Simonaitis joined Lithuania (as a bilingual autonomous area) thereby giving the young country its only seaport. Together with it came a sizeable German minority which caused trouble in the 1930s when the Nazi ideas caught on among the Germans of Klaipėda Region.
1926 saw a military coup with Antanas Smetona retaking presidential power. He ruled until the end of independent Lithuania, the period thus frequently known as the “Smetonic era”. Lithuania became one of the first authoritarian countries in the Eastern Europe, but by the year 1936 only a few, such as Czechoslovakia, would still remain democratic.
1926:
President Antanas Smetona takes oath before the Catholic bishop.
Interwar Lithuania continued to be an agricultural society with only 20% of people living in cities, therefore it was less heavily hit by the Global Depression, remained a devout Catholic land with the church not disestablished and the birth rates were still high (the population increased by 22% to over 3 million in years 1923-1939 despite the sizeable emigration primarily to the South America).
The foreign policy of Lithuania was friendly to the Germans and Soviets because many other countries, like France or Estonia, supported Poland in the conflict over Vilnius. However, the increasing imperialism of both Germany and the Soviet Union eroded their need for independent Lithuania. In 1939 German ultimatum led to the loss of Klaipėda Region. A secret Molotov-Ribentropp pact protocol included Lithuania in the German zone of influence, but the Smetona’s refusal to invade Poland together with Germany led to the change in the protocol with Lithuania being “ceded” to the Soviet Union. In 1939 Soviet Union established army bases in Lithuania after an ultimatum (this ultimatum also returned 1/5th of Vilnius region, recently occupied by the Soviets during their invasion of Poland), and another ultimatum in 1940 led to a full-scale occupation and annexation.
The interwar presidents
Antanas Smetona
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Date and Place of Birth Family Professional
Qualifications Political, Public, Professional and Cultural Engagement Party Membership In Presidential Office April 6, 1919 – June 19, 1920 December 19, 1926 – June 15, 1940 Soviet occupation After Term of Office |
Alexander Stulginskis
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Alexander Stulginskis (1885 02 26-1969 09 22) He was born Family Professional qualifications The political, social, professional and cultural activities Membership of political parties Office of the President At the end of this term |
Kazys Grinius
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Kazys Grinius (1866 12 17-1950 06 04) He was born Family Professional qualifications The political, social, professional and cultural activities of Membership of political parties Office of the President At the end of this term |
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