This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DeirYassin (talk | contribs) at 16:41, 21 August 2005 (village-city migration inside the region was an existing thing. This is the reason why prior to 1923 Lithuanian share in Klaipėda city was increasing, despite of the region not being part of Lithuania). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:41, 21 August 2005 by DeirYassin (talk | contribs) (village-city migration inside the region was an existing thing. This is the reason why prior to 1923 Lithuanian share in Klaipėda city was increasing, despite of the region not being part of Lithuania)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Klaipėda Region (Memel Region, Memelland) is the name of the part of Lithuania Minor consisting of the coastland around Klaipėda (formerly known as Memel) and along the Curonian Lagoon, on the right bank of Neman River.
From 1328 to 1525 it was a part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, 1525-1701 the fief of Ducal Prussia, and then Kingdom of Prussia. From 1871 to 1920 it belonged to Germany.
By the Treaty of Versailles in February 1920 Memel and an adjacent territory north of Neman River of former East Prussia, designated as the Memel Territory (Territoire de Memel, Klaipėda Region), was separated from Germany and passed to an interim supervision of the states of the Council of Ambassadors. Directly the administration of the region was formed and the control was exercised by France. In defiance of the idea of foundation of the Freistaat (or independent state of the Memel Territory), seemingly got in sight from a precedent of Danzig and propagated by both public and economical societies, the predestination of the area was determined by the conflict of ambitions of two states, after First World War again emerged in the Eastern Europe – Poland and Lithuania. The occupation of the region on January 10-15, 1923, initiated by the government of Lithuania, is one of the contradictory subjects in the historiography of Lithuania. There is no substance for a previous interpretation, composed in the interwar period to demonstrate that the citizenry of region, a sizeable majority of whom had a parental links with Lithuania, desired to unite with Lithuania and revolted against the French authority accordingly. Therefore, this elucidation lost its sense and was discarded in that new sources were exposed.
The most risky undertaking of the interwar Lithuanian foreign policy was determined by not only ethno-political but also and in preference to economical motives. Way back in Versailles it was Clemenceau, who noticed, that Memel is the only access to sea for Lithuania. The Council of Ambassadors, accepted the status quo and made a bid for the significant autonomy for region, homologated its incorporation to the Republic of Lithuania. On May 8, 1924 the Convention on Klaipėda region confirmative the cession and the autonomy was signed in Paris. It was recognized as integral part of The Republic of Lithuania by Germany in January 29, 1928 (Lithuanian - German border treaty). Klaipeda region however remained an autonomy inside Lithuania and had a significant German population, also a significant population of people who chose to identify themselves as Klaipėdians during censuses (see demography information bellow). Both Lithuanian and German languages were official in the region.
However, during the 16 years of administration the government of Lithuania faced with hearty opposition of the autonomic institutions. Certainly, there was a complex of occasions for this opposition. Seemingly, the fundamental was a political conjuncture in interwar Europe itself, necessitated the revanchistic temperature, reasoned by the desire to regain to the motherland in all conceivable measures, in the territories, isolated from Germany. Sixteen years Lithuania, firstly leaned upon the contingent of Lithuanian descent, tried to integrate and lithuanize the region, regardless of the substantial cultural and religious differences. Meanwhile, the public organizations of region, especially those financially supported by Germany prosecuted the disintegration in their movement only. This interwar collision, reflected on a political, cultural and even religious plane, was an essential historical topicality of the period. It was perfectly imaged by authoress of the region Ieva Simonaitytė, in 1930s earned fame when wrote her first novel about the centuries-old German-Lithuanian relations in the region.
Nonetheless, Lithuania fully used the makings of Klaipėda port, modernised and adapted it to the export of its agricultural products. The port reconstruction was certainly the largest long-term investment project, realised by the government of Lithuania. Actually, we couldn't even imagine, what a finish of the integration of the region might have been, hadn't the Nazi movement been activated in 1933 in Germany and subsequently in the Memel Territory. Incriminated in sedition, the leaders of pro-Nazi organizations of the region were judged by Lithuania. So-called proceeding of Neumann and Sass in 1934–1935 in Kaunas was presented as a first anti-Nazi trial in Europe. However, the leaders of pro-Nazi organizations were not arraigned for their pro-Nazi ideology but for their undesirable relations with the Nazi Germany. On account of political and economical constraint of Germany in 1936–1938 the most part of these leaders were unbound: by late 1938 Lithuania uncontrolled the situation in region already. On March 22, 1939, after a political blackmail of Germany, Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs Juozas Urbšys and his college Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of cession of the Memel Territory to Germany. Germany invaded it even before Lithuanian acceptal. Despite of pledge to overlook after Klaipėda and help maintain it's position as autonomous part of Lithuania, United Kingdom was not interested in helping Lithuania, and therefore Seimas was forced to approve the annexation of Klaipėda region, that way falsely hoping that Germany won't invade other parts of Lithuania at least (on March 30).
18 thousand Jews and Lithuanians for fear of pot-shots, all Lithuanian institutions and organizations deserted a region. In 1939–1945 Memel was a part of Reich again. It was a navy base and a fortress. A fortuneless war in USSR for Germany considerably determined a portion of entire East Prussia. In 1944–1945 all inhabitants of Klaipėda without distinction had to forsake their homeland and were drawn to Germany. In 1944-45 the former Klaipėda region became a part of Lithuanian SSR.
Demography
According to 1925 census (by subdivisions):
- City of Klaipėda - 35,854 inhabittants, 30,3% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 57,2% local Germans, 5,5% other locals, 7.0% foreign citizens.
- Klaipėdos apskritis - 30,409 inhabittants, 73.4% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 23.7% local Germans, 0,8% other locals, 2.1% foreign citizens.
- Šilutės apskritis - 36,404 inhabittants, 55,6% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 41,8% local Germans, 0,1% other locals, 2,5% foreign citizens.
- Pagėgių apskritis - 38,987 inhabittants, 47,5% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 49,2% local Germans, 0,2% other locals, 3,1% foreign citizens.
- All apskritys, excluding Klaipėda city - 105,804 inhabittants, 57,8% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 39,3% local Germans, 0,3 other locals, 2,6% foreign citizens.
- All region - 141,640 inhabittants, 50,8% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 43,8% local Germans, 1,6% other locals, 3,8% foreign citizens.
Overally, Lithuanians were more rural than Germans; the part of Lithuanians in Klaipėda city itself increased over the time due to urbanization and migration from villages into cities and later also from the remaining Lithuania (in Klaipėda city Lithuanian speaking people made up 21,5% in 1912, 32,6% in 1925 and 38,7% in 1932 (these percentages excludes foreign citizens living in Klaipėda; including them stats would be slightly lower)). Foreign citizens might include some Germans, who opted German citizenship instead of Lithuanian one (although at the time German government pressured local Germans to take Lithuanian citizenship, so that German presence would remain). There were more Lithuanians in the north of region (Klaipėdos apskritis and Šilutės apskritis) than in south (Pagėgių apskritis). Other locals includes people of other nationalities who had citizenship of Lithuania, such as Jews.