1922 Republic of Central Lithuania general election

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1922 poster promoting the Jewish Democratic People's Block and Chana Blaksztejn for member of parliament of Central Lithuania in the 1922 elections Kobieto jidisze frojen.jpg
1922 poster promoting the Jewish Democratic People's Block and Chana Blaksztejn for member of parliament of Central Lithuania in the 1922 elections

The general election in the Republic of Central Lithuania was an election to the Vilnius Sejm (parliament) of the Polish-dominated Republic of Central Lithuania on 8 January 1922. The new parliament was intended to formally legalize incorporation of Central Lithuania into Poland. Such measure was fiercely opposed by Lithuania, which claimed the territory for itself. The election was boycotted by non-Polish population and its results were unrecognized by either the Lithuanian government in Kaunas or the League of Nations. [1] The elected parliament convened in February and, as expected, voted on 20 February 1922 to have the Republic incorporated into Poland. At the end of March 1922, Central Lithuania became Wilno Land of the Second Polish Republic.

Contents

Background

In the aftermath of the staged Żeligowski's Mutiny aimed against Lithuania, a new sham state was created by general Lucjan Żeligowski in Vilnius Region in October 1920. The new Republic of Central Lithuania depended on Poland's economic and military support and was governed by Polish military men. [2] The territory was fiercely contested by Lithuania and Poland. In demographic terms the city of Vilnius was the least Lithuanian of Lithuanian cities, [3] divided nearly evenly between Poles and Jews, with ethnic Lithuanians constituting a mere fraction of the total population (about 2–3% of the population, according to Russian 1897 [4] [5] and German 1916 censuses [6] ). The Lithuanians nonetheless believed that their historical claim to the city (former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) had precedence and refused to recognize any Polish claims to the city and the surrounding area. [3]

The League of Nations mediated the dispute and strongly advocated a plebiscite where the local population would vote to be incorporated either into Poland or Lithuania. However, neither Poland nor Lithuania wanted the vote. Poland had control of the territory and saw no reason to jeopardize the status quo , [7] especially since it had already lost two plebiscites against Germany (in East Prussia and Upper Silesia). [8] Lithuania did not want to recognize that Poland had a legitimate claim to the region and was afraid to lose the vote, especially if Polish military remained in the region. [8] As both sides stalled, the plebiscite idea was abandoned in March 1921. Poland and Lithuania entered direct negotiations under mediation of Paul Hymans. [7] He prepared two projects that envisioned a Polish–Lithuanian union, but both of them were rejected by Poland and Lithuania by December 1921. In October 1921, after the failure of the negotiations, the Republic of Central Lithuania scheduled elections for 8 January 1922.

Elections

Preparations

The territory, where elections were to take place, was carved out to maximize the number of Polish residents; [9] for example, Polish-inhabited regions of Lida and Braslaw were included while Lithuanian-inhabited areas around Druskininkai were excluded. [10] According to official Polish election reports, 735,089 people lived in the designated election territory. Of them 11.5% were Jews, 8.8% were Belarusians, and 7.2% were Lithuanians. [9] Requirements for the candidates to the parliament included age (at least 25 years of age), education (at least primary school), and language (good knowledge of Polish). [10] Polish authorities formally allowed freedoms of press and of assembly, but provided up to one year in prison for campaigning against the election. [9] This provision was aimed at the Lithuanians, who decided to boycott the elections. The Lithuanian government protested the election and even attempted to revive the idea of the plebiscite under supervision of the League of Nations, but the League was done mediating the Polish–Lithuanian dispute. [11]

Only Polish parties and groups proposed candidates for the election. The right-wing parties advocated for unconditional incorporation into Poland while left-wing sought a special autonomous status with Poland. [10] There was a significant propaganda campaign before the elections. The Lithuanians attempted to win support from the Jewish and Belarusian communities. The Jews generally leaned towards Lithuania, which was seen as more tolerant and more willing to make concessions for the support. [9] However, at the same time, Jews were afraid that support of the Lithuanian cause would be interpreted to be a hostile act against Poland and could worsen their position. [9]

Results

63.9% of the entire population took part in the voting, but among different ethnic groups the attendance was lower (41% of Belarusians, 15.3% of Jews and 8.2% of Lithuanians). [9] Jewish turnout varied greatly from rural (37.8%) to urban areas (6.3%). [12] In Vilnius, the Jewish turnout was only 1.4%. [9] The two largest political groups in the new parliament were the Association of National Parties and Organizations with 43 seats and the Popular Councils with 34 seats. All the other groups gained 28 seats altogether. [13] The list of all seats in parliament included:

These results were disputed by Col. Chardigny, the Chief of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control sent by League of Nations, who officially declared that results are not valid, as most of the Lithuanians, Jews and Belarusians boycotted the elections, and there was use of military force. As a result of electoral malpractice such as not asking for valid voter identification, noted by delegates from the League of Nations, the elections were not recognized. [15] [ full citation needed ] On 13 January 1922 the Council of the League of Nations issued a statement that the elected parliament was not a legal representative of the local population.

Aftermath

The parliament gathered on 1 February 1922. On 20 February it voted for formal incorporation into Poland and dispatched a delegation to Poland. [1] The Polish Sejm passed the law proposed by the Central Lithuanian parliament on 22 March 1922 and two days later the Republic of Central Lithuania ceased to exist. All of its territory was incorporated into the newly formed Wilno Voivodeship. The border changes were accepted by the Conference of Ambassadors of the Entente [16] and the League of Nations. [17] Lithuania declined to accept the Polish authority over the area [18] and continued to treat the region as part of its own territory and Vilnius as its legitimate capital, with Kaunas designated only as a temporary seat of government. The Polish–Lithuanian diplomatic relations were not restored until the Polish ultimatum to Lithuania in 1938. [1]

Related Research Articles

Republic of Central Lithuania

The Republic of Central Lithuania, commonly known as the Central Lithuania, and the Middle Lithuania, was a short-lived puppet republic of Poland, that existed from 1920 to 1922, without an international recognition. It was founded on 12 October 1920, after Żeligowski's Mutiny, when soldiers of the Polish Army, mainly the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Infantry Division under Lucjan Żeligowski, fully supported by the Polish air force, cavalry and artillery, attacked Lithuania. It was incorporated into Poland on 18 April 1922.

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The city of Vilnius, now the capital of Lithuania, and its surrounding region has been under various states. The Vilnius Region has been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Lithuanian state's founding in the late Middle Ages to 1795, i.e. five hundred years. From then, the region was occupied by the Russian Empire until 1915, when the German Empire invaded it. After 1918 and throughout the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, Vilnius was disputed between the Republic of Lithuania and the Second Polish Republic. After the city was seized by the Republic of Central Lithuania with Żeligowski's Mutiny, the city was part of Poland throughout the Interwar period. Regardless, Lithuania claimed Vilnius as its capital. During World War II, the city changed hands many times, and the German occupation resulting in the destruction of Jews in Lithuania. From 1945 to 1990, Vilnius was the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic's capital. From the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Vilnius has been part of Lithuania.

Polish–Lithuanian War 1919–1920 conflict between newly independent Lithuania and Poland in the aftermath of World War I

The Polish–Lithuanian War was a conflict between the newly independent Lithuania and Poland in the aftermath of World War I. The conflict was fought primarily in the Vilnius and Suvalkai Region. The conflict was connected to the Polish–Soviet War and was subject to international mediation at the Conference of Ambassadors, later the League of Nations. The war is viewed differently by the respective sides, with Lithuanian historians considering the war as part of the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, spanning from spring 1919 to November 1920 and the Polish historians deeming the war as part of the Polish-Soviet War and happening only in September–October 1920.

The city of Vilnius, the capital and largest city of Lithuania, has undergone a diverse history since it was first settled in the Stone Age. Vilnius was the head of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania right until 1795, even during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The city has changed hands many times between Imperial and Soviet Russia, Napoleonic France, Imperial and Nazi Germany, Interwar Poland, and Lithuania. It was especially often the site of conflict after the end of World War I and during World War II. It officially became the capital of independent, modern-day Lithuania when the Soviet Union recognized the country's independence in August 1991.

Vilnius Region Historical region in present-day Lithuania and Belarus

Vilnius Region, also formerly known as Vilna Region, Wilno Region or Polish: Wileńszczyzna, is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time.

The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was disbanded on October 1922.

1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division

The 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division was a volunteer unit of the Polish Army formed around December 1918 and January 1919 during the Polish–Soviet War. It was created out of several dozen smaller units of self-defence forces composed of local volunteers in what is now Lithuania and Belarus, amidst a growing series of territorial disputes between the Second Polish Republic, the Russian SFSR, and several other local provisional governments. The Division took part in several key battles of the war. Around 15-18% of the division were ethnic Lithuanians.

Krajowcy

The Krajowcy were a group of mainly Polish-speaking intellectuals from the Vilnius Region who, at the beginning of the 20th century, opposed the division of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into nation states along ethnic and linguistic lines. The movement was a reaction against growing nationalism in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The Krajowcy attempted to maintain their dual self-identification as Polish–Lithuanian rather than just Polish or Lithuanian. The Krajowcy were scattered and few in number and as a result failed to organize a widescale social movement.

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Vilnius Conference

The Vilnius Conference or Vilnius National Conference met between September 18, 1917 and September 22, 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of the Russian Empire, Poland, and the German Empire. It elected a twenty-member Council of Lithuania that was entrusted with the mission of declaring and re-establishing an independent Lithuania. The Conference, hoping to express the will of the Lithuanian people, gave legal authority to the Council and its decisions. While the Conference laid the basic guiding principles of Lithuanian independence, it deferred any matters of political structure of the future Lithuania to the Constituent Assembly, which would later be elected in a democratic manner.

Lithuania–Poland relations Bilateral relations

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Żeligowskis Mutiny

Żeligowski's Mutiny was a Polish false flag operation led by General Lucjan Żeligowski in October 1920, which resulted in the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania. Polish Chief of State Józef Piłsudski surreptitiously ordered Żeligowski to carry out the operation, and revealed the truth only several years afterwards. The area was formally annexed by Poland in 1922 and recognized by the Conference of Ambassadors as Polish territory in 1923. The decision was not recognized by Lithuania, which continued to claim Vilnius and the Vilnius Region, and by the Soviet Union.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys; Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). Edvardas Tuskenis (ed.). Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918-1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN   0-312-22458-3.
  2. ↑ Lerski, George J.; Piotr Wróbel; Richard J. Kozicki (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 309. ISBN   978-0-313-26007-0.
  3. 1 2 MacQueen, Michael (1998). "The Context of Mass Destruction: Agents and Prerequisites of the Holocaust in Lithuania". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 12 (1): 27–48. doi:10.1093/hgs/12.1.27.
  4. ↑ Łossowski, Piotr (1995). Konflikt polsko-litewski 1918-1920 (in Polish). Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza. p. 11. ISBN   83-05-12769-9.
  5. ↑ (in Russian) Demoscope.
  6. ↑ Brensztejn, Michał Eustachy (1919). Spisy ludności m. Wilna za okupacji niemieckiej od. 1 listopada 1915 r. (in Polish). Warsaw: Biblioteka Delegacji Rad Polskich Litwy i Białej Rusi. OCLC   233508723.
  7. 1 2 Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys; Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). Edvardas Tuskenis (ed.). Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918-1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 78. ISBN   0-312-22458-3.
  8. 1 2 Vilkelis, Gintautas (2006). Lietuvos ir Lenkijos santykiai Tautų Sąjungoje (in Lithuanian). Versus aureus. pp. 81–83. ISBN   9955-601-92-2.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Liekis, Šarūnas (2003). A State Within a State? Jewish autonomy in Lithuania 1918–1925. Versus aureus. pp. 159–166. ISBN   9955-9613-5-X.
  10. 1 2 3 Čepėnas, Pranas (1986). Naujųjų laikų Lietuvos istorija. Vol. II. Chicago: Dr. Griniaus fondas. pp. 657–660. OCLC   3220435.
  11. ↑ Vilkelis, Gintautas (2006). Lietuvos ir Lenkijos santykiai Tautų Sąjungoje (in Lithuanian). Versus aureus. pp. 103–104. ISBN   9955-601-92-2.
  12. ↑ A. Srebrakowski, Sejm Wileński 1922 roku. Idea i jej realizacja, Wrocław 1993, A. Srebrakowski, Stosunek mniejszości narodowych Litwy Środkowej wobec wyborów do Sejmu Wileńskiego Archived 2020-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Witos, Wincenty; Eugeniusz Karczewski (1995). Dzieła wybrane: Moja tułaczka w Czechosłowacji / do druku ... (in Polish). Vol. 3. Warszawa: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wyd. p. 542. ISBN   83-205-3497-6.
  14. ↑ Sejm Wileński 1922 : przebieg posiedzeń według sprawozdań stenograficznych w opracowaniu kancelarji sejmowej , Vilanous, 1922.
  15. ↑ Various authors (1924). Documents diplomatiques. Conflit Polono-Lituanien. Questions de Vilna 1918-1924.
  16. ↑ Phipps, Eric; Romano Avezzana; Raymond Poincaré; Maurycy Zamoyski; M. Matsuda (1923). "Decision taken by the Conference of Ambassadors regarding the eastern frontiers of Poland". League of Nations, Treaty Series (PDF). Vol. 15. League of Nations. pp. 261–265. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  17. ↑ Miniotaite, Grazina (1999). "The Security Policy of Lithuania and the 'Integration Dilemma'" (PDF). NATO Academic Forum. p. 21. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  18. ↑ Brecher, Michael; Jonathan Wilkenfeld (1997). A Study of Crisis. University of Michigan Press. p. 253. ISBN   0-472-10806-9.
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