The Provisional Governing Commission [lower-alpha 1] was a provisional executive government of the Republic of Central Lithuania, that existed from 1920 to 1922. [1]
The Provisional Governing Commission [lower-alpha 1] was a provisional executive government of the Republic of Central Lithuania, that existed from 1920 to 1922. [1]
The Provisional Governing Commission had been formed on 12 October 1920, following Żeligowski's Mutiny, in which forces from Poland, under the command of general Lucjan Żeligowski, had ceased Vilnius Region from Lithuania, and established the Republic of Central Lithuania, as the puppet state of Poland. The formation of the executive government had been announced by Żeligowski, the commander-in-chief of Army of Central Lithuania, who de facto acted as the leader of the state. It included Witold Abramowicz, Leon Bobicki, Mieczysław Engiel, Jerzy Iwanowski, Vatslav Ivanóvskiy, Teofil Szopa, and Aleksander Zasztowt. [2] Engiel and Szope represented the Borderlands Guard within the Provisional Governing Commission. [3] On the day of its establishment, Żeligowski had appointed the members of the government to the offices of the ministers. [4] The Provisional Governing Commission formally ceased to exist on 6 April 1922, when the Legislative Sejm of Poland voted for the resolution to incorporate Central Lithuania into Polish territory. [5] [6]
The Provisional Governing Commission was formed from 11 ministries and the chairperson. The chairperson was simultaneously the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and their responsibilities included: representing the state in international politics, organizing and leading the government meetings, and leading the Chairperson Bureau and the Law and Legislature Department. Their deputy was the vice-chairperson, who deputized the chairperson in their responsibilities connected to running the Provisional Governing Commission. [1]
The competencies of the government included:
The government had its meetings organized 2 times in a week, with the possibility of organizing additional emergency meetings. [1]
Alongside the Provisional Governing Commission, functioned also the Office of the Chairperson of Provisional Governing Commission, that oversaw the officials employment, and the Chairperson Bureau, which executed the orders from the chairperson. [1]
The Republic of Central Lithuania, commonly known as the Central Lithuania, and the Middle Lithuania, was an unrecognized short-lived puppet state of Poland, that existed from 1920 to 1922. It was founded on 12 October 1920, after successful Żeligowski's Mutiny, during which the volunteer 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division under command of general Lucjan Żeligowski seized the Vilnius Region that Lithuania made claims to. It was incorporated into Poland on 18 April 1922.
The Polish–Lithuanian War was an undeclared war fought in the aftermath of World War I between newly independent Lithuania and Poland, with fighting mainly in the Vilnius and Suwałki regions, which was part of the Lithuanian Wars of Independence and lasted from May 1919 to 29 November 1920. Since the spring of 1920, the conflict happened alongside the wider Polish–Soviet War and was affected by its progress. It was subject to unsuccesful international mediation at the Conference of Ambassadors and the League of Nations.
Lucjan Żeligowski was a Polish-Lithuanian general, politician, military commander and veteran of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War and World War II. He is mostly remembered for his role in Żeligowski's Mutiny and as head of a short-lived Republic of Central Lithuania.
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Treaty of Kaunas was a treaty signed on 29 November 1920 in Kaunas, Lithuania, that the next day started the armistice between Lithuania and Central Lithuania ending the Central Lithuanian Offensive on Kaunas. The treaty was drafted between 27 and 29 November 1920, during the peace negotiations between Lithuania and Poland led by the League of Nations.
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Witold Abramowicz was a politician and jurist. In 1919, he served as the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, and from 12 October 1920 to 16 January 1921, he was the chairperson of the Provisional Governing Commission, an executive government of the Republic of Central Lithuania. In 1922, he was the leader of the Democratic Party, which he represented in the Sejm of Central Lithuania from 1 February to 1 March 1922. From 11 March 1928 to 10 July 1935, he represented the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government for Vilnius electoral district, in the Senate of Poland.
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