Republic of Central Lithuania

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Map of the region, with so called Republic of Central Lithuania marked in Green

The Republic of Central Lithuania or Middle Lithuanua (Lithuanian: Vidurio Lietuvos Respublika, Polish: Republika Litwy Środkowej, Belarusian: Рэспубліка Сярэдняе Літвы / Respublika Siaredniaje Litvy), or simply Central Lithuania (Lithuanian: Vidurio Lietuva or Vidurinė Lietuva, Polish: Litwa Środkowa, Belarusian: Сярэдняя Літва / Siaredniaja Litva), was a state created in 1920 by allegedly rebellious soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Infantry Division of the Polish Army, by secret order of Józef Piłsudski. Centered around the historical capital of Lithuania, Vilna, the state was short-lived and did not gain international recognition. For eighteen months the entity, served as a buffer state between Poland, upon which it largely depended, and Lithuania, which also claimed the area^[1]. Finally, on March 24, 1922, following the general elections held there, but unrecognized by the Republic of Lithuania, it was annexed to Poland.

[edit] History

[edit] Ethnic and national background

Main article: Ethnic composition of Central Lithuania

Territory of so called Republic of Central Lithuania (green) as compared with other Lithuanian claims on neighbouring countries

Following the decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in late 18th century, the state had been divided among its neighbours in what is known as the partitions of Poland. Most of the lands that formerly constituted the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were annexed by the Russian Empire. While initially the lands around the city of Vilna had certain local autonomy, with local gentry (szlachta) holding the same offices as prior to the partitions, with time the Imperial government started to pursue a policy of both political and cultural assimilation of the newly-acquired lands (Russification). Following the failed November Uprising all traces of former Polish-Lithuanian statehood (like the Third Statute of Lithuania and Congress Poland) started to be replaced with their Russian counterparts, from the currency and units of measurement, to offices of local administration. The failed January Uprising of 1864 further aggravated the situation, as the Russian authorities decided to pursue the policies of forcibly imposed Russification. The discrimination of local inhabitants included a ban on usage of both Polish and Lithuanian languages in public and in print, which was intended to Russify the local population.

Despite that, the pre-19th century cultural and ethnic pattern of the area was largely preserved. In the process of partial voluntary Polonization, much of the local gentry and boyars of Ruthenian and Lithuanian origin adopted Polish language and culture. This was also true to the representatives of the then-nascent class of bourgeoisie and the Catholic and Uniate clergy. At the same time, the lower strata of the society (notably the peasants) formed a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural mixture of Poles, Lithuanians, Jews and Ruthenians, as well as a small yet notable population of immigrants from all parts of Europe, from Italy to Scotland and from the Low Countries to Germany.

Piłsudski's bi-lingual Appeal to the citizens of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania of April 1919

The national composition of the latter area is difficult to measure as both Russian, Polish and Soviet censuses are not often reliable^{[citation needed]}.

In the middle of the 19th century, Lithuanian speakers constituted more than a half of all the population in all the Vilnius guberniya including Vilnius. In Lithuanian areas of the region (that is without southeast margins of Vilnius gubernyia and Vilnius with its surroundings as a linguistic enclave) according to M. Lebedkin there were 71% of Lithuanians here, to A. Korev - 67%, to D'Erkert - 66%^{[citation needed]}. 18% of Poles were found by official statistics in all the Vilnius guberniya (including Vilnius) then.^{[citation needed]}

Later, the more reliable data^{[citation needed]}, seems to be the Russian Empire Census of 1897, and to some extent, the Nazi 1942 census. According to the first census of the Russian Empire, 1897, the population of the Vilna guberniya was distributed as follows. Keep in mind that the significant territory of the province had a Belarusian speaking majority and as of today is included in Belarus (mostly into the Hrodna voblast, but also in the Minsk voblast, and Vitsebsk voblast).^{[citation needed]}

• Russians — 4.9%
• Ukrainians — 0.1%
• Belarusians — 56.1% (including Roman Catholics)
• Poles — 8.2%
• Lithuanians — 17.6%
• Germans — 0.2%
• Jews — 12.7%
• Tatars — 0.1%
• Others — 0.1%

According to Russian census the inhabitants of the city of Vilnius were distributed by native language as follows.^{[citation needed]}

• Russian language — 20.9% (many of them were Russian-speaking Jews, as may be inferred from the "Religion" tables)
• Ukrainian language — 0.3%
• Belarusian language — 4.3%
• Polish language — 30.1%
• Lithuanian language — 2.1%
• German language — 1.4%
• Yiddish — 40.0%
• Tatar language — 0.5%
• Others — 0.4%

Lithuanian authorities argued that the majority of Polish speaking inhabitants living there were Polish speaking Lithuanians.^{[citation needed]} While Poland attempted to rebuild a multi-national Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a number of ethnically non-Polish territories, Lithuania strived to create a state in its ethnic lands.

[edit] Changes in language and nationality

The data from different times shows the changes in languages. The Lithuanian speaking area was constantly on the decline, while Belarusian speaking area pro rata was on the increase. The 20th century marks a sudden increase of Polish speaking people and pro rata decrease of Belarusian speakers. Lithuanian speaking islands remained in Dyatlovo, Lasduny, Gervyaty etc.

The Slavic (Belarusian) speaking areas always bordered the vicinity of eastern Lithuania. During the rule of the Russian tsars, the use of the Lithuanian language was as follows:

• The Lingua franca had been Polish in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the middle of 17th century most of the Lithuanian nobility spoke Polish but remained Lithuanians by nationality and were patriots of their country.
• Lithuanian was considered as an inferior, pagan language by the Polish clergy and Russian officials. This idea was constantly reinforced and conveyed to the common people.
• Belarusians were able to understand both the Tsar's officials and the Polish speaking priests. These languages are akin to each other. Thus, many peasants adopted Belarusian and spoke in two-four languages. Their children did not need to speak Lithuanian any longer.
• After the uprising in 1863-1864 the Latin alphabet was forbidden, Lithuanians were oppressed even more. Catholicism (with the Polish clergy dominating) naturally become a symbol of resistance. Since Polish was considered the language of Catholicism by the common people, a good number of Lithuanian speakers of this area declared themselves as Poles during the censuses. By doing so, they felt they were emphasising that they were Catholics.^{[citation needed]}

A considerable number of Lithuanians began to speak Belarusian mixed with Lithuanianisms and became “tuteishi” ("the locals”). They did not assign themselves to any nation. These people said they were speaking "paprostu" ("the common language, the language of the simple people").^{[citation needed]}

People who spoke “paprostu” were considered to be Poles by various governments. The Polonization, exercised by clergy (also spreading from estates) and later implemented by the Polish government was uncompromising. About 100-200 thousands colonists from Poland were brought in. Many Lithuanian schools were closed. In 1938, the Polish administration left only two Lithuanian primary schools and one gymnasium (the Gymnasium of Vytautas Didysis) in the entire area.^{[citation needed]}

The soviets at the beginning stopped the Polonization. But they soon restored it. The Poles were protected by the local governments of the area. Lithuanian were replaced in public functions by Poles and Russians.^{[citation needed]}

During this long period of foreign rule, many people became indoctrinated with negative attitudes towards the Lithuanian language and to be ashamed of their descent and in spite of speaking “paprostu”, to consider themselves to be Poles.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Conflicts

Main article: Polish-Lithuanian War

In the aftermath of the First World War and the decline of the Ober-Ost, the former area of Grand Duchy of Lithuania was divided between Republic of Poland, Belarusian National Republic and the Republic of Lithuania. Following the start of the Polish-Soviet War, in 1919 the territory was occupied by the Red Army which defeated and pushed local self-defence units (Lithuanian and Belarusian Self-Defence), but shortly afterwards the Bolsheviks were pushed back by the Polish Army. 1920, saw Central Lithuania occupied by the Red Army for the second time, although Russia officially recognized the sovereignty of Lithuanian Soviet Republic over the city^{[citation needed]}. Lenin was probably waiting for the capture of Warsaw, to occupy the remainder of Lithuania^{[citation needed]}. However, when the Red Army was defeated in the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets made the decision to hand the city back over to Lithuania^{[citation needed]}. Despite these decisions, Lithuania seized the southern Suvalkai region (Polish: Suwałki region) as well. The rationale for this was that several parts of the region had clear Lithuanian ethnic majorities^{[citation needed]}. When the Polish army reached the Lithuanian lines (August 26, 1920), a war erupted.

This made the compromise even harder to achieve, since the newly-established state of Lithuania declined to negotiate on the status of the Vilnius area, claiming it as its capital and denying any Polish influence over it, whatsoever^{[citation needed]}. A cease-fire agreement was signed on October 7, 1920, but it did not solve the issue. On October 7, 1920, the Lithuanian and Polish delegations concluded a truce in Suwałki (Lithuanian: Suvalkai). It was agreed upon that the Suwałki Agreement would take effect on October 10, 1920. The treaty determined a demarcation line, in which Vilnius was given to the Lithuanians^{[citation needed]}.

However a day before Suwałki treaty came into force, on October 8, General Lucjan Żeligowski with his 1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Infantry Division and the help of local inhabitants launched a surprise attack on the weak Lithuanian forces in the area^[1]. Poland disclaimed all knowledge of the action, maintaining that the General had acted on his own initiative, but it was clear that Warsaw gave its blessing to his actions^[1]. It is also speculated that perhaps Piłsudski gave his direct orders to Żeligowski^[2]. The entire area had been seized in less than two days, without fighting^[3]. Instead of merging the areas with Poland, he set up a new state there under the name of Central Lithuania.

[edit] Republic of Central Lithuania

A new country was created under the name of the Republic of Central Lithuania. After the staged mutiny, Lucjan Żeligowski, proclaimed an uprising of local people^{[citation needed]}. On October 12, 1920, he announced the creation of a provisional government. Soon the courts and the police were formed by his decree of January 7, 1921, and the civil rights of Central Lithuania were granted to all people living in the area on January 1, 1919, or for five years prior to August 1, 1914.

The symbols of the state were a red flag with Polish White Eagle and Lithuanian Vytis and a coat of arms being a mixture of Polish, Lithuanian and Vilnian symbols, similar to the Coat of Arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Extensive diplomatic negotiations continued behind the scenes. Lithuania proposed creating a confederation of Baltic Western Lithuania (with Lithuanian as an official language) and Central Lithuania (with Polish as an official language)^{[citation needed]}. Poland added the condition that the new state must be also federated with Poland, pursuing the Józef Piłsudski's goal of creating the Międzymorze Federation^{[citation needed]}. Lithuanians chose to reject this condition. With nationalistic sentiments rising all over Europe, many Lithuanians were afraid that such a federation, resembling the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from centuries ago, would be a threat to Lithuanian culture, as during the Commonwealth times the many of the of Lithuanian upper class (nobility - the szlachta) Polonized themselves under the influence of the Polish culture.

General elections were decreed to take place on January 9, 1921, and the regulations governing this election were to be issued prior to November 28, 1920. However, due to the League of Nations mediation, and the Lithuanian boycott of the voting, the elections were postponed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Mediation

Various demarcation lines during the struggle for central Lithuania

Meanwhile in Brussels peace talks were held under the auspice of the League of Nations. The initial agreement had been signed by both sides on November 29, 1920, and the talks started on March 3, 1921. The League of Nations considered the Polish proposal of a plebiscite on the future of Central Lithuania. As a compromise, the so called "Hymans' plan" was proposed (named after the Belgian envoy to the conference). It consisted of 15 points, among them were^{[citation needed]}:

• Both sides guarantee each other's independence.
• Central Lithuania is incorporated into the Federation of Lithuania, composed of two cantons - the Lithuanian-inhabitated Samogitia and multiethnic (Belarusian, Tatars, Polish, Jewish and Lithuanian) Wilno area. Both cantons will have separate governments, parliaments, official languages and a common federative capital in Vilnius/Wilno^[4].
• Lithuanian and Polish governments will create interstate commissions on both foreign affairs, trade and industry measures and local policies.
• Poland and Lithuania will sign a defensive alliance treaty.
• Poland will gain usage of ports in Lithuania.

The plan was more or less acceptable for both sides. The talks came to a halt when Poland demanded that a delegation from Central Lithuania (boycotted by Lithuania) be invited to Brussels^{[citation needed]}. On the other hand Lithuanians demanded that the troops in Central Lithuania be relocated to the line of the October 7, 1920 cease-fire agreement^{[citation needed]}. Both claims were a step too far.

A new plan was presented to the governments of Lithuania and Poland in September 1921. It was basically a modification of "Hymans' plan", with the difference that the Memel Territory (the area between the Memel/Neman River and the town of Memel/Klaipėda) was to be incorporated into Lithuania while Central Lithuania was to be granted a certain level of internal autonomy instead of a cantonal status^{[citation needed]}. However, both Poland and Lithuania openly criticized it and finally this turn of talks came to a halt as well^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Resolution

Ribbon of the Cross of Military Merit of Central Lithuania

After the talks in Brussels failed, the tensions in the area grew. The most important issue was the huge army Central Lithuania fielded (27,000)^{[citation needed]}. General Lucjan Żeligowski decided to pass the power to the civil authorities and confirmed the date of the elections (January 8, 1922)^{[citation needed]}. There was a significant electional propaganda campaign over the issue of the elections as both Poles and Lithuanians tried to win the support of other ethnic groups present in the area^{[citation needed]}. Eventually, Lithuania decided to boycott the elections stating that according to International law the territory is still a sovereign part of Lithuania proper and only the Bolshevist Socialist Party of Lithuania and Belarus took part in it^{[citation needed]}.

Apart from the Lithuanian organisations that eventually decided to boycott the voting, most of the parties that took part in it were supporting the idea of incorporation of the area into Poland - with different grades of autonomy. 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% Jews and 8,2% of Lithuanians)^{[citation needed]}. The elections where boycotted by Lithuanians, most of the Jews and some Belarusians; a certain percentage had doubts over whether they should vote.^[5] Poles were the only major ethnic group out of which the majority of people voted^{[citation needed]}. This and possibility of fraud were the pretexts for Lithuania not to recognise it^{[citation needed]}. Also, the Lithuanian side argued that the election area covered only the territory of Central Lithuania, that is the areas under Lithuanian administration prior to Żeligowski's action, while it should also cover the areas promised to Lithuania in the Lithuanian-Soviet agreement of July 12, 1920, known as the Vilnius region^{[citation needed]}.

The two biggest political groups in the newly-elected parliament were the "Polish Voting Committee" (43 seats) and the "Popular Councils" (34 seats). All the other groups gained 29 seats altogether^{[citation needed]}. The parliament gathered on February 1, 1922 and on February 20 after a fierce discussion, incorporation into Poland had been passed^{[citation needed]}. The Polish Sejm passed the law proposed by the Central Lithuanian parliament on March 22, 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 League of Nations in 1923^{[citation needed]}, but Lithuania declined to accept the Polish authority over the area of Wilno^{[citation needed]}. Instead, it continued to treat the so-called Vilnius Region as part of its own territory and the city itself as its constitutional capital, with Kaunas being only a temporary seat of government.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Aftermath

It was not until the Polish ultimatum of 1938, when the Lithuanian authorities acquiesced to resume diplomatic relations with Poland, and de facto accepted the borders of its neighbour^{[citation needed]}. After the Soviet-Nazi pact and the Polish Defensive War of 1939, Lithuania was given Vilnius, and its surroundings up to 30 km, on October 10, 1939. A part of the region was given to the Belarusian SSR.^{[citation needed]} Lithuanian success was however short-lived: soon afterwards, Lithuania was forced to become a Lithuanian SSR^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] See also

• History of Vilnius
• Wilno Voivodeship
• History of Poland
• History of Lithuania
• Former countries in Europe after 1815

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Lithuanian-Belarusian language boundary in the 4th decade of the 19th century
• Lithuanian-Belarusian language boundary in the beginning of the 20th century
• List of the XIXth century Suwałki region family names
• State symbols of Central Lithuania
• Depatriation and resettlement of Ethnic Poles
• The map of the language majorities of the region in 1921, after Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland: Volume II, 1795 to the Present; Columbia University Press: 1982