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The Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland or Memelgebiet) or Memel Territory was historically a part of Prussia and the German Empire. Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 it fell under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors and was occupied by French troops. It was seized by Lithuania in the Klaipėda Revolt of 1923 and remained a part of Lithuania until 1939 when it was annexed by Germany. After World War II the territory was a part of the Lithuanian SSR, and today is contained within Lithuania's Klaipėda and Tauragė counties, bordering Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the south.
History
The area has historically been a part of various political entities:
- 1225 - 1250 Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- 1328 - 1525 part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
- 1525 - 1660 part of Ducal Prussia, a fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- 1660 - 1701 Ducal Prussia as part of Brandenburg-Prussia
- 1701 - 1871 Kingdom of Prussia
- 1871 - 1918 Kingdom of Prussia within the German Empire
- 1920 - 1923 Administered by the Council of Ambassadors under the Treaty of Versailles
- 1923 - 1939 Republic of Lithuania
- 1939 - 1944 Nazi Germany
- 1944 - 1991 Lithuanian SSR
- 1991 - Present Republic of Lithuania
History between the wars
By the Treaty of Versailles in February 1920, the part of former East Prussia north of the Niemen River up to the the town of Memel. It was designated as the Memel Territory (Territoire de Memel, Memelland,Klaipėda Region), was separated from Germany and passed to an interim supervisor of the states of the Council of Ambassadors. The administration and control of the region was exercised by France.
In January 1923, three years after Versailles, the Lithuanian inhabitance of the territory rose up against the French administration in the Klaipėda Revolt. On January 19 the rebels asked for admission into Lithuania as an autonomous territory (where the Memel Territory would have a separate parliament and government, two official languages, be the administrator of taxes, duties, cultural and religious affairs, would oversee the local judical system, agriculture and forestry, and social security). Lithuania accepted this, and thus the Memel Territory became an autonomous part of Lithuania. This annexation gave Lithuania all year round ice free access to the Baltic.
The Council of Ambassadors, accepted the status quo and made a bid for the significant autonomy for the region, homologated its incorporation to the Republic of Lithuania. On May 8, 1924 the Convention on the Klaipėda region confirmed the cession and an autonomy agreement was signed in Paris. It was recognized as an integral part of The Republic of Lithuania by Germany in January 29, 1928 (Lithuanian - German border treaty). Klaipeda Region however remained an autonomous region 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 below). Both the 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 memelland in all conceivable measures, in the territories, isolated from Germany. Sixteen years later 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 an authoress of the region Ieva Simonaitytė, who in the 1930s earned fame when she wrote her first novel about the centuries-old German-Lithuanian relations in the region.
Nonetheless, Lithuania fully used the makings of Klaipėda port, modernized and adapted it to export its agricultural products. The port reconstruction was certainly the largest long-term investment project realized by the government of Lithuania. Actually, you couldn't even imagine, what could or might have been, since 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 put on trial by Lithuania. The so-called proceeding of Neumann and Sass in 1934–35 in Kaunas was presented as the 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 Nazi Germany. On account of political and economical constraint of Germany in 1936–38 the most part of these leaders were unbound: by late 1938 Lithuania lost control over the situation in region already. On March 22, 1939, after a political blackmail of Germany, Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs Juozas Urbšys and his colleague Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of cession of the Memel Territory to Germany. Germany invaded it even before Lithuanian ratification. Despite of pledge to overlook after Klaipėda and help maintain its position as autonomous part of Lithuania, the United Kingdom was not interested in helping Lithuania, and therefore the 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).
World War II and later
18,000 Jews and Lithuanians, for fear of executions, all Lithuanian institutions and organizations deserted the region. From 1939–45 Memel was a part of the Third Reich again. It was a navy base and a fortress. The failed German invasion of USSR determined the fate of entire East Prussia. During 1944–45 all inhabitants of Klaipėda without distinction had to forsake their homeland and were drawn to Germany. From 1944-45 the former Klaipėda region became a part of Lithuanian SSR.
Demography
According to 1925 census (by subdivisions):
- City of Klaipėda - 35,854 inhabitants, 30.3% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 57.2% local Germans, 5.5% other locals, 7.0% foreign citizens.
- Klaipėdos apskritis - 30,409 inhabitants, 73.4% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 23.7% local Germans, 0.8% other locals, 2.1% foreign citizens.
- Šilutės apskritis - 36,404 inhabitants, 55.6% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 41.8% local Germans, 0.1% other locals, 2.5% foreign citizens.
- Pagėgių apskritis - 38,987 inhabitants, 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 inhabitants, 57.8% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 39.3% local Germans, 0.3 other locals, 2.6% foreign citizens.
- All region - 141,640 inhabitants, 50.8% local Lithuanians and "Klaipėdians", 43.8% local Germans, 1.6% other locals, 3.8% foreign citizens.
Overall, Lithuanians were more rural than Germans; the part of Lithuanians in the city of Klaipėda itself increased over time due to urbanization and migration from villages into cities and later also from remaining Lithuania (in the city of Klaipėda, Lithuanian-speaking people made up 21.5% in 1912, 32.6% in 1925 and 38.7% in 1932*). Foreign citizens might include some Germans, who opted for German citizenship instead of Lithuanian (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 included people of other nationalities who had citizenship of Lithuania, such as Jews.
*these percentages exclude foreign citizens living in Klaipėda; including foreign citizens would slightly lower the percentages