Minorities in Lithuania
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[Communicated to the Members of the Council.] C. 149.1 9 2 5 . 1. Geneva, March gth, 1925. LEAGUE OF NATIONS MINORITIES IN LITHUANIA Situation of the Polish Minority in Lithuania (See Council Document C. 31. 1925. I.) Note by the Secretary-General. In a letter dated March 6th, 1925, the Lithuanian Government communicated to the Secre tary-General some further observations regarding the situation of the Polish minority in Lithuania The Secretary-General has the honour to communicate herewith to the Members of the Council for their information the above-mentioned letter and observations. LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL BY THE LITHUANIAN DELEGATE TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. Geneva, March 6th, 1925. I have the honour to forward to you the enclosed memorandum concerning the situation of the Polish minority in Lithuania, with the request that you will communicate it to the Members of the Council. Annexes I to IV will follow this document as soon as possible. (Signed) V. S idzikauskas , Lithuanian Delegate to the League oj Nations. Lithuanian Minister at Berlin. MEMORANDUM CONCERNING THE SITUATION OF THE POLISH MINORITY IN LITHUANIA submitted to the Council of the League oj Nations by the Lithuanian Government. The so-called Committee of Exiled Poles in Lithuania, whose headquarters are at Vilna, has addressed several petitions to the Council of the League of Nations accusing Lithuania of not observing the provisions of the Minorities Declaration of May 12th, 1922, and of persecuting the Polish minority in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Government, in its note of May 28th, 1924, addressed to M. Erik Colban, Chief ol the Minorities Section, and in a letter submitted to Sir Eric Drummond, the Secretary-General of the League, dated November 4th of the same year, had the honour to communicate to the Council of the League all its observations regarding the complaints by the so-called Committee of Exiles. The Council Committee of the League of Nations constituted in conformity with the Council resolution of October 25th, 1920, and consisting of M. Benes, M. Quinones de Léon and Mr. Chamberlain, at its meeting on December n th , 1924, at Rome, expressed the wish to receive from the Lithuanian Government supplementary explanations as regards the following points : 1. The assertion of the petitioners that Polish publications are hardly ever permitted by the authorities (pages 8 et seq. of the petition of June 1st, 1924. and letter of the petitioners dated August 12th, 1924, with annexes). 2. The assertion of the petitioners (page 10 of the Memorandum dated June 1st, 1924) that insurmountable obstacles are placed in the way of Polish private teaching in Lithuania. 3. Agrarian Reform. — In order to appreciate the importance of the complaints of the peti tioners on this matter, it would seem desirable that the Lithuanian Government should place at the disposal of the Council statistics showing how agrarian reform has been put into practice. S. d. N. 10J. (A) 3/25. Imp. Kundig The Lithuanian Government may perhaps also desire to furnish the Council with statistics concern ing expropriation without compensation carried out in the course of agrarian reform, indicating at the same time the legislative provisions in virtue of which this expropriation was effected. In order to facilitate an exchange of views with the Lithuanian Government on these questions the Council Committee thought it expedient that the question of the situation of the Polish Mino rity in Lithuania should be placed upon the agenda of the next session of the Council. The Government of the Lithuanian Republic makes the strictest reservations as to the procedure adopted by the Council Committee in pursuance of the petitions from the so-called Committee of Exiled Poles. These reservations are particularly necessary because : (i) the so-called Committee of Exiled Poles at Vilna, without presenting or possessing any authorisation to speak in the name of the whole Polish minority in Lithuania, poses as the spokesman and defender of the interests of all the Poles in this country ; and (2) the members of the so-called Committee of Poles have never been exiled by the Lithuanian Government from the territory under its administration: they belong to circles which, after having taken part in mischievous plots against the safety and the very existence of the Lithuanian State, established their headquarters on the other side of the line of demarcation between the Lithuanian and Polish troops which was traced immediately after General Zeligowski’s coup de force. Furthermore, the president of this Committee, M. Lopacinski, has never lived in territory forming part of the reconstituted State of Lithuania, but is a native of the province of Vitebsk, which is at present subject to Soviet Russia. As a matter of fact, the persons composing this Committee of Exiles are merely willing tools in the hands of Poland in the pursuit of her anti-Lithunania policy. Their role consists in representing the situation of the Polish minority in this country in the darkest colours and in thus diverting the attention of the League of Nations and of public opinion throughout the world from the intolerable state of affairs created by the Polish occupation of the Vilna area. At the same time, the Lithuanian Government, not wishing for the moment to emphasise too strongly this aspect of the question, but desiring to throw all possible light upon the present situation of the Polish minority in Lithuania, ventures to submit to the Council certain facts which it is essential to take into account before any accurate view of the complaints received from the so-called Committee of Exiled Poles at Vilna can be formed. The Lithuanian Government desires also to observe that, in its opinion, Lithuanian policy, as regards the use of languages, public education and agrarian reform, can only concern the Council of the League of Nations in so far as this policy is proved by facts to be in flagrant contradiction with international undertakings given by Lithuania. I A s s e r t io n o f t h e P e t i t i o n e r s t h a t P o l is h P ublications a r e h a r d l y e v e r p e r m it t e d b y t h e A u t h o r it ie s (pages 8 et seq. of the Petition of June 1st, 1924, and letter of the petitioners dated August 12th, 1924, with annexes). The question of languages was settled in Lithuania by the Constitution itself, paragraph 6 of which is as follows : “The official language shall be Lithuanian”. The use of local languages is regulated by the law. It has not so far been possible to apply this law, as well as a number of other laws also provided for in the Constitution, owing to the comparatively short time that has elapsed since the Constitution was voted, and owing to the necessity imposed upon the Lithuanian Government and legislative body of devoting themselves almost exclusively to laying the juri dical, economic and financial foundations of the State. Nevertheless, the Lithuanian Government is doing its utmost to submit to Parliament at as early a date as possible a bill to give effect to the above-mentioned provision in the Constitution. The Lithuanian Government can here and now declare that the law in question will be in complete harmony with paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 4 of the Minorities Declaration dated May 12th, 1922, which stipulate that: “No restriction will be imposed on the free use by any Lithuanian national of any language in private intercourse, in commerce, in religion, in the press or in publications of any kind, or at public meetings. “Notwithstanding any establishment of an official language, adequate facilities will be given to Lithuanian nationals of non-Lithuanian speech for the use of their languages, either orally or in writing, before the Courts.” The Lithuanian Government can also state that there is in Lithuania to-day no law or regu lation in contradiction with the provisions of the said declaration. The truth of this statsment will be evident from the analysis we are proposing to make, point by point, of the charges brought against the Lithuanian Government by the so-called Committee of Exiled Poles at Vilna. Polish Press. The petitioners complain that, contrary to the provisions of Article 4, paragraph 3, of the declaration dated May 12th, 1922, the Lithuanian authorities have five times suspended the only Polish newspaper in Lithuania. This assertion calls for the following observations: (1) The newspaper Dziennik Kowienski, mentioned in the Committee’s petition, is not the only Polish newspaper in Lithuania. The Polish minority, despite its numerical weakness, has four newspapers appearing in Polish : the Chata Rodzinna, the Dzien Kowienski, the Nowiny and the Wiadomosci Rolnicze. The Lithuanian Government considers that this alone is proof of the tolerance shown towards the Polish minority ; and at a time, too, when Lithuanian newspapers in Lithuanian districts under Polish occupation are persecuted in a manner unparalleled in any civilised country, simply because they appear in Lithuanian. (2) The petitioners have omitted to mention in their appeal that the Dzien Kowienski has several times been punished, not because of the language in which it appears nor because it is a minority organ but by reason of breaches of the general press regulations. Owing to the extremely difficult circumstances in which the reconstitution of Lithuania as a State took place, and in view also of the geographical position of the country, the Lithuanian Government has been compelled to keep an exceedingly watchful eye upon subversive elements which have frequently tried to use the principle of the freedom of the press as a cover under which to conduct campaigns dangerous to the peace and very existence of the State.