The fate of the Tilžė act, which was considered to be important for Lithuania, turned out to be missing: it was not missing, but will only be noticed | Do you know?
However, the fate of the original manuscript was shrouded in mystery for a long time. It was never printed in the Lithuanian press, only in foreign countries.
Already in the interwar period, the main known sources testifying to the fact of the signing of the act were not the original Tilze Act, but the posters prepared according to it. It was they who ended up in the history books.
For a long time, it was believed that the original manuscript of the document did not survive, and some historians even guessed that maybe such an act never existed – maybe it was just propaganda of “Greater Lithuania” in order to argue for the annexation of Little Lithuania.
Photo of the Vytautas Great War Museum. /The original of the Act of Tilžė and a poster common in interwar Lithuania
However, it turned out that it appeared in the Soviet era, but the historians of the Vytautas Great War Museum protected it from destruction and hid it among other documents.
Printed in Denmark and Germany
“Considering the fact that everything that exists has the right to live, and the fact that we Lithuanians living in Prussian Lithuania constitute the majority of the population of this land, we demand, based on Wilson’s right to self-determination, the accommodation of Maž. Lithuania near the Great Lithuanian. All those who accept this statement with their signatures promise to devote all their strength to the fulfillment of the aforementioned aspiration”.
This is how the National Council of Minor Lithuania sounded in 1918. November 30 statement.
This statement was signed by 24 signatories: Jonas Vanagaitis, Mikelis Deivikas, Mikas Banaitis, Kristupas Kupelis, Jurgis Lėbartas, Jurgis Gronavas, Mikelis Mačiulis, Jokūbas Juška, Viktoras Gailius, Ansas Smalakys, Mikelis Lymantas, D. Kalniškis, Enzys Emilvikas Desimavi Bendikas, Mikelis Klečkus , Martynas Jankus, Kristupas Paura, Jonas Fridrichas Sūbaitis, Jurgis Arnašius, Jonas Užpurvis, Mikelis Reidys, Valteris Didžys and Jurgis Margis.
In order for the expressed aspirations to be realized, the National Council of Minor Lithuania decided to hand over the Act of Tilžė to the Entente states – England, the USA, France, and Italy, which won World War I – and thus announce it.
in 1918 in December, Jonas Vanagaitis and Jurgis Aukštuolaitis went to Karaliaučiai, but they did not find representatives of Santarvė there, so they turned towards Danzig. Found a Danish Red Cross ship in Danzig.
Through the mediation of its captain, J. Vanagaitis and J. Aukštuolaitis contacted the captain of the French military cruiser, handed him 4 copies of the Tilža Act with the hope that they would be handed over to the representatives of France, England, Italy and the USA.
The fifth copy and accompanying documents were previously handed over to the Danish ship’s captain and soon published in the Danish and later German press. But the Tilžė Act was not published in the Lithuanian press at that time.
However, in Lithuania, the Tilžė Act was acquired in 1923, when there was a real possibility to join the Klaipėda region.
“In 1923, when Klaipėda and the territory of Lesser Lithuania were annexed to Lithuania, that annexation was argued precisely by the Act of Tilžė and the resolution of the Šilutė Seimas.
In 1923, when Klaipėda and the territory of Lesser Lithuania were annexed to Lithuania, that annexation was argued precisely by the Act of Tilžė and the resolution of the Šilutė Seimas.
The arguments expressed that in the Act of Tilžė Lithuanians of Lesser Lithuania expressed their desire to join Greater Lithuania, and the resolution of the Šilutė Seimas confirmed this”, – 15 minutes Kristina Petrauskė, museum curator of the Vytautas Great War Museum, speaks.
She drew attention to the fact that the Tilžė act differed from the act of February 16, with which it is sometimes compared – the National Council of Minor Lithuania, which signed the act, was not an elected government body.
“These are simply people who gathered and sought the annexation of Lithuania Minor to Lithuania. It is realistically probable that a part of the people who lived in the larger territory did not want to join that Lithuania, but they were not so active. But the active part of the elite, they got together and wrote this proclamation that they want to unite”, said K. Petrauskė.
After the Klaipėda region came to Lithuania, the original Tilžė Act was never made public during the interwar period. The main sources of information testifying to the fact of signing were in 1926. and in 1936 posters of the Act of Tilžė have been published.
“In 1926 and in 1936 posters were made based on the original, which were ornate and beautiful. The original was simply written on a piece of paper. Those posters were copied and printed all the time, and until today only posters were publicized everywhere. Historians thought that the act did not survive, had perished and disappeared,” said K. Petrauskė.
For many history lovers, the best knowledge is the initiative of Jonas Vanagaitis, the signatory of the Tilžė Act in 1936. A poster with the text of the declaration and signatures was published in the “Ryto” printing house. It can be seen in many history textbooks.
It didn’t lose its meaning even later
According to K. Petrauskė, in the first years of the Soviet era, when deciding on the fate of the Klaipėda region – whether it will be left to Lithuania, joined to the Kaliningrad region – the Tilžė Act was also used as an argument that the territory should belong to Lithuania.
And later, the historian said, he was remembered again during the restoration of Lithuania’s Independence. Because then there were also doubts whether Russia would not decide to claim Klaipėda, and in this context it was useful to remember.
In the year of restored Independence, the act began to be evaluated in two ways. Some people considered this document very important, almost as important as the act of February 16.
According to this view, it was the Act of Tilžė that clearly expressed the desire of the Lithuanians of Minor Lithuania to join Lithuania, and without it we might not even have been the Klaipėda region.
Proponents of another point of view said that the Act of Tilžė is overemphasized – as if it only reflected the opinion of the largest part of the Klaipėda region, and a large part of the region’s population, even if they associated themselves with Lithuanian culture, had no great desire to join Lithuania as a political entity.
According to this approach, the National Council of Little Lithuania basically functioned as an organization representing the interests of “Great Lithuania”, which did not have the support of a large part of the population of the region.
“Some historians have even expressed doubts that maybe those posters spread between the wars are such a semi-falsification of Great Lithuania.
Some historians have even expressed doubts that maybe those posters spread between the wars are a falsification of the balance of Great Lithuania.
Because there are posters, but there is no original, so, they said, maybe, let’s say, such an act of Tilžė was signed, but its text is different from the one on the poster. Such doubts remained. But now we can compare with the original – the text is not different, it is the same”, said K. Petrauskė.
Photo of the Vytautas Great War Museum. /The original of the Act of Tilžė and a poster common in interwar Lithuania
Historians hid from destruction
The original of the Tilžė act, which was considered missing for a long time, shows that since 1983 he didn’t disappear anywhere – he will just notice.
The question of where the Tilze Act was kept until 1983 has not yet been answered. However, you know for sure that it was in that year that the act entered the press collection of the Kaunas State History Museum (since 1990 – Vytautas the Great War Museum).
In that year, the museum acquired the manuscript of the Deed from a private person – but the museum does not have any more information about the woman who sold the unique manuscript, other than her last name.
“That document was brought to the museum by a private person. The museum staff understood what it was. They called the document “Prussian Council Report” without publicizing it too much, hiding it in a very open place, simply without telling what it is, in a museum collection, and kept it there,” said K. Petrauskė.
According to the historian, secrecy was necessary – during the Soviet era, documents found unfavorable to the Soviet regime were often simply destroyed.
Therefore, emphasizing that such an important document ended up in the museum was definitely not wanted. The Tilze Act was quietly included in the museum’s Press collection, which consists of over 60,000. exhibits.
After the restoration of Independence, according to K. Petrauskės, historians who studied the history of the Klaipėda region, thought that the Tilžė act had disappeared, they did not even imagine that it could simply lie in the collections of the Vytautas Great War Museum.
“There was such a misunderstanding. The War Museum staff knew it was stored here, but we didn’t know that others didn’t.
The War Museum staff knew it was stored here, but we didn’t know that others didn’t.
We didn’t know they were looking, they didn’t know they could look for us. Now the Museum of the History of Little Lithuania has started organizing an exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the Klaipėda Uprising and the annexation of the region to Lithuania. They came to us and asked for skeleton exhibits. We offered them – and maybe you also want this document? And then they were very surprised that we have it, they say, so here is the second act of February 16″, said K. Petrauskė.
The manuscript of the Tilžė deed kept in the Press collection of the museum is double-sided with corrections and original signatures – pasted on a single-colored sheet of paper, on the other side – a printout with signatures.
Therefore, it is likely that this is one of the six copies of this Act, according to which the better-known posters could have been modeled and published.
The museum also keeps the original typescript from 1918.
From November 30 the original act will be exhibited for two weeks at the Vytautas Great War Museum.