| Abstract [eng] |
Lithuania just like other countries of Europe is a multinational country. It’s been a long time this country is occupied by people of diverse culture, religion and customs. It especially can be noticed in the beginning of the 20th century after the First World War in Europe when the greatest empires of that time have collapsed. At that time when Lithuania was independent in 1923 there were over 2 million residents in the country according to the universal data compilation (excluding the city of Vilnius and Klaipėda) and 3,2 % of all population were polish people. Polish press that was issued between the World Wars can be firmly called the expression of polish national minority’s attitude and opinion. The investigation of the polish press provides an opportunity to take a look at the country’s inner political, economic and social evolution as well as the relationship between Lithuania and Poland the way polish nation saw all of it. We should emphasize in advance that this attitude has always been negative. The problem of Vilnius’ territory at that time was one of the most significant questions of Lithuanian foreign policy. Polish press has always expressed a huge attention concerning Lithuanian and Polish mutual relationship and always was supporting the Polish side. Their opinion was not positive regarding the fact that Lithuania has denied the projects of P. Hymans. Lithuania has lost much more than it has won because of that – polish people thought. The territory of Vilnius, also known as the “Middle Lithuania” has been connected for a long time to Poland by the decision of Nation Union. Polish residents in Lithuania blamed Lithuanian nationalism because of the loss of the territory of Vilnius. They said there should be no surprise that the territory of Vilnius during the elections to the Parliament of Vilnius in 1922 January the 8th was connected to Poland as Lithuanian politicians after coming back from Kaunas to Vilnius in 1920 were using the speech of Muravjov and Novosilcev talking to the residents of Vilnius. Polish press was talking a lot about the destruction of neutral zone between two neighbor countries and was rising up the question concerning making the river Nemunas international. Since Lithuania had obligations to the Nation Union to make the river Nemunas international and still, was hesitating to solve this question, it led the polish residents in Lithuania to estimate it negatively. They claimed it would be a positive action to make the river Nemunas international as Lithuania was facing economic crisis. Regarding the evolution of inner politics of the country we can briefly mention that polish press was criticizing Lithuanian authority. First of all they emphasized that the rights of national minorities have always been restricted even though they are guaranteed by the constitution of the country. There was a huge stroke that rich polish landowners faced when farming law came to power. Polish landowners accepted it as the weapon being used against them. There was a huge apprehension concerning restriction of polish language at schools and the church. To conclude we can say that polish people were estimating negatively both Lithuanian inner policy and foreign policy. |
