1. 'We want home to the reich'. The analogies in the issues related to Germans in Klaipėda region and Sudetenland in the axis of Lithuanian-Czechoslovakian policy in the 1920s–1930s
- Author
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Dalia Bukelevičiūtė and Ingrida Jakubavičienė
- Subjects
Lietuva (Lithuania) ,lcsh:History (General) and history of Europe ,lcsh:D ,Klaipėda. Klaipėdos kraštas (Klaipeda region) ,Čekijos Respublika (Czech Republic) - Abstract
Pursuing the analysis of issues related to Germans in Klaipėda region and Sudetenland in the axis of Lithuanian-Czechoslovakian policy in the 1920s- 1930s, the authors made use of Lithuanian and Czech archives, documents and publications as well as historical researches. The Lithuanian government carefully observed the policy of Czechoslovakia exercised towards the German minority in Sudetenland and implemented similar practices in Klaipėda region. The article discloses what impact reports of Lithuanian diplomats in Prague, London, Paris and other European capitals had on the decisions of the Lithuanian government. The research based on archival documents helped reveal which decisions the Lithuanian government made following analogous strategy to that adopted by Czechoslovakia seeking control over German political organisations. Since 1935 both Lithuania and Czechoslovakia had been looking for suitable solutions with a view to relieve the political pressure, however, their efforts were a failure. Since 1937 both countries had been following the policy of non-resistance in order to evade a more powerful attack from the German side. In 1938 it became obvious that the diplomatic corps of Lithuania and Czechoslovakia had turned to mere observers as their comments were not helpful in the attempts to control the political situation. Starting with 1938 as the Nazis took up brutal policy against Czechoslovakia, the Lithuanian government pursued the policy of appeasement hoping to avoid any military conflict with Germany. The greatest European powers conceived Sudetenland and Klaipėda region as territories or political objects which were in the spot of Hitler's interest. Lithuanian and Czechoslovakian governments were fully aware of the fact that the future of their territories was subject to German political interests. Using the German minority in Sudetenland and Klaipėda region, Germany implemented its propaganda and native Germans were relocated to their homeland.
- Published
- 2014