"Occupation" with a gain
The President of the Republic of Lithuania, following the other presidents of the countries of the NATO bloc, decided not to go to Moscow on 9. May - to celebrate the 70 anniversary of the Great Victory. She also instructed other political officials of the country in no case to appear in Moscow. Fully dependent on Washington, Vilnius in this case took a tough aggressive stance, exposing the state of war with Russia not only on the propaganda-ideological front, but also as can be seen - and on the military. War - not like the real state of war with Russia. Washington and the NATO countries are very afraid of the modern armed forces of their eastern neighbor. Military as the definition of the front line of the escalation of the armed presence in the center of Europe. Here, NATO countries are striving to demonstrate their “military power”, however, they demonstrate their backwardness in equipping modern types weapons and necessary reserves. The absence of soldiers, ideologically motivated to war with Russia, is also shown by chance.
The events in Ukraine have already shown that the psychologically exalted nationalists there, as well as the involuntary conscripts of the armed forces of the country, cannot and cannot defeat people motivated by the patriotic feelings of the struggle for their moral priorities. Anti-fascists in the Donbass have already defended the freedom of their choice and are ready to defend these positions, despite the violence, murder and abomination directed against them by the Kiev junta and its accomplices.
Official Vilnius, demonstrating its disregard for the Soviet country, whose soldiers, dying in battles, brought the liberation of Lithuania from the Nazi occupiers, said through the words of the Social Democrat, Prime Minister Butkevicius, that the Soviet army itself had occupied Lithuanian territory. Such a statement suggests that the authorities of present-day Lithuania do not know the definition of the word “occupation”. The occupation is not the brainchild of the current Baltic politicians, with whom they can handle and interpret as they please. October 18 1907 at the IV Hague Conference adopted an international legal act defining the notion of occupation as a result of aggressive hostilities in the territory of a foreign state - “On military power in the enemy’s territory” - which was supplemented by the Geneva Convention of 12 in August 1949. on the protection of civilians. In that legal act, among other things, it is stated that occupation is also possible in the postwar period in order to achieve the conditions of surrender, in order to preserve peace by means provided for by international law.
Armed aggression against the Lithuanian state of the USSR never led. Consequently, the definition of “occupation” in relation to the presence of units of the Red Army in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania until July 1940 of the year, and then in the territory of the Lithuanian SSR before the beginning of the Patriotic War, and also after its end to 1992, is legally absolutely unreasonable.
The introduction of Red Army units into the Republic of Lithuania in mid-November 1939 was carried out on the basis of the relevant bilateral interstate agreements between Lithuania and the USSR on October 10 1939 of October 30, which did not contain any definitions that would state the occupation status of the Red Army and the duration of this occupation status, like, say, as it was in Germany after the defeat of the Wehrmacht and the surrender of the Third Reich. By the way, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the modern Lithuanian Republic was completed on August 1993 XNUMX, also on the basis of the relevant interstate agreement between Lithuania and Russia.
The definition of annexation (accession), which has recently been increasingly heard in the Baltic media, is also inappropriate for determining what happened here in the 1940 year, since there was no forceful accession of the territory of another state to the territory of the USSR. On the contrary, everything happened legally.
Two weeks after the signing of the treaty of October 10, 1939 in Moscow, the Republic of Lithuania introduced its troops on the territory of the Vilnius Territory on October 27, 1939 and occupied the city of Vilnius. Here it must be emphasized that the basis for this, judging by the statements of the Poles, is “the occupation and annexation” of these territories by Kaunas historical Lithuania, there were agreements between Moscow and Berlin of August 23, 1939 and September 28, 1939, as well as secret protocols to them. In turn, after two and a half weeks, parts of the Red Army entered the territory of the Republic of Lithuania on November 15, 1939 and occupied those points, the deployment of which was agreed with the Lithuanian authorities in October 1939.
The ancient Slavic city of Vilna became the city of the ethnopolitical state of the Lithuanians, but the relocation of the government of Soviet Lithuania and its other state organs to the new-found capital was not fully completed before the start of the Patriotic War.
Let me remind you that earlier, at the request of Poland in March 1938, at a meeting of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania headed by President A. Smeton, it was decided to abandon the claims of the Republic of Lithuania to the capital of historical Lithuania Vilna and the surrounding territories occupied by armed means in October 1920 By the Poles and the 20 of February 1922 annexed by Poland. And only the notorious and so disliked by the modern Lithuanian politicians "Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact" from 23 of August 1939 reaffirmed that "both sides (Germany I and the USSR. - Auth.) recognize the interests of Lithuania in the Vilno district ", although" the northern border of Lithuania will be a feature dividing the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR.
The Republic of Lithuania fell into the sphere of interests of the fascist Third Reich, though not for long. In a month, 28 of September, 1939, on the basis of a secret additional protocol to the “Treaty of Friendship and the Border between the USSR and Germany”, “the territory of the Lithuanian state fell into the sphere of influence of the USSR”. This did not happen without the corresponding steps of the local Jews, quite influential in the then Republic of Lithuania. It was they who controlled the main industrial, commercial and financial capital in the country, allocated subsidies to finance the Lithuanian army. In the current international situation by September 1939, these people pushed for the USSR, since they understood perfectly well the doom of their fellow tribesmen under the arms of the German Eagle. In the interwar period, Prague and Vilna were two world centers of Jewish culture. In Vilnius, more than 40% of the townspeople were Jewish (30% - Polish), and there were only about Lithuanians - 2%. A similar demographic situation was in the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, Kaunas, the Lithuanians here lived only about 23% - the indigenous Lithuanians were never citizens, they were always tillers.
Lithuania’s entry into the USSR as a sovereign union republic in the summer of 1940 was marked by initial changes in the political and social structure of Lithuanian society against the background of the growing danger of German aggression after the Wehrmacht victory over Poland, continental countries of Europe and France. In the Republic of Lithuania itself, after fleeing Kaunas to Fascist Germany 15 on June 1940 by President A. Smetona, the next morning the ELTA Telegraph Agency transmitted a message which, among other things, reported that “due to the prevailing circumstances, the government considers him (President Smeton) gone resigning from the presidency ”, in connection with which the functions of the president of the country, in accordance with article 72 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, were accepted by the acting Prime Minister A.Markis. Then 17 June 1940, Prime Minister A.Markis, Acting President of the Republic, on the basis of Article 97 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, ordered Eustace Paleckis to form the government of the country. Following this, Yu.Paletskis presented A.Markis with the composition of the so-called. People's Government. Immediately after the approval of the composition of the new government and the transfer to Yu. Paleckis of his authority, Prime Minister A. Merkis, on the same day, resigned. Y. Paleckis assumed the duties of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, entrusting Vintsas Kreva-Mickavičius, a well-known Lithuanian writer and professor at Kaunas University, to replace him as prime minister.
Western states perceived the June events in the Republic of Lithuania normally. Heads of diplomatic missions of foreign countries that were located in Kaunas, 21 June 1940 were visited by the Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania V. Kreve-Mitskevicius. The fact of visiting and presenting to the head of the new interim Lithuanian government the heads of foreign diplomatic missions was undoubtedly an act of international recognition of the people's government of the Lithuanian state. The following representatives visited the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Lithuania: the head of the diplomatic corps in Kaunas represented by the papal nuncio of the Vatican; USSR - represented by the authorized representative; Germany, France, USA, Italy, Great Britain - represented by ambassadors; Sweden and Denmark - represented by authorized representatives. 25 June 1940. The process of presenting the new Lithuanian government diplomatic representatives of foreign countries accredited in the Republic of Lithuania continued. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister was visited by the consuls of foreign countries who had their residences in Kaunas. Somewhat earlier, 22 June 1940, a new assistant to the US military attache in the Baltic States, Major Stenset, introduced himself as the Chief of Staff of the Lithuanian Army and the Chief of his 2 Division. And 27 June 1940. British Ambassador T. Preston presented the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania a new military attache, Colonel E. K. Greer, and a former military attache, Colonel Lieutenant G. F. Bishop, who had arrived to bid farewell. All this testified to the ongoing process of recognizing the new government of the Republic of Lithuania by foreign states. 14-15 July 1940 was held elections to the National Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. As a result, 79 deputies were elected.
21 July 1940. In Kaunas, the representative body of the citizens of the Lithuanian state, the People’s Diet, began its work. By the decision of the deputies of the newly elected People’s Diet, the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. Thus, the Soviet system was initially adopted by the democratically elected Lithuanian Popular Seimas as the main legal principle of the political structure of a sovereign Lithuanian state. As a result of the further work of this Seimas (until 23 July 1940), its deputies adopted a Declaration on the entry of the Lithuanian SSR into the USSR and other laws on the nationalization of land, banks, large industrial enterprises, etc. (Similar processes during July and August of 1940 took place in the Latvian and Estonian republics.)
Based on the decision of the National Sejm of the Lithuanian SSR of July 21 1940, during the meeting of the VII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 3 August 1940. a law was passed on the entry of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic into the USSR. To support such a decision, a plenipotentiary delegation from the government of the Lithuanian SSR traveled to Moscow. This decision was then reflected in the articles of the Constitution of the USSR and the Lithuanian SSR. This law allowed Belarus to accept proposals on the transfer of some Belarusian territories to the Lithuanian SSR, where the Lithuanian population was more numerous than the Belarusian one.
The map of the territorial acquisitions of the present-day Lithuania from the USSR as a result of the “Soviet occupation”. The map of the territorial acquisitions of the present-day Lithuania from the USSR as a result of the “Soviet occupation”.
“To commemorate the entry” into the USSR, into the territory of the Lithuanian SSR, a part of the territories of the Byelorussian SSR was attached in the area of settlements that now bear the following names - Druskininkai, Marcinkonis, Rudnya; Salcininkai, Deveniškės; Švenčionis, Adutiskes, Tvjaryachus, Daugiliskes. The southern and southeastern border of the Lithuanian SSR, along its entire length from Poland to the Republic of Latvia, acquires a modern line. The western border of the Lithuanian SSR, without the Memel (Klaipeda) region, became the state border of the union state - the USSR.
Prior to this, 22 March 1939, the Lithuanian and German foreign ministers Yu. Urbšys and I. Ribbentrop signed an agreement on the transfer of Memelland - Klaipėda region - and the port city of Memel - Klaipėda Germany. Deep night 23 March, 1 hour 30 minutes I. Ribbentrop telegraphed to A. Hitler that the agreement was signed - the Lithuanians returned to Germany part of the territory of East Prussia, illegally occupied by the Lithuanian military in January 1923. After the defeat of the fascists, in January 1945, by the decision of IV Stalin, this territory went to the administrative control of the authorities of the Lithuanian SSR, and since August 2003, thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin, this region became an integral part of the Republic of Lithuania.
An interesting detail is that the modern Lithuanian Republic seceded from the USSR in 1991 not in the borders of the Republic of Lithuania 1938 (according to the decision of the sajudists, the Lithuanian Constitution of 1938 acted), but within the borders of the territory of the Lithuanian SSR. The territory of Soviet Lithuania almost one third exceeded the one with which bourgeois Lithuania joined the Soviet Union in 1940. Here, in addition to Vilnius and Klaipeda, it is necessary to take into account the territory of the Suwalki region, which was part of the border agreement with Poland 1945. Even before the start of World War II, by agreement of 10 in January, 1941 of the USSR purchased from Germany for 7,5 million gold dollars (31,5 Reichsmarks) 8,2 thousand sq. km - “Suwalki ledge”.
And then, 25 August 1940g. The Constitution of the Lithuanian SSR was adopted. In the 118 article of this new Constitution, Vilnius was declared the capital of the Lithuanian state. The Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR simultaneously adopted a resolution “On the relocation of state and government bodies to Vilnius”. 12 January 1941. The first elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet were held in Soviet Lithuania. At the beginning of the year, the developed plan of development of the national economy of the Lithuanian SSR was adopted. On the territory of the Lithuanian socialist union state, on a common financial basis of the USSR and the Lithuanian SSR, the material base and production structures of the republican and union-republican economic activity began to form and develop.
For a brief pre-war period, it was possible to carry out such an economic and social policy, which made it possible to reduce permanent unemployment in the then 2,5-million-strong Lithuania and employ 50 thousand people. The agrarian reform, which deprived large private landowners of large land areas and left them no more than 30 hectares of land, made it possible to distribute 607 thousand hectares among 75 thousands of landless and land-poor peasants. The formation of agricultural - cooperative partnerships began, tractor stations were created, the first collective farms ... Higher school became publicly accessible, on January 16, the 1941 was organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR ...
And from such a territory (marked by a black line) the current ethno-political Lithuania began in 1920. And from such a territory (marked by a black line) the current ethno-political Lithuania began in 1920.
But what is the real occupation of Lithuania. During the occupation of the Lithuanian SSR, the German fascists and their accomplices destroyed: around 470 000 civilians (of which about 370 000 are residents of Lithuanian cities and villages, including about 240 000 of Jewish nationalities, almost completely destroying this diaspora); about 230 000 Soviet prisoners of war. In the course of punitive operations, the Nazis burned about 20 villages of the Lithuanian SSR, including Abling - 23.06.1941, Miljunai - 13.10.1943, Pirciupiai - 3.06.1944, 119 people were burned alive. About 70 000 people were taken to forced labor in Germany. In 13 in July 1944, Vilnius was liberated, and 28 in January, 1945 was liberated in Klaipeda. During the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR from the Nazi invaders, 100 thousands of soldiers of the Red Army were killed.
The war has damaged the economic potential of the republic in the amount of about 30 billion US dollars. 90 percent of energy capacity was destroyed, about 70 percent of industrial capacity, all vehicles were removed or destroyed, main bridges were blown up, Klaipeda port was badly damaged ... Huge damage was caused to agriculture, 80 buildings were destroyed, in Vilnius 40 percent of buildings were destroyed in Klaipeda - 60 percent of the housing stock ...
Thanks to the support of the entire Soviet country, the post-war recovery was quickly accomplished in the post-war period, which was actually completed by 1948, and after a rapid development of industry in the pre-war agricultural country began. Billions of funds were invested in the creation of machine-tool, light, chemical (Ionava and Kedainia fertilizer plants, Kaunas Artificial Fiber Plant, Mazeikiai Oil Refinery), food industry, engineering, housing and road construction and the port of Klaipeda (Ferry service Mukran - Klapeda, Klaipeda Shipyard, a commercial and fishing fleet), in the development of the energy sector (Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Station, Elektrenskaya TPP, Ignalina NPP), development and improvement of agricultural production, land reclamation, in the development of medicine, education and higher education, in the development of national Lithuanian culture and art, in resorts and health resorts, in sports. Annual gratuitous subsidies to the Lithuanian SSR from allied funds amounted to 1 billion rubles (at the then official price of the dollar 60 kopecks) - more than 40 billion rubles.
The best indicator of people's well-being growth during the years of Soviet power was the population growth rate in the Lithuanian SSR, whose population increased from 1940 of the year - 2,5 million, to - 3,7 million in 1990. The standard of living of the population, if we consider it in terms of the number of private cars per capita, was the highest in the Soviet Union, and the welfare of citizens of the republic strictly increased, because the social rights of working people to justly paid work were protected by the Constitution and laws of the country. The state guaranteed, provided and in every way possible developed the necessary production - paid jobs. People were guaranteed the right to free through education - along with higher and postgraduate studies, free medicine, low rents (no more than 10-15 percent of salary), guaranteed annual low-cost holidays in resorts and health centers throughout the country ...
And after such a socio-economic progress of the country and the territorial gifts of the USSR to the present Lithuanian Republic, are Lithuanian politicians now calling the Soviet Union an occupier? “Occupation and annexation of Lithuania” is called (this is fixed by Lithuanian law) all that enormous, first military, then material and intellectual assistance rendered by all USSR peoples to Lithuanians in liberating their territories from the German invaders, and then restoring and creating a powerful economy of the Lithuanian SSR with high level of education and welfare of its citizens.
Over the past 25 years, after secession from the USSR, the entire economic base of the Republic of Lithuania has completely collapsed, all previous social guarantees to working people and the creative intelligentsia, including the national one - Lithuanian, have been destroyed. Sharply increased mortality, the number of suicides per capita is the highest in Europe. Below the subsistence level, the standard of living of about 70 per cent of citizens fell, of which about half live in poverty. Those who can and are young, as before, in the interwar years, hastily leave their homeland in search of a better life. After 10 years ago, Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO, it lost more than a million of its citizens. The number of the population of the Republic of Lithuania is now less than the pre-war - 2,5 million. After the transition of the Lithuanian state to the euro currency this year, the American military of NATO increased the pumping of this European money from the Lithuanian budget to maintain its troops in the republic and to New York banks for the purchase of American weapons.
Is not the occupation ?!
The events in Ukraine have already shown that the psychologically exalted nationalists there, as well as the involuntary conscripts of the armed forces of the country, cannot and cannot defeat people motivated by the patriotic feelings of the struggle for their moral priorities. Anti-fascists in the Donbass have already defended the freedom of their choice and are ready to defend these positions, despite the violence, murder and abomination directed against them by the Kiev junta and its accomplices.
Official Vilnius, demonstrating its disregard for the Soviet country, whose soldiers, dying in battles, brought the liberation of Lithuania from the Nazi occupiers, said through the words of the Social Democrat, Prime Minister Butkevicius, that the Soviet army itself had occupied Lithuanian territory. Such a statement suggests that the authorities of present-day Lithuania do not know the definition of the word “occupation”. The occupation is not the brainchild of the current Baltic politicians, with whom they can handle and interpret as they please. October 18 1907 at the IV Hague Conference adopted an international legal act defining the notion of occupation as a result of aggressive hostilities in the territory of a foreign state - “On military power in the enemy’s territory” - which was supplemented by the Geneva Convention of 12 in August 1949. on the protection of civilians. In that legal act, among other things, it is stated that occupation is also possible in the postwar period in order to achieve the conditions of surrender, in order to preserve peace by means provided for by international law.
Armed aggression against the Lithuanian state of the USSR never led. Consequently, the definition of “occupation” in relation to the presence of units of the Red Army in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania until July 1940 of the year, and then in the territory of the Lithuanian SSR before the beginning of the Patriotic War, and also after its end to 1992, is legally absolutely unreasonable.
The introduction of Red Army units into the Republic of Lithuania in mid-November 1939 was carried out on the basis of the relevant bilateral interstate agreements between Lithuania and the USSR on October 10 1939 of October 30, which did not contain any definitions that would state the occupation status of the Red Army and the duration of this occupation status, like, say, as it was in Germany after the defeat of the Wehrmacht and the surrender of the Third Reich. By the way, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the modern Lithuanian Republic was completed on August 1993 XNUMX, also on the basis of the relevant interstate agreement between Lithuania and Russia.
The definition of annexation (accession), which has recently been increasingly heard in the Baltic media, is also inappropriate for determining what happened here in the 1940 year, since there was no forceful accession of the territory of another state to the territory of the USSR. On the contrary, everything happened legally.
Two weeks after the signing of the treaty of October 10, 1939 in Moscow, the Republic of Lithuania introduced its troops on the territory of the Vilnius Territory on October 27, 1939 and occupied the city of Vilnius. Here it must be emphasized that the basis for this, judging by the statements of the Poles, is “the occupation and annexation” of these territories by Kaunas historical Lithuania, there were agreements between Moscow and Berlin of August 23, 1939 and September 28, 1939, as well as secret protocols to them. In turn, after two and a half weeks, parts of the Red Army entered the territory of the Republic of Lithuania on November 15, 1939 and occupied those points, the deployment of which was agreed with the Lithuanian authorities in October 1939.
The ancient Slavic city of Vilna became the city of the ethnopolitical state of the Lithuanians, but the relocation of the government of Soviet Lithuania and its other state organs to the new-found capital was not fully completed before the start of the Patriotic War.
Let me remind you that earlier, at the request of Poland in March 1938, at a meeting of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania headed by President A. Smeton, it was decided to abandon the claims of the Republic of Lithuania to the capital of historical Lithuania Vilna and the surrounding territories occupied by armed means in October 1920 By the Poles and the 20 of February 1922 annexed by Poland. And only the notorious and so disliked by the modern Lithuanian politicians "Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact" from 23 of August 1939 reaffirmed that "both sides (Germany I and the USSR. - Auth.) recognize the interests of Lithuania in the Vilno district ", although" the northern border of Lithuania will be a feature dividing the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR.
The Republic of Lithuania fell into the sphere of interests of the fascist Third Reich, though not for long. In a month, 28 of September, 1939, on the basis of a secret additional protocol to the “Treaty of Friendship and the Border between the USSR and Germany”, “the territory of the Lithuanian state fell into the sphere of influence of the USSR”. This did not happen without the corresponding steps of the local Jews, quite influential in the then Republic of Lithuania. It was they who controlled the main industrial, commercial and financial capital in the country, allocated subsidies to finance the Lithuanian army. In the current international situation by September 1939, these people pushed for the USSR, since they understood perfectly well the doom of their fellow tribesmen under the arms of the German Eagle. In the interwar period, Prague and Vilna were two world centers of Jewish culture. In Vilnius, more than 40% of the townspeople were Jewish (30% - Polish), and there were only about Lithuanians - 2%. A similar demographic situation was in the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, Kaunas, the Lithuanians here lived only about 23% - the indigenous Lithuanians were never citizens, they were always tillers.
Lithuania’s entry into the USSR as a sovereign union republic in the summer of 1940 was marked by initial changes in the political and social structure of Lithuanian society against the background of the growing danger of German aggression after the Wehrmacht victory over Poland, continental countries of Europe and France. In the Republic of Lithuania itself, after fleeing Kaunas to Fascist Germany 15 on June 1940 by President A. Smetona, the next morning the ELTA Telegraph Agency transmitted a message which, among other things, reported that “due to the prevailing circumstances, the government considers him (President Smeton) gone resigning from the presidency ”, in connection with which the functions of the president of the country, in accordance with article 72 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, were accepted by the acting Prime Minister A.Markis. Then 17 June 1940, Prime Minister A.Markis, Acting President of the Republic, on the basis of Article 97 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, ordered Eustace Paleckis to form the government of the country. Following this, Yu.Paletskis presented A.Markis with the composition of the so-called. People's Government. Immediately after the approval of the composition of the new government and the transfer to Yu. Paleckis of his authority, Prime Minister A. Merkis, on the same day, resigned. Y. Paleckis assumed the duties of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, entrusting Vintsas Kreva-Mickavičius, a well-known Lithuanian writer and professor at Kaunas University, to replace him as prime minister.
Western states perceived the June events in the Republic of Lithuania normally. Heads of diplomatic missions of foreign countries that were located in Kaunas, 21 June 1940 were visited by the Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania V. Kreve-Mitskevicius. The fact of visiting and presenting to the head of the new interim Lithuanian government the heads of foreign diplomatic missions was undoubtedly an act of international recognition of the people's government of the Lithuanian state. The following representatives visited the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Lithuania: the head of the diplomatic corps in Kaunas represented by the papal nuncio of the Vatican; USSR - represented by the authorized representative; Germany, France, USA, Italy, Great Britain - represented by ambassadors; Sweden and Denmark - represented by authorized representatives. 25 June 1940. The process of presenting the new Lithuanian government diplomatic representatives of foreign countries accredited in the Republic of Lithuania continued. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister was visited by the consuls of foreign countries who had their residences in Kaunas. Somewhat earlier, 22 June 1940, a new assistant to the US military attache in the Baltic States, Major Stenset, introduced himself as the Chief of Staff of the Lithuanian Army and the Chief of his 2 Division. And 27 June 1940. British Ambassador T. Preston presented the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania a new military attache, Colonel E. K. Greer, and a former military attache, Colonel Lieutenant G. F. Bishop, who had arrived to bid farewell. All this testified to the ongoing process of recognizing the new government of the Republic of Lithuania by foreign states. 14-15 July 1940 was held elections to the National Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. As a result, 79 deputies were elected.
21 July 1940. In Kaunas, the representative body of the citizens of the Lithuanian state, the People’s Diet, began its work. By the decision of the deputies of the newly elected People’s Diet, the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. Thus, the Soviet system was initially adopted by the democratically elected Lithuanian Popular Seimas as the main legal principle of the political structure of a sovereign Lithuanian state. As a result of the further work of this Seimas (until 23 July 1940), its deputies adopted a Declaration on the entry of the Lithuanian SSR into the USSR and other laws on the nationalization of land, banks, large industrial enterprises, etc. (Similar processes during July and August of 1940 took place in the Latvian and Estonian republics.)
Based on the decision of the National Sejm of the Lithuanian SSR of July 21 1940, during the meeting of the VII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 3 August 1940. a law was passed on the entry of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic into the USSR. To support such a decision, a plenipotentiary delegation from the government of the Lithuanian SSR traveled to Moscow. This decision was then reflected in the articles of the Constitution of the USSR and the Lithuanian SSR. This law allowed Belarus to accept proposals on the transfer of some Belarusian territories to the Lithuanian SSR, where the Lithuanian population was more numerous than the Belarusian one.
The map of the territorial acquisitions of the present-day Lithuania from the USSR as a result of the “Soviet occupation”. The map of the territorial acquisitions of the present-day Lithuania from the USSR as a result of the “Soviet occupation”.
“To commemorate the entry” into the USSR, into the territory of the Lithuanian SSR, a part of the territories of the Byelorussian SSR was attached in the area of settlements that now bear the following names - Druskininkai, Marcinkonis, Rudnya; Salcininkai, Deveniškės; Švenčionis, Adutiskes, Tvjaryachus, Daugiliskes. The southern and southeastern border of the Lithuanian SSR, along its entire length from Poland to the Republic of Latvia, acquires a modern line. The western border of the Lithuanian SSR, without the Memel (Klaipeda) region, became the state border of the union state - the USSR.
Prior to this, 22 March 1939, the Lithuanian and German foreign ministers Yu. Urbšys and I. Ribbentrop signed an agreement on the transfer of Memelland - Klaipėda region - and the port city of Memel - Klaipėda Germany. Deep night 23 March, 1 hour 30 minutes I. Ribbentrop telegraphed to A. Hitler that the agreement was signed - the Lithuanians returned to Germany part of the territory of East Prussia, illegally occupied by the Lithuanian military in January 1923. After the defeat of the fascists, in January 1945, by the decision of IV Stalin, this territory went to the administrative control of the authorities of the Lithuanian SSR, and since August 2003, thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin, this region became an integral part of the Republic of Lithuania.
An interesting detail is that the modern Lithuanian Republic seceded from the USSR in 1991 not in the borders of the Republic of Lithuania 1938 (according to the decision of the sajudists, the Lithuanian Constitution of 1938 acted), but within the borders of the territory of the Lithuanian SSR. The territory of Soviet Lithuania almost one third exceeded the one with which bourgeois Lithuania joined the Soviet Union in 1940. Here, in addition to Vilnius and Klaipeda, it is necessary to take into account the territory of the Suwalki region, which was part of the border agreement with Poland 1945. Even before the start of World War II, by agreement of 10 in January, 1941 of the USSR purchased from Germany for 7,5 million gold dollars (31,5 Reichsmarks) 8,2 thousand sq. km - “Suwalki ledge”.
And then, 25 August 1940g. The Constitution of the Lithuanian SSR was adopted. In the 118 article of this new Constitution, Vilnius was declared the capital of the Lithuanian state. The Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR simultaneously adopted a resolution “On the relocation of state and government bodies to Vilnius”. 12 January 1941. The first elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet were held in Soviet Lithuania. At the beginning of the year, the developed plan of development of the national economy of the Lithuanian SSR was adopted. On the territory of the Lithuanian socialist union state, on a common financial basis of the USSR and the Lithuanian SSR, the material base and production structures of the republican and union-republican economic activity began to form and develop.
For a brief pre-war period, it was possible to carry out such an economic and social policy, which made it possible to reduce permanent unemployment in the then 2,5-million-strong Lithuania and employ 50 thousand people. The agrarian reform, which deprived large private landowners of large land areas and left them no more than 30 hectares of land, made it possible to distribute 607 thousand hectares among 75 thousands of landless and land-poor peasants. The formation of agricultural - cooperative partnerships began, tractor stations were created, the first collective farms ... Higher school became publicly accessible, on January 16, the 1941 was organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR ...
And from such a territory (marked by a black line) the current ethno-political Lithuania began in 1920. And from such a territory (marked by a black line) the current ethno-political Lithuania began in 1920.
But what is the real occupation of Lithuania. During the occupation of the Lithuanian SSR, the German fascists and their accomplices destroyed: around 470 000 civilians (of which about 370 000 are residents of Lithuanian cities and villages, including about 240 000 of Jewish nationalities, almost completely destroying this diaspora); about 230 000 Soviet prisoners of war. In the course of punitive operations, the Nazis burned about 20 villages of the Lithuanian SSR, including Abling - 23.06.1941, Miljunai - 13.10.1943, Pirciupiai - 3.06.1944, 119 people were burned alive. About 70 000 people were taken to forced labor in Germany. In 13 in July 1944, Vilnius was liberated, and 28 in January, 1945 was liberated in Klaipeda. During the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR from the Nazi invaders, 100 thousands of soldiers of the Red Army were killed.
The war has damaged the economic potential of the republic in the amount of about 30 billion US dollars. 90 percent of energy capacity was destroyed, about 70 percent of industrial capacity, all vehicles were removed or destroyed, main bridges were blown up, Klaipeda port was badly damaged ... Huge damage was caused to agriculture, 80 buildings were destroyed, in Vilnius 40 percent of buildings were destroyed in Klaipeda - 60 percent of the housing stock ...
Thanks to the support of the entire Soviet country, the post-war recovery was quickly accomplished in the post-war period, which was actually completed by 1948, and after a rapid development of industry in the pre-war agricultural country began. Billions of funds were invested in the creation of machine-tool, light, chemical (Ionava and Kedainia fertilizer plants, Kaunas Artificial Fiber Plant, Mazeikiai Oil Refinery), food industry, engineering, housing and road construction and the port of Klaipeda (Ferry service Mukran - Klapeda, Klaipeda Shipyard, a commercial and fishing fleet), in the development of the energy sector (Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Station, Elektrenskaya TPP, Ignalina NPP), development and improvement of agricultural production, land reclamation, in the development of medicine, education and higher education, in the development of national Lithuanian culture and art, in resorts and health resorts, in sports. Annual gratuitous subsidies to the Lithuanian SSR from allied funds amounted to 1 billion rubles (at the then official price of the dollar 60 kopecks) - more than 40 billion rubles.
The best indicator of people's well-being growth during the years of Soviet power was the population growth rate in the Lithuanian SSR, whose population increased from 1940 of the year - 2,5 million, to - 3,7 million in 1990. The standard of living of the population, if we consider it in terms of the number of private cars per capita, was the highest in the Soviet Union, and the welfare of citizens of the republic strictly increased, because the social rights of working people to justly paid work were protected by the Constitution and laws of the country. The state guaranteed, provided and in every way possible developed the necessary production - paid jobs. People were guaranteed the right to free through education - along with higher and postgraduate studies, free medicine, low rents (no more than 10-15 percent of salary), guaranteed annual low-cost holidays in resorts and health centers throughout the country ...
And after such a socio-economic progress of the country and the territorial gifts of the USSR to the present Lithuanian Republic, are Lithuanian politicians now calling the Soviet Union an occupier? “Occupation and annexation of Lithuania” is called (this is fixed by Lithuanian law) all that enormous, first military, then material and intellectual assistance rendered by all USSR peoples to Lithuanians in liberating their territories from the German invaders, and then restoring and creating a powerful economy of the Lithuanian SSR with high level of education and welfare of its citizens.
Over the past 25 years, after secession from the USSR, the entire economic base of the Republic of Lithuania has completely collapsed, all previous social guarantees to working people and the creative intelligentsia, including the national one - Lithuanian, have been destroyed. Sharply increased mortality, the number of suicides per capita is the highest in Europe. Below the subsistence level, the standard of living of about 70 per cent of citizens fell, of which about half live in poverty. Those who can and are young, as before, in the interwar years, hastily leave their homeland in search of a better life. After 10 years ago, Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO, it lost more than a million of its citizens. The number of the population of the Republic of Lithuania is now less than the pre-war - 2,5 million. After the transition of the Lithuanian state to the euro currency this year, the American military of NATO increased the pumping of this European money from the Lithuanian budget to maintain its troops in the republic and to New York banks for the purchase of American weapons.
Is not the occupation ?!
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