Priešo įvaizdžio įsitvirtinimas: Lenkijos suvokimas Lietuvoje 1919-1920 metais

Polish-Lithuanian relations during the interwar gained a fair amount of attention from researchers, but scientific studies on this subject, if talking about the studies of attitudes present in Lithuania in regards to Poland, were limited by the evaluation of positions of state governments and political groups. This article represents an attempt to involve larger public context paying special attention on the perception of Poland by simple Lithuanian citizens in 1919-1920, which is practically a non-researched subject. Based on extant rather fragmented information, the article aims to disclose attitudes that dominated in broader public and their relation with a position of political elite. Even before the WW1, public opinion of Lithuanians might be characterised by a stereotype that Poles are the enemies of Lithuanians. In the end of 1920, the conviction that the conflict between Poland and Lithuania is not over dominated in Lithuania. Hopes were mostly related to the war between Soviet Russia and Poland and the opportunity to use it. The action of L. Želigowski and its circumstances undermined the trust in the West and strengthened sympathies to Soviet Russia. The image of Poland as an enemy, slightly depressed during the WW1, was renewed and established in Lithuanian public in 1919-1920; it became hardly controllable power that affected political life of Lithuania. The actions of Poland of autumn 1919-1920 enabled breakage of jealousy and animosity kept by Lithuanian public against the Poles