The change in attitude of the Lithuanian political elite towards Poland in 1934–1939

The present article analyses the efforts of the political elite of Lithuania to change the policy towards Poland in 1934–1939. The beginning of the changes is related to geopolitical changes, first of all, the coming of the National Socialists to power in Germany in 1933 and the German-Polish Agreement in 1934. Reacting to this, President Antanas Smetona appointed Stasys Lozoraits as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, who did not have a negative attitude towards Poland. In addition, other famous society members expressed the opinion to soften the attitude towards Poland; after Stasys Raštikis was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief in 1935, a large number of officials supported this opinion. Still, the processes were not changing immediately: the Lithuanian press was still dominated by the image of a Pole as an enemy despite the fact that diplomats and officials saw Germany, which was getting increasingly stronger, as the main threat. The political elite gradually perceived that Lithuania could not regain Vilnius in the nearest future, but there was a real threat to lose Klaipėda, the gate to the sea. These factors preconditioned the first changes. In 1937, in the plans of the Lithuanian army, Germany was viewed as the main threat, and questions were raised that an agreement with Poland had to be made. It was difficult to achieve this; therefore, the relations were established by an unpleasant way, after the Polish ultimatum. This situation provoked a considerable moral and political crisis in Lithuania. The first Lithuanian Army volunteer, an officer, and diplomat Kazys Škirpa, who was renowned as the supporter of the “hard line” towards Poland, was appointed as the first envoy to Poland, while Aloyzas Valušis, the son-in-law of President Antanas Smetona was appointed as a military attaché. [...]Istorijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta