Polish government’s policy concerning Lithuanian ethnic minority

The object of the article is a purposeful Polonization policy of the Polish authorities in Vilnius region, pursued in 1935–1939. Basing himself on the Lithuanian Education Society’s "Rytas" (Morning) material kept in Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Manuscript Department of Wroblewski Library, the author wants to show how and under what difficult conditions for the sake of Lithuanianism were working the teachers and staff of the Society. Lithuanian Educational Society "Rytas" under the pressure of the Polish administrative authorities in Vilnius region beginning from the 1934–1935 school year was forced to reorganize its work. There were only few schools left, and the existing ones were in danger of being closed as Vilnius Regional Education Curatory according to the 1932 Private Schools Law and under other pretexts had the right to close all Lithuanian Education Society’s “Rytas” schools in its opinion for failure to observe the terms of the law. The Society tried to help these schools and at the same time to support the previously closed and possibly clandestine schools. In 1936, this process speeded up. Main aims of deliberate and purposeful policy of ethnocide were to ban everything Lithuanian and to close the Lithuanian Education Society "Rytas". On February 28, 1938 the Polish administrative authorities stopped the activities of the Society. But on May 20, 1939 the Vilnius voivode province finally gave permission to continue the Society’s activities and the latter was going to restore the previous educational and cultural network in the same areas where it was previously in existence. However, the Polish administrative authorities’ restrictions did not allow the Society to develop its activities to the extent planned