Seinai and Suvalkai county delegates at the Lithuanian conference in Vilnius in 1917

Prieš 100 metų, 1917 m. rugsėjo 18–22 d., Vilniuje įvyko Lietuvių konferencija, išrinkusi Lietuvos Tarybą, kuri 1918 m. vasario 16 d. paskelbė Lietuvos nepriklausomybės aktą. Straipsnyje apžvelgiamos šios konferencijos sušaukimo aplinkybės, buvusių Seinų ir Suvalkų apskričių atstovų dalyvavimas konferencijoje, pateikiamos jų biografijos. Taip 100-mečio proga bus pagerbti žmonės, kurie okupuotoje Lietuvoje nepabūgo viešai pareikšti savo nuomonės, kad Lietuva bus laisva ir nepriklausoma. Pirmasis pasaulinis karas, prasidėjęs 1914 m. liepos 28 d., ir jo padariniai sudarė galimybes Lietuvai skelbti nepriklausomybę. Tauta buvo subrendusi šitam istoriniam lūžiui. Aušrininkai ir knygnešiai jau buvo apgynę lietuvių kalbą, susiformavo inteligentijos sluoksnis. Karas eliminavo Lietuvą iš Rusijos imperijos sudėties. Pagelbėjo ne tik Rusijos kariuomenės pralaimėjimai kare, bet ir bolševikų įvykdytas 1917 m. perversmas. Artinosi Lietuvą okupavusios Vokietijos karinis pralaimėjimas. Pasaulyje jau buvo plačiai žinomi ir skelbiami laisvo tautų apsisprendimo šūkiai. Tai 1916 m. Tomo Vudo Vilsono paskelbtos tautų apsisprendimo teisės deklaracijos pavergtų tautų Lozanos konferencijos išsilaisvinimo deklaravimo kontekste. Lozanos konferencijoje, kurioje tautos dėstė savo vargus ir tikslus, lietuvių delegacija, kurią sudarė Antanas Smetona, Jurgis Šaulys ir Petras Klimas, viešai paskelbė, kad Lietuva savo plėtotės užtikrinimui sieks valstybės nepriklausomybės. Vokiečių okupuotoje Lietuvoje apie tai buvo žinoma ir kalbama.In 2018, Lithuania is preparing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its declaration of independence. February 16th is a very important day in the history of the restoration of Lithuanian state. Prior to proclaiming the Independence Act as a political goal, Lithuanian elite had to undertake several important, preparatory stages. One of them was the organization of the Lithuanian Conference in Vilnius on September 18-22, 1917. This stage of state’s restoration attracted the Lithuanians of the then Seinai and Suvalkai counties who were among the participants of the Conference. The First World War which started in 1914, affected Lithuania. In the summer of 1915, Lithuania was occupied by the German Kaiser’s Army. The local administration of the Tsarist Russia was abolished. The military regulations of the Ober-Ost management (OOK) requisition and restriction and control of the private were introduced. In 1917, signs that the Germans and their allies might not succeed in winning a victorious war appeared. However, Germany did not abandon its plans to annex the taken territories of the Russian Empire. Lithuania had to be joined to Germany. It was aimed to implement this aggressive goal of the German politicians as if it was the will of the Lithuanian people themselves. For this purpose, a Lithuanian Council of Trustees (Beirat) functioning as an advisory body was formed from the local population. The Council would have to be obliged to accept Lithuania’s integration to Germany. The members of the Council had to be chosen by the county governors. The Lithuanian Society for Victims of War, founded in Vilnius, after long and persistent negotiations with the German military administration, agreed that the Council would not be formed by the appointment of the chosen people, but would be elected at the Conference in which representatives of all counties of Lithuania would participate. The Germans did not allow the elections to be organized in the provinces, but agreed that three to five representatives could be invited from the counties. Having received such an agreement, the Lithuanian activists from Vilnius formed a group of 23 people, the Organizing Committee (OC), responsible for the preparation of the Conference. From the then Seinai and Suvalkai counties, two priests, then well-known activists and publicists, were invited to OC: the pastor of Punskas Motiejus Simonaitis and the vicar of Smalėnai, Juozas Katilius. OC held their meeting in Vilnius on August 1-4, 1917 and came to a decision that in the forthcoming Conference, it is necessary to strive for the establishment of the independent democratic state of Lithuania within its ethnographic boundaries in accordance with the German imposed conventions. They also discussed the procedure for the convening of the Lithuanian conference, the selection of participants and approved a list of the candidates for the future Lithuanian Council. However, candidates from the Seinai and Suvalkai counties were not included in this list. One of the main tasks of the Council was to protect the Lithuanian people from the arbitrariness of the Kaiser’s Army and to pursue the fulfilment of the political objective of independence, i.e. to restore the state of Lithuania. From the Seinai and Suvalkai counties, 10 representatives were invited and / or elected to the Lithuanian Conference: a teacher Jonas Dereškevičius, priests Vincas Dvaranauskas, Adomas Lastauskas, and Juozas Marma, a farmer Kazimieras Mielkus, a trader Antanas Pečiulis, priests Antanas Petrauskas and Jonas Reitelaitis, a teacher Stasys Tijūnaitis, and a priest Jonas Totoraitis. All came from the peasant families. The conference was held in the Lithuanian language. Representatives of the occupational government were not invited and did not take part in the Conference. The Conference decided by an absolute majority that "In order for Lithuania to be free to develop, an independent state of Lithuania must be created according to the principles of democracy and should consist of the ethnographic Lithuanian lands". To achieve this goal, the Conference elected the 20 members who formed the Nation Council (later called State Council of Lithuania). On February 16, 1918, this Council, following the resolutions of the Conference, proclaimed the Act of Independence of Lithuania