The memory and legitimacy of the 1926 December coup in interwar Lithuania

The nationalist regime guarded the 1926 December 17 memory, and in the public space they presented only those memories that coincided with the formed discourse justifying the coup. Individual images of the coup, competing with and opposing the discourse, were pushed out of public discourse by means of censorship and condemnation of the author of unfavorable memories, through organizations loyal to and in favor of the regime. 1926 December 17 in the army was remembered with the help of images, in which the unity of the army and the President was actualized, the threat of the Bolsheviks and the transfer of power to A. Smetona were emphasized. The Union of Nationalists linked the legitimacy of the coup not only to the threat of the Bolsheviks, which remained an important highlight of the commemoration, but also to the opposition of the democratic period of the interwar Lithuania and the subsequent epoch after the coup. In the forties coup d’etat was legitimized by representing the government’s achievements in foreign policy, education, social and cultural fields. The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party favored the officers and the fact of the coup, therefore it contributed to the legitimacy of the coup. This attitude remained unchanged after the party found itself in opposition, although at that time moderate criticism of the nationalist regime had already begun