Panevėžio apskritis 1918-1940 metais

ENThe restoration of Panevėžys County began in4 November of 1918. At that time the Panevėžys City and County Governor was appointed, and the Panevėžys County Committee elected. On January 6th, 1919 last German units left Panevėžys County. But already on January 7th Panevėžys County was invaded by Bolsheviks. Only on May 23rd, 1919 the Panevėžys Region was completely cleared of occupants. After the liberation, Povilas Brazdžius was appointed the new Panevėžys City and County Governor. On June 12th, 1919 the presidium of Panevėžys County Seimelis (literally - the Little Seimas, a municipal governmental body of noblemen) was elected. On July 1st, 1919 the boundaries of Panevėžys County were defined. The number of valsčiai (small rural districts) in it varied up until the end of 1920. On October 10th, 1919 the self-government law was approved. During the first year of Independence a considerable amount of attention was paid to the restoration of destroyed economy, roads network development, education, and health care. In 1923 the new wooden Panevėžys County hospital was built. The same year the census of population was taken. In 1924 the City and County boundaries were drawn. In 1926 Pumpėnai and Pušalotas valsčiai were added to Panevėžys County. However, Lithuania chose to turn to authoritarianism. The self- government laws, approved in 1929 and 1931, considerably weakened the local self-government. At that time Governor became the most important figure in the County. In 1932 the number of valsčiai in Panevėžys County finally stabilised. Despite the authoritarian tendencies, quite a lot of positive changes have happened in the Region at that time. In the 30-ies roads and bridges were built, education network developed, a lot of attention was paid to culture and health care issues in Panevėžys Region. The creative work was stopped by the occupation in 1940.