Kovų dėl Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atgarsiai dokumentuose ir žmonių atsiminimuose

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Atsiminimai; Lenkija (Lenkijos karalystė. Kingdom of Poland. Poland); Lietuvos nepriklausomybės karai; Lokali istorija; Nepriklausomybės kovos; Savanoriai; Seiniai; Lithuania; Lithuanian independence wars; Local history; Memories; Seiniai; The Struggle for Independence; Volunteers.

ENThe article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the independence of Lithuania. In 1918 the Lithuanian Council declared independence. Protecting and strengthening the independence required a lot of effort. The difficult task was to regulate relations with neighbouring countries, especially Poland, which proclaimed its independence on November 11, 1918. The conflict in the Seinai region was inevitable. The border residents wanted to decide about their affiliation to a particular state. The residents of Punskas were at the head of the events. On November 15, 1918, a rally was held at the church courtyard in Punskas. The representatives of 50 Lithuanian villages of the district unanimously voted for the organization of the Lithuanian district of Punskas in the structures of the Lithuanian state. During the rally, Petras Pacenka was elected the administrator of the district of Punskas, the district board and the militia were organized. The activities immediately started in other territories near the border: Kapčiamiestis, Kučiūnai, Rudamina, and Seinai. They founded Lithuanian committees, organized volunteers, local administration, education, etc. Preparations were conducted by the Polish-speaking border residents as well. They also founded their committees, Polish schools and administration. Since the Poles started the activities a little earlier than the Lithuanians, they had some advantage. Besides, they had the support of the local landowners. In October 1918, the Poles from Kapčiamiestis established a post office, which had its own postage stamps “40 groszy”. At the same time, in the village of Varviškė, the so-called Republic of the Varviškė was established. The author of the article pays a lot of attention to the Polish- Lithuanian fights in Seinai.Seinai, which was an important centre of the Lithuanian culture, was occupied either by Lithuanians or Poles dozen of times until finally it was allocated to Poland. The article is based on the documents of that time, minutes of meetings of the councils, testimonies and memoirs of the witnesses. [From the publication]