MEMEL SINCE THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 152, 23 March 1939, Page 9

MEMEL SINCE THE WAR

Special Statute To Protect Germans At the close of the Great War, the port of Memel and a small strip of territory taken from Germany was administered by the League of Nations. In 1923 the territory was seized by means of a Lithuanian coup-de-main, and the French garrison was removed. Ultimately the territory was transferred to the newly-established State of Lithuania, under the protection of a Statute specially drafted to protect the cultural rights of its German population.

The Memel Statute of 1924 provided for the administration of the Memel territory by a Directorate of Memellanders, under a Governor to lie appointed by a Lithuanian Government. Special account was taken of the economic interests of the inhabitants of Memel Territory in an agreement signed’by Germany and Lithuania on August 5, 1936.

Concluding economic t>eace lietween the two countries, the treaty embodied a series of agreements covering exchange of goods and payments; frontier traffic, which had been in virtual suspension; labour permits for the nationals of each country in the country of the other; and veterinary regulations affecting the movements of live stock and live stock products. The political grievances of the inhabitants of the Memel territory against the Lithuanian Government were supported by a German commercial blockade, which reduced the value of mutual trade by about 75 per cent. Expropriation of Germans. In November, 1937, it was reported in Berlin that the Lithuanian Government had expropriated a large number of German landowners for the needs of the army, without consulting the Memel directorate and the Landtag. Three of the landowners were reported to be Reich Germans. The German Government protested in Kaunas only to receive “the unsatisfactory reply’’ that Germans were not included in the Memel constitution.

Rioting occurred in Memel on the night of June 28, 1938, when Nazis and Lithuanians fought in the streets with stones, sticks and other missiles. A 16-year-old German boy was killed and about 50 people were injured, some of them critically. The rioting began when about 7000 Germans assembled to greet the arrival In port of the German stcguner Danzig. While they were singing Nazi songs and shouting “Heil Hitler,” members of the crew of a Lithuanian steamer turned tire hoses on them.

On that occasion the Nazis repeated the demonstrations they made on June 4 and June 21. when other German steamers arrived in the port of Memel. The clash on June 28 was more serious, and the police opened lire to dis|>erse the crowd. The Lithuanian authorities stated later that the tiring was done by the police of the Memel autonomous territory.

The authorities in Katinas regarded the clash as a pfehtde to the election campaign for the Memella nd Diet. The military commandant of the Memel territory sentenced several persons to imprisonment with hard labour in connexion with the disorders.

Herr Bertuliet. deputy-leader of the Memel Germans, was retiorled Io have made the tir-o formal dmmiml f"t a re turn Io tin- Reieli during a -.|.><m-|> on Deef i'her 10. 1938. He declared that Memel was separated against its will and now desired reunion.