Thirty Days in Lithuania in 1919

by Peter Saurusaitis

At the time I was visiting Lithuania she was surrounded by enemies—on the north and east by the Bolsheviks, on the west by Kolchak and the insurgent Germans, and on the south by the Poles. The most stupendous fact is that at present the Poles are the most dangerous foes of the Lithuanians. The Poles, rejoicing in their own liberation from the yoke of oppression, are altogether unmindful that they are striving to place the Lithuanian nation under worse oppression. When the Germans occupied Lithuania they did not treat them as roughly as the Poles are doing at this moment. For example, I was in Lithuania when the Poles took Seinai, the seat of Bishop Karosas, which is a Lithuanian city, imprisoned the Lithuanian Bishop in his residence, expelled the ecclesiastical students from their seminary, arrested two priests and carried them to Poland. If any of the remaining priests are called out on a sick call, they send armed soldiers to accompany the priest and guard his movements strictly. They did not permit the Bishop to correspond with his pastors, or the priests of the diocese, nor was anyone permitted to call on him. The Germans during their occupation never guarded a priest going to sick calls.

Here is a translation of a little article taken from a Lithuanian political daily newspaper called Lietuva (Lithuania) of October 10, 1919:

"Actions of the Polish Occupants.—The Polish army came to the district of Vilkaviskis in September. After two weeks they began to show their rapacity. They robbed Augustin Kliogutis of Norvydai while he was going home from church, with five other companions, stripped them of their clothing and left them in puris naturalibus."

Similar notices filled the paper with the various robberies committed by soldiers of the Polish army. On September 21, 1919, one of the Polish officials called the Lithuanian people together and promised them great favors—while the people asked him to stop the robberies, which would have been the greatest favor possible. The Lithuanians say: "If the Poles could grant us favors they would not keep their soldiers half naked and half starved."

For all this greediness and avariciousness of the Polish people I do not blame the good Polish citizens and patriots, because in our days in all nationalities there are a great many political parties, of which the governments are composed, the greater number of those compelling the entire nation to act against the good will of the citizens. On the other hand we Lithuanians cannot boast too much of our patriotism, as though we had no traitor, even among the Poles. There are many Polonized Lithuanians, or so-called Poles who by the familiar and long intercourse with the Polish race, gradually neglected and despised and finally rejected entirely the Lithuanian language, adopted the Polish language in such a manner that some of them do not acknowledge to be Lithuanians but claim to be of Polish descendency—in other words, Polish by birth. These are the greatest persecutors of the Lithuanians now. This is the principal reason why the Poles took possession of Vilna, the first capitol of Lithuania. They maintain that all the province of Vilna is purely Polish. In this way the Polish patriots, joined by the Polonized Lithuanian renegades and traitors, try to induce others to join their party, and to struggle to find the demarkation between the two countries would appear endless without the final decision of the allies.

It is true what the Rev. Laukaitis remarked in his speech, that the Poles are carrying on their propaganda to induce more of the Lithuanian farmers, ignorant enough, to sign the Polish alliance. They send their crafty speakers to the villages near the boundary trying to persuade the Lithuanian government to permit a ballot to be cast in Vilna as to which side they prefer to belong. These propagandists do not tell the truth. They, like the Bolsheviks, promise mountains of gold, and in the end give bitter sorrow. It would indeed be foolish to allow a ballot after these speakers obtain the signatures of the farmers, who, through their ignorance, are misled by the vain promises and misleading arguments that the Lithuanians are incapable of self-government, without first hearing our side. With such arguments it would take only a few months to lead astray all the Lithuanians or vice versa Lithuanian speakers could bring to our side all Poles.

Members of the British mission at Kaunas (Kovo) told me that the Lithuanians are very brave soldiers who have so many enemies, yet nevertheless keep their spirit of patriotism so long and so firmly. It stands to reason then, that the Lithuanians, as a nation, are very brave, considering the numbers of Poles and Lithuanians, you could hardly imagine how the Lithuanians could dare oppose the Poles, and yet you see they attempt to oppose many armies. Lithuania has about one-fifth the population of Poland in Europe and about one-third the population of the Poles in America.

While I was spending five days in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania, the President received a cable from Lloyd George, London, recognizing the independence of Lithuania. This was on the night of September 26th. As soon as the cable arrived the Lithuanian government had the greatest demonstration in the history of the nation, wholly unmindful of the weather and rain. Parades, speeches, and the wildest rejoicing for this newly realized dream took possession of the city.

I intended to remain in Lithuania until May, but was obliged to change my mind for more than one reason. My winter apparel was in the lost baggage in Germany and the cold weather was approaching rapidly. There was no possibility for me to visit all the Parish churches as intended. There was no means of travel, train or vehicle. During the war the Lithuanians were deprived of all their horses. Those which they have now are used on the farms. With the greatest difficulty I managed to visit the following: Kybartai, Virbalis, Alvitas, Lankeliskiai, Valkaviskis, Gizai, Marjampole, Kaunas, and Kamendulai. I did not get the opportunity to see the Bishop of Vilona; for there was no consul of Poland in Lithuania to sign my passport. I spoke with the suffragan of the bishop of Kaunas. The Bishop of Seinai was arrested by the Poles. The last and to me the most important reason why I was determined to return to America immediately was because of the bad treatment the Lithuanian Bishops, priests and ecclesiastical students received in Seinai. I resolved to return to appeal to the sympathetic hearts of the Americans to protest against the wrong-doings of the Poles.