Nepriklausomos Lietuvos valstybės atkūrimo ypatumai: Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekoje saugomų dokumentų pagrindu

Abstract

Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjami Lietuvos valstybės atkūrimo laikotarpio (1917 m. antra pusė – 1918 m.) dokumentai, saugomi Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekos Rankraščių ir Retų spaudinių skyriuose, aptartas jų panaudojimas naujausiuose Lietuvos valstybingumo atkūrimo tyrimuose bei dokumentų publikacijose, atskleisti istoriniai vokiečių okupacijos, Katalikų bažnyčios ir krikščioniškosios demokratijos, politinės veiklos centrų kontekstai, apibūdinti lietuvių etnografinių sienų problematikos, nepriklausomybės skelbimo ir įgyvendinimo ypatumai.

The article takes a look at documents from the period of the restoration of the State of Lithuania (the second half of 1917 to 1918), kept in the Manuscript and Rare Book Departments of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and discusses their use in recent scientific research and publications of historical sources. The invasion of the German Army into Lithuania in 1915–1918 is shown on postcards published by the Germans themselves, and by numerous proclamations by the German occupation authorities. The Collection of the Lithuanian Scientific Society (F255) kept in the Manuscript Department contains quite a few documents testifying to the activities of the activist clergy and the rallying representatives of Christian democracy: the draft of an official letter from the Council of Lithuania to the Pope, concerning Polonization of the population through the Church; the letter of protest from a meeting of Vilnius Lithuanians to the Council of Lithuania, relating to Lithuanian priests punished by the Administrator of the Vilnius Diocese, Father Kazimierz Mikołaj Michalkiewicz; a letter to the Presidium of the Council of Lithuania from a signatory of the Act of 16 February, Father Alfonsas Petrulis, concerning requisitions perpetrated by the Germans in the Alytus region, etc. The Library has in its holdings key documents of the Organizing Committee of the Vilnius Conference, as well as publications and photographs from the Vilnius Conference, which took place on September 18–23, 1917. The most notable documents of the Council of Lithuania held by the Library are as follows: A Memorial of Great Sufferings of Lithuania sent on October 20, 1917 to the German Chancellor and the occupation administration in Lithuania; an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Lithuania of January 20, 1918 concerning an address to the Russian and German authorities; a letter to the German occupation administration from the Chairman of the Council of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, concerning requisitions; the text of the Act of Independence of February 16, 1918, translated into German, unsigned by the signatories; correspondence of the Council of Lithuania with the German Chancellor and the German Reichskommisar in Lithuania, Friedrich Falkenhausen (a copy, in the Lithuanian language), concerning the Act of Independence of February 16, 1918; the Statute of the State Council; a typewritten copy of the Basic Principles of the Temporary Constitution of the State of Lithuania etc. In addition, the Library has as many as four copies of the February 19, 1918 issue of Lietuvos Aidas (Echo of Lithuania), containing the Act of Independence of February 16. Numerous documents of commissions of the Council of Lithuania show the preliminary process of the creation of the state, provide information on the input of specific individuals in certain areas, and the documents of the first governments and municipal administrations illustrate real work of the creation of the state. The documents of the Vilnius Conference, the Council of Lithuania, and the first Lithuanian governments, kept in the Manuscript and Rare Book Departments of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences disclose so far little known circumstances of the restoration of the independent State of Lithuania.