Modestas KUODYS REGIME OF MARTIAL LAW IN REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA IN

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1 VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY THE LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE OF HISTORY Modestas KUODYS REGIME OF MARTIAL LAW IN REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA IN SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION HUMANITIES, HISTORY (05 H) KAUNAS, 2009

2 This dissertation was prepared in the period of at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania The doctoral study licence is granted to Vytautas Magnus University together with the Institute of Lithuanian History by resolution No. 926 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on the 15th of July Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pranas Janauskas (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, History 05 H) The dissertation is defended at Vytautas Magnus University at the Council of Scientific Field of History of Vytautas Magnus University and the Institute of Lithuanian History Chairman: Dr. Rimantas Miknys (Lithuanian Institute of History, Humanities, History 05 H) Members: Prof. Dr. Habil. Zenonas Butkus (Vilnius University, Humanities, History 05 H) Dr. Algimantas Kasparavičius (Institute of Lithuanian History, Humanities, History 05H) Prof. Dr. Šarūnas Liekis (Mykolas Romeris University, Humanities, History 05H) Dr. Jonas Vaičenonis (Vytautas Magnus University, Huamanities, History 05H) Opponents: Prof. Dr. Habil. Mindaugas Maksimaitis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social sciences, Law 01S) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vygantas Vareikis (Klaip da University, Humanities, History 05H) The official defence of the dissertation will be held at 14:00 on the 20th of November, 2009, at a public sitting of the defence Board at Vytautas Magnus University, in the Adolfas Šapoka lecture - hall (No. 508), K. Donelaičio street 52, Kaunas Address: K. Donelaičio street 52, LT-44246, Kaunas Lithuania Phone: ( ) This summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on the... th October 2009 The dissertation is available at the National M. Mažvydas library, library o Vytautas Magnus University and library of Institute of Lithuanian History

3 VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS LIETUVOS ISTORIJOS INSTITUTAS Modestas KUODYS KARO PADöTIES REŽIMAS LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOJE M. DAKTARO DISERTACIJOS SANTRAUKA HUMANITARINIAI MOKSLAI, ISTORIJA (05 H) KAUNAS, 2009

4 Disertacija rengta metais Vytauto Didžiojo universitete Doktorantūros teis suteikta Vytauto Didžiojo universitetui, kartu su Lietuvos istorijos institutu 2003 m. liepos 15 d. Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausyb s nutarimu Nr Mokslinis vadovas: Doc.dr. Pranas Janauskas (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, Humanitariniai mokslai, Istorija 05 H) Disertacija bus ginama Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto ir Lietuvos istorijos instituto Humanitarinių mokslų srities istorijos krypties taryboje Pirmininkas: dr. Rimantas Miknys (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05 H) prof. habil. dr. Zenonas Butkus (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05H ) dr. Algimantas Kasparavičius (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05H) prof. dr. Šarūnas Liekis (Mykolo Romerio universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05H) dr. Jonas Vaičenonis (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05H) Oponentai: prof. habil. dr. Mindaugas Maksimaitis (Mykolo Romerio universitetas, socialiniai mokslai, teis 01S) doc. dr. Vygantas Vareikis (Klaip dos universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05H) Disertacija bus ginama viešame Humanitarinių mokslų srities istorijos krypties tarybos pos dyje, kuris vyks 2009 m. lapkričio 20 d. 14 val. Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Adolfo Šapokos auditorijoje (Nr. 508), K. Donelaičio g. 52. Adresas: K. Donelaičio g. 52, LT 44244, Kaunas, Lietuva Tel.: (8-37) Disertacijos santrauka išsiuntin ta 2009 m. spalio... d. Disertaciją galima perskaityti Lietuvos nacionalin je M. Mažvydo, Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto ir Lietuvos istorijos instituto bibliotekose

5 SUMMARY We have chosen a phenomenon that was never coherently studied in the Lithuanian historiography the regime of martial law in the Republic of Lithuania as the object of this dissertation research. This exclusive protective measure of a state and its regime is normally temporary while in Lithuania it became permanent no precedents for this can be found among the states of the contemporary Europe. Such an exclusive legal - administrative regime, lasting for two decades, turned to be an inseparable part of the political system, its influence was not limited to development of various institutions, it also had impact on the development of the whole society. This doctoral dissertation encompasses a rather wide range of issues. Whether the martial law was the one and only imperative condition for preservation of Lithuania s statehood? This controversial and rhetorical in itself problem served as a hypothesis for this research. In search for possible answers to the raised issue the causes of such a long term existence of the exclusive legal - administrative regime, characteristics of its functioning, meaning to the state and society were also scrutinized. Having all said above in consideration we formulated the objective of the research to educe the evolution the regime of the martial law in the Republic of Lithuania , factors determining it, while analyzing and assessing the most important political, institutional, social aspects of this phenomenon and their interactions. Archival and published sources, academic literature serves as a basis in reaching the set objective. Nine tasks representing the phases of realization of the goals described above are as follows: 1) To present the kinds and legislation of the exclusive regime 2) To analyze the political circumstances that determined the long lasting martial law 3) To define characteristics and practice of the martial law regime policy formulation 4) To highlight the impact of the martial law to the national armed forces 5) To estimate influence of the martial law to massing and protection of national guard reserve 5

6 6) To describe the role of the martial law to protection of the citizens and state s regime 7) To characterize the influence of the martial law to the state s legal system 8) To compare the life of in the country under the martial law and after it was recalled 9) To illustrate the impact of the long term martial law to the state itself and to relations of its own citizen The analytical and descriptive methods were used in this research. These are traditional methods, widely applied in many researches sharing a common character, when a historian has to deal with a great quantity of information from various sources which frequently is non informative or contradictory in order to establish in a consistent and all round manner an evolution of a complex political social phenomenon in a clearly defined timeline. The timeline of the research is rather wide - it covers the period from the beginning of the 1919 to middle of the This period covers the year of the independent Republic of Lithuania and almost throughout the entire indicated period the martial law was enacted. The beginning of the period is marked by the enacting the martial law in the early days of the state, while the end of the period stands for the state s loss of sovereignty. Voluminous academic literature on various topics of the interwar Lithuania's domestic and foreign politics and a broad base of archival and published sources were used when working on this dissertation. During the period, lasting longer than half of a century, a great number of academic works, dedicated for the development of the independent Republic of Lithuania ( ), were published. A great range of topics were examined in these works. The problem of martial law existence, lasting more than two decades, received some coverage in these researches as well. Nevertheless that coverage usually was extremely fragmentary and only in some cases included comments on circumstances of the enacting the martial law, legal basis, nature of administrative restrictions, practice of their implementation, their meaning and the like. The exclusive regime's impact on social processes was only minimally analyzed. Yet the long term martial law was only examined in the context of certain issues of law, politics or army. The most informative 6

7 from this perspective are the researches, carried by J. Bulavas, M. Maksimaitis, L. Truska, J. Vaičenonis. They form the historiographical background of this dissertation. However the biggest attention in course of this research was paid to the impressive massive of various sources. The most of the authentic information on work of war superintendants offices, their relations with other governmental and law enforcement offices, formulation of the martial law politics, was gathered at Lithuanian central state archive, in funds of army, departments of the Ministry of internal affairs, government. Certain useful documents were found in the Department of manuscripts at The Library of the Lithuanian academy of sciences and at the Kaunas regional archive. Published digests of legislative acts, administrative orders, circular notes, as well as stenographs of the parliamentary meetings were very important groups of sources. The works of academics, experts in law and other fields were very useful for analysis of certain issues. Likewise was the statistical data, published in various celebratory or generalized publications. Considerable attention during the process of information collection was paid to the Lithuanian interwar press. Specialized press and publications dedicated to soldiers, shooters, policemen, rail men, lawyers were particularly informative. The press of the main national parties was also examined, and similarly were the most important national daily newspapers, some Lithuanian newspapers from Klaip da region. Some original remarks, helpful for understanding, evaluation of documentary material, were found in the memoirs of former high ranking officers, some veterans of Freedom struggle, state officials, ministers, press workers, public figures and other more or less prominent people. The structure of the dissertation was modeled combining problematical and chronological principles of data arrangement. The work consists of the auxiliary parts, like introduction, other components supplied at the end of the work and of four chapters, respectively divided in sections and sub sections. The first chapter is committed to a general characteristic of the exclusive regime per se. This chapter provides with the definition, historical examples, sorts of exclusive (special) regimen realized in the Republic of Lithuania, their legal regulation, territorial changes of the exceptive regime and administrative structure. 7

8 The exclusive (special) regimen is a temporary, exceptive legal regime, designed for management of extreme situations and provided by the Constitution. In most European countries the legislation, regulating regimes of this nature were formulated following the French example in the 19 th century. The principle provisions in that legislation were rather universal and remain almost the same in the course of time. Upon imposition of the martial law authority of military and civil administration usually grows, human rights are restricted, social activities are significantly restrained, censorship exists, people may be imposed with various labor and pecuniary obligations, practice of administration of justice changes: military courts are established, preventive and penal administrative sanctions are applied on broad basis. The interwar Lithuanian legislation of the exclusive regimen was mostly influenced by the tsarist Russia counterparts. For two decades the order of the martial law, powers and functions of military officers in Lithuania were regulated by the Exclusive articles of state defense, adopted in 1919 and subsequently amended many times. Alternatively, in 1925 the law on Enhanced state s security regime was enacted. It provided the minister of internal affairs, superiors of regions and police with broad powers to control social sphere. Provisions from both laws with some amendments and supplements got into the law on "Exclusive time" in 1939 and into its new edition of In the first half of the third decade Exclusive articles of state defense were in power in Kaunas and its vicinity, spots were military forces were located, railway zones and a narrow strip alongside the line of demarcation, while from the end of December of 1926 to the end of October of 1938 they were equally applicable throughout the entire country. In 1939 and in the first half of 1940 in Lithuania, except the ripped off Klaip da region and Vilnius region, along with the martial law the enhanced state s security was in operation. On the first days of the soviet occupation it was substituted for the martial law, but the prior situation was soon reestablished, not for a long term though. In the structure of the regime of the martial law administration consisted of more than twenty municipal and regional superintendants offices (however some of them operated for a very short time). In the territory where Exclusive articles of state defense were applicable was limited and all superintendant's offices were transformed into nine war regions. In 1927 the number of war regions grew to 8

9 seventeen (they were based in Alytus, Biržai, Kaunas, K dainiai, Klaip da, Marijampol, Mažeikiai, Panev žys, Raseiniai, Rokiškis, Šiauliai, Taurag, Telšiai, Trakai, Ukmerg, Utena, Vilkaviškis) and soon were officially renamed into superintendants offices again. In 1936 four more war superintendants offices were established (in Lazdijai, Kretinga, Šakiai, Zarasai) and in two more of them were established in Vilnius and Švenčion liai. In municipal and regional superintendants offices, having staff of superintendants, their adjutants, war officers and squads having a various number of conscript soldiers, were coordinated by the chief of the Local army brigade, and the similarly composed superintendants offices of ten stations and sectors were coordinated by the Railway war commander. At the top of this whole military administrative system was the Minister of national defense, who had a special adjutant, called "martial law affairs referent" throughout the period from 1927 to During the first years of the martial law superintendants offices were usually ran by rather young officers of lower ranks - few of them had a rank as high as captain's. Then the state was lacking officers and in case of appointing a person to some responsible position, the main factors for consideration was not an education or experience but motivation and organization skills. Whereas in the second decade of the Lithuanian independency men, appointed to the position of a superintendent were elder, usually having a rank of a colonel lieutenant or a colonel. Most of the officers, who ran war superintendants offices during the Freedom struggles, had successful carriers later on. In course of maintaining the martial law order superintendants were actively aided by structures of the Ministry of internal affairs: superiors of regions and various sorts of the police. In these officials exercised the provisions of the enhanced security regimen in the country. Most of the former war superintendants, used to successfully work in the system of internal affairs after their retirement. There were vice ministers, heads of departments among them. The second chapter of the dissertation is dedicated to the consequent analysis of political decisions, incident to the martial law and exercised in the highest plies of government, the circumstances of their making, public and behind the scene discussions, as well as to the discussing the formation of principles of administering the exclusive regimen, their practical implementation in the local level. 9

10 In the decisions, concerning the martial law, were entered by the democratically elected parliaments, following the procedures, laid down in the Constitution. Every such political step spurred hot debates between the parliamentary majority of Christian democrats, standing for greater limitation of civil rights and liberties, and their persistent though not effective opponents from the left wing, first of all social democrats. The latter blamed the ruling political power for wishes to embed dictatorship, illegal persecution of political opponents, breach of human rights. The issue of the martial law had become the value dilemma for Lithuanian political elite, the situation where a compromise could hardly be found. In the first half of the third decade, due to active work of opposition, sufficiently effective parliamentary control mechanism for the martial law mechanism was built, and that allowed mitigating the negative consequences of this phenomenon in the public life. At the very same time the powers in force were making efforts to broaden and sophisticate the legal basis constraining social life in order to keep important administrative controls in their hands when ill repute in the eyes of public, savagely criticized by the opposition the martial law is postponed. In the midst of 1926 following the change of the balance of powers in the Parliament the left wing was given the chance to bring into life their radical program of democratization, yet this turn struck the internal balance in the state, stimulated the antinational and the ultra right powers, brought contradistinguishment into the society. The failed experiment was soon interrupted by the military coup d état, radically changing the course of the state s development. During the parliamentary period the permanent existence of the martial law was officially justified by unstable situation in the country, activity of illegal destructive underground movements and perennial threat from Poland. Speaking of the latter it takes to remember that even after the Freedom struggles were over Lithuania officially hold it to the statement it is in war with Poland. Effectively it was a symbolic stance, demonstrating the resolution of a small country to regain its historical capital Vilnius. The official state of war among these states was revoked only on December 10, 1927 on the initiative of the League of Nations. However diplomatic relations between reconciled countries were not reestablished till 1938, the territorial dispute remained unsolved. In Lithuania there still was the martial law imposed by the sole will of the 10

11 authoritarian president. It was mostly determined by internal motives, not by foreign policy factors. The exclusive regime in the state could only slightly strengthen Lithuanian defensive capabilities in case of external aggression. Thus already in the first years of A. Smetona s dictatorship there were contemplations of possibilities of changing the martial law into a sort of an alternative police administrative exclusive state. There was a wish to retreat the army from functions, alien to it in the times of peace. Furthermore, such normalization of internal life had to improve the image of the nationalist government both in the eyes of own citizen and international society. Question of transformation of the exclusive regimen was rather frequently asked in and in However the requests from the opposition powers, recommendations from the army command did not accelerated practical actions as the president did not resolve to weaken or refuse his principal support martial law regime. The real changes only occurred as a result of open Nazi Germany pressure. In March of 1938 it presented Lithuanian government with a memorandum of 11 articles, in which it demanded a recall of the martial law and satisfaction of other requests concerning Klaip da region. Kaunas, having no international support, had to accept the ultimatum and promise to exercise the demanded changes. Despite of this, nationalists government desperately searched for legal possibilities to maintain effective measures of social control and fighting against antinational activities after a recall of the martial law. Special alternative legislature and supplements to already existing legal acts were being prepared. However they were not enacted due to fear of hostile reaction from Germany. On October 1 st, 1938 the martial law was recalled not only throughout Lithuania but in Klaip da region as well. The authoritarian government concealed actual circumstances regarding this decision in attempt to protect its prestige and provided the public with embellished, propaganda version of the situation. Such manner of dialog between government and its citizens was of great use to the Soviet Union, when it occupied Lithuania in the summer of People, all the time having heard only reassuring, far from reality president's explanations, watched the events that were crucial to their country apathetically and being lost. Puppet people s government successfully used the measures provided by the exclusive state to fight opponents and unreliable persons. For this purpose it enacted a new, well improved law 11

12 on Exclusive time. Even though in the summer of 1940 pro - soviet demonstrations took a broad stage and were intentionally stimulated, the state of enhanced security that were in force in Lithuania, did not allow non communist social groups to exercise their rights of freedom of speech or meetings. Any signs of dispraise or opposition to the system brought by the Soviet army were immediately suppressed by grave administrative measures, applied by newly appointed reliable superiors of regions, censorship was functioning, all prior restrictions on public expression were left unchanged. Therefore practice of antinational activity neutralization, compared to one, existing in the years of A. Smetona s dictatorship, remained externally similar during the first month of occupation, simply the public enemies were described by different criteria. While demagogically praising freedom, justice, the soviet government was cynically breaching human rights. The third section of the second chapter coherently depicts the practice of the martial law management during the both decades of the independent Lithuanian state. In 1919 gradual enacting of the martial law, which also meant the spread of Lithuanian government s influence in the country, took place in the circumstances of turmoil, thus there were enough problems, sorrowful mistakes used to happen. There were cases when soldiers took measures against potential collaborators without a court procedure, terrorized citizens. However most of the troubles were caused more by unfamiliarity with law, lack of experience, than by intentional, malevolent behavior. Common orders were frequently unequally interpreted by different superintendents, sometimes they were imposing various restrictions or fees without any ground. Due to objective reasons all these problems could have hardly been avoided. In face of the fight to the death even sketchy exclusive legal regimen contributed a lot for stabilization of the situation in the country. However it is worth noting that since the very first years of a sovereign state the government and the army command were making efforts to improve administration of the martial law, to ameliorate relationship between soldiers and civilians. In September of 1921 the first convention of war superintendants was called, where convent guests and commanders of army structures discussed the most important issues of their work, possible reforms of the system, evaluated mistakes of the past few years. Soon the martial law was recalled in most of the Lithuanian regions, functions of public order maintenance, regulation of public life were transferred from the war 12

13 superintendants to superiors of the regions. The Ministry of internal affairs regularly organized conventions of these officials prepared various instructions, stimulated interdepartmental cooperation. Following the coup d état of 1926 the martial law was enacted throughout the entire country and the war superintendants role in control of social life grew by a large portion. Therefore some cases of misapplications of the powers vested occurred: sometimes work of civil offices was interfered without any due reason, purposeless administrative obstacles raised for civilians. However in a time of a couple of years all these shortcomings of the superintendants offices' work were eliminated and the martial law regime began to function smoothly. This was achieved due to a tight cooperation of structures of the National defense and internal affairs ministries and due to an analysis of prior mistakes. Superiors of regions and the police were the main aids to the war superintendants in controlling the press, meetings, persecuting the members of opposing and antinational organizations. In the second half of the 1930s most of these functions were practically carried on their own. In good coordination of actions and accumulated experience helped to transform the exclusive regimen quickly and without complications. When the martial law was recalled and soon after that the state of enhanced state s security enacted the superiors of regions received work formerly performed by the war superintendants. The martial law was only enacted in Vilnius region that was incorporated into Lithuania in the late autumn of 1939 due to a complicated situation, determined by hostile attitude of Polish speaking residents towards Lithuanian government. However, strict legal and administrative measures applied in the region contributed to protection of order. The third chapter is dedicated to show the overall impact of the martial law the various fields of the state. The subsections of the first section depict the impact on the armed forces (army, šauliai (shooters), and border guard structures). The martial law as a phenomenon, applicable to the entire institution (places of location of military units), existed only from 1920 to the beginning of This gave opportunity to enhance the discipline (the harder criminal liability for breach of official duties existed) and to use the war time responsibilities system for supply of armed forces. The martial law in the army allowed suppressing effectively the malignant political propaganda, demoralization of soldiers and harmful activities. This was extremely important in the 13

14 first years of a young state. However the enhanced discipline in the army had some specific faults as well the soldier were penalized the same like during the war time even for insignificant offences, e.g. lost piece of a uniform. These shortcomings were harshly criticized by the left wing parliamentary fractions. These political powers, upon their coming to power in 1926, recalled the martial law in the country and amnestied a great number of soldiers who were punished too strictly. The permanent martial war had a minimal impact on the army, its quantity (except the periods). The quantity and manning of the armed forces fit the criteria of a peace time. However, a part of the National defense ministry apparatus was retracted from the direct matters of national defense due to the police functions assigned. Other armed structures, National guards, public, railway, border police had to obey or tightly cooperate with war superintendants. During the first years of the martial law regimen the most problematic group for the war superintendants were members of Šaulių sąjunga (Shooters union), as a number of them were ill reputed, notorious. In the beginning of 1920s this made the relations between shooters and regular armed forces rather complicated. Upon coming of tautininkai (nationalists) into power in 1927 the actions aimed at centralizing all national armed structures, cleaning their constitution from politically unreliable elements were exercised. The biggest opposing potential subsisted in Šaulių sąjunga, therefore the authoritarian government promptly began the reorganization of the framework of its government. Shooters platoons were subjected to the supervision of the war superintendants even though most of private organization members were expressing discontent to this. The Law on Šaulių sąjunga passed in 1935, fully integrated it to the common system of the armed forces, improved its material equipment, conditions for military preparation. On the other hand independence of shooters declined, patriotic, socially active citizens, sympathizing to opposing political trends were left aside. In the first years of sovereignty the martial law helped to secure better control of national borders, to fight smuggling, to strengthen the security of demarcation (administrative) line, holding a specific status and dividing Lithuania and Poland, contradistinguished by a territorial conflict. The south eastern Lithuanian periphery was an actual front line margin, where shootings between Polish and Lithuanian armed 14

15 structures, frequently claiming casualties, were common. In the zone of the demarcation line Lithuanian legislature on national border protection were not applicable thus the offenders were fought applying measures of the martial law, there were strict restraints on people s circulation. The protection of the demarcation line was gravely intensified in 1928 in the face of the armed invasion of militant Lithuanian social democrat wing, led by J. Plečkaitis. Proper readiness of the border police, army, the preventive actions helped to preclude further provocations by pro Polish oriented oppositionists in emigration. Lots of problems of various natures in the south eastern Lithuanian border zone arose in the beginning of the World War II, when remains of defeated Polish army and civil refugees began coming into Lithuania. The Lithuanian border protection was additionally strengthened then. The second section of the third chapter analyzes the significance of the martial law for accumulation of the necessary for state s defense material and humane resources (regulating economical and social relations, exercise of war services, securing protection and functioning of transportation system). In early years of the Lithuanian martial law superintendants offices were an only reliable support of the government in the periphery. In absence or in the face of weak performance of civilian institutions the war superintendants were dealing with the sorest social problems for some time: to regulate transportation of food and other necessary supplies, trade, prices, fight the speculation, protect state s property, take care of sanitary and fire safety matters. Rather important role was played by them in organizing and supervising the pecuniary and work responsibilities, imposed on civilian residents. The superintendants' squads performed urgent requisitions of food products, horse feed and other supplies, necessary for the army, mediated in search for transportation means, in sequestrating premises. The regional war superintendants disciplined not only citizens avoiding the responsibilities, but the officers, performing their duties negligently, acting illegally as well. Requisitions and other responsibilities hardly oppressed the Lithuanian country, impoverished by the war, however, there actually were no other, less painful means to provide supplies to the army and other institutions of the newly born state. In the beginning of the 1920s, right when the situation in the state had stabilized, the war time methods of economical and social life and complex of irregular responsibilities were revoked, notwithstanding the legislature of this field was further improved in order to 15

16 prepare for possible extraordinary situations. At the end of 1930s the Lithuanian system of civil safety, war time economical - social process regulation was quite well built. In that system important roles were assigned not only to war superintendants offices but to the institutions of the Ministry of internal affairs, the Ministry of Finances. During the first years of sovereignty the army rebuilt and controlled the system of Lithuanian railways that was a core factor not only for the national defense but to development of economics as well. In the course of the Freedom struggles the railway zone, encompassing railway lines and other infrastructure was set to the regimen of the martial law. The order in that zone was maintained by the special war superintendants' offices of stations and tracts, subordinated to the Railway war commander. In the railway workers were militarized, which put them in the same position as any military structure from the points of discipline and supplies. This was done in order to prevent possible strikes and other hostile activities, capable to disorganize the functioning of the communication system in the very complicated time for the state. In 1924 the functions of infrastructure protection and order maintenance in the zone of railways were taken over from the military by the railway police, the martial law remained in the operations though. In the preservation of order in the entire zone of Lithuanian railways was controlled by one war superintendant, which, likewise regional superintendants passed mandatory orders for maintenance of safety requirements, penalized offenders. The third section of the third chapter examines the formation of the public life observation and control system in the circumstances of the martial law, the role of war superintendants' offices in the struggle against antinational activities, crimes and offenses of the public order. The martial law hardly limited Lithuanian citizens possibilities to express their views in the press or public events. The permissions from the war superintendants, regional superiors were necessary for press and other printings, their making, organization of demonstrations, meetings, establishment of associations, parties. In the period of Parliaments the control of public social life was not very strict, various curious situations due to administrative restrictions and sanctions used to arose from time to time though. The military censorship did not allow announcing in the press or public 16

17 events news containing information about composition of the army, its locations, readiness, or to proclaim or publish inflammatory, demoralizing antinational material. Politic polemic, critique of the government was tolerated, except for an open libel. In the beginning of the 1920s only the left wing political organizations and unions, usually serving as a cover for underground communist party, were more restrained. The other organizations could practically act without any restrictions from the administration. The situation significantly changed after the coup d état of 1926 when the authoritarian government employed all the means to suppress opposition. The war censorship became very censorious, did not allow any critique of the government, deranged the press of the left wing as well as of the Christian democrats by administrative sanctions. The regional branches of the political parties were not given permissions to organize conventions, meetings, and their activity pinched. In the beginning of the 1930s a huge administrative pressure was directed towards various catholic organizations and clergy, supporting Christian democrats party. The war superintendents were backed by the police and superiors of the regions in persecution of political opponents and enemies of the regime. The superiors of the regions practically took over the matters of censorship and supervision of meetings. The Law on Press, passed in 1935, not only limited the freedom of newspapers publishers but also subjected them to the responsibility to publish the governmental propaganda material. In 1936 all the Lithuanian opposition parties and political organizations connected to them were prohibited. The martial law helped the authoritarian government to push the opposition out of the public life completely. In the conditions of the long term martial law regime a specific system of political observations and surveillance of public moods was created in Lithuania and it encompassed various military and police structures. The intelligence officers as well as the war superintendants began to cooperate tightly during the Freedom struggles already. The military administration of regions helped the secret services to persecute communists and members of other antinational organizations, observed Polish landlords, fought the hostile agitation and other harmful activity. Relationship between war superintendants and intelligence servicemen were not smooth from the very beginning though, some conflicts used to arise. The public image of the intelligence service despite its successful work was not good. It was undermined by complaints 17

18 regarding torturing arrestees, licence and other cases of illegal activities that became known to the public. The war superintendants frequently had to discipline the private intelligence servicemen, as at the beginning there happened to be various adventurists, ill reputed persons among them. In the beginning of the 1920s, when zones where the martial law was applicable, were limited, surveillance of the public life was carried by the secret police (that emerged from the reorganized Department of intelligence of the General Headquarters) that was aided by the superiors of the regions. Since 1927 when the republic of Lithuania turned to the path of authoritarianism the cooperation between superiors of regions and the secret police became even more intense. Military and civil administration did not only penalized with administrative sanctions persons, named by the intelligence servicemen, but also prepared special reports to its chiefs about a political situation in the regions, population s moods, etc. At the beginning these reports were not sent on a regular basis, however, since the midst of 1930s it became clearly regulated practice the reports of a unified form had to be prepared monthly, using a given questionnaire. The transformation of the exclusive regime did not much impact the established system of public surveillance. The state defense police, superiors of regions throughout the entire country (with exception to Klaip da region) observed the public life as thorough as they did it before and were ready to suppress all and any signs of antinational activities. Under the martial law the war superintendants rather frequently helped the police structures to fight the criminal world or to maintain the public order. They played extremely important role during the first years of Lithuanian sovereignty when regional militia was incapable to fight the well armed bands of raiders. In the course of a couple of years by use of drastic measures of the war time the banditry that outspread in Lithuania after the World War I was defeated. The martial law provided with great measures for the crime prevention. The war superintendants by their public orders were limiting circulation in the time of dark, were organizing additional patrols when necessary, registered firearms, helped the police to prevent the demonstrations, riots or defeated them, used to close down the problematic places of entertainment. The police often approached the war superintendants requesting them to use their exclusive powers and to isolate in a concentration camp or to exile to other region regular offenders of public order, smugglers and other chronic criminals, which could not had been tried and 18

19 jailed for a longer time. However the Ministry of National defense had a notion that the war superintendants' prime task is to fight the crimes having a political implication, threatening the regime: political agitation, critique aimed at the government, provocations of social groups confrontation on the basis of nationality, religion or social background. Despite of this, during the years of the authoritarian regime the martial law was frequently presented in press as a very effective measure for protection of residents, their property, thanks to which the crime indexes are steadily decreasing. The society was evaluating positively the strict war superintendants actions when dealing with offenders of public order and persecuting the bandits. The subsections of the fourth section of the third chapter describes the impact of the martial law on the legal system of the Republic of Lithuania: presentation and some characteristic examples of enhanced judicial and administrative persecution options for persons, threatening national safety and public order, sorts of military courts and features of their work discussed. The martial law changed the permanent internal legal regime, set in the Constitution, by the exclusive, stricter, and setting greater limits on citizens' rights and liberties regime. At the very same time the practice of administration of justice changed. The civilians, charged with some (antinational and some criminal) charges could had been tried by a temporary court martial, holding exclusive powers and not limited by procedure, or by the permanent Army court, whilst regular courts of peace time coexisted in the state at the same time. During the first years of the sovereignty the administration of the capital sentence was directly connected with the martial law. The work of army courts in Lithuania was regulated by adapted statutes for army courts of the imperial Russia, digests of war criminal law sources. In this field, likewise in the lawmaking in general, Lithuania was significantly left behind by the neighboring states. Latvia and Estonia by the end of the 1930s already had new statutes for martial courts. On the other hand, Lithuanian system of martial courts functioned smoothly albeit not reformed. This was mostly determined by the steady, professional personnel of the Army court. This institution in particular had the biggest workload in the terms of the long term of the martial law. In the course of two decades ( ) this institution heard more than eleven thousand cases of civilians and soldiers. The temporary court martial in the first years of sovereignty used to try bandits, enemy s collaborators, later 19

20 these courts tried the convicts in the resonant cases of antinational crimes. In these courts heard 127 cases. The public image of army courts was threatening. They used to hear cases quickly, the sanctions imposed were grave, and they were imposing the capital sentences frequently. Such judgments were purposively made known to the public in order to show that any and all infringing the governmental order, Lithuanian sovereignty, Lithuanian officials, citizens' life and/or property gets a quick and severe payback and that the state and military structures, safeguarding it are high principled and uncompromising. The work of army courts awoke the biggest discontent in the autonomous Klaip da region where the pro German residents and their political organizations deemed the enacting of the martial law and legal consequences arising from it illegal. Autonomous government resisted using various means to extraditing local residents to jurisdiction of army courts, made appeals to the Ministry of national defense regarding administrative sanctions, imposed by the war superintendants. Despite of this the national government was able to defend its interests in autonomous territory till the midst of 1930s. The legislature of the exclusive state provided the relevant structures of the Ministry of national defense and the Ministry of internal affairs with universal, efficient arsenal of administrative measures (fines, arrest, exile, isolation in a concentration camp), which was broadly used for prevention as well as for administration of justice. However the means to preserve due process in the administrative procedure, to safeguard human rights were very limited and complicated. The administrative court, despite early and frequent discussions between lawyers and officials, was not established. In solely for political antinational activity approximately 6800 persons were sentenced. Such sanctions were imposed not only on agitators, circulators of illegal press, but on prominent politicians as well. For instance, in 1923 Kaunas war superintendant sentenced the first President of the Republic of Lithuania A. Smetona, and the first Prime Minister A. Voldemaras with a temporary imprisonment. In the years of the authoritarian regime the war superintendants paid even less respect towards authorities most of the leaders of opposition and critics of the regime were administratively penalized at least once. Those, sentenced for minor offences of public order, were frequently amnestied for the biggest national fests, the penalties were 20

21 frequently excused, meanwhile the oppositionists' chances to be graced were significantly lower. The last chapter is dedicated to depiction of the impact of exclusive regime to the daily citizens life. It tells how Lithuanian society, its political movements reacted to the recall of the martial law, that lasted for two decades, how did this impacted the situation inside of the country. Also, on the basis of material from various sources, it overlooks the meaning of the long term martial law to the state itself, relationship between it and society. The martial law regime was the most cumbersome for Lithuanian citizens at the beginning of sovereignty, while later efforts were made to make this regime as much as possible rational, to eliminate meaningless obstacles, economical encumbrances. In the course of two decades broad public became used to the permanent martial law, this phenomenon became natural and almost invisible part of the daily life. The recall of the martial law in the beginning of November of 1938 was met with indifference by most of the residents in Lithuanian province, some of them did not notice anything at all. Quite a big number became worry that not so strict internal regimen may lead to the rise of criminality. While the reaction of organized political social movements were much more active. Leaders and active members of banned traditional parties understood very well the reasons that spurred the recall of the martial law in Klaip da region and in the entire country, and in fear of German aggression did not rejoice at the softened internal regime. However all the illegal political groups hoped to make use of the situation to intensify the opposition activities. Christian democrats, peasant populists and the right wing radicals A. Voldemaras followers successfully did it, while Lithuanian communist party, that lost the support of the Comintern, was burried in deep internal crisis till Thus at the end of 1938, same as in the second half of 1926, the recall of martial law stimulated the organized opposition powers but not the mass of population. The president A. Smetona, differently from the left wing government in the times of the Third Seimas (Parliament), was ready to various turns and held reliable measures for neutralization of threats for the regime. The authoritarian government soon enacted the state of the enhanced security in place of the martial law and this allowed controlling the situation throughout the country, except the Klaip da region where Nazi, supported 21

22 by Germany, raved. The historical analysis of two brief periods when the Republic of Lithuania lived in absence of the martial law does not allow assuredly confirm or deny, if the exclusive regime was the ineluctable condition for preservation of the sovereignty. The permanent martial law gave the country the somewhat color of militarism. Lithuania just like the other European countries, in the expectancy of new global conflict, made efforts to strengthen, modernize the armed forces in accordance with its potential. Limited resources did not allow bigger accumulation of the military potential though. The role of the army in Lithuania was nevertheless very significant throughout the entire twenty years of independence, especially in the period of authoritarianism ( ). Following the coup d état of 1926 the servicemen brought to power the leader of nationalist party A. Smetona. The dictatorship, created by him had the features of military bureaucratic regime. While a typical, classical military regimen was not realized: the servicemen remained subordinated to the civil government (president), they did not hold the decisive power when political decisions were made. On the other hand, the government sought to have the favor and support from the military and thus warranted them somewhat a privileged social status. In the midst of 1930s the military patriotic propaganda, aiming at solidifying citizens' resolution to defend the state s independence was purposefully developed. However this policy, likewise the long term martial law showed only a facile, sketchy bellicosity of the state as no significant militarization of the society was reached. The long term martial law regime made the Lithuanian residents somewhat their own governments' hostages, frustrated their civic activity. The potential to create free associations as the most important component of the civil society existed at the rise and the beginning of Lithuanian sovereignty; however the possibilities for its development constricted with the passage of time. This was obstructed by various factors. First of all it was determined by the political and social restraints that were constantly growing throughout the two decades. And secondly certain mental barriers can not be forgotten, firstly the dominant national ethnocentrism, disallowing the integration of ethnic minorities into the integral society of Lithuanian citizen. Young and rather radical nationalism, extremely significant social inequality, weak middle class, lack of traditions of free equal men gatherings and deficit of the political freedom were the main problems making it troublesome to create a civic society throughout the entire 22