Editing Klaipėda (section)

=== Inter-war years and World War II ===
{{main|Klaipėda Region}}
[[File:Parade of the Lithuanian Army in Klaipėda Theatre Square in 1923.jpg|thumb|Lithuanian Army parade in Klaipėda Theatre Square in 1923]]
Under the [[Treaty of Versailles]] after [[World War I]], Klaipėda and the surrounding [[Klaipėda Region]] (Memel Territory) were detached from Germany and made a [[protectorate]] of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente States]]. The French became provisional administrators of the region until a more permanent solution could be worked out. Both Lithuania and Poland campaigned for their rights in the region. However, it seemed that the region would become a free city, similar to the [[Free City of Danzig]]. Not waiting for an unfavourable decision, the Lithuanians decided to stage the [[Klaipėda Revolt]], take the region by force, and present the Entente with a ''fait accompli''. The revolt was carried out in January 1923 while western Europe was distracted by the [[occupation of the Ruhr]]. The Germans tacitly supported the action, and the French offered only limited resistance.<ref name="Vytautas Kažukauskas">Vytautas Kažukauskas. [http://www.muziejai.lt/vilnius/kazukausko_str.htm Visa Lietuvių tauta atsiėmė Klaipėdą] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309205243/http://www.muziejai.lt/vilnius/kazukausko_str.htm |date=9 March 2007 }}</ref> The revolt was supported by the Chief Rescue Committee of Lithuania Minor, chaired by Prussian Lithuanian [[Martynas Jankus]], which operated since 22 December 1922 with its centre in Klaipėda.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vyriausiasis Mažosios Lietuvos gelbėjimo komitetas |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/vyriausiasis-mazosios-lietuvos-gelbejimo-komitetas/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=30 June 2023 |language=lt}}</ref> The [[League of Nations]] protested the revolt but accepted the transfer in February 1923. The formal [[Klaipėda Convention]] was signed in Paris on 8 May 1924 and secured extensive autonomy for the region.<ref>''League of Nations Treaty Series'', vol. 29, pp. 86–115.</ref>

[[File:Silvestras Zukauskas in Klaipeda (1925).jpg|thumb|Supreme Commander of the Lithuanian Army [[Silvestras Žukauskas]] in Klaipėda, 1925]]
[[File:Two posters by Augustinas Laukzemis printing house, USA, 1920s.jpg|thumb|left|Two 1920s posters, representing the historical attachment of Klaipėda to Lithuania in 1923]]
The annexation of the city had significant consequences for the Lithuanian economy and foreign relations. The region subsequently accounted for up to 30% of Lithuania's entire economic production. Between 70% and 80% of foreign trade passed through Klaipėda. The region, which represented only about 5% of Lithuania's territory, contained a third of its industry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eidintas |first=Alfonsas |author2=Vytautas Žalys |author3=[[Alfred Erich Senn]] |editor=Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis |title=Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 |edition=Paperback |year=1999 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |location=New York |isbn=0-312-22458-3 |page=165}}</ref>

[[Weimar Germany]], under Foreign Minister [[Gustav Stresemann]], maintained normal relations with Lithuania. However, [[Nazi Germany]] desired to reacquire the region and tensions rose. Pro-German parties won clear supermajorities in all elections to the [[Klaipėda Parliament]], which often clashed with the Lithuanian-appointed [[Klaipėda Directorate]]. Lithuanian efforts to "re-Lithuanize" [[Prussian Lithuanians]] by promoting the Lithuanian language, culture, education were often met with resistance from the locals. In 1932, a conflict between the Parliament and the Directorate had to be resolved by the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]]. In 1934–1935, the Lithuanians attempted to combat increasing Nazi influence in the region by arresting and prosecuting over 120 Nazi activists for the alleged plot to organize an anti-Lithuanian rebellion.<ref name="Lietuva">Mažoji Lietuva.[http://www.mazoji-lietuva.lt/article.php?article=237 Klaipėdos krašto istorijos vingiuose] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224535/http://www.mazoji-lietuva.lt/article.php?article=237 |date=27 September 2007 }}.</ref> Despite these rather harsh sentences, the defendants in the [[Neumann–Sass case]] were soon released under pressure from Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gliožaitis |first1=Algirdas Antanas |last2=Matulevičius |first2=Algirdas |title=Neumanno-Sasso byla |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/neumanno-sasso-byla/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=26 March 2023 |language=lt |archive-date=1 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501114614/https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/neumanno-sasso-byla/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The extensive autonomy guaranteed by the Klaipėda Convention prevented Lithuania from blocking the growing pro-German attitudes in the region.

[[File:Adolf Hitler in Memel.png|thumb|right|Visit of [[Adolf Hitler]] following the German annexation of the city, March 1939]]
As tensions in pre-war Europe continued to grow, it was expected that Germany would make a move against Lithuania to reacquire the region. German Foreign Minister [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] [[1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania|delivered an ultimatum]] to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister on 20 March 1939, demanding the surrender of Klaipėda. Lithuania, unable to secure international support for its cause, submitted to the ultimatum and, in exchange for the right to use the new harbour facilities as a free port, ceded the disputed region to Germany in the late evening of 22 March 1939.<ref name="KlaipedosIstorija" /> [[Adolf Hitler]] visited the harbour and delivered a speech to the city residents. That was Hitler's last territorial acquisition before [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fosse |first1=Marit |last2=Fox |first2=John |title=Sean Lester: The Guardian of a Small Flickering Light |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780761866114 |page=163 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RvasDAAAQBAJ |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408100004/https://books.google.com/books?id=RvasDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the war, the Germans operated a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamp of the [[Stalag I-A]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] prisoners of war in the city,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey P. |last2=Overmans |first2=Rüdiger |last3=Vogt |first3=Wolfgang |year=2022 |title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]], [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |page=389 |isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> and [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled Poles]] from [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]] were also enslaved as forced labour in the city's vicinity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wardzyńska |first=Maria |year=2017 |title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939–1945 |language=pl |location=Warszawa |publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]] |pages=405, 409, 410 |isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref>