Editing Lithuania Minor (section)

==History==

===Pre-Lithuania Minor===
The territory, which was given the denomination Lithuania Minor in the 16th century, was not alien to Lithuanians ethnically as well as politically in earlier times. It had once been partly subject to [[History of Lithuania (1219–1295)|Mindaugas' Lithuania]] in the 13th century.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Tomas |last=Baranauskas |author-link=Tomas Baranauskas |date=23 March 2003 |title=Mindaugo karūnavimo ir Lietuvos karalystės problemos | url= http://www.voruta.lt/article.php?article=87 | journal=[[Voruta (newspaper)|Voruta]] | volume=6 | issue=504 | issn=1392-0677 | access-date =17 September 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051026174819/http://www.voruta.lt/article.php?article=87 |archive-date = 26 October 2005|language=lt}}</ref> Later, captured (1275–76) and ruled by the [[Teutonic Knights]], the land was reckoned, what is recorded in the historical sources, to be their patrimony by [[Algirdas]] (officially said) and [[Vytautas]] (recorded to be said unofficially).<ref>''Lietuvos istorija [The history of Lithuania]''; redactor A.Šapoka; Kaunas 1936; p.140</ref>

====German-Lithuanian rivalry====
{{Main|Northern crusades}}
The territory of western Lithuania [[Baltic crusades|began to be threatened]] by the [[Livonian order]] from the north and [[Teutonic Knights]] from the south in the 13th century. The Orders were seizing the lands of [[Baltic peoples|Baltic]] tribes, one of which – Lithuanians – had its [[History of Lithuania (1219–1295)|state]] and was also expanding its power among neighbouring Baltic and [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] people. The Order was granted the right over the pagan lands by popes and emperors of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It was conqueror's right – awarded them as much lands as they would conquer. After the [[Battle of Saule]] the [[Livonian order]] was crushed and incorporated to the Teutonic Order as part of it. [[Mindaugas]], in critical political circumstances for his rule, undertook to grant [[Samogitia]] to the Order in exchange for baptism and the crown from the pope. After Mindaugas became a king, a direct subject of the Pope, in 1253, the acts of grants of the lands for Livonian Order were written:
*1253 July, the act granting [[Nadruvia]] and [[Karšuva]] to the Order, written in Lithuanian curia by Mindaugas.
*1259 the act granting [[Dzūkija|Dainava]] and [[Scalovia]] to the Order, written by Mindaugas. In the historiography this act is considered to be falsified by the Order.

[[File:Ragnit Castle 10.jpg|thumb|Medieval castle ruins in [[Neman, Russia|Neman]]]]
All Baltic tribes rose against the Order after the [[Battle of Durbe]] (1260). Mindaugas officially canceled his relations with the Livonian Order in 1261 and the acts of grants became invalid. Mindaugas's royal dynasty discontinued when he and two sons were assassinated in 1263. Lithuanian dukes did not join the [[Old Prussians|Prussians]] in their uprising due to inside instability of the Lithuanian throne. Nadruvia and Scalovia (which comprised much of later Lithuania Minor) had been taken by the Teutonic Knights in 1275–1276 after the [[Prussian uprising]] and they reached [[Neman (town)|Neman]] from the south in 1282. Lithuania also did not manage to retain [[Semigallia]]n castles lying north from Lithuania and the [[Semigallians]] fell under the Order finally during [[Gediminas]]'s rule. [[Samogitia]]ns, whose land lay between the [[Livonian Order]] and the Teutonic Order, had been many times granted to the Order juridically by Lithuanian dukes, popes, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, but either the Order did not managed to take it, or the Lithuanian dukes departed from their treaty and grant. Klaipėda was passed to Teutonic Order from its Livonian branch in 1328.

The patrimony for Nadruvia and Scalovia was remembered by post-Mindaugas grand dukes of Lithuania: [[Algirdas]], during the negotiation on Lithuania's Christianization, postulated (1358) for the emperor of Holy Roman Empire, [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]], that he would accept Christianity when the Order was transferred to Russia's border to fight [[Tatars]] and Lithuania would be given back the lands to [[Łyna River|Łyna]], Pregolya rivers and Baltic sea. Lithuanian grand dukes probably considered the Order to be illegitimate state, propagandizing the mission of Christianization as the fundamental aim and factually seeking political authority at one time. Additionally, after the Order had become Protestant state, the conquered Baltic lands were not acknowledged as its possession by the popes.

After the [[Battle of Grunwald]] the dispute between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order on [[Samogitia]] started.<ref name="BaturaVytautas">{{cite book |last1=Batūra |first1=Romas |title=Places of Fighting for Lithuania's Freedom: in the expanse of Nemunas, Vistula and Dauguva Rivers |date=2010 |publisher=[[General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania]] |location=[[Vilnius]] |page=7 |url=http://www.tb.lt/Leidiniai/sisteminis_katalogas/Humanitariniai%20mokslai/Istorija/2010-places%20of%20fighting.pdf |access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref> Vytautas wanted the border to be the [[Neman River]], while the Order wanted to have [[Veliuona]] and Klaipėda in the right side of the river.<ref name="BaturaVytautas"/> Both sides agreed to accept the prospective solution of [[Emperor Sigismund]]'s representative [[Benedict Makrai]]. He decided that the right side of Nemunas ([[Veliuona]], [[Klaipėda]]) had to be left for Lithuania (1413). Makrai is known to have stated:<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[:de:Altpreußische Monatsschrift|Altpreußische Monatsschrift]]|year=1907|volume=44|title=Preußische Urkunden in Rußland|author=[[:de:August Robert Seraphim|August Seraphim]]|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lH0VAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22nec%20magister%20et%20ordo%22&pg=PA80|lang=de, la}}</ref>

{{blockquote|''We find that the Memel castle is built in the land of [[Samogitians]]. Neither [[Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights|Master]], nor the Order was able to prove anything opposing.''}}
[[File:Map of the Lithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva), 1753.jpg|thumb|Map of the Lithuania Minor in 1753]]

The Order did not accept the solution. Later Vytautas agreed the solution to be made by [[Emperor Sigismund]]. He acknowledged Samogitians for the Order (1420). Vytautas did not accept the solution. Polish and Lithuanian military, not capturing the castles, devastated Prussia then and the [[Treaty of Melno]] was made. Klaipėda was left for the Order. Since the Melno treaty the land later become Lithuania Minor had been officially separated from Lithuania. It became part of the [[Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights|state of the Teutonic Order]]. In 1454, King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] incorporated the region to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] upon the request of the anti-Teutonic [[Prussian Confederation]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=Poznań|language=pl|page=54}}</ref> After the subsequent [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)]], the longest of all Polish-Teutonic wars, the region was a part of Poland (and thus the [[Polish–Lithuanian union]]) as a [[fief]] held by the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215</ref>

===Emergence===
[[File:Lithuania Minor and Masuria within East Prussia.png|thumb|Lithuania Minor within East Prussia]]
In 1525, per the [[Treaty of Kraków]], the state of the Teutonic Order was secularized and transformed into [[Ducal Prussia]], a vassal duchy of Poland within the Polish–Lithuanian union<ref name=mlrt/> (soon elevated into the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]), and the term of Lithuania Minor has appeared around that time (1517–26). Lithuania Minor was part of the duchy until 1701, the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] until 1871, Germany until 1920, and afterwards it was divided. The political border set by the [[Treaty of Melno]] had been the same since the treaty to 1923, when the [[Klaipėda region]] was incorporated into Lithuania. [[Resistance movements in partitioned Poland (1795–1918)|Polish secret resistance]] was active and smuggled weapons through the region to the [[Russian Partition|Russian-controlled]] [[Augustów Governorate]] and [[Samogitia]] during the [[January Uprising]] of 1863–1864.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Groniewska|first=Barbara|year=1960|title=Rola Prus Wschodnich w powstaniu styczniowym|magazine=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|language=pl|issue=1|pages=13, 22, 29, 39}}</ref> Several local resistance members and smugglers were arrested by the Prussians.<ref>Groniewska, p. 18, 40</ref> The ''[[Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland]]'' from 1892 named [[Tilsit]] as the capital of Lithuania Minor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chlebowski |first1=Bronisław |last2=Sulimierski |first2=Filip |last3=Walewski |first3=Władysław |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich |date=1892 |location=Warsaw |page=702 |volume=12 |url=http://dir.icm.edu.pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_XII/702 |language=pl-PL |access-date=5 April 2025}}</ref>

====Post-World War I====
[[File:Tilsit Act.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Act of Tilsit]]]]
Lithuania declared its independence from Russia in 1918 during World War I. Some [[Prussian Lithuanian]] activists signed the [[Act of Tilsit]], demanding unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major into a single Lithuanian state, thus detaching the areas of East Prussia from Germany which were inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians. This claim was supported by the Lithuanian government. The part north of the Neman River up to [[Klaipėda|Memel]] was separated from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920, and was called the [[Klaipėda Region|Memel Territory]]. It was made a [[protectorate]] of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] States, in order to guarantee port rights to Lithuania and Poland. In January 1923, the [[Klaipėda Revolt]] took place and [[Klaipėda region]] was annexed to Lithuania in 1923 under violation<ref>{{in lang|de}} [http://www.ostdeutsches-forum.net/preussen/ostpreussen/Memelland/Bericht-1923.htm] Bericht der nach Memel entsandten Sonderkommission an die Botschafterkonferenz</ref> of the Treaty of Versailles. The subsequent incorporation of the territory brought economic prosperity to Lithuania, with the region accounting for 30 percent of the country's economy. However, the region's economic significance declined after economic sanctions were imposed by [[Nazi Germany]] in 1933. Nazi Germany persecuted the Lithuanian population of the region. In 1938 a massive [[1938 renaming of East Prussian placenames|campaign of renaming of placenames]] was carried out in the German-held part of Lithuania Minor in attempt to erase traces of Lithuanian origin. In 1940, the last Lithuanian newspaper published in Tilsit was closed by the Nazis.<ref name=mlrt>{{cite web|url=http://www.mlrt.lt/eng/mlis.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719112258/http://www.mlrt.lt/eng/mlis.html|archive-date=19 July 2006|title=Historic chronology of Lithuania Minor|access-date=7 May 2022}}</ref>

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 the Klaipėda region to German control. Ribbentrop vowed that if Klaipėda was not ceded to Germany peacefully, it "will be taken by other means if necessary".<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> Lithuania 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. Reunion of the Memel Territory with Germany was met with joy by a majority of Prussian Lithuanians.<ref name="Vareikis">{{cite journal |last=Vareikis |first=V. |year=2001 |title=Memellander/Klaipėdiškiai Identity and German-Lithuanian Relations in Lithuania Minor in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries |journal=Sociologija. Mintis Ir Veiksmas. |volume=1–2 |pages=54–65 |doi=10.15388/SocMintVei.2001.1-2.7233 |issn=1392-3358 |doi-access=free }}</ref> It was Nazi Germany's last territorial gain prior to World War II. The remainder of Lithuania came under [[Occupation of Baltic states|occupation by the Soviet Union]], then briefly became [[Lithuanian 1941 independence|independent again in 1941]] before being [[German occupation of Lithuania during World War II|occupied entirely by Nazi Germany]].

During World War II, the Germans operated the {{ill|Hohenbruch concentration camp|de|KZ Hohenbruch}} at present-day [[Gromovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gromovo]] ({{langx|lt|link=no|Lauknos}}), as well as several [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps]] for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs of various nationalities, incl. the [[Macikai POW and GULAG Camps|Stalag 331 C/I-C]] and Stalag I-D camps for regular soldiers,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/Stalag.htm|title=German Camps|access-date=7 May 2022}}</ref> the Stalag Luft VI camp and [[Dulag Luft]] transit camp for air force personnel, [[Oflag]]s 52, 53, 60 for officers, and forced labour subcamps of [[Stalag I-A]].<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]]|pages=128, 212–213, 217, 389, 391, 509|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> Groups of Poles [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] from [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]] were deported by the Germans to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] in the region (in the vicinity of [[Klaipėda]] and [[Tilsit]]).<ref name=mw>{{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=395, 405, 409, 410, 416, 423|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref>

====Post-World War II====
[[File:Klaipeda Muzeum Historii Malej Litwy 1.jpg|thumb|upright|History museum of Lithuania Minor in [[Klaipėda]]]]
At the end of the war, the local German and Lithuanian population of the former East Prussia either [[Evacuation of East Prussia|fled or was expelled]] to the western parts of Germany. The Soviet Union recaptured Lithuania in 1944 and the Memel region was incorporated into the newly formed [[Lithuanian SSR]] in 1945 while the remainder of Lithuania Minor was divided between Poland (small parts now forming the [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]]) and the Soviet Union (eastern part of the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]).

After the death of [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Nikita Khrushchev]] offered the Kaliningrad Oblast to the Lithuanian SSR. Secretary [[Antanas Sniečkus]] refused this offer.<ref name="Milan Bufon 2014 97">{{cite book|author=Milan Bufon|title=The New European Frontiers: Social and Spatial (Re)Integration Issues in Multicultural and Border Regions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpoxBwAAQBAJ&q=%22khrushchev+offered%22|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|page=98|isbn=9781443859363}}</ref> In 2010, a secret document was found which indicated that in 1990, the Soviet leadership was prepared to negotiate the return of Kaliningrad to Germany against payment. The proposal was declined by German diplomats.<ref name="Milan Bufon 2014 97"/> After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad Oblast has become an exclave of Russia. Lithuania, Germany, and Poland lay no official claims to the region at this time.

[[Gołdap]] ({{langx|lt|Geldapė, Galdapė, Geldupė}}), the seat of [[Gołdap County]], a transitional county between Lithuania Minor and [[Masuria]], is the largest municipality of the region within Poland, making it the ''de facto'' capital of Polish Lithuania Minor, however, it is also considered part of Masuria and is not inhabited by an [[Lithuanians in Poland|autochthonous Lithuanian population]].