The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1939. AND THEN MEMEL.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14091, 24 March 1939, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1939. AND THEN MEMEL.

Tt was apparent from the beginning of the agitation for it* return that tiny Lithuania could not hold out m the face of German demands tor the return of Memel to the Reich. Germany’s ultimatum, the emergency meeting of the Lithuanian Government at Kaunas, troop movements m East Prussia and the outspoken declarations by Dr. Neumann, leader of the Memel Nazis, all pointed to a rapid solution of another of the problems bequeathed to a troubled Europe by the peace treaties. Equally apparent, however, is !t that tl lurther proof of German expansionism along the Baltic shores will seriously disturb Poland. The strongly nationalistic Poles must see m these events and the continued Nazificatmn of Danzig a threat to the Corridor and to their port of Gdynia. Old ail hitter scores have been wiped oft by the German annexation of Memel. Both Danzig and Memel are situated at the mouths of great navigable rivers, the Vistula and the Niemen, that are the waterways available to the sea-going traffic of hinterlands inhabited by non-Germans. When he JUlies confirmed the creation of t le Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Esthoiiia after the war the future of the German city and port of Memel, was a puzzle. Lithuania had to have a port and until the constitution of Memel could be decided an Allied High Commissioner controlled the port and the narrow strip of territory adjacent to it. But the Lithuanians grew impatient and on Ale day the French marched into the Ruhr Lithuanian troops, seized their opportunity and occupied Memel, presenting the Allies with a fait accompli. Finally in 1924 by the Mem -1 Convention the territory was handed over to the joint administration of the Memel and Lithuanian Govern ments and the League of Nations. The privileges of the Germans in the area were prserved under the Convention. With the Hitler regime complaints that the rights of the Gorman Memellanders were not being respected were made with increasing force and insistence, and the Lithuanian Government was driven to take repressive measures. In 1934 a, Nazi plot to seize Memel and hold it for Germany failed and 122 Nazis were charged with armed revolt. Heavy sentences in March, 1935, infuriated Germany, Herr Hitler in a vehement speech in the Reichstag oil May 21, 1935, describing Lithuania as “a State which ignores the most primitive laws of human society.” Since that time the release of Memel has been tTie constant aim of Germans inside and outside Hie disputed territory.