740.00119 EW/12–646
The Lithuanian Minister (Zadeikis) to the Acting Secretary of State43
Sir: Virtually on the eve of the conference in New York of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the four Great Powers to prepare a draft of a peace treaty for Germany, I have the honor on behalf of my country’s legitimate Government, the members of which since 1940 are suffering the hardships of forcible deportations in remote parts of the vast Soviet Union, to bring again to your attention the following known facts:
That the Lithuanian people, determined to regain their country’s extorted independence, resisted the Soviet Union’s unwarranted occupation and annexation in 1940 (proof of which is evidenced by the mass imprisonments and by the mass deportations to Siberia of the nation’s leaders); they resisted with a considerable degree of success the brutal German occupation, and they are now resisting the present puppet government which in 1944 was re-established in Lithuania by the Soviet Union;
That Lithuania, therefore, cannot be legally represented in any international conference by representatives of the puppet government of the so-called Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic nor by the Soviet [Page 1468] Union itself. In this connection, may I take the liberty of recalling to your attention that the undersigned as well as other legitimate Lithuanian representatives in Europe had lodged vigorous protests against the attempt of the Soviet Union to bring into the recent Paris Peace Conference a representative of the Lithuanian puppet regime.
However, Lithuania has the right and the possibilities to be legally represented at international conferences by her diplomatic representatives accredited to and recognized by the various governments in Europe and in the Americas. Her legitimate spokesman may also be a delegation, a committee, or a group of Lithuanian citizens recognized as such by the said lawful diplomatic representatives.
Lithuania, a victim of German invasion during the last war, and being one of the immediate neighbors of pre-war Germany, is profoundly interested in and greatly concerned with the forthcoming deliberations of the Council of the Foreign Ministers on the aforesaid matter, the universal importance of which is obvious. The Lithuanian concern over the ramifications of the German peace settlement has more than once been brought to your attention: my note of November 5, 1945, No. 1738, concerning reparations, and my note of February 7, 1946, No. 232, concerning the projected Sovietization of the Koenigsberg area.44
Because of all these considerations, I feel that it is my duty to respectfully approach the American Government with the following proposal:
That the benevolent attitude of the American Government toward small nations in general, and toward Lithuania and the other Baltic States in particular, as expressed in the meritorious American policy statement of July 23, 1940, be strengthened by applying steadfastly the principles of the Atlantic Charter to the solution of the Koenigsberg problems;
And request:
That the American Government kindly undertake to consult the other members of the Council of Foreign Ministers with the view that legitimate Lithuanian representatives be invited to the said conference to state Lithuania’s attitude and to present reasons in defense of her vital interests.
Accept [etc.]
- A marginal notation on the original indicates that this note was delivered to the Department of State on December 9, 1946. The Secretary of State acknowledged receipt of this note on December 18, 1946. A similar note was received by the Acting Secretary of State from Latvian Minister Alfred Milmanis, on December 7, 1946, not printed (462.00R/12–746).↩
- Neither of the notes under reference is printed.↩