Lietuvos visuomenės reakcija į karo padėties atšaukimą šalyje 1938 m. lapkričio 1 d.
Public Reaction to the Lifting of Martial Law in Lithuania on November 1, 1938

Summary/Abstract: Martial law in Lithuania was the most important measure of public control, which was widely used by President A. Smetona’s authoritarian government since it came to power in 1926 after coup d’état. The main reason for the withdrawal of martial law in Lithuania on November 1, 1938 was hard pressure of the Nazi Germany. The reaction of Lithuania’s organized political movements was quite active. Leaders and members of banned traditional parties understood very well the reasons that spurred the recall of the martial law in Klaipėda 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 in deep internal crisis till 1939. 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, economic drawbacks, etc. In the course of two decades general public became used to the permanent martial law, and this phenomenon became a natural and almost invisible part of the daily life. The recall of the martial law at the beginning of November of 1938 was met with indifference by most of the residents in Lithuanian province; however, some part of the population became worried that more liberal internal regime may lead to the rise of criminality.

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