The annexation of the Klaipėda (Memel) region to Lithuania, 1923: its international significance and legacy in the context of European borderland micro-regions
International conference
Vilnius and Klaipėda, 25–27 May 2023
Jointly organised by the Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology at Klaipėda University,
the Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius, and
the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge,
in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania and
the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania
Sponsored by the Municipality of Klaipėda,
the Research Council of Lithuania and
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
Final schedule (2 May 2023)
Thursday, 25 May 2023
Part 1, Vilnius, Venue: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania
10:00 Introduction and welcome address
10:30 Opening keynote
Brendan Simms, University of Cambridge (UK)
Klaipėda/Memel and the Geopolitics of the Baltic: Conduit and Cockpit
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee
11:15 – 13:15 First Session
Moderator: Darius Staliūnas, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
Donatas Kupčiūnas, University of Cambridge (UK)
Between civilisation and geopolitics: British and French plans for the future of Memel before January 1923
Joachim Tauber, Nordost-Institut (Germany)
The Significance of the Klaipėda Question for German Foreign Policy, 1919–1939
Julien Gueslin, Strasbourg University (France)
A barometer of ‘New Europe’? France and the question of the Memel Statute (1922–1935): between the defence of a democratic multicultural region, support for the Lithuanian state and European Realpolitik
Vilma Bukaitė, National Museum of Lithuania (Lithuania)
France’s Interaction with Britain on the Issue of Klaipėda (1922–beginning 1923): Between Cooperation and Competition
13:15 – 14:15 Lunch
14:15 – 15:45 Second Session
Moderator: Tomas Balkelis, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
Marta Grzechnik, University of Gdańsk (Poland)
The importance of access to the Baltic Sea and control of one’s own ports for the new states in post-First World War Europe. The case of Gdynia and the Danzig Corridor
Rikako Shindo, Hosei University Tokyo (Japan)
Königsberg’s attempts to establish freedom of transit on the Niemen River in the 1920s: The regional interest of East Prussia and the international tensions between the riparian countries in north-eastern Europe
Klaus Richter, University of Birmingham (UK)
Chaos Is a Ladder: The Great Depression and Lithuania’s Integration of the Klaipėda Region
15:45 – 16:00 Coffee
16:00 – 17:30 Third Session
Moderator: Tomas Balkelis, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
Jerzy Borzecki, University of Toronto at Mississauga (Canada)
The Polish perspective on the Lithuanian takeover of Memel in 1923 in the context of the post-Riga diplomatic settlement
Magnus Ilmjärv, Tallinn University (Estonia)
Estonian foreign policy, public opinion and the question of Klaipėda, 1923–1939
Algimantas Kasparavičius, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
From the ‘insurgence’ to the ‘Ultimatum’: the Dilemma of Klaipėda in the Foreign Policy of Lithuania, 1923–1939
Saturday, 27 May 2023
Part 2, Klaipėda, Venue: Klaipėda University
10:00 Welcome address
10:10 – 11:10 Fourth Session
Moderator: Vygantas Vareikis, Klaipėda University (Lithuania)
Tomas Balkelis, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
Living by the border: the case of the interwar Vilnius region
Krzysztof Buchowski, University of Białystok (Poland)
The conflict over the Sejny region in the years 1919–1920
11:10 – 11:25 Coffee
11:25 – 12:25 Fifth Session
Moderator: Vygantas Vareikis, Klaipėda University (Lithuania)
Ruth Leiserowitz, German Historical Institute Warsaw (Poland)
Dreams about the future of Memel. Imaginations between the Free State and trade perspectives from the point of view of Jewish entrepreneurs
Jim Bjork, King’s College London (UK)
The Votes of Others: Considering the Mutual Influences of Postwar Frontier Plebiscites from the Perspective of Upper Silesia
12:25 – 13:25 Lunch
13:25 – 14:55 Sixth Session
Moderator: Donatas Kupčiūnas, University of Cambridge (UK)
Robert Pyrah, Oxford Brookes University (UK)
Lwów: the lost ‘borderland capital’ as a cypher of national memory in 20th century Poland
Peter Thaler, University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
Peace through Moderation: The Schleswig Question as a Bright Spot of the Versailles Order
Andrea Griffante, Lithuanian Institute of History (Lithuania)
Otherizing Trieste: National and International Discourses, 1918–1923
14:55 – 15:10 Coffee
15:10 – 16:00
Closing reflections and discussion
Moderator: Vasilijus Safronovas, Klaipėda University (Lithuania)