Suwałki Region

:"This article discusses the Polish part of the region. For the Lithuania one, see Suvalkija."

Suwałki Region (Lithuanian: "Suvalkų kraštas", Polish: "Suwalszczyzna") is a small region around the city of Suwałki in northeastern Poland near the border with Lithuania.Fact|date=April 2008 The territory was disputed between Poland and Lithuania after World War I. [U.S. Department of State. [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5379.htm Lithuania] . Retrieved on 2008-04-22 ] This dispute was the main cause of the brief Polish-Lithuanian War and the Sejny Uprising. The conflict was later overshadowed by a much larger and more serious Polish-Lithuanian dispute over the Vilnius Region. The Suvalkai Region, despite many years of Polonization, no Lithuanian schools and even ban on public speaking in Lithuanian languagecite book | last = Glanville | first = Price | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | date = 1998 | location = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=CPX2xgmVe9IC&pg=PA304&dq=%22Suvalkai+Region%22&sig=bUTJv7dmBl_we7a8mLvrwaj-bUM#PPA305,M1 | doi = | id = | isbn = ISBN 0631220399 ] (until 1950) remains a major center of the Lithuanian minority in Poland. [cite web
url=http://adamkus.president.lt/en/one.phtml?id=1247
title=Zilvinas Norkunas "A Destiny Called Lithuania", Lithuania in the World (Interview with Valdas Adamkus
date=1998-08-30
quote=The stops on my way to Warsaw at Seinai and Suvalkai, where the majority of Poland's Lithuanians live, were also important.
publisher=President of the Republic of Lithuania
accessdate=2008-04-23]

History

Originally the territory named Suvalkai Region was inhabited Yotvingian Prussian tribes.Fact|date=April 2008 After 1815 the Suvalkai Region was part of Congress Poland, in turn a part of the Russian Empire. The Suwałki Governorate was, according to a Russian census conducted during the 1880s, about 58% Lithuanian. [ cite journal|title=Tautos budimas ir blaivybės sąjūdis|journal=Istorija|date=1999|first=Ieva|last=Šenavičienė|coauthors=|volume=40|issue=|pages=p.3|id= |url=|format=|accessdate= ] .

In the wake of World War I, both countries were established as independent states, but their borders were contested. In 1918 the Suvalkai Region was claimed by re-established independent Lithuania based on cultural heritageFact|date=April 2008 and later 1920 peace treaty with Soviet Russia,Fact|date=April 2008 but Poland officially insisted on dividing the area along the ethnic lines. In the aftermath the Suvalkai Region was left on the Polish side of the border,Fact|date=April 2008 with a Lithuanian majority in the countryside around the Polish-dominatedwho?dubious cities of Sejnylt icon cite news | first=Rūta | last=Lankininkaitė | coauthors= | title=Seinų lietuviai jaučiasi skriaudžiami | date=2007-03-11 | publisher= | url =http://www.delfi.lt/archive/article.php?id=12465897 | work = | pages = |quote = Lenkijos lietuvių bendruomenės vadovai sako, jog Seinų krašte viskas, kas susiję su lietuvių kultūros paveldo išsaugojimu, sunkiai skinasi kelią. | accessdate = 2008-04-02 | language = Lithuanian ] Dubious|date=April 2008 and Puńsk [ [http://www.lietuva.pl/index.php?language=pl&page=178 Lithuanian Embassy in Poland] Najwięcej Litwinów zamieszkuje w gminie Puńsk, gdzie stanowią oni około 80 proc. mieszkańców.] in the northeastern part of the region.

Most of the area was briefly controlled by the Lithuanian forces in 1919, and again in 1920 during the Polish-Bolshevik War. In 1920, however, Marshal Ferdinand Foch proposed that the Suvalkai Region be granted to Poland.Fact|date=April 2008 The proposal was accepted by the Paris Peace Conference and after the Polish-Lithuanian War), the Lithuanian forces withdrew from the Suvalkai Region and it became a part of Poland.Fact|date=April 2008

Despite the fact that a part of the disputed area was never under Lithuanian controlFact|date=April 2008, the Lithuanian authorities claimed that it consisted of three counties (see administrative divisions of Lithuania), that were illegally occupied by Poland.Fact|date=April 2008 These included the "Augustavo Apskritis" based in the town of Augustów, "Suvalkų Apskritis" formed around the city of Suwałki and "Seinų Apskritis" centered around the town of Sejny.Fact|date=April 2008 The aforementioned units were roughly correspondent to the actual administrative division of the area into powiats of Augustów, Suwałki and Sejny of the Białystok Voivodeship of Poland, respectively. Fact|date=April 2008 The region was the least economically developed part of Poland in the interwar period. [Vitalija Stravinskienė. Lenkijos Lietuvių bandruomenė 1944-2000 metais. 2004, p.32]

The Suvalkai Region was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939 and adjoined East Prussia.Fact|date=April 2008 After World War II the Suvalkai Region was returned to Poland.Fact|date=April 2008 Currently there are no territorial disputes over the region.

According to the Polish census of 2002 there were 5,846 Lithuanians living in Poland, with a large part of them inhabitating Suvalkai Region.Fact|date=April 2008 There are Lithuanian schools and cultural societies present in the area and the Lithuanian language is spoken in the offices in the commune of Puńsk.

Countryside

Suwałki Region has many lakes and forests, and is considered a relatively undeveloped region in Poland.

Major towns:
* Augustów
* Suwałki
* Sejny

Forests:
* Augustów Primeval Forest
* Romincka Forest

Lakes:
* Hańcza
* Wigry Lake

Parks:
* Biebrza National Park
* Romincka Forest Landscape Park
* Suwałki Landscape Park
* Wigry National Park

Footnotes

References

*Simas Sužiedēlis, "Encyclopedia Lituanica", J. Kapočius 1978
*Timothy Snyder, "The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999", Yale University Press 2003, page 33
*United States Congress Select Committee on Communist Aggression, "Baltic States: A Study of Their Origin and National Development", WS Hein 1972, page 71

External links

* [http://www.suwalszczyzna.pl/indexe.htm English language information site about Suwalszczyzna for visitors]
*pl icon [http://www.dawna-suwalszczyzna.com.pl/ Dawna Suwalszczyzna]

ee also

*Demographics of Poland
*Polish-Lithuanian War
*Suwałki County
*Vilnius Region