Memel — the Ultimatum to Lithuania

The Memel territory (Klaipėda), wrested from Germany after 1918 and attached to Lithuania, holds a large German-speaking population that the Reich stirs up. A week after the occupation of Prague, Berlin acts.

On 20 March 1939, Ribbentrop delivers an oral ultimatum to the Lithuanian foreign minister, Juozas Urbšys: Lithuania must cede the Klaipėda territory, failing which the Wehrmacht will invade the country and bomb the capital, Kaunas. The Klaipėda Convention of 1924 guaranteed the status quo — but its signatories stay silent and offer no help.

The Lithuanian government stands alone against an overwhelming power. To yield to the ultimatum is to lose its only deep-water port and suffer a national humiliation, but to spare the country war. To resist is honour, but assured invasion and bombing, with no ally to come to the rescue. Appealing to the guarantors of 1924 seems vain, given their silence. Urbšys and the government must answer within hours, under direct threat. The fate of Lithuania's last maritime outlet, and the credibility of international commitments, is decided in a few hours.