Central Lithuania
The creation of this state entity took place on October 12, 1920, after the rebellion of the 1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Division under the command of General Lucjan Żeligowski (the so-called Żeligowski Mutiny), arranged by Józef Piłsudski. By seizing the area of the Vilnius Region, the agreement concluded two days earlier in Suwałki was broken, which marked the temporary Polish-Lithuanian border.
On October 2, 1920, General Lucjan Żeligowski issued a decree in which he announced that he would exercise supreme authority in Central Lithuania as the commander-in-chief of the army, and the functions of the government would be assumed by the Temporary Governing Commission established by him. Legal acts issued by the Supreme Commander and the Provisional Governing Commission were binding law in the territory of Central Lithuania.
The guidelines for granting citizenship are contained in the following legal act:
Decree No. 56 of the Supreme Commander of the Central Lithuanian Army of January 7, 1921 - Provisional provisions on the determination of Central Lithuania citizenship
According to Art. 1 of the decree, the following were considered citizens of Central Lithuania:
- 1) persons entered in the lists or books of the local population: communal, municipal or state in the territory currently constituting Central Lithuania, as well as their children. However, only minor children of these people could obtain citizenship;
- 2) persons born in the territory of Central Lithuania or who have real estate there, if they resided in the country before January 1, 1919,
- 3) persons who lived in Central Lithuania for at least 5 years before August 1, 1914, with the exception of persons whose main occupation in the country was the Russian state service,
- 4) persons who lived in the territory of Central Lithuania from January 1, 1918 and had their permanent residence there,
- 5) people working in state or local government institutions.
It is worth noting that the Supreme Administrative Court, which at that time ruled, inter alia, on matters of citizenship, in its judgment of April 4, 1928 (reg. 1114/26; OSPtVII, r. 1928, No. 504) stated that Citizenship of Central Lithuania by persons who, on the date of entry into force of the decree no. 56, worked there in state institutions, it does not matter how long and whether the employment relationship lasted later.
In April 1922, on the basis of the Act of April 6, 1922 on the assumption of state power over the Vilnius Land, the territory of Central Lithuania was incorporated into Poland.
The citizenship status of Central Lithuanian residents is regulated by the following regulation:
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of August 7, 1922 containing pass-through provisions regarding citizenship in the Vilnius Region
Persons who, on March 24, 1922, belonged to Central Lithuania in the following counties: Vilnius, Oszmiański, Święciański and Troki, became Polish citizens.
Since then, the acquisition and loss of citizenship of these people was decided in accordance with the Act of 20 January 1920 on the citizenship of the Polish State.
source: Jurisprudence of the Supreme Administrative Tribunal for the years 1922-1929 in the study of Tadeusz Sikorski, Wyd. Legal Bookstore in Warsaw.