Directorate of the Klaipėda Regionの英語

The Directorate of the Klaipėda Region (German: Landesdirektorium; Lithuanian: Klaipėdos krašto direktorija) was the main governing institution (executive branch) in the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) from February 1920 to March 1939. It was established by local German political parties to govern the region between the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and establishment of French provision administration. Instead of replacing it, the French legitimized the Directorate. It mainly represented German interests and supported the idea of leaving the region as a free city, similar to the Free City of Danzig. Dismayed Lithuanian government and Prussian Lithuanian activists, who campaigned for incorporation into Lithuania, organized the Klaipėda Revolt in January 1923. The revolt was staged as a popular uprising against the unbearable oppression by the German Directorate. The revolt was successful and the region was incorporated into Lithuania as an autonomous region, governed by the Klaipėda Convention of May 1924. The Convention outlined organizational structure, competency, and relationship to the central Lithuanian government of the autonomous institutions – the Directorate, local parliament, governor. The relationship between the Directorate, which was more pro-Lithuanian as it was indirectly appointed by the President of Lithuania, and the local parliament, which was more pro-German, was tense. Of the six elected parliaments only two finished their full three-year term. The Directorate also often received votes of no confidence from the parliament and had to be replaced. A procedural dispute over the dismissal of the Otto Böttcher's Directorate in 1932 was only resolved by the Permanent Court of International Justice. The relationship stabilized in late 1930s when both the parliament and the Directorate supported pro-Nazi activities. The growing tension between Nazi Germany and Lithuania resulted in the ultimatum of March 1939. Klaipėda Region was incorporated into Germany and the autonomous institutions were dissolved.