Klaipėda Revolt Begins

Date: January 10, 1923 • Location: Silute, Lithuania

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1923.

Lithuanian residents of the Klaipėda Region began a revolt, ahead of a League of Nations decision on their future which they expected to be against their interest.

The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administration of the Entente's Council of Ambassadors. The Memel Territory, together with other areas severed from Germany, was to remain under the control of the League of Nations until a future date, when the people of those regions would be allowed to vote on whether or not the land would return to Germany. Today, the former Memel Territory is controlled by Lithuania as part of Klaipėda and Tauragė counties.