The Jewish Contribution to Lithuanian Independence 1918/1919

Ruth Leiserowitz


Historians have already shown how the Jewish minority contributed to the rebirth of the Lithuanianstate in 1918. The beginning of the experiment to integrate the Jewish minority intothe reemergent Lithuanian state, however, has often been told from the perspective of failureonly. The article challenges this view, by describing how Zionism, the Jewish national movement,supported the emergence of the Lithuanian state. The author analyses how the Jewssupported the newly created Lithuanian government by voting to send representatives to it,and by producing a document that improved the international position of the Lithuanian delegationat the Paris Peace Conference, and which was helpful for the international recognitionof the young state.

Key words: Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian-Jewish relations, Zionism, Paris Peace Conference,international recognition.

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