Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania recognition. The signatories succeeded in their mission and independent Lithuania survived until the Soviet Union occupied the state on June 15, 1940. Their political, professional, and social backgrounds were diverse. Several rose to political prominence; Antanas Smetona and Aleksandras Stulginskis were later elected Presidents of Lithuania and Jonas Vileišis went on to become mayor of Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. After Lithuania lost its independence during World War II, six of the surviving signatories were sent to prison or executed by the Soviet government and six others emigrated to Western countries. The signatories came from a variety of social
History of Jerusalem during the Kingdom of Jerusalem Christians, although suspicious relations between these various groups and the struggle for supremacy and control of the Holy Sepulchre caused many problems. In 1115 Syrian Christians, uprooted from their homes in Transjordan, settled in the city, creating a continuously populated district on the north side of town, which was named after them. Simultaneously, the Crusader rulers encouraged commerce, and in 1120 King Baldwin II of Jerusalem imposed duties on goods and food products brought into Jerusalem. This was then extended to all types of trade and all agricultural food products brought from the hinterland into the city. Unusually for a