By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control of the situation in the Territory. In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after an oral ultimatum had caused a Lithuanian delegation to travel to Berlin, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys and his German counterpart Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the "Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany" in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone for 99 years in the port of Memel, using the facilities erected in previous years.