Klaipėda Convention

The region was detached from East Prussia by the Treaty of Versailles and placed under League of Nations administration with a provisional French garrison.

Rather than waiting for an unfavourable decision by the Allies, Lithuanian activists decided to organise a revolt, capture the region and present a fait accompli.

[3] The Conference of Ambassadors decided to dispatch a special commission to the region, reject a military intervention and agree to open negotiations with Lithuania.

A special commission of the Conference, chaired by the French diplomat Jules Laroche, presented a 50-paragraph project, which reserved extensive rights of the Second Polish Republic to access, use and govern the Port of Klaipėda.

[5] That was completely unacceptable to Lithuania, which terminated all diplomatic ties with Poland over a bitter dispute over Vilnius Region.

The Lithuanian delegation, led by Ernestas Galvanauskas, responded by presenting its own project, which reserved no rights to Poland, in April 1923.

Seeing that the situation had become deadlocked, Lithuanians suggested to turn over the case to the Permanent Court of International Justice, but Laroche preferred the League of Nations.

The commission was headed by the American diplomat Norman Davis and included the Dutch technical expert on transportation A. G. Kröller and the Swedish professor M.

The document was signed by Robert Crewe-Milnes, Raymond Poincaré, Camillo Romano Avezzana, Ishii Kikujirō and Ernestas Galvanauskas on May 8.

[5] The Lithuanians hailed the final version as their major diplomatic victory since Poland received no special rights in the port.

The region was transferred to Lithuania without conditional provisions and granted legislative, judicial, administrative and financial autonomy to preserve "traditional rights and culture of the inhabitants".

[11] Lithuania agreed to pay war reparations according to the Treaty of Versailles as they related to the region[12] and to the protect rights of minorities and foreign businesses.

That provision was used by Nazi Germany when it supported anti-Lithuanian activities in the region and accused Lithuania of violating minority rights.

[19] The governor could not veto laws passed the local parliament unless they violated the statute, the Constitution of Lithuania or international agreements.