XII

THE NATION PREPARES FOR THE WORST

THE TIDES OF MARCH had stirred the Lithuanian people to adopt additional defense measures which were both expansive and expensive. In preparing to face future contingencies, the anxious citizens had done three things: they had made monetary contributions to an Arms Fund to purchase more military equipment; they had enrolled more men for service in the national guard; and they had stepped up military training for young persons. In all three undertakings genuine public initiative from below and government inducement from above had culminated in an impressive effort to do everything possible to be ready.

Fund Raising for Defense

LIKE PEOPLE ELSEWHERE, the Lithuanians contributed most when they thought that danger was clear and present. While it took them only several days to collect the first one million lits,¹ it took several months to raise the second million. They persistently pledged their lives and their honor, but not their fortunes, to their country.

As early as March 27 army commander Raštikis commended his radio listeners for their generous contributions to the Arms Fund. At the same time, however, he berated wealthier citizens for their alleged failure to give according to their abilities. Unless they put their ardor for the common cause into concrete form, the General went on, the government would have no alternative but to abandon its hands-off policy.² The reprimand anticipated murmurings by the average wage earners that did not subside for months. An editorial in Karys (Warrior) complimented the openhanded poor and chided the closefisted rich who failed to support this “loftiest cause” sufficiently. By the middle of May the Supreme Committee of the fund raising campaign threatened to review the lists of donors in order to see to it that those who earned millions would not continue to hand out pennies.³ There is reason to suspect, however, that the reproof was motivated in part by a deep-seated bias against private enterprise and the liberal professions.

By mid-April 25,000 people throughout the land were engaged in organizing the campaign fund.⁴ Despite the lack of enthusiasm by the prosperous citizens for this sort of progressive taxation, in the weeks immediately following the crisis the Fund quickly became rich in cash and valuables. Backed by true public concern and by government mandate, it appealed to every Lithuanian at home and abroad. In the spring of 1939 many citizens had peremptorily demanded that the country become a “fortress,” that “the entire nation become an army”; a casual observer might have been pardoned for thinking that it was getting ready to do just that. All metropolitan and regional newspapers carried frequent reports about the inflow of this crisis money and about the moving circumstances that accompanied it. Stories appeared about a poor old woman who gave up all her savings and valuables; a father who yielded savings which he had reserved for his daughter’s christening; a smoker and a drinker who resolved to swear off and to aid the Fund instead; and stories about soldiers who refused their salaries. Gold watches, rings, and tsarist rubles supplemented cash contributions. Laborers, small landholders, new land settlers, the clergy, government officials, and business concerns hastened to contribute.

The campaign extended not only to the adult population but also to the children. Many grade school pupils got along without movies, candies, cakes, and other things they loved, so that they could contribute their share, usually one lit or less. Encouraged by their teachers, the children applied to their parents for additional aid. They composed letters, such as:

Dear parents! I know that our beloved Country Lithuania is in danger, because there are many enemies who wish to smother its free prosperity. [Because] you love me more than anything else, it is your ardent desire that I never be a slave. I love the country where I was born, I love the tombs of our ancestors, and I do not want our heroes’ eternal rest to be in a subjugated Fatherland.⁵

The nationwide campaign was probably more successful politically than financially.⁶ It spurred the citizens to invest in the future of their country and to vitalize their community interest.

The National Guard Grows

A PART of the nation’s armed forces, the Union of Šauliai, as the national guard was known officially, was an all-Lithuanian institution as old as the republic itself. Summoned by its founders to serve the country in war and peace, this popular superorganization conditioned the citizens for war by instructing them in matters of defense against enemy air attack and in military discipline, by boosting public morale, and by teaching proper behavior in times of emergency. Originally a democratic institution, the national guard succumbed in time to triumphant authoritarianism. As a result, it was transformed into an instrument of the President, who had the power to appoint and to dismiss the organization’s top command.

In addition to their military responsibilities, members of the guard were engaged in diverse cultural activities. The Union disclosed the following information indicating the nature and range of its achievements: it owned 85 homes; had a newspaper with 30,000 subscribers; numbered 139 choirs, 126 orchestras, 300 libraries, and 200 theatrical clubs among its assets; and took credit for some 500,000 publications in the previous two decades.⁷ Old and young, town and country, all had a place in the guard’s conglomerate activities.

The March events stimulated the Union to step up its military program. More than any other civic organization, the national guard helped bring about that degree of alertness which the Prime Minister sought: “[Our] independence can be preserved only when the entire Lithuanian nation is ready for self-defense, when in every village, every home, grove, and swamp there is a gun pointed at the aggressor. . . . Do we have any other alternative? Unfortunately, we do not.”⁸ New responsibilities which the government expected the national guard to assume were accompanied by a concerted propaganda effort and an increase in total membership. One commentator observed in May that all public information media were at the disposal of military propaganda. Radio, press, and public meetings were said to have been active in soliciting the citizens’ assistance in the defense build-up.⁹

Not only adults but also high school students were urged by the government to enlist as šauliai. In mid-June the Minister of Education issued a set of regulations which permitted youth enlistments. All boys over sixteen whose conduct at school was irreproachable could hope to become members of the organization. The new instructions authorized the Union commander, with the consent of gymnasium directors, to form national guard units composed solely of students.¹⁰ The beginning of the new academic year witnessed a rapid growth of student guard formations.¹¹ Led in most cases by reserve lieutenants, many boys received their basic military training. The national guard reported an increase of 10,000 in its ranks for 1939.¹² Lithuania was gradually becoming a nation at arms.

Increased Militarization and Indoctrination of Youth

THE NATIONAL GUARD’S INCURSION into the nation’s schools did not originate the military training of students but only augmented it. Military studies were offered to Lithuanian boys and girls even before the spring crisis. If the entire population were to bear arms, as the authorities asserted, then the children would also have to endure rigors normally reserved for adults. One educator put it bluntly: “Storms baffle Europe. The existence of small states is left in their own hands. . . . There is no doubt that military training in primary schools is indispensable. The teaching of the basic soldierly virtues—bravery, perseverance, discipline, national aspirations, devotion, and patriotism—must not be neglected. . . . The teacher is not a blandishing, gentle nurse but a tutor of a future warrior. When on trips, let the children endure hunger, rain, fatigue.”¹³ It was hoped that such martial qualities taught to old and young alike would transform the country into an “iron hedgehog” and would fortify its will to survive with invincible pertinacity.¹⁴

An imaginative civic leader once beseeched Lithuanians to become three million spiritual tanks.¹⁵ Tanks or tankettes, the junior citizens were being armed to do their part. The simplicity of the military indoctrination which a boy received must have made the course easy to pass. In a few succinct sentences he was told that Lithuania was one brave, disciplined, and united army on the march, and that he ought to aspire to be a good soldier. The actual practice the student had to undergo was intended to make him one. Military instruction, occasionally in army barracks, but principally in secondary schools, was offered for youths fifteen to twenty years old. In April and May 1939 many schools acquired rifles and trained their students in their use. On maneuvers and lengthy trips, sometimes in full military outfit, the young men were taught how to execute a planned attack or retreat, how to stand guard or go on patrol, and how to handle explosives. Available reports from different parts of the country point to a considerable activity of this nature.

It would be an exaggeration to imply that every citizen liked what he saw happening. There were dissenters who ventured to suggest that military discipline belonged to the trenches and not to the benches. Not so!—the decision makers would retort, implying moreover that some at home had not yet learned to respect authority sufficiently. It was hoped that military training would remedy this deficiency.¹⁶

In addition to intensified military curricula in schools, the Lithuanian Scout Association accelerated its field programs. The eruption of the Klaipeda crisis prompted the seventy-nine leaders of Girl Scouts to volunteer their services and their lives for the nation’s defense. Supplying their addresses and qualifications, they placed themselves at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense.¹⁷ Moreover, they hoped to arrange courses on sanitary service and anti-chemical defense for their rural organizations¹⁸ without delay.

The boys did not lag far behind the girls. They promptly formulated new courses. Their program, totalling forty-eight hours of theory and practice for members over fourteen, was designed to instruct boys on how to organize sanitary service in time of war, how to build anti-chemical and anti-aircraft defenses, and how to provide the wounded with medical aid. The courses had to be completed in all scout units before the summer vacation.¹⁹ In the summer, the boys were given a general instruction to travel extensively and to know their country as a good farmer would know his farm. Only then would they be able, in time of need, to do their utmost for the fatherland.²⁰ Before the year was out, further programs in military training, generously backed by the army, were established.²¹ True to their pledge, the scouts were prepared.