133-751: Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region ( Polish : Autonomia Wileńszczyzny ; Lithuanian : Vilniaus krašto autonomija ) was an idea about a politically autonomous territorial unit for Poles in Lithuania , which began to be discussed in autumn 1988, when Lithuania was regaining its independence from the Soviet Union . As a result of perestroika , under the influence of their own national revival, and also fearing an attempt at Lithuanianization in independent Lithuania, Poles in Lithuania attempted to protect their own cultural identity by establishing autonomy. According to
266-499: A / (spelled a ), / ɔ / (spelled o ) and / u / (spelled u and ó as separate letters). The nasal vowels are / ɛ w̃ / (spelled ę ) and / ɔ w̃ / (spelled ą ). Unlike Czech or Slovak, Polish does not retain phonemic vowel length — the letter ó , which formerly represented lengthened /ɔː/ in older forms of the language, is now vestigial and instead corresponds to /u/. The Polish consonant system shows more complexity: its characteristic features include
399-574: A Congress of Representatives of Eastern Lithuania, organized mainly by the Vilnija organization , took place in Vilnius, to which Poles were not invited. The congress participants demanded, among other things, restrictions of the rights of local governments in regions inhabited by Poles and the Lithuanianization of education. Vytautas Landsbergis , Kazimira Prunskienė , and Romualdas Ozolas were present at
532-533: A Palestinian state, suggesting that there is no viable partner for peace talks. Bezalel Smotrich , a far-right lawmaker and finance minister under Netanyahu Government, called the Palestinian Authority a "burden" and Hamas an "asset". Some consider that contemporary Russian affairs also have characteristics of a "divide and rule" strategy. Applied domestically to secure Vladimir Putin's power in Russia, it
665-759: A dialect of Polish. Many Silesians consider themselves a separate ethnicity and have been advocating for the recognition of Silesian as a regional language in Poland . The law recognizing it as such was passed by the Sejm and Senate in April 2024, but has been vetoed by President Andrzej Duda in late May of 2024. According to the last official census in Poland in 2011, over half a million people declared Silesian as their native language. Many sociolinguists (e.g. Tomasz Kamusella , Agnieszka Pianka, Alfred F. Majewicz, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz ) assume that extralinguistic criteria decide whether
798-656: A few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the Vistula and Oder before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With Western Christianity , Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet , which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a spoken language . The closest relatives of Polish are the Elbe and Baltic Sea Lechitic dialects ( Polabian and Pomeranian varieties). All of them, except Kashubian , are extinct. The precursor to modern Polish
931-486: A high rate of manual workers. Hence, the newcomers were generally the party and economic leaders of these districts. In 1989, Poles made up 7% of Lithuania's population (all national minorities combined 20.4%). Despite the initial attempts Lithuanisation of the Polish population was largely fruitless, but significant portion of Poles became Russified. While in 1959 96.4% of Poles indicated Polish as their native language, in 1989 it
1064-462: A large number of branches in all of these areas) offers services available in Polish at all of their cash machines in addition to English and Spanish . According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England and Wales who consider Polish to be their "main" language. In Canada , there is a significant Polish Canadian population : There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to
1197-533: A lect is an independent language or a dialect: speakers of the speech variety or/and political decisions, and this is dynamic (i.e. it changes over time). Also, research organizations such as SIL International and resources for the academic field of linguistics such as Ethnologue , Linguist List and others, for example the Ministry of Administration and Digitization recognized the Silesian language. In July 2007,
1330-454: A nasal consonant, rather than a nasal vowel. For example, ą in dąb ("oak") is pronounced [ɔm] , and ę in tęcza ("rainbow") is pronounced [ɛn] (the nasal assimilates to the following consonant). When followed by l or ł (for example przyjęli , przyjęły ), ę is pronounced as just e . When ę is at the end of the word it is often pronounced as just [ɛ] . Depending on
1463-473: A proportional system in local elections. It contained no concessions of a political nature. After the fall of the coup on 22 August 1991, an independent Lithuania was internationally recognized by most countries by August 29, while the Lithuanian authorities began suppressing the Polish autonomist movement. It was accompanied by a media campaign accusing Poles of supporting the putschists. As early as August 22,
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#17329059270061596-530: A protest against this and wanted bilingualism, but the protest was ignored. On 25 January 1989, the Language Law was adopted. According to its enterprises, organizations and institutions were obliged to switch to Lithuanian within two years. As Lithuanian was recognized as the sole state language, toponyms in Lithuania could only be written in Lithuanian and that language had to be used at meetings of local government bodies, in courts and offices. A transitional period
1729-402: A reversed diacritic hook called an ogonek . Polish is a synthetic and fusional language which has seven grammatical cases . It has fixed penultimate stress and an abundance of palatal consonants . Contemporary Polish developed in the 1700s as the successor to the medieval Old Polish (10th–16th centuries) and Middle Polish (16th–18th centuries). Among the major languages, it
1862-456: A sentence of 2 years of forced labor at their place of residence with a 20% deduction of wages. Ultimately, Jankielewicz was pardoned by President Valdas Adamkus after signing an appeal of Poles supporting Lithuania's admission to NATO. Polish language Polish ( endonym : język polski , [ˈjɛ̃zɘk ˈpɔlskʲi] , polszczyzna [pɔlˈʂt͡ʂɘzna] or simply polski , [ˈpɔlskʲi] )
1995-491: A single word. This applies in particular to many combinations of preposition plus a personal pronoun, such as do niej ('to her'), na nas ('on us'), prze ze mnie ('because of me'), all stressed on the bolded syllable. The Polish alphabet derives from the Latin script but includes certain additional letters formed using diacritics . The Polish alphabet was one of three major forms of Latin-based orthography developed for Western and some South Slavic languages,
2128-495: A so-called ' Interfront ' in Lithuania, following the example of other Baltic states, which would unite national minorities against the titular majority, in order to destabilise the country. However, these efforts were unsuccessful, Lithuania being the only Baltic country where the creation of an Interfront did not take place. On 4 November 1988, the Socialist Movement for Reconstruction in Lithuania "Vienybė/ Yedinstvo /Jedność"
2261-405: A verse by Jan Brzechwa ) is W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie [fʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛˈʂɨɲɛ ˈxʂɔw̃ʂt͡ʂ ˈbʐmi fˈtʂt͡ɕiɲɛ] ('In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed'). Unlike languages such as Czech, Polish does not have syllabic consonants – the nucleus of a syllable is always a vowel. The consonant /j/ is restricted to positions adjacent to a vowel. It also cannot precede
2394-478: A vowel when it precedes another vowel (it represents /j/ , palatalization of the preceding consonant, or both depending on analysis). Also the letters u and i sometimes represent only semivowels when they follow another vowel, as in autor /ˈawtɔr/ ('author'), mostly in loanwords (so not in native nauka /naˈu.ka/ 'science, the act of learning', for example, nor in nativized Mateusz /maˈte.uʂ/ 'Matthew'). Some loanwords , particularly from
2527-684: Is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group within the Indo-European language family written in the Latin script . It is primarily spoken in Poland and serves as the official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. In 2024, there were over 39.7 million Polish native speakers. It ranks as the sixth most-spoken among languages of the European Union . Polish
2660-419: Is also spoken as a second language in eastern Germany , northern Czech Republic and Slovakia , western parts of Belarus and Ukraine as well as in southeast Lithuania and Latvia . Because of the emigration from Poland during different time periods, most notably after World War II , millions of Polish speakers can also be found in countries such as Canada , Argentina , Brazil , Israel , Australia ,
2793-427: Is most closely related to Slovak and Czech but differs in terms of pronunciation and general grammar. Additionally, Polish was profoundly influenced by Latin and other Romance languages like Italian and French as well as Germanic languages (most notably German ), which contributed to a large number of loanwords and similar grammatical structures. Extensive usage of nonstandard dialects has also shaped
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#17329059270062926-447: Is possible to say ko goście zoba czy li? – here kogo retains its usual stress (first syllable) in spite of the attachment of the clitic. Reanalysis of the endings as inflections when attached to verbs causes the different colloquial stress patterns. These stress patterns are considered part of a "usable" norm of standard Polish - in contrast to the "model" ("high") norm. Some common word combinations are stressed as if they were
3059-595: Is subdivided into regional dialects and maintains strict T–V distinction pronouns, honorifics , and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals. The traditional 32-letter Polish alphabet has nine additions ( ą , ć , ę , ł , ń , ó , ś , ź , ż ) to the letters of the basic 26-letter Latin alphabet , while removing three (x, q, v). Those three letters are at times included in an extended 35-letter alphabet. The traditional set comprises 23 consonants and 9 written vowels , including two nasal vowels ( ę , ą ) defined by
3192-512: Is the Old Polish language . Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested Proto-Slavic language. The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska , Latin : Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichau ), contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language: Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai (in modern orthography: Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj ;
3325-466: Is the most widely-used minority language in Lithuania's Vilnius County , by 26% of the population, according to the 2001 census results, as Vilnius was part of Poland from 1922 until 1939. Polish is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. In Ukraine, it is most common in the western parts of Lviv and Volyn Oblasts , while in West Belarus it is used by the significant Polish minority, especially in
3458-562: Is the third of three political maxims in Immanuel Kant 's Perpetual Peace (1795), Appendix I , the others being Fac et excusa ("Act now, and make excuses later") and Si fecisti, nega ("If you commit a crime, deny it"): Kant refers this tactic when describing the traits of a "political moralist." In politics, the concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures, and especially prevents smaller power groups from linking up, causing rivalries and fomenting discord among
3591-430: The kropka (superior dot) over the letter ż , and the ogonek ("little tail") under the letters ą, ę . The letters q, v, x are used only in foreign words and names. Polish orthography is largely phonemic —there is a consistent correspondence between letters (or digraphs and trigraphs ) and phonemes (for exceptions see below). The letters of the alphabet and their normal phonemic values are listed in
3724-401: The ś in święty ("holy") all represent the sound / ɕ / . The exceptions to the above rule are certain loanwords from Latin, Italian, French, Russian or English—where s before i is pronounced as s , e.g. sinus , sinologia , do re mi fa sol la si do , Saint-Simon i saint-simoniści , Sierioża , Siergiej , Singapur , singiel . In other loanwords
3857-526: The Brest and Grodno regions and in areas along the Lithuanian border. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries. In the United States , Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. According to the 2000 United States Census , 667,414 Americans of age five years and over reported Polish as
3990-921: The French Algeria based on a supposed binary between the Arab and Kabyle peoples, consisting of a set of stereotypes of supposed differences between them. The Ottoman Empire often used a divide-and-rule strategy, pitting Armenians and Kurds against each other. This strategy no longer worked in the Republic of Turkey because the Armenians were eliminated in the Armenian genocide . According to Richard Morrock, four tactics of divide and rule practiced by Western colonialists are: Divide and rule can be used by states to weaken enemy military alliances . This usually happens when propaganda or disinformation are disseminated within
4123-655: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , part of the USSR, as a result of territorial changes after World War II , but the Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts became isolated from the republic's social and cultural life. This was a result of not only the region's complicated demographic situation , but also by Moscow's specific policy towards the Lithuanian Poles . The Polish historian Krzysztof Buchowski has written: "The Soviet authorities successfully applied
Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
4256-481: The Maulvi , pay him money, and tell him to speak against Hindus. This communal poison was injected into our body politic year after year and decade after decade. Historian John Keay takes a contrary position regarding British policy, writing: Stock accusations of a wider Machiavellian intent to 'divide and rule' and to 'stir up Hindu-Muslim animosity' assume some premonition of a later partition. They make little sense in
4389-564: The Mughals , Nawab of Awadh and Murshidabad , Tipu Sultan , etc. were totally secular; they organised Ramlilas , participated in Holi, Diwali, etc. Ghalib 's affectionate letters to his Hindu friends like Munshi Shiv Naraln Aram, Har Gopal Tofta, etc. attest to the affection between Hindus and Muslims at that time. In 1857, the ‘ Great Mutiny ’ broke out in which the Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against
4522-647: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 's influence gave Polish the status of lingua franca in Central and Eastern Europe . The process of standardization began in the 14th century and solidified in the 16th century during the Middle Polish era. Standard Polish was based on various dialectal features, with the Greater Poland dialect group serving as the base. After World War II , Standard Polish became
4655-629: The Sunni–Shia conflict . British journalist Nafeez Ahmed cited a 2008 RAND Corporation study for the U.S Armed Forces which recommended "divide and rule" as a possible strategy against the Muslim world in "the Long War" . Professor Avner Cohen , a former Israeli religious affairs official, publicly acknowledged that Hamas was "Israel's creation." Similar statesments have been made by Yasser Arafat . Assertions of Israeli support for Hamas date back to
4788-511: The United Kingdom and the United States . Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. At the time, it was a collection of dialect groups with some mutual features, but much regional variation was present. Mieszko I , ruler of the Polans tribe from the Greater Poland region, united
4921-474: The classical languages , have the stress on the antepenultimate (third-from-last) syllable. For example, fizyka ( /ˈfizɨka/ ) ('physics') is stressed on the first syllable. This may lead to a rare phenomenon of minimal pairs differing only in stress placement, for example muzyka /ˈmuzɨka/ 'music' vs. muzyka /muˈzɨka/ – genitive singular of muzyk 'musician'. When additional syllables are added to such words through inflection or suffixation ,
5054-569: The flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) , as well as the expulsion of Ukrainians and Operation Vistula , the 1947 migration of Ukrainian minorities in the Recovered Territories in the west of the country, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak Polish somewhat differently, although the differences between modern-day vernacular varieties and standard Polish ( język ogólnopolski ) appear relatively slight. Most of
5187-404: The standard language ; considerable colloquialisms and expressions were directly borrowed from German or Yiddish and subsequently adopted into the vernacular of Polish which is in everyday use. Historically, Polish was a lingua franca , important both diplomatically and academically in Central and part of Eastern Europe . In addition to being the official language of Poland, Polish
5320-666: The Šalčininkai municipality adopted a declaration on 15 May 1990 which stated that the restoration of Lithuanian independence was invalid and that the Lithuanian SSR continues to be a part of the USSR. The closest to its creation was in October 1990, with adopting by the congress of Polish delegates in Eišiškės the declaration of the creation of the Polish National-Territorial Region [ pl ] and sending it to
5453-416: The 16th century, which is also regarded as the " Golden Age of Polish literature". The orthography was modified in the 19th century and in 1936. Tomasz Kamusella notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this day." Polish evolved into the main sociolect of
Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
5586-481: The 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto (91,810 speakers) and Montreal . The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II and Polish population transfers (1944–46) . Poles settled in the " Recovered Territories " in the west and north, which had previously been mostly German -speaking. Some Poles remained in
5719-657: The British. This shocked the British government so much that after suppressing the Mutiny, they decided to start the policy of divide and rule (see online "History in the Service of Imperialism" by B.N. Pande). All communal riots began after 1857, artificially engineered by the British authorities. The British collector would secretly call the Hindu Pandit , pay him money, and tell him to speak against Muslims, and similarly he would secretly call
5852-740: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union , who threatened that if Lithuania did not follow the Kremlin-established mechanism of secession, Lithuania might lose the territories which the Soviet Union gained in 1939 after the Soviet invasion of Poland that were later transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. He also threatened that Kremlin may defend inhabitants of "certain territories from the unilateral influence of separatist forces." Despite warnings that such an action would be illegal, and condemnation from both
5985-578: The Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish"). The earliest treatise on Polish orthography was written by Jakub Parkosz [ pl ] around 1470. The first printed book in Polish appeared in either 1508 or 1513, while the oldest Polish newspaper was established in 1661. Starting in the 1520s, large numbers of books in the Polish language were published, contributing to increased homogeneity of grammar and orthography. The writing system achieved its overall form in
6118-522: The Lithuanian Parliament for approval. Such request was refused, by the Lithuanian authorities partially accepted Polish demands with the amendment of the Minorities Act on 29 January 1991, in the fields of language and education, also promised a new administrative division that would take national divisions into account. The latter postulate was never realized. Works on autonomy were continued at
6251-489: The Lithuanian authorities, prepared its own project in early June: "Status of Vilnius District in the constitutional system of Lithuania." It envisioned the merger of Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts into a single Vilnius district in which "the Slavonic ethno-cultural image of Lithuania would be traditionally respected." The project envisioned education in three languages at the high school level, protection of cultural heritage and
6384-456: The Lithuanian state should work to restore their "true" identity. The pseudoscientific theory of the existence of a separate ethnic group, the so-called "vičuv Litevskich", i.e. descendants of the polonized Lithuanian nobles . The surname ending in -wicz was supposed to prove belonging to the group. These views were disseminated with the passivity of Sąjūdis , also by members of this organization. There were no formalized political divisions among
6517-624: The Moscow rule was important. He is known to be instrumental in establishing similar ethnic-based subdivisions elsewhere in the collapsing Soviet Union: in Moldova and Transcaucasia . The KGB was interested in the development of the Polish autonomous movement in Lithuania and the intensification of Polish-Lithuanian antagonism. KGB files show that the ZPL's 11-member board included 3 agents, whose personalities have not been established to this day. The KGB collaborator
6650-730: The Pakistani paper The Nation in 2013: Up to 1857 , there were no communal problems in India; all communal riots and animosity began after 1857. No doubt even before 1857, there were differences between Hindus and Muslims, the Hindus going to temples and the Muslims going to mosques, but there was no animosity. In fact, the Hindus and Muslims used to help each other; Hindus used to participate in Eid celebrations, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali . The Muslim rulers like
6783-578: The Polish National-Territorial District (50 votes "for" and 14 "against") On 15 September 1989, the district council of the Vilnius district in Nemenčinė adopted a similar resolution. On 21 September 1989, Presidium of LSSR Supreme Council cancelled both resolutions. After the declaration of Lithuanian independence on 11 March 1990, some institutions were still recognizing the supremacy of the central Soviet authorities, while some recognised
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#17329059270066916-457: The Polish sociologist Adam Bobryk [ pl ] , this project never gained full support from the Lithuanian authorities, nor was implemented unilaterally by the Poles. The project was subject to several years of discussion and design work in 1988–1991, various groups of the Polish minority differed about its ultimate shape, basically agreeing only that autonomy should cover areas where Poles are
7049-671: The Silesian language was recognized by ISO , and was attributed an ISO code of szl. Some additional characteristic but less widespread regional dialects include: Polish linguistics has been characterized by a strong strive towards promoting prescriptive ideas of language intervention and usage uniformity, along with normatively-oriented notions of language "correctness" (unusual by Western standards). Polish has six oral vowels (seven oral vowels in written form), which are all monophthongs , and two nasal vowels . The oral vowels are / i / (spelled i ), / ɨ / (spelled y and also transcribed as /ɘ/ or /ɪ/), / ɛ / (spelled e ), /
7182-573: The Supreme Council of Lithuania. The ZPL as a whole basically stood for the establishment of limited territorial autonomy within the framework of independent Lithuania. Within the ZPL, there was also a group of activists who advocated for the aggremment with Lithuanian government, did not raise the topic of territorial autonomy, but rather opted for local government with extended competences. Representatives of this group were, for example, Sąjūdis activist Czesław Okińczyc and Zbigniew Balcewicz . There
7315-579: The USSR and LSRR were to be applied in the district. On 24 May 1990, the Vilnius district council supported the decision to create a national region, but recognized by an act of 11 March that the territory of Lithuania is "integral and indivisible". On 1 June 1990, in the Zavišonys [ lt ] village, the Second Congress of Deputies of the Vilnius Region, elected new Coordinating Council, and called for creation of autonomy. On 6 October 1990, during
7448-448: The USSR. Later Ciechanowicz proposed a compromise project: the declaration of territorial autonomy as part of Lithuania. Only if this proposal was not accepted by Lithuanian authorities, the autonomy would be proclaimed as part of the USSR. If this project also failed, the autonomy would be proclaimed at the next congress as part of Poland. Proposals of Estonian and Latvian delegates for a joint Russian-Polish front in defense of socialism and
7581-486: The ZPL and the Parliamentary Polish Faction, the councils of the Šalčininkai and Vilnius regions organized a Soviet referendum in their areas on 17 March 1991. According to official, unreliable data, in the Šalčininkai region, with a turnout of 76%, 98.7% of voters voted in favor of preserving the reformed USSR. In the Vilnius region, where the turnout was 57.1% (or 48%), 98.1% voted that way. On 22 May 1991,
7714-520: The ZPL as insufficiently radical. ZPL never established cooperation with Yedinstvo. Nonetheless, the autonomous movement included people who supported the Soviet system, as well as low-level activists of the communist party. Nevertheless, they were a minority, and the movement itself sought autonomy within Lithuania. The communist party showed no support for autonomous aspirations. Also, the Kremlin did not support
7847-533: The activists of the Polish minority. In fact, the only Polish organization undertaking political activity in the first years of independent Lithuania was the Union of Poles in Lithuania (ZPL), established in 1989. In some way, all the activists of the Polish minority were connected with it. An important body, however, formed only on 23 October, was the Polish Parliamentary Faction, grouping Polish deputies to
7980-400: The authorities of the USSR ordered a referendum in which the citizens of the state were to express their opinion whether they were in favor of maintaining the renewed USSR as a federation of sovereign Soviet republics. The date was set for 17 April. The Lithuanian authorities refused to hold a referendum, instead they decided to hold a referendum on 9 February, in which Lithuanians were to answer
8113-611: The authorities of the countries the Poles inhabited. Activists for Polish autonomy looked to Poland for support in their plans, primarily after the fall of the August putsch, when Moscow's ability to realistically influence the situation fell dramatically. In August 1991, a delegation from the Polish Parliamentary Faction was received in Warsaw by representatives of the Polish government, parliament and president. According to Anicet Brodawski, their demands were heard, but not supported. Instead, support
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#17329059270068246-450: The autonomous movement directly, apart from general declarations of support for the autonomous movements in the union republics of the USSR or instrumental attempts to put pressure on the Lithuanian authorities. The role of Oleg Shenin , a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , whose activity was aimed at the counteraction of the opposition of the republic against
8379-544: The autonomy to the LSSR Supreme Council on 12 July 1989. The projected autonomy's territory included the whole Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts, as well as municipalities in the Trakai , Švenčionys and Širvintos districts, where Poles were in the majority. The state languages were to be Lithuanian and Polish, and Russian was to be the "contact" language. On 6 September 1989, the Šalčininkai District Council declared itself
8512-485: The cases mentioned above, the letter i if followed by another vowel in the same word usually represents / j / , yet a palatalization of the previous consonant is always assumed. The reverse case, where the consonant remains unpalatalized but is followed by a palatalized consonant, is written by using j instead of i : for example, zjeść , "to eat up". The letters ą and ę , when followed by plosives and affricates, represent an oral vowel followed by
8645-525: The chairman of the Šalčininkai region, Czesław Wysocki, who officially supported the putschists, was suspended. He was officially dismissed from office on 3 September 1991. The region's deputies on the same day recalled Wysocki and his deputy on their own, electing their successors. Disregarding this, in violation of Lithuanian law, the Supreme Council immediately dissolved the Vilnius, Šalčininkai districts and Sniečkus city (now Visaginas ) councils on 4 September. Czesław Wysocki and his deputy Adam Monkiewicz left
8778-704: The concept is also mentioned as a strategy for market segmentation to get the most out of the players in a competitive market. While the Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China , the Mongols also sent Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, using foreigners to curtail the power of
8911-417: The congress in Mostiškės on 22 May 1991, where the deputies agreed on the basic principles of the autonomy system. The attempt to create a Polish autonomy collapsed together with the failed 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt , because its main supporters, the hard-line Soviet Communists, were defeated. After Lithuania actually regained its independence on 4 September 1991, it suppressed the movement and dissolved
9044-419: The congress. The situation was aggravated by the Law On Identity Cards, passed on 29 November 1990, which did not specify the spelling of names and did not include information on nationality, which was a demand of the Polish minority. In December, two Polish deputies, Jan Ciechanowicz and Alicet Brodawski, went to the Fourth Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union, where they sought help in implementing
9177-403: The constitution. In 1999, convictions were handed down against those involved in the autonomy movement under Articles 67 of the Criminal Code ("actions measured against economic entities and institutions of the authorities") and 70 of the Criminal Code ("creation of an anti-state organization and active participation in it.") Former Supreme Council deputy Leon Jankielewicz [ pl ]
9310-540: The contemporary context. 'Divide and rule' as a governing precept supposes the pre-existence of an integrated entity. In an India politically united only by British rule – and not yet even by the opposition which it generated – such a thing did not exist. Division was a fact of life. As Maulana Muhammad Ali would later put it, 'we divide and you rule'. Without recognising, exploring and accommodating such division, British dominion in India would have been impossible to establish, let alone sustain. Provoking sectarian conflict, on
9443-418: The corresponding sentence in modern Polish: Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj or Pozwól, że ja będę mełł, a ty odpocznij ; and in English: Come, let me grind, and you take a rest ), written around 1280. The book is exhibited in the Archdiocesal Museum in Wrocław, and as of 2015 has been added to UNESCO 's " Memory of the World " list. The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of
9576-514: The councils as unlawful and anti-democratic, and demanded an end to the campaign. For several years, a number of investigations were conducted against people involved in the movement for autonomy. In Lithuanian society, at that time there was a belief that the movement for autonomy was inspired from Moscow or even created by the KGB in order to limit Lithuania's aspirations to independence or detach parts of Lithuanian territory from it. Moscow sought to create
9709-511: The country. The next day, on 5 September, Poland and Lithuania established official diplomatic relations, while on 6 September the Supreme Soviet of the USSR annulled the annexation of the Baltic republics. On 12 September 1991, the government established its own administration in the Vilnius and Šalčininkai regions, appointing non-Polish speakers as commissioners. The ZPL protested the dissolution of
9842-504: The demands for autonomy. This was received in Lithuania almost as treason. The January Events in Lithuania triggered a wave of solidarity, with all major Polish organizations criticizing Soviet aggression. Lithuania also received support from Poland . This, as well as the fear of Soviet intervention, led to a compromise. Whose main manifestation was the amendments to the Law on National Minorities, adopted on 29 January 1991. The amendments ensured
9975-479: The disappearance of yers . Polish can have word-initial and word-medial clusters of up to four consonants, whereas word-final clusters can have up to five consonants. Examples of such clusters can be found in words such as bezwzględny [bɛzˈvzɡlɛndnɨ] ('absolute' or 'heartless', 'ruthless'), źdźbło [ˈʑd͡ʑbwɔ] ('blade of grass'), wstrząs [ˈfstʂɔw̃s] ('shock'), and krnąbrność [ˈkrnɔmbrnɔɕt͡ɕ] ('disobedience'). A popular Polish tongue-twister (from
10108-430: The distinction between regular penultimate and exceptional antepenultimate stress. Another class of exceptions is verbs with the conditional endings -by, -bym, -byśmy , etc. These endings are not counted in determining the position of the stress; for example, zro biłbym ('I would do') is stressed on the first syllable, and zro bi libyśmy ('we would do') on the second. According to prescriptive authorities ,
10241-526: The district councils of Vilnius and Šalčininkai. From 1922 to 1939 Vilnius and its region were part of the Second Polish Republic as the Wilno voivodeship , succeeding the short-lived Polish puppet state of Central Lithuania . During World War II , they briefly returned to Lithuania, but Lithuania was twice occupied by the Soviet Union and once by Nazi Germany. During 1944–1989, these areas were in
10374-774: The early 1980s, admitted to providing financial assistance to the Muslim Brotherhood , the precursor of Hamas, on the instruction of the Israeli authorities. The aim of the support was to weaken leftist and secular Palestinian organizations. Israel contributed to the construction of parts of Islamist politician Ahmed Yassin 's network of mosques, clubs, and schools in Gaza, as well as the expansion of these institutions. Shlomo Brom , retired general and former deputy to Israel's national security adviser, believes that an empowered Hamas helps Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu avoid negotiatings over
10507-520: The eastern parts of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth wrote Polish in the Arabic alphabet. The Cyrillic script is used to a certain extent today by Polish speakers in Western Belarus , especially for religious texts. The diacritics used in the Polish alphabet are the kreska (graphically similar to the acute accent ) over the letters ć, ń, ó, ś, ź and through the letter in ł ;
10640-577: The emergency of the Congress and the Muslim League did not affect them. The Indian Army was totally apolitical till June 3rd 1947... In fact, during the Partition holocaust and till that date, both Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers remained totally impartial in dealing with communal violence. After June 3, 1947 things started changing. The Kabyle myth is a colonial trope that was propagated by French colonists in
10773-420: The end of words (where devoicing occurs) and in certain consonant clusters (where assimilation occurs). For details, see Voicing and devoicing in the article on Polish phonology. Most Polish words are paroxytones (that is, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable of a polysyllabic word), although there are exceptions. Polish permits complex consonant clusters, which historically often arose from
10906-403: The enemy states in an attempt to raise doubts about the alliance. Once the alliance weakens or dissolves, a vacuum will allow the hostile state to achieve military dominance . The divide and conquer strategy is similar to the notion of a wedge strategy . Some analysts assert that the United States is practicing the strategy in the 21st-century Middle East through their supposed escalation of
11039-469: The entire country. Polish has traditionally been described as consisting of three to five main regional dialects: Silesian and Kashubian , spoken in Upper Silesia and Pomerania respectively, are thought of as either Polish dialects or distinct languages , depending on the criteria used. Kashubian contains a number of features not found elsewhere in Poland, e.g. nine distinct oral vowels (vs.
11172-535: The first time the possibility of establishing autonomous regions within the USSR's republics in a speech in Kyiv . During its first congress, the SSKPL transformed itself into the Union of Poles in Lithuania . On 12 May 1989, the 1st Congress of Deputies of the Vilnius Region (128 deputies representing towns: Šalčininkai , Eišiškės and Nemenčinė , and from 27 municipal councils of Šalčininkai, Vilnius and Švenčionys districts)
11305-462: The following table. The following digraphs and trigraphs are used: Voiced consonant letters frequently come to represent voiceless sounds (as shown in the tables); this occurs at the end of words and in certain clusters, due to the neutralization mentioned in the Phonology section above. Occasionally also voiceless consonant letters can represent voiced sounds in clusters. The spelling rule for
11438-493: The integrity of the USSR, as well as a pro-Moscow Polish military units were rejected. In the end, the third project prevailed, proposed by the president of ZPL Jan Mincewicz: the creation of the Polish National and Territorial Unit ( Polish : Polski Kraj Narodowo-Terytorialny ) as a part of Lithuania, A draft law on its establishment was written and sent to the Supreme Council for consideration. The proposed autonomous country
11571-538: The language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English , 0.25% of the US population, and 6% of the Polish-American population. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census (over 50%) were found in three states: Illinois (185,749), New York (111,740), and New Jersey (74,663). Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services (which has
11704-543: The late 1970s and early 1980s, a period marked by significant political upheaval in the Middle East. Former Israeli officials have openly acknowledged Israel's role in providing funding and assistance to Hamas as a means of undermining secular Palestinian factions such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev , who served as the Israeli military governor in Gaza during
11837-855: The latin divide et impera ) first appeared in English around 1600. The strategy of division and rule has been attributed to sovereigns, ranging from Louis XI of France to the House of Habsburg . Edward Coke denounces it in Chapter I of the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England , reporting that when it was demanded by the Lords and Commons what might be a principal motive for them to have good success in Parliament , it
11970-439: The letter y . The predominant stress pattern in Polish is penultimate stress – in a word of more than one syllable, the next-to-last syllable is stressed. Alternating preceding syllables carry secondary stress, e.g. in a four-syllable word, where the primary stress is on the third syllable, there will be secondary stress on the first. Each vowel represents one syllable, although the letter i normally does not represent
12103-553: The local peoples of both lands. Some Indian historians, such as politician Shashi Tharoor , assert that the British Raj frequently used this tactic to consolidate their rule and prevent the emergence of the Indian independence movement , citing Lord Elphinstone who said that " Divide et impera was the old Roman maxim, and it should be ours." A Times Literary Supplement review by British historian Jon Wilson suggests that although this
12236-461: The majority, and the Polish language should be given equal status. On 6 and 15 September 1989, the Šalčininkai and Vilnius municipalities , respectively, declared themselves to be self-governing national territorial districts within the Lithuanian SSR , where Russian , Polish and Lithuanian languages had equal status. Following the re-establishment of Lithuanian independence on 11 March 1990,
12369-431: The middle aged and young speak vernaculars close to standard Polish, while the traditional dialects are preserved among older people in rural areas. First-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty recognizing the regional and social differences. The modern standard dialect , often termed as "correct Polish", is spoken or at least understood throughout
12502-460: The most widely spoken variant of Polish across the country, and most dialects stopped being the form of Polish spoken in villages. Poland is one of the most linguistically homogeneous European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their first language . Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in areas which were once administered or occupied by Poland, notably in neighboring Lithuania , Belarus , and Ukraine . Polish
12635-446: The name Tarzan . Divide and rule Divide and rule ( Latin : divide et impera ), or divide and conquer , in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures. This includes the exploitation of existing divisions within a political group by its political opponents, and also the deliberate creation or strengthening of such divisions. The phrase divide and conquer (from
12768-536: The newly established Lithuanian authorities. After the local elections of 24 March 1990, the newly elected Council of the Šalčininkai District with Czesław Wysocki, a member of the Communist Party of Lithuania , declared on 15 May 1990 the district the Šalčininkai Polish National-Territorial District of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Under the declaration, the laws and constitution of
12901-631: The nobles in Poland–Lithuania in the 15th century. The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the Kingdom of Poland . Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , Congress Poland , the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria , and as the administrative language in the Russian Empire 's Western Krai . The growth of
13034-608: The other hand, was rarely in British interest. General S.K. Sinha , former Vice-Chief of Army Staff, writes that contrary to what the notion of divide and rule would predict, the British Indian Army was effectively integrated: The undivided army was a unique institution set up by the British in India... [A]ll combat units, except Gorkhas and Garhwalis , had a mixed combination of Muslims and non-Muslims. They fought wars together and lived as friendly comrades in peace, owing loyalty to their regiments. Political developments with
13167-659: The others being Czech orthography and Croatian orthography , the last of these being a 19th-century invention trying to make a compromise between the first two. Kashubian uses a Polish-based system, Slovak uses a Czech-based system, and Slovene follows the Croatian one; the Sorbian languages blend the Polish and the Czech ones. Historically, Poland's once diverse and multi-ethnic population utilized many forms of scripture to write Polish. For instance, Lipka Tatars and Muslims inhabiting
13300-401: The palatal sounds / ɕ / , / ʑ / , / tɕ / , / dʑ / and / ɲ / is as follows: before the vowel i the plain letters s, z, c, dz, n are used; before other vowels the combinations si, zi, ci, dzi, ni are used; when not followed by a vowel the diacritic forms ś, ź, ć, dź, ń are used. For example, the s in siwy ("grey-haired"), the si in siarka ("sulfur") and
13433-465: The people to prevent a rebellion against the elites or the people implementing the strategy. The goal is either to pit the lower classes against themselves to prevent a revolution , or to provide a desired solution to the growing discord that strengthens the power of the elites. The principle " divide et impera " is cited as a common in politics by Traiano Boccalini in La bilancia politica . In economics,
13566-419: The phrase as separa et impera in a letter to James I of 15 February 1615. James Madison made this recommendation in a letter to Thomas Jefferson of 24 October 1787, which summarized the thesis of The Federalist#10 : "Divide et impera, the reprobated axiom of tyranny, is under certain (some) qualifications, the only policy, by which a republic can be administered on just principles." Divide et impera
13699-511: The previously Polish-ruled territories in the east that were annexed by the USSR , resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking communities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. To the east of Poland, the most significant Polish minority lives in a long strip along either side of the Lithuania - Belarus border. Meanwhile,
13832-637: The process of regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1988 large part of the Polish minority, still remembering the 1950s attempts to ban Polish, was afraid that the independent Lithuanian government might want to reintroduce the Lithuanization policies. Furthermore, some Lithuanian nationalists, notably the Vilnija organization, founded in 1988, viewed eastern Lithuania's inhabitants as Polonized Lithuanians. Many Poles in Lithuania undoubtedly do have Lithuanian ancestry. Because these Lithuanian nationalists viewed ethnicity as primordial, they argued that
13965-402: The question: "Are you for the Lithuanian state to be an independent democratic republic?". In Lithuania as a whole, 90.47% of voters answered the question positively; in the Šalčininkai district, only 52.82% did so, in the Vilnius district 56.59%. Turnout in both regions was also lower than in the rest of the country. In February Vilnius was visited by Oleg Shenin , a member of the Politburo of
14098-427: The residents of the southeastern part of Vilnius district and Šalčininkai district were pro-Soviet, while the third group scattered throughout the country did not have a clear position. According to surveys from the spring of 1990, 47% of Poles in Lithuania supported the pro-Soviet Communist party (in contrast to 8% support among ethnic Lithuanians), while 35% supported Lithuanian independence. When Lithuania started
14231-502: The right to appoint "an authorized representative" for the district. The autonomy's area was estimated to be 4,930 square kilometers, with 215,000 inhabitants, of which 66% would be Poles. The Lithuanian authorities were given a deadline of 3 November 1991 to accept the draft act. Acceptance of it would virtually turn Lithuanian into a federal state. In response, the Eastern Lithuania National Commission, created by
14364-429: The right to full education in the mother tongue, allowed the use of the minority language on par with the state language in places where the minority was in the majority, and gave the right to national self-determination. In addition, the Supreme Council put forward a proposal to the government to start work on drafting a separate status for the Vilnius district (combining the current Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts). This
14497-540: The same applies to the first and second person plural past tense endings -śmy, -ście , although this rule is often ignored in colloquial speech (so zro bi liśmy 'we did' should be prescriptively stressed on the second syllable, although in practice it is commonly stressed on the third as zrobi li śmy ). These irregular stress patterns are explained by the fact that these endings are detachable clitics rather than true verbal inflections: for example, instead of ko go zoba czy liście? ('whom did you see?') it
14630-479: The second round of the Congress, this time in Eišiškės , two projects clashed. First: autonomy in the nature of a self-governing territorial unit, grouping all lands with a Polish majority, proposed by Ryszard Maciejkianiec, secretary of the ZPL. And the second project (Jan Kucewicz, and Jan Ciechanowicz ) was the proclamation of the Autonomous Polish Vilnius Unit with the status of a republic within
14763-410: The series of affricate and palatal consonants that resulted from four Proto-Slavic palatalizations and two further palatalizations that took place in Polish. The full set of consonants, together with their most common spellings, can be presented as follows (although other phonological analyses exist): Neutralization occurs between voiced – voiceless consonant pairs in certain environments, at
14896-500: The six of standard Polish) and (in the northern dialects) phonemic word stress, an archaic feature preserved from Common Slavic times and not found anywhere else among the West Slavic languages . However, it was described by some linguists as lacking most of the linguistic and social determinants of language-hood. Many linguistic sources categorize Silesian as a regional language separate from Polish, while some consider Silesian to be
15029-494: The stress normally becomes regular. For example, uniwersytet ( /uɲiˈvɛrsɨtɛt/ , 'university') has irregular stress on the third (or antepenultimate) syllable, but the genitive uniwersytetu ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛtu/ ) and derived adjective uniwersytecki ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛt͡skʲi/ ) have regular stress on the penultimate syllables. Loanwords generally become nativized to have penultimate stress. In psycholinguistic experiments, speakers of Polish have been demonstrated to be sensitive to
15162-555: The tactic of ' divide and rule ' in this case... Time has shown that the tactic was effective." For example, Moscow closed down almost all Lithuanian schools in the two districts in 1950–1955, while Polish schools were established instead of the Lithuanian ones. Lithuanian language was practically not taught in Polish schools. In two waves of emigration in the years 1945–47 and 1956–1959, at least 243,708 people left for Poland, mainly city dwellers, intellectuals and wealthy peasants. A similar number of people of Polish nationality remained on
15295-467: The territory of Lithuania. Many immigrated from the rest of the Soviet Union to replace those, who left, mainly from the Byelorussian SSR , they were attracted by the possibility of better living conditions. This included Poles from Belarus . As a result of these changes, Poles became a minority, consisting mainly of people with a lower social status, with a low rate of people with higher education, but
15428-651: The third round of the 2nd Congress took place in the Mostiškės village. Lithuanian politicians Vytautas Landsbergis , Romualdas Ozolas , and Vytenis Andriukaitis were present at the congress. During the meeting, a kind of constitution of Polish autonomy was adopted (195 votes "for", 6 abstained): "Draft act of the Republic of Lithuania regarding Polish national and territorial unit of Vilnius Region" ( Polish : Projekt ustawy Republiki Litewskiej w sprawie kraju polskiego narodowo-terytorialnego Wileńszczyzny ). The autonomy's capital
15561-563: The vowel i is changed to y , e.g. Syria , Sybir , synchronizacja , Syrakuzy . The following table shows the correspondence between the sounds and spelling: Digraphs and trigraphs are used: Similar principles apply to / kʲ / , / ɡʲ / , / xʲ / and /lʲ/ , except that these can only occur before vowels, so the spellings are k, g, (c)h, l before i , and ki, gi, (c)hi, li otherwise. Most Polish speakers, however, do not consider palatalization of k, g, (c)h or l as creating new sounds. Except in
15694-443: The word, the phoneme / x / can be spelt h or ch , the phoneme / ʐ / can be spelt ż or rz , and / u / can be spelt u or ó . In several cases it determines the meaning, for example: może ("maybe") and morze ("sea"). In occasional words, letters that normally form a digraph are pronounced separately. For example, rz represents /rz/ , not / ʐ / , in words like zamarzać ("freeze") and in
15827-545: Was Naujoji Vilnia , the anthem was Rota by Maria Konopnicka and the Polish flag was its flag, while Lithuanian and Polish were equal as languages of the administration. Residents of the Unit retained Lithuanian citizenship and gained the right to hold Polish or USSR citizenship. The highest legislative body became the Vilnius Sejm. Which would appoint a management board with executive authority. The Lithuanian government would have
15960-402: Was 85%. In 1989, 58% of Poles declared knowledge of Russian as a second language, and only 15.6% of Lithuanian. Nevertheless, 59% of them declared acceptance of using Lithuanian as an official language, while only 8% were in favor of Russian. According to the historian Alfred E. Senn , the Polish minority was divided into three main groups: Vilnius' inhabitants supported Lithuanian independence,
16093-446: Was a major breakthrough and the fulfillment of a large part of the demands of the Polish minority, but many of the provisions were conditional, moreover, reluctantly introduced by those in power and government officials. Furthermore, a law was passed on 31 January 1991 that allowed data to be entered in personal identity cards only in the Lithuanian alphabet, which significantly affected the way Polish names were written. In December 1990,
16226-479: Was also a radical group, represented by Jan Ciechanowicz , which sought fait accompli , and resorted to the help of the central Soviet authorities. In this group there were even ideas of separating the Vilnius region, either as an independent entity or within the framework of the USSR. Such radical tendencies were manifested also by group of Polish activists who were also members of the Communist Party, such as Czesław Wysocki from Šalčininkai . The moderate group, which
16359-426: Was answered: " Eritis insuperabiles, si fueritis inseparabiles. Explosum est illud diverbium: Divide, & impera, cum radix & vertex imperii in obedientium consensu rata sunt. " ("You would be invincible if you were inseparable. This proverb, Divide and rule, has been rejected, since the root and the summit of authority are confirmed by the consent of the subjects.") In a minor variation, Sir Francis Bacon wrote
16492-507: Was based on the so-called Giedroyc Doctrine , which rested on active support for the independence of the countries located between Poland and Russia , primarily Lithuania , Belarus and Ukraine . The doctrine also assumed full recognition of the borders created after World War II . With regard to Polish minorities in the east, Poland offered repatriation programs and cultural support. It did not plan to use them politically, at most as informal ambassadors mediating to foster good relations with
16625-481: Was broadly the case a more nuanced approach might be closer to the facts. On the other hand, Proponents of Hindutva , the ideology of the current and recent Indian governments over the years, stress strongly Hindu-Muslim conflict going back centuries before the arrival of the British. The classic nationalist position was expressed by the Indian jurist and supporter of Indian reunification Markandey Katju , who wrote in
16758-464: Was certainly Felix Merkulov, a Russian married to a Polish woman, who arrived in Lithuania in 1990 and became involved in Polish organizations, editing, among other things, the ephemeral magazine "Ojczyzna". The authorities of post-communist Poland, which originated from the Solidarity movement , essentially dissociated themselves from the autonomous movement of Poles in Lithuania. Poland's foreign policy
16891-569: Was founded, opposing the Sąjūdis and advocating the status quo and the continued Soviet occupation of Lithuania. Despite the use of the name in three languages, it mainly represented Russians, Polish participation was small. Nevertheless, the movement used Polish slogans and rhetoric, often in an aggressive and provocative manner. It demanded the creation of a second parliamentary chamber, the Council of Nationalities, appealed to Marxism–Leninism and criticized
17024-746: Was held in Mickūnai and decided to establish the Coordination Council for the Establishment of the Polish Autonomous Region (65 persons, with 5-person presidium). In response, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the LSSR issued a statement on 22 June 1989 declaring that the establishment of autonomous regions is unconstitutional. This didn't stop the Coordination Council from presenting a project of
17157-690: Was offered by Kresy organizations (Federacja Organizacji Kresowych) and small right-wing parties (Polska Partia Niepodległościowa, Partia Konserwatywna, Stronnictwo Wierności Rzeczypospolitej). Autonomy for the Polish minority in Lithuania after 1991 never became a serious political project again. However, the idea itself, as well as terms such as "autonomist," acquired a pejorative meaning among Lithuanian public opinion. The Law on National Minorities passed in 1989 with amendments in 1991 ceased to function in 2010. Since then, no new law has been passed. Some provisions, such as dual naming in minority-populated areas, never went into effect, as they were deemed to violate
17290-466: Was provided. In response, the Rudamina municipality declared itself a Polish national municipality. This was the second such occurrence, as a month before that, on 28 December 1988 Sudervė municipality did it. Within few next months, a total of 16 out of 24 councils in the Vilnius district and 14 out of the 15 in Šalčininkai followed the suit. Meanwhile, on 23 February 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev mentioned for
17423-516: Was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison under Articles 67 and 70. The former deputies of the Šalčininkai Council were convicted under Article 67: Alfred Aliuk for 9 months, Jan Kucewicz for 6 months, Jan Jurołajć and Karol Bilans for one year. After a few months, the appeals court raised all the verdicts. On December 14, the Supreme Court of Lithuania reduced the sentences. Jankielewicz's sentence was reduced from 3.5 to 2 years in prison. The others received
17556-457: Was somewhere in between those two, was represented by the first president of ZPL, Jan Sienkiewicz . On 6 October 1988, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted Lithuanian as the sole state language. Nine municipal councils ( Avižieniai , Buivydžiai , Grigaičiai , Lavoriškės , Medininkai , Mickūnai , Sudervė , Nemenčinė , Rudamina ) issued
17689-454: Was to include: On 7 and 10 October 1990, councilors of the Šalčininkai and Vilnius regions adopted the congress' resolutions. The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania rejected the project of autonomy for the Vilnius region, instead it solemnly commemorated the anniversaries of 9 and 28 October, that is, the Lithuanian loss of Vilnius in 1920 due to the Żeligowski Mutiny and the return of Vilnius to Lithuania in 1939. On 24 November 1990,
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