A German field post (Feldpost) card of Janiszky (spelled Janiszki in Polish, now Joniškis, Lithuania) sent in 1917 to Straßburg - Neudorf, Elsaß, Germany (now part of Strasbourg, France). Despite the fact that Joniškis was politically part of Lithuania, it has been considered topographically part of Kurland especially by many Baltic Germans. The picture shows one lady looking towards the photographer, which makes the postcard very alive from my personal opinion.
It should be taken present, however, that in that period of 1917 Lithuania was officially under the German administration. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1917, in fact the Russian Empire had ceded to the German Empire all that area that (in 1919) became Poland-Lithuania-Latvia-Estonia.
ReplyDeleteThe declaration of Lithuanian independence happened on February 18th, 1918.
The uncertain situations about the borders and the new names continued for several years after. Look at this map of the year 1920, as a prove that the questions in that area still were open.
This card, however, is truly greatest! On the top-left someone - perhaps a previous collector - even wrote "Lettonie". It is the name of "Latvia" in French, ha ha ha!
The border between Lithuania and Latvia changed since the 1918 independence, yes. In march 21st 1921, there was a territorial exchange between the 2 countries which finally fixed the border. The towns of Sventāja (now Šventoji, Lithuania), Palanga and Būtinciems (now Būtingė, Lithuania)was given to Lithuania and in exchange, the town of Aknysta (Now Aknīste, Latvia), the village of Ukrai (now Ukri, Latvia)and some other areas were given to Latvia.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gio Ve for an interesting point out as usual!