The Klaipėda Convention (or Convention concerning the Territory of Memel) was an international agreement between Lithuania and the countries of the Conference of Ambassadors (United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan) signed in Paris on May 8, 1924. According to the convention, the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) became an autonomous region under unconditional sovereignty of Lithuania.
The region was detached from East Prussia by the Treaty of Versailles and placed under League of Nations administration with a provisional French garrison. During the staged Klaipėda Revolt in January 1923, the Lithuanians seized control of the region and attached it to Lithuania. The Conference of Ambassadors accepted the fait accompli and set out to formalise the territorial changes. The inhabitants of the area were not given a choice on the ballot on whether they wanted join Lithuania or Germany. After difficult negotiations, the convention was agreed upon in spring 1924.
The region was granted extensive legislative, judicial, administrative and financial autonomy. It had its own democratically-elected parliament (Klaipėda Diet) and appointed executive branch (the Klaipėda Directorate). The administration and operation of the port of Klaipėda was entrusted to a three-member Harbor Board. The Neman River, particularly its timber traffic, was internationalised, which granted freedom of transit to all nations. The convention became obsolete when the Klaipėda Region was attached to Nazi Germany as a result of the ultimatum of 1939.
Background
The lands north of the Neman River had been part of a German state since their conquest during the Prussian Crusade in the 13th century. According to Article 28 of the Treaty of Versailles, the region was detached from the German Empire, and according to Article 99, it was placed under a League of Nations mandate effective January 10, 1920. The French became temporary administrators of the Klaipėda Region, or Memel Territory. The Lithuanians believed that the region should be attached to Lithuania because of its significant Lithuanian-speaking population of Prussian Lithuanians. Also Klaipėda (Memel), a major sea port in the Baltic Sea, was the only viable access to the sea for Lithuania.
However, such Lithuanian aspirations gained little local or international support. It seemed that the region would be turned into a free city, similar to the Free City of Danzig. 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. The revolt, organised by the Lithuanian government and the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, began on January 9, 1923. The rebels met little resistance and controlled the region by January 15. They organised a new pro-Lithuanian Directorate, the main governing institution, and petitioned to join Lithuania.
On January 24, the First Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, accepted the petition and thus formalised the incorporation of the Klaipėda Region into Lithuania. The Conference of Ambassadors decided to dispatch a special commission to the region, reject a military intervention and agree to open negotiations with Lithuania.
Negotiations
On February 16, 1923, the Conference of Ambassadors relinquished its rights that granted by the Treaty of Versailles and transferred the district over to Lithuania under the condition that a formal international treaty would be signed later. Lithuania accepted the transfer, and negotiations over the treaty began on March 24, 1923. 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. 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.