Lietuvos diplomatinė tarnyba sovietinės okupacijos išvakarėse

Abstract

The paper contains the addresses and telephone numbers of Lithuania’s embassies and consulates as well as their employees as of July 15, 1939. This document supplements the article published in this issue by Stasys Antanas Bačkis, a diplomat who formerly for many years worked with the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, on its activities following the country’s Soviet occupation. The publication not only lists the persons who were working at Lithuanian embassies and consulates but also the countries in which the organizations that represented Lithuania abroad were established. In 1939 Lithuania had 15 embassies, 8 consulate generals, 7 honourary consulate generals, 6 consulates, 33 honourary consulates and 6 honourary viceconsuls in Geneva. America, Asia and Africa. The paper in question also shows the structure of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, its departments and staff, as well as diplomatic ranks. During the period between the World War I and World War II Lithuania, in accordance with the agreements it had with other countries, did not have ambassadors, i.e. diplomats of the highest rank. Its representatives were only given ranks of the ambassador extraordinary and authorised minister, or lower still, that of the charge d’affaires. The officials, however, enjoyed full rights in the countries to which they were accredited.