Jewish faction at the Third Seimas of Lithuania in 1926-1927: on the way to the identity crisis

ENThe article discusses the characterisation of the activity of the Jewish faction before the third Seimas and its actions at the short-lived Third Seimas. Due to the circumstances that formed at the Constituent Seimas, the Jewish faction belonged to the Seimas opposition at the First and Second Seimas. The results of the election to the Third Seimas in 1926 provided the Jewish faction with the opportunity to become a constituent part of the ruling coalition. The requirements imposed on the large partners of the coalition reflected both the aspiration to correct “the mistakes” made by the former Seimas with respect to the Jewish community and the aspiration to form the perspective of new possibilities. The relationships with the coalition partners went through two different phases – until the coup d’état of December 1926 and after it. The former link of solidarity and loyalty was replaced with a collective behaviour of adaptation, which permeated the actions of the factions of other ethnic minorities. Work experience in solving the Jewish problems at the Third Seimas is not wide and long. Keywords: Third Seimas, Jewish faction, elections, Peasant Popular Union, Social Democrats. [From the publication]