"What a wonderful discovery! It is great news to our friends in Lithuania. We are happy together with them," the German Foreign Ministry said in a comment by officials of the ministry and the German Embassy in Vilnius.
According to the press release, the ministry's Political Archives immediately started analyzing the document and identified it as "the resolution signed by the Council of Lithuania during the Feb. 16 1918 council that unanimously decided to send a letter with a request to recognize Lithuania's statehood to Germany and other countries."
The document featuring signatures of signatories was discovered by professor Liudas Mazylis of the Vytautas Magnus University in archives in Berlin on Wednesday. Lithuanian diplomats are currently working to establish the legal status of the document and the possibilities of turning to Germany for its return to Lithuania.
Whereabouts of other copies of the Lithuanian Independence Act is not known.
On behalf of the Lithuanian people and on her own behalf, President Dalia Grybauskaitė expressed sincere gratitude to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for the fact that Germany had preserved the Act of February 16, 1918 – a document of profound importance to Lithuania – throughout the last turbulent century.
The President underscored that the document was a true reflection of the love for freedom of the Lithuanian nation. It is a birth certificate of the Republic of Lithuania, a testimony to our statehood and to the will our people to build a free and independent nation. The discovery of this landmark document is one of the best things that could have happened to Lithuania as it prepares to celebrate the centenary of statehood.
“We are very grateful to Germany for preserving this only known authentic copy of the Act of February 16 throughout the historical turmoil of the last century,” the President wrote in her letter.
The founding document of Lithuanian statehood was discovered in Germany – one of our closest allies and partners.
The President expressed hope of cooperating closely with Germany on the possibility of handing the Declaration of Independence to Lithuania. It would be the best gift to the Republic of Lithuania marking its 100th anniversary.
