The inconvenient testimony of Col. V. Skorupskis about the coup of December 17, 1926
In 1930, Col. V. Skorupskis published the book "Memories of a Witness to Military Events in Lithuania" in the French publishing house Charles – Lavauzelle & Co., the sixth chapter of which is dedicated to the December coup.
In his memoirs, Col. V. Skorupskis highlighted the socialist victory in the 3rd Seimas elections, the disorder and chaos in the army, described in detail how, together with Gen. P. Plechavičius and Gen. Lt. K. Ladyga, he decided to carry out a coup, created a secret troika organization in the army, and informed Antanas Merkys about the planned coup. In his memoirs, Col. V. Skorupskis described in detail how the Supreme Headquarters was occupied, ministers were arrested, and the Seimas was dispersed, and depicted the unsuccessful attempts of the Chief of the Supreme Staff, Col. Kazys Škirpa, and the Commander of the 1st Military District, Col. Aleksandras Jakaitis, to inspire resistance to the coup plotters. It is important that Col. V. Skorupskis openly emphasized in his memoirs that the march overthrew the legitimate, constitutional government. These were the only memoirs that thoroughly outlined the course of the coup, named its organizers, and provided an unvarnished legal assessment of this step. As we will see later, Col. V. Skorupskis' memoirs contradicted the meanings of the coup communicated by the nationalists.
Col. V. Skorupskis' memoirs were printed in French in France, so they did not reach Lithuanian readers, although such efforts were made. In 1931, the contents of the first issue of "Naujojia Romuva" indicated that Col. V. Skorupskis' article "Why and how the December 17 coup was carried out" would be published on the eleventh page of the magazine, but these secrets are no longer in the magazine. Since on February 4, 1931, the Ministry of National Defense banned the distribution of this book by Col. V. Skorupskis, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believed that "the distribution of the book would be harmful". This clearly proves the nationalist regime's desire to use administrative instruments to eliminate Col. V. Skorupskis' story about the coup, which does not coincide with the cultural memory formed by the regime.
- V. Skorupskis, La Resurgence L'un peuple, Paris, 1930.
