Lithuania seeks to get Act of Independence document back from Germany

The Lithuanian president said on Thursday that she had addressed the office of the German Chancellor in a bid to seek ways to ensure the return of the newly-found original document of the country's 1918 Independence Act from Germany.

"I want to announce that we already contacted the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel and started to investigate the possibilities when and how Lithuania can get back this document of extraordinary importance," President Dalia Grybauskaite told a press conference on Thursday.

It was announced on Wednesday evening that a Lithuanian scholar discovered the long-sought original copy of the Lithuanian Independence Act signed on Feb. 16, 1918.

Liudas Mazylis, professor of the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city and the former country's capital, found the document in the archives of Germany's foreign ministry.

"I am glad that we have got the best gift, the greatest monument dedicated to 100 years anniversary of our state," Grybauskaite commented on Thursday.

Lithuania will mark the 100th anniversary of statehood next year.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany has also confirmed the document that was found in an archive in Berlin is Lithuania's Independence Act. The ministry's commentary was conveyed to the news agency Elta by the German Embassy in Lithuania.

According to the message, the documents were examined immediately after they were found at the Federal Foreign Office Political Archive by professor Mazylis.

It was determined that the document is the resolution unanimously adopted by the Council of Lithuania on Feb. 16, 1918 and sent to Germany and other countries asking for recognition of the Lithuanian state. Endit