George Matulaitis Journal

the people and are interested only in those priests who have collaborated with the Legionnaires. According to these reports, the Bolsheviks have apparently changed their way of behaving toward the people. In the city one can still occasionally hear the sound of gunfire. The Legionnaires have been shooting it out with the Bolsheviks in the New Vilnia district, about eight miles outside Vilnius. My secretary [Steckiewicz] came in and told me that the people are scandalized that at such a time the priests are not doing anything, not taking a stand. Perhaps they could support the Legionnaires in some concrete way. I answered that we must be careful. We have to look at the situation realistically. The Legionnaires will hardly be able to hold Vilnius. The Bolsheviks are advancing closer and closer and, no doubt, will take the city. The Legionnaires have not gained much support in the villages, not even in those that are mainly Polish. In my opinion, they are unlikely to get much support from Warsaw and are short of weapons and ammunition. Nor are the Jews joining in the struggle; they even oppose the Legionnaires. We have had all kinds of governments in Vilnius and can expect several more. It is better for the priests to remain calm, stop interfering in these conflicts and battles, and get on with the work of the Church and the salvation of souls. January 5 The Poles themselves are now saying that the Legionnaires will retreat toward Gardinas (Grodno). 1 Then, after reorganizing themselves into larger units, they will return to take Vilnius. In the meantime, they are forced to surrender the city to the Bolsheviks. Some of them have already marched out. In the evening the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in the vicinity of Antakalnis. 2 As the Germans moved out, they took all the locomotives and railway cars with them. The Legionnaires seized a completely empty 170 1 A much-contested city in the south, on the Nemunas River. When the Germans left, the Lithuanians claimed it as historically theirs and used it as an army base. The Poles occupied it in May 1919. Then the Bolsheviks took it in the summer of 1920. According to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, it was to be returned to Lithuania, but the Poles re-occupied and held it until 1939 when it became part of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. 2 Antakalnis is the oldest suburb of Vilnius outside the old city walls. It runs among the hills of the right bank of the Vilnele River, from which Vilnius gets its name. Its most striking landmark is the baroque Church of Sts. Peter and Paul.