George Matulaitis Journal

Monsignor Michalkiewicz, I invited Mr. Niedzia = kowski, 1 former mayor of the city, Mr. + opaci < ski (his wife came, since he was away), Father Kretowicz, and Father Kulesza. I entrusted them with the organization of a committee similar to the Chief Welfare Council here in Vilnius. They decided to delegate Mr. + opaci < ski, who had already gone to Warsaw on other business, to handle the matter. On this occasion Monsignor Michalkiewicz told me that the Poles were very upset and even indignant. It seems that Father Tumas and Father Abaravi ius 2 are constantly conferring with the Jews, from morning till night, and plotting with them against the Poles. I called in Father Tumas and asked him if this were true. He said that he had not been seeing any Jews, nor had he conferred with them. As for Father Abaravi ius, he is just a guest here. He is not involved in any Lithuanian activities; he just plays cards. He said that it was true that some Lithuanian laymen are allying themselves with the Jews and confer with them because their common misfortunes and sense of oppression have brought them together. The way things have turned out, there is nothing else to do but to unite with the Jews and the Belorussians. A while ago there were complaints about Father Tumas because he wore secular clothes, especially a checkered jacket. He justified himself saying that he returned from abroad in those clothes, the only ones he had. He was saving his threadbare cassock to say Mass in. Actually, I myself have seen that his cassock was very worn. I could see that this man was a true idealist and very devoted to his work. I told him that he could continue to wear the clothes he had until God grants us better times. He said that he was now editor of the paper Nepriklausoma Lietuva 3 [Independent Lithuania]. He is doing it without any salary. Since he only has 600 rubles, he does not know what he will do when he runs out of money. Perhaps he will have to move somewhere else, away from Vilnius. 263 1 Mieczyslaw Niedzia = kowski (1893-1941): one of the leading members of the Polish Socialist Party; had been head of the municipal government of Vilnius. 2 Mykolas Abaravi ius was pastor of A mena and Dean of Priests until 1914, when he was exiled by the Russian czarist government. He had been living in Vilnius since then, teaching religion in one of the schools. 3 A Lithuanian newspaper published by the Lithuanian Committee of Vilnius. Fr. Tumas was Editor until 1920, when he left Vilnius altogether and settled in Kaunas, where he lived and worked until his death in 1933.