George Matulaitis Journal

I received the necessary permits to travel to Warsaw. 1 During my absence, I left the administration of the diocese to Monsignor Sadowski. I am leaving tomorrow with Father Joseph. Father Kulesza came to see me and asked if I would sign the address to be presented to Pi = sudski—the same one that was read when the keys of the city were given to him. I answered that I would not sign because it was a political matter. When the Paris Peace Conference decides on the fate of these nations, I will try to be a loyal citizen of whatever government is recognized here. At present, I cannot join any party, but must serve everyone equally. November 19 2 I have not written anything for a long time. Perhaps I shall make a note of the more important events as I recall them. And there is much that is worthy of note. This has often been a time of hardship, suffering, and oppression for me. Today I am leaving for Bia = ystok. Tomorrow they are celebrating the nationalization of the secondary schools 3 and insisted on my coming. It is bitterly cold: about 18 or 19 degrees Celsius. 4 The railways are in a state of chaos. The trains are late. They do not leave on time, and there is a shortage of fuel. Instead of arriving at one o’clock a.m., the Warsaw-Vilnius train came in only at nine and left Vilnius at 12:30 p.m. The railway cars are unheated. There were many travelers, and it was very crowded. The officers and soldiers were stamping their feet and shivering in the cold. They were poorly dressed. Somehow or other we reached Bia = ystok 5 at ten in the morning. The priests were waiting for me there. 277 1 This would be the first time Matulaitis and Ratti met. 2 Unfortunately, he never filled in this six-month gap. 3 A private high school in Bia = ystok (Balstoge) was turned over to the Minister of Education, sym- bolic of the nationalization of private schools, as decreed by the new Polish government. The chaplain of this school was Fr. Lucjan Chalecki, Matulaitis’s future chancellor. 4 Presumably below zero; about one degree below zero Fahrenheit. 5 The town was called Balstoge in Lithuanian, Bia = ystok in Polish. It had once been Lithuanian, but was now within the borders of Poland, being 70 km southwest of Gardinas (Grodno). It belonged to the Diocese, later the Archdiocese of Vilnius.