Lietuvos Tarybos 1917 m. gruodžio 11-osios deklaracija: Kauno pėdsakas

The aim of this article is to re-construct the process and to assume the importance of negotiations between representatives of Lietuvos Taryba (the Council of Lithuania) and representatives of German authorities took place in Kaunas on December 9–12 (including the discussions of plenary of Lietuvos Taryba in Vilnius on December 11, 1917) concerning first Declaration of Independence (Declaration of December 11). Consequently, the phase of negotiations in Kaunas seems most important and crucial within the process of these negotiations. Circumstances (timing, locations, logistics and technical means) as well as institutional representations of the participants from both the Lithuanian and German sides in the negotiations are analysed in this article. It has been shown how the three stages of "Kaunas‘ negotiations" (arriving to Kaunas of negotiating partners prior to December 10; the negotiations themselves on December 10; final stage of December 12) looked like. Implications of the adoption of the Declaration were manifold. It became a basic document for a number of further trajectories of political processes. Particularly, it served as reference document for further negotiations between Lithuania and Germany in the very beginning of 1918, then as eventual basis for presenting (never in fact happened) Lithuania‘s position in Brest-Litovsk peace negotiations, as the reference document for discussions on Independence Act (finally adopted on February 16, 1918), and for de-facto recognition of Lithuania by Germany on March 23, 1918.