The Polish National-Territorial Region was a proposed autonomous region in Lithuania, unilaterally proclaimed by the localPolish-Lithuanian politicians on 6 September 1990. The proposed region should have included the districts of Vilnius, Šalčininkai and adjacent parts of some other districts — where Poles formed the majority of the population. This Eastern part of Lithuania had been part of Poland during the Interwar period before being attached to Lithuania under the Mutual Assistance Treaty with the Soviet Union in 1939.The proposed capital of the region was Nowa Wilejka which had 34% Polish population. with an area of and population of 215,000. In the region, the Polish flag was to be used as the official flag and Rota was to be used as an anthem in the region.
History
After World War II, as a result of Polish population transfers, the native Polish population of Vilnius region was to a significant degree replaced with Poles from Belarus, as well as by Belarusians and Russians. This population did not have a history of strong Polish political identity. Also, a significant number of Lithuanians moved in the region. The beginnings of the autonomist movement are associated with the activities of Oleg Shenin, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, aimed at the counteraction of the opposition of the republic against the Moscow rule. He is known to be instrumental in establishing similar ethnic-based subdivisions elsewhere in the collapsing Soviet Union: in Moldova and Transcaucasia. At the same time, Shenin threatened Lithuania that if it would not follow the Kremlin-established mechanism of secession, Lithuania might suffer territorial losses of the areas which the Soviet Union gained in 1939 after the Soviet invasion of Poland and later transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. He also threatened to defend "certain territories from the unilateral influence of separatist forces." These threats contributed greatly to the decision of the Lithuanian powers to ban the Polish autonomy. The Polish autonomist movement, who have associated with the Yedinstvo movement, had tacit support from Moscow. Conversely, it gained little support from Poland, since the Polish government at that time supported Lithuania's strive for independence, believing that independent Lithuania would deal with the problems of the Polish minority in a peaceful manner. The Lithuanian government declared the formation of the so-called Polish autonomous district in Lithuania unconstitutional, and the Lithuanian parliament dissolved the elected local councils that had sought autonomy, on 3 September 1991.
