History of Suwalki

After the collapse of the Central Powers in November 1918, the local commander of the Ober-Ost signed an agreement with the Temporary Council of the Suwałki Region and de facto allowed for the region to be incorporated into Poland. However, the German army remained in the area and continued its economic exploitation. In February 1919 the local inhabitants took part in the first free elections to the Polish Sejm, but soon afterwards the German commanders changed their mind and expelled the Polish military units from the area and in May passed it to Lithuanian authority. By the end of July the Paris Peace Conference granted the town to Poland and the Lithuanians withdrew from the town, but some of the Polish-inhabited lands were left on the Lithuanian side of the border while several Lithuanian villages were left on the Polish side of the so-called Foch Line. This led to the outbreak of the Sejny Uprising on August 23, 1919. To secure the town, the following day the first regular units of the Polish Army entered Suwałki. A short Polish-Lithuanian War erupted and for several days limited fights were fought for the control over Suwałki, Sejny and other towns in the area. The war ended on the insistence of the Entente in mid-September (negotiations took place in Suwałki in early October). During the Polish-Bolshevik War the town was captured by the Communists and after the Battle of Warsaw it was again passed to the Lithuanians, but it was retaken by the Polish Army with negligible losses soon afterwards.

In the interbellum, Suwałki became an autonomous town within the Białystok Voivodeship (1919-1939). This led to yet another period of prosperity, with the town's population rising from 16,780 in 1921 to almost 25,000 in 1935. The main source of