Gabriel Jean Petisné (14 June 1881 – 4 December 1931) was a French lawyer and commissioner of the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

before its incorporation into Lithuania after the

Klaipėda Revolt The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory or ). The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from East Prussia, German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a ...

Biography

Gabriel Jean Petisné was born on 14 June 1881 in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, France. Educated as an attorney, Petisné entered the government service as an attaché to the office of the Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts. In 1908–1909, he briefly served as secretary general of

Lozère Lozère (; ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the ...

and

Gers Gers (; or , ) is a departments of France, department in the regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to ...

. In February 1909, he became sub-prefect of

Bazas Bazas (; ) is a commune in Gironde, a department in southwestern France. Geography Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of Marmande. Hi ...

. In 1911, he briefly returned to Paris before his appointment as sub-prefect to

Châteaudun Châteaudun () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War. Geography Châteaudun is located about 45 ...

. He later served as general secretary of Vienne,

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

(1917), Rhône police (1918), and prefect of

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

(1920).

Klaipėda Region

From 8 June 1920 to 30 April 1921, he was

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of the

(Memel Territory). On 4 October 1920, Petisné created a 20-person pro-German state council. On 1 May 1921, Petisné succeeded Dominique Joseph Odry, who was appointed by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, as high civil commissioner of the region. He then hoisted the four flags of the signatory powers of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in the region. The Directorate, the Council, and the Administrative Court appointed by him consisted almost exclusively of Germans. During his tenure, Petisné propagated the idea of Klaipėda becoming a

Freistaat Free state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states throughout the world with varying meanings depending on the context. In principle, the title asserts and emphasises a particular freedom of the state in question, but this ...

, presenting the idea to the

Conference of Ambassadors A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

in November 1922. He had a German movement founded, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für den Freistaat Memel (Society for Free State Memel), which aimed to gradually establish the independence of the region. As commissioner, Petisné avoided establishing closer economic and cultural relations with Lithuania, publishing several legal acts regulating the economy and social life of the region. Nonetheless, he published three decrees protecting the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

. Although the French monitored Lithuanian activity in the region to some extent, with Petisné writing to the French government that the Lithuanians would "soon strike Memel", as well as organizing sabotage of some railways in Lithuania, the response was lackluster and unconcerned. The Lithuanian-organized

successfully took control of the region by 15 January 1923. Petisné was confronted by one of its leaders, Mykolas Kalmantas, who arrested Petisné with a revolver after the commissioner demanded Klamantas show his papers. On 19 February, he left Klaipėda with Entente warships, fully surrendering the region to Lithuania. Petisné died on 4 December 1931 in Bordeaux.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pestine, Gabriel Jean 1881 births 1931 deaths Klaipėda Region Prefects of France