Adolf Hitler arrives in Memel the day after the city's annexation to the Reich.

Adolf Hitler arrives in Memel the day after the city's annexation to the Reich.

A part of East Prussia since the 16th century, Memel and its environs were removed from Germany in 1919 and annexed to Lithuania in 1923 as as autonomous area. However, after 1933, Hitler agitated for it to be returned to the Reich and the Nazi Party gradually seized control of local politics through the faction controlled by Dr. Ernst Neumann. Germany eventually annexed Memel and its forces entered the region and city on 22 March 1939. Most of the Lithuanian and Jewish population fled the city before the German takeover.