Seimas marked the 150th birth anniversary of Jonas Staugaitis, former Speaker of the Seimas

Press release, 15 May 2018

On 15 May 2018, the Seimas sitting celebrated the Day of the Constituent Seimas and concurrently marked the 150th birth anniversary of Jonas Staugaits, former Speaker of the Seimas, medical doctor and co-author of the newspaper Varpas.

In his speech on the lifetime achievements of Mr Staugaitis, Arūnas Gumuliauskas, Chair of the Seimas Commission for the National Historical Memory, highlighted that in the second half of the nineteenth century Mr Staugaitis was a member of the prominent Suvalkija regional local reform movement that played a significant role in the Lithuanian National Revival and contributed to the restoration of the Lithuanian statehood. In the words of Mr Gumuliauskas, Jonas Staugaitis was a prominent figure in publishing and an outstanding author and editor of articles for publications.

The political career of Mr Staugaitis was brief, Mr Gumuliauskas said, adding that ‘it spanned as few as 15 years, but it was very significant.’

‘In 1920–1921, the Constituent Seimas was very active not only in shaping the foreign policy concept. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it also took part in nearly all of the negotiations and had its representatives in delegations. <...> In particular, Mr Staugaitis led the very first negotiations with Poland. In addition, on 31 March 1921, he headed the Commission for negotiations with Latvia. Mr Staugaitis went to great lengths to be able to tell Palanga’s residents that Palanga and its surroundings were part of Lithuania and was welcomed with satisfaction by the local population,’ Mr Gumuliauskas said.

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Jonas Staugaitis (born on 1 June 1868, died on 18 January 1952) belonged to the medical profession, was a significant figure for Lithuanian National Revival movement, co-author of the newspaper Varpas, founder and supporter of various associations, as well as a publisher, philanthropist, and politician. As a military medical doctor, he participated in the First World War and the Russo-Japanese War.  He had a private medical practice in Šakiai, southwest Lithuania. In the process of establishment of the Lithuanian State, he was one of the people behind setting up of the municipality of Šakiai. Between 1919 and 1926, he worked as a Director of the Kaunas City Hospital. Between 1922 and 1940 he was Chief Editor of the journal Medicina. Mr Staugaitis was well known for his efforts to unite medical doctors: between 1922 and 1940 he chaired the Kaunas Medical Society, and in 1924–1940 was Chairman of the Lithuanian Medical Association. In 1929, the University of Lithuanian awarded him with an honorary doctoral degree.

Mr Staugaitis was a member of the Lithuanian Popular Peasants’ Union, and as such was elected to all the democratically elected Seimas legislatures between 1920 and 1927, including the Constituent Seimas as well as the first, the second, and the third Seimas. In all the above legislatures, he was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Seimas. He also performed the functions of the Speaker of the Seimas twice: during the Second Seimas, between 9 February 1926 and 5 March 1926, and during the Third Seimas between 2 June 1926 and 19 December 1926. Mr Staugaitis had the remarkable ability to chair politicised discussions and calm the impulsive parliamentarians down. At the same time, he was a principled man, who never avoided openly raising and defending his convictions. His political career was ceased on 17 December 1926 by the coup d’état in Lithuania.

Rimas Rudaitis, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]