- Antanas Smetona
Infobox President
name = Antanas Smetona
nationality = Lithuanian
|thumb
birth_date = birth date|1874|8|10|mf=y
birth_place = )
death_date = death date and age|1944|1|9|1874|8|17|mf=y
death_place =
party =Lithuanian National Union
spouse = Sofija Chodakauskaitė-Smetonienė
order = 1stPresident of Lithuania
term_start =April 4 1919
term_end =June 19 1920
predecessor = none
successor =Aleksandras Stulginskis
order2 = 6thPresident of Lithuania
term_start2 =December 19 1926
term_end2 =June 15 1940
predecessor2 =Aleksandras Stulginskis
successor2 =Antanas Merkys Antanas Smetona pronunciation|Antanas Smetona.ogg (
August 10 1874 ndashJanuary 9 1944 ) was one of the most importantLithuania n political figures betweenWorld War I andWorld War II . He served as the firstPresident of Lithuania fromApril 4 1919 toJune 19 1920 . He again served as the last President of the country fromDecember 19 1926 toJune 15 1940 , before its occupation by theSoviet Union . He was also one of the famous ideologists ofnationalism in Lithuania.Biography
Born in the village of Užulėnis,
Taujėnai rural district ofUkmergė county, Antanas Smetona was sent to the primary school in Taujėnai. Graduating from thePalanga Pre-Gymnasium in 1893, he passed his entrance examinations into the Samogitian Diocesan Seminary inKaunas , with thoughts of becoming a Catholic priest, but various circumstances soon thereafter changed these plans, and he enrolled atJelgava Gymnasium (high school) inLatvia . Here, together withJonas Jablonskis ,Vincas Kudirka and others, he belonged to a secret Lithuanian students' organization. This organization was nationalistic, and anti-Czarist in nature. In the autumn of 1896, he organized the resistance of students against obligatory attendance of theRussian Orthodox Church , and was expelled from the Gymnasium, but was later allowed to study at the Gymnasium No.9, inSaint Petersburg .After graduating from this Gymnasium in 1897, Smetona entered the Faculty of Law of the
University of Saint Petersburg . He joined the activities of the secret Lithuanian Student Organization at the University, and was made its chairman. He became involved with the publishing and dissemination of Lithuanian books. On two occasions he faced the threat of being expelled from the University, and experienced being arrested and a short imprisonment. After his graduation from the University in 1902, he worked at the Agricultural Bank ofVilnius . Two years later he marriedSofija Chodakauskaitė .Early activities
From his very first days in
Vilnius , Smetona became involved in the activities of various Lithuanian nationalist groups, and joined the Lithuanian Democratic Party, which he represented in theGreat Seimas of Vilnius . He was later elected into itsPresidium . In 1904 and 1907, he was on the staff of the Lithuanian newspapers, "Vilniaus Žinios " (The Vilnius News), and in 1905-1906, edited the weekly "Lietuvos Ūkininkas " (The Lithuanian Farmer). In 1907, Smetona and the Rev. Juozas Tumas established a venture to print the newspaper "Viltis" (The Hope), and started publishing and circulating it. In "Viltis", Smetona advocated national unity; he was also one of the incorporators of theAušra (Dawn) company for the publishing of Lithuanian books, a member of theLithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius , the Lithuanian Learned Society, theVilniaus aušra (The Dawn of Vilnius), andRytas (The Morning) education societies, theRūta Art Society and many other societies, taught the Lithuanian language at Vilnius schools. In 1914, he started publishing "Vairas " (The Rudder), a new bi-weekly magazine.Politics
During the First World War, he was the 1st Vice-Chairman, and later Chairman, of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Relief Society for helping victims of the war. In the summer of 1916, Antanas Smetona, together with other Lithuanians from Vilnius, presented a memorandum to the German Chief Commander of the Eastern Front, in which he demanded the right of the Lithuanian nation to have an independent State. On
September 6 1917 he started printing the newspaper "Lietuvos Aidas " (Lithuania's Echo), worked as its publisher and its editor-in-chief. In the first issue of the newspaper, Smetona wrote that the most important goal of the Lithuanian nation was the re-establishment of an independent Lithuanian state.Between
September 18 and 22, 1917, he participated in the Lithuanian Conference in Vilnius, and was elected Chairman (1917-1919), of theCouncil of Lithuania (later Council of the State). OnFebruary 16 1918 , Antanas Smetona signed theAct of Independence of Lithuania .Between December 1918 and March 1919, he lived primarily in Germany and the
Scandinavia n countries, soliciting loans for the cause of Lithuanian independence. OnApril 4 1919 , the State Council of Lithuania elected Smetona the first President of the Republic of Lithuania. OnApril 19 1920 , the Constituent Assembly electedAleksandras Stulginskis President. Not re-elected to the Seimas, from 1921 throughout 1924 he edited several periodicals, as "Lietuvos balsas" ("Voice of the Lithuania"), "Lietuviškas balsas" ("Lithuanian Voice") and "Vairas".After the
Klaipėda Revolt of January 1923, in theMemelland , which had been separated from Germany, he was made commissioner there onFebruary 20 , but due to disagreements with Prime MinisterErnestas Galvanauskas , he resigned from his post.In November 1923, authorities imprisoned Smetona for several days for publishing an article by
Augustinas Voldemaras , in "Vairas". Between 1923 and 1927, he was an assistant Professor at theUniversity of Lithuania - at first at the Chair of Art Theory and History and later at the department of Philosophy. He lectured on ethics, antique philosophy, and gave lectures on Lithuanian linguistics. He became a senior lecturer atVilnius University in 1926. In 1932, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. at theVytautas Magnus University .Smetona participated in the activity of the
Lithuanian Riflemen's Union that had staged the Klaipėda Revolt, which gave him greater name-recognition. More than once, he was elected to its central board. Between 1924 and 1940, he was the vice-Chairman of the Board of the International Bank, and one of the members of a number of societies and companies.Authoritarian president
Antanas Smetona was one of the leaders of the coup d'état of 1926, which deposed President
Kazys Grinius , and Smetona once again became President onDecember 19 of that year (two others briefly held the office during the coup, which began onDecember 17 , before Smetona was formally restored to the Presidency). He designatedAugustinas Voldemaras , as Prime Minister. One year later he suppressed the parliament, and onMay 15 1928 , with the approval of the government, he promulgated a new Constitution of the Lithuanian State with more extensive presidential powers. In 1929, he removed Voldemaras and became authoritarian head of state. [Smetona, Antanas. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 3, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9068265] He was re-elected President in 1931 and 1938, and remained in office untilJune 15 1940 .Exile
Lithuania was occupied by Soviet troops in 1940, as a consequence of the 1939
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact betweenNazi Germany and the Soviet Union. After the USSR presented an ultimatum to Lithuania in June of that year, Smetona proposed armed resistance against the Soviets.Fact|date=June 2008 The majority of the government and the commanders of the army did not concur with this proposal, and Smetona turned over the duties of President to Prime MinisterAntanas Merkys , and onJune 15 he and his family fled to Germany, and then on toSwitzerland . On the next day,Antanas Merkys announced on national radio that he had removed Smetona from the position of President, and had taken over the Presidency himself. OnJune 17 1940 , Merkys was arrested by the Soviets.In 1941, Smetona emigrated to the
United States , and lived in Pittsburgh andChicago before settling inCleveland, Ohio in May 1942 with his son Julius' family. While in exile, he began work on a history of Lithuania and on his memoirs. Smetona died in a fire at his son's house in Cleveland, onJanuary 9 1944 , and was buried there. His wife Sofija died in Cleveland, onDecember 28 1968 , and he also had a daughter, Birutė. In 1975, his remains were moved from Cleveland'sKnollwood Cemetery mausoleum toAll Souls Cemetery inChardon, Ohio . [" [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9792829 Antanas Smetona] ". "Find-A-Grave". URL accessed 2006-09-26.]Notes
References
*"Smetona, Antanas". Encyclopedia Lituanica V: 231-235. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCC 74-114275.
*lt icon cite book |author=Banevičius, Algirdas |year=1991 |title=111 Lietuvos valstybės 1918-1940 politikos veikėjų
*lt icon cite book |author=Liudas Truska, Algimantas Lileikis, Gediminas Ilgūnas, Rimgaudas Geleževičius |year=1995 |title=Lietuvos prezidentai |location=Vilnius
*lt icon cite book |author=Alfonsas Eidintas |year=1990 |title=Antanas Smetona |location=Vilnius |isbn=5-417-00376-XSee also
*
List of Lithuanian rulers External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=smetona&GSfn=antanas&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=9792829& Grave of Smetona in USA] . Retrieved 2007-09-13.
Persondata
NAME = Smetona, Antanas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = FirstPresident of Lithuania from4 April 1919 until19 June 1920
DATE OF BIRTH =10 August 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH =Uzulenis ,Lithuania
DATE OF DEATH =9 January 1944
PLACE OF DEATH =Cleveland, Ohio
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