Leonas Bistras

Leonas Bistras (born October 20 1890 in Liepaja; died October 17 1971 in Kaunas) was a Lithuanian politician, journalist, translator, philosopher and professor. He had studied medicine also.

Bistras was elected to the 2nd Lithuanian Seimas representing the Lithuanian Christian Democrats Party. He was also elected as Chairman of Seimas. In the 9th and 10th Minister Cabinet of Lithuania, he was Minister of Education. After Vytautas Petrulis' cabinet resigned, he took office of Prime Minister of Lithuania and Minister of Land Defense in the 12th cabinet, from April 14, 1926 was also Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After the coup d'etat at the end of 1926, he was appointed as Minister of Education, and left cabinet after the 3rd Seimas was released. He returned to the Cabinet of Ministers after Lithuania lost Klaipėda Region in 1939, and in the 20th cabinet was Minister of Education and refused to take the Minister of Foreign Affairs office.

On July 11 1940, he was arrested and sent to Siberia, returning to Lithuania in 1945. In 1950, he was arrested and sent to Siberia again. He returned to Lithuania again in 1956. As the Soviets did not grant him a pension, he lived on donations from people in Kaunas, where he died three days before his 81st birthday.

External links

lt icon [http://www3.lrs.lt/home/w5_viewer/statiniai/seimu_istorija/w5_show-p_r=4162&p_d=39041&p_k=1.html Bio at Lithuanian Seimas website]