Antanas Venclova (7 January 1906 – 28 June 1971) was a Soviet and Lithuanian politician,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

Early life

Born in Trempiniai in

Suwałki Governorate Suwałki Governorate (russian: Сувалкская губерния, pl, gubernia suwalska, lt, Suvalkų gubernija) was a governorate (administrative area) of Congress Poland ("Russian Poland") which had its seat in the city of Suwałki. It co ...

, Venclova studied Lithuanian, Russian and French at the

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (VDU)) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known ...

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. In 1936, he visited the Soviet Union, becoming fascinated with the Soviet system and its culture. Before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he worked as a teacher and was the editor of the procommunist journals ''Trečias frontas'' (Third Front) and ''Prošvaistė''. Antanas-venclova-and-petras-cvirka-1934

Politician

Following the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

of Lithuania in 1940, he was briefly appointed as Minister of Education of the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

. He was elected as a representative to the "

People's Seimas The People's Seimas ( lt, Liaudies Seimas) was a puppet legislature organized in order to give legal sanction the occupation and annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. After the Soviet ultimatum in June 1940, a new pro-Soviet government wa ...

" and went to Moscow as part of the delegation requesting that Lithuania be incorporated into the Soviet Union. After the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

in 1941, he retreated with the Red Army and remained in Soviet Russia during the Nazi occupation, returning to Lithuania in 1944. In the following years, he faithfully served the Soviet government. In 1947, he received the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

. Venclova wrote the original words for the anthem of the Lithuanian SSR and translated the lyrics of the Soviet anthem into Lithuanian. After

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

's death, the second stanza of the Lithuanian anthem's lyrics was changed by

Vacys Reimeris Vacys Reimeris (3 August 1921 in Kuršėnai, Lithuania – 6 February 2017) was a Lithuanian poet, translator, and artist of the former Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1965). Biography He graduated from elementary school in Kuršėnai in ...

to remove any mention of Stalin. Between 1954 and 1959, Venclova was Chairman of the Lithuanian Writer's Union. He died in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

in 1971.

Family

His son, the poet

Tomas Venclova Tomas Venclova (born 11 September 1937) is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer, scholar, philologist and translator of literature. He is one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. In 1977, following his dissident activities, ...

, was a prominent dissident.Дом-музей семьи Венцловы
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References

1906 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian writers 20th-century poets 20th-century translators People from Kalvarija Municipality People from Suwałki Governorate Communist Party of Lithuania politicians First convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Third convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Ministers of Education of Lithuania Vytautas Magnus University alumni Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Socialist realism writers Translators of Alexander Pushkin Lithuanian literary critics Lithuanian male poets Lithuanian translators Soviet male poets Soviet politicians Soviet propagandists Soviet translators Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery {{Lithuania-politician-stub