Eliziejus Draugelis (11 April 1888 – 8 October 1981) was a Lithuanian physician and politician.

Early life and education

After finishing elementary school in his hometown, he attended the

Marijampolė Gymnasium Marijampolė Rygiškių Jonas Gymnasium ( lt, Marijampolės Rygiškių Jono gimnazija) is a secondary school in Marijampolė, Lithuania. It is named after Rygiškių Jonas, one of the pen names of linguist Jonas Jablonskis who was one of the gymn ...

. In 1914, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. During his studies, he founded Rūta, a society of Lithuanian Catholic students, and was its first chairman. After the outbreak of World War I, he was mobilized and worked as a doctor in the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. In 1917, he became a member of the Supreme Council of Lithuanians in Russia, based in

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

, but in the same year he was arrested and imprisoned by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

for a month.

Political career

In 1918, he returned to Lithuania and became the first mayor of

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by several other names) is a cultural and industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Mari ...

(up to 1919). On 23 July 1918, he was co-opted to the

Council of Lithuania The Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Taryba, german: Litauischer Staatsrat, pl, Rada Litewska), after July 11, 1918 the State Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Valstybės Taryba) was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place betwe ...

. In the government of

Ernestas Galvanauskas Ernestas Galvanauskas (20 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Lithuanian engineer, politician and one of the founders of the Peasant Union (which later merged with the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union). He also served twice as Prime Minis ...

he took over the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(1919–1920).Eliziejus Draugelis. Seimo nariai (1920–1922)
/ref> In 1919, he was among the founders of the

Farmers' Association The Farmers' Association ( lt, Ūkininkų Sąjunga, ŪS) was a political party in inter-war Lithuania. Its leaders included Aleksandras Stulginskis, Vytautas Petrulis and Kazys Jokantas. A political party, established in 1989 under the same name ...

(Lietuvos ūkininkų sąjunga) and was its long-term chairman. In 1920, he was elected to the

Constituent Assembly of Lithuania The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania ( lt, Steigiamasis Seimas) was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and w ...

, and later was re-elected in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

and 1923 (in all cases, he was a member of

Christian Democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

bloc). From 1923 until 1926, he served as Secretary of the

Third Seimas The Third Seimas of Lithuania was the third parliament (Seimas) democratically elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on February 16, 1918. The elections took place on May 8–10, 1926. For the first time the Lithuanian Christian ...

Medical career

After the coup of December 1926, he left politics and worked as a doctor. In 1926–1927, he headed the Department of Health and was the chief of the main hospital in

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 1929, he was tried for corruption and served a prison sentence between October 1929 and March 1930. He was director of the psychiatric hospital in Kalvarija (1932–1940). During the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, he headed clinics in Gižai and Keturvalakiai. Shortly before the return of the Red Army to Lithuania, Draugelis retreated to Germany, where he served as chief physician at various Lithuanian refugee camps. In 1947, he immigrated to Brazil, where he obtained employment at the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...

and in private hospitals and laboratories.

Literature

* Dr. Draugelis Eliziejus, Trumpos Steigiamojo Seimo narių biografijos su atvaizdais, Klaipėda, 1924, p. 18. * Draugelis Eliziejus, Lietuvių enciklopedija, Boston, 1955, t. 5, p. 172–173. * Abromaitis A., Draugelis Eliziejus, Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, Vilnius, 2004, p. 129. * Veilentienė A., Draugelis Eliziejus, Lietuvos Steigiamojo Seimo (1920–1922 metų) narių biografinis žodynas, sud. A. Ragauskas, M. Tamošaitis, Vilnius, 2006, p. 137–139. * Veilentienė A., Draugelis Eliziejus, Lietuvos Lietuvos Respublikos Seimų I (1922–1923), II (1923–1926), III (1926–1927), IV (1936–1940) narių biografinis žodynas, sud. Aivas Ragauskas, Mindaugas Tamošaitis. – Vilnius, 2007. – p. 242–245.

References

*''This article is based in part on material from the

Lithuanian Wikipedia The Lithuanian Wikipedia ( lt, Lietuviškoji Vikipedija) is the Lithuanian version of Wikipedia. It is the largest free Lithuanian internet encyclopedia. The Wikipedia started in 2003, however gained a significant number of articles only in 2004 ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Draugelis, Eliziejus 1888 births 1961 deaths Military doctors of the Russian Empire Members of the Seimas Ministers of Internal Affairs of Lithuania Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party politicians Lithuanian physicians Politicians convicted of corruption Lithuanian emigrants to Brazil University of São Paulo faculty Moscow State University alumni 20th-century physicians