Jonas Smalakys (1835–1901) was a

Prussian Lithuanian The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai (singular: ''Lietuvininkas'', plural: ''Lietuvininkai''), are Lithuanians, originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuan ...

landowner, soldier, and the first Prussian Lithuanian to be elected to the Reichstag. Smalakys was born into a wealthy landowning family in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

(

Lithuania Minor Lithuania Minor ( lt, Mažoji Lietuva; german: Kleinlitauen; pl, Litwa Mniejsza; russian: Ма́лая Литва́), or Prussian Lithuania ( lt, Prūsų Lietuva; german: Preußisch-Litauen, pl, Litwa Pruska), is a historical ethnographic re ...

), and in the 1850s used his inheritance to fund his travels across Europe, through the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, and into

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. In 1859, he fought in the Second Italian War of Independence under

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

. In 1862, he returned to Prussia and owned a manor in Gross Aglawischken. He sold the manor in 1894 and moved to

Tilsit Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. Geography Sov ...

where he worked in trade. Before selling his manor, Smalakys organized a gathering of Lithuanian and Prussian Lithuanian activists during the Saint Jonas' Festival in 1894. It included

Vincas Kudirka Vincas Kudirka (; – ) was a Lithuanian poet and physician, and the author of both the music and lyrics of the Lithuanian national anthem, "". He is regarded in Lithuania as a national hero. Kudirka used the pen names V. Kapsas, Paežeri ...

and book smugglers. In 1895, he joined the board of the cultural

Birutė Society The Birutė Society was the first cultural non-religious society of Prussian Lithuanians. Established in 1885 in Tilsit, East Prussia (present-day Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Sovetsk), the society was intermittently active until the outbreak of Wo ...

and was its librarian. In 1898, he was one of the founders and board members of the Writing and Reading Society. In 1890, together with

Martynas Jankus Martynas Jankus or Martin Jankus (7 August 1858 in Bittehnen (Lit.: Bitėnai), near Ragnit – 23 May 1946 in Flensburg, Germany, reburied in Bitėnai cemetery on 30 May 1993) was a Prussian-Lithuanian printer, social activist and publisher in ...

and

Dovas Zaunius Dovas Zaunius (19 June 1892 – 22 February 1940) was a Lithuanian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as Ambassador to Switzerland from 1925 until 1927 and Lithuanian Foreign Minister from 1929 to 1934. Biography Zaunius was born in Ea ...

, Smalakys established the

Lithuanian Conservative Election Society The Lithuanian Conservative Election Societies ( lt, Lietuviškos konservatyvų skyrimo draugystės) were several loosely connected political societies of Prussian Lithuanians active from 1890 to the German Revolution of 1918–19. They sought to el ...

( lt, Lietuviška konservatyvų skyrimo draugystė), which was the first of several such societies. Sometimes described as the first Lithuanian political party, its goal was to elect Prussian Lithuanians to the Reichstag and the

Landtag of Prussia The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representat ...

and to defend the use of the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 millio ...

, particularly when it came to the religious education in schools. Smalakys was a candidate to the Landtag in 1893 and 1898, but was not elected. In the Reichstag election of June 1898, Smalakys was elected in the Memel–Heydekrug ( Klaipėda–

Šilutė Šilutė (, previously ''Šilokarčiama'', german: link=no, Heydekrug), is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County, Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of Š ...

) district. In the first round, he received only 23% of the vote, but an alliance with the liberals allowed him to gather 55% in the run-off and defeat his conservative opponent Generaloberst Graf Alfred von Waldersee. Two other Prussian Lithuanians,

and Mikelis Juška, as well as pro-Lithuanian linguist

Georg Sauerwein Georg Julius Justus Sauerwein (15 January 1831 in Hanover – 16 December 1904 in Kristiania) was a German publisher, polyglot, poet, and linguist. He is buried at Gronau. Sauerwein was the greatest linguistic prodigy of his time and mastered ab ...

unsuccessfully ran in the election.

Jonas Basanavičius Jonas Basanavičius (, pl, Jan Basanowicz; 23 November 1851 – 16 February 1927) was an activist and proponent of the Lithuanian National Revival. He participated in every major event leading to the independent Lithuanian state and is often give ...

visited them from the

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria ( bg, Княжество България, Knyazhestvo Balgariya) was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War ende ...

and helped them with the campaign. In the Reichstag, Smalakys listed himself as a Lithuanian and defended the rights of Prussian Lithuanians. However, politically, he was conservative and supported the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. In a March 1899 speech to the Reichstag, he offered "every coin and the last drop of blood" for the benefit of the

German Imperial Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

. After his death in May 1901, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held in July and another Prussian Lithuanian , a member of the

German Conservative Party The German Conservative Party (german: Deutschkonservative Partei, DkP) was a right-wing political party of the German Empire founded in 1876. It largely represented the wealthy landowning elite Prussian Junkers. The party was a response to Ge ...

, was elected in his place.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smalakys, Jonas 1835 births 1901 deaths People from Slavsky District People from the Province of Prussia German Protestants Members of the 10th Reichstag of the German Empire Lithuania Minor