Teodoras Daukantas (September 20, 1884 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– March 10, 1960 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

) was a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n military officer who served as Lithuanian Minister of Defense. In 1903–1918, Daukantas served in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

. He attended Naval Training School at St. Petersburg (1903–1906). In 1911–1914, Daukantas attended High Naval Training School at St. Petersburg from which he graduated with a Silver Star in Naval Tactics Training. In 1913, he published ''The Defense of Abu-Alaud'' and in 1916, ''Essays on Naval Tactics''. Later he published the articles "The Defense of Coasts", "The War on Rivers". He published the books ''The South of Brazil'' and ''Our Way to Vilnius''. After World War I, Daukantas returned to Lithuania in 1922. He was head of education section of the Senior Officers Academy 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 ...

until 1924. Twice, in 1924–1925 and 1927–1928, he served as the Lithuanian Minister of Defense. In between serving as the Lithuanian Minister of Defense, he was the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afg ...

of the

Lithuanian Army The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (wh ...

. In his diary for 1927, American diplomat Robert Heingartner who served in Lithuania recorded that "Colonel Daukantas is said to be so powerful in the army that no government could last a day without his support." In 1928, he was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

(in 1936, he was changed to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

). He was Lithuanian Consul General in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

(1932–1935) and Minister Plenipotentiary of South America (1936–1939). On October 20, 1932, Daukantas co-signed a Treaty # 3542 with

Carlos Saavedra Lamas Carlos Saavedra Lamas (November 1, 1878–May 5, 1959) was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Saavedra Lamas was a descendant of an early Arge ...

under the League of European Nations which insured a convention or treaty between the Argentine Republic and the Independent Republic of Lithuania concerning reciprocity with respect to the payment of compensation for industrial accidents signed at Buenos Aires on October 20, 1932. Daukantas was a Member of the States Council, Chargé d'Affaires for Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, (1930 -1935). In 1941 Daukantas was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured during the Soviet rule of Lithuania, and persecuted by the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in 1942-1944 during their occupation. He was liberated at the beginning of the

German–Soviet War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

, moved to Germany until 1949, and then to Argentina. He remained in Buenos Aires, Argentina until his death in 1960. His remains were reburied in

Karmėlava Karmėlava is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. In 2011 it had a population of 1,395. The town of Karmėlava is located north east of Kaunas and near the second-busiest civil airport in Lithuania, Kaunas International Airpor ...

, Lithuania in 1997.

Academic experience

* (1925–1930 and 1935–1940) Associate Professor of Geography,

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 * (1935–1937) Lecturer of Spanish Languages, Vytautas Magnus University * (1941–1944) Associate Professor of Geography,

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

, special courses on South America, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and the importance of maritime for the State of Lithuania * Lecturer on Topography and Surveying at the High Military Officers Courses, Kaunas

Geographical voyages and travels

* (1906–1911) with Russian battleship ''Slava'' in North Atlantic, Arctic Sea and Mediterranean * (1919–1922) Captain in the English and Dutch Merchant Marine * (1924–1926) voyage to North Africa * (1929–1930) voyage to South America (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay)

References

*Baltisches biographisches Archiv icroform BaBA/ dvising editor, Paul Kaegbein;editor, Axel Freyl Published: Munchen:K.G.Saur Verlag,[1995-1998 *Eidintas, Alfonsas (2003). Lithuanian emigration to the United States: 1868-1950. Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. Retrieved 15 September 2014. Current History and Forum .... C-H Publishing Corporation. 1928 *Encyclopedia Lituanica 6 Vol. Boston, (1970-1978) [112] *Gilbert, Martin; Porat, Dina; Michalowicz, Jerzy (1990). Surviving the Holocaust: The Kovno Ghetto Diary. Harvard University Press. pp. 365–. . Retrieved 15 September 2014. *Heingartner, Robert Wayne (2009). Lithuania in the 1920s: A Diplomat's Diary. Rodopi. pp. 116–. . Retrieved 15 September 2014 *Lithuanian National Guard in Exile, Naval Division, Klaipėda Co. Retrieved 15 September 2014 *Poland. Poland America Company. 1929 *Prunskis, Juozas (1982). Lithuania under Soviet occupation: eyewitness accounts of atrocities. Lithuanian National Guard in Exile, Naval Division, Klaipėda Co. Retrieved 15 September 2014. *Vilnius: Lithuanian Literature, Culture, History. Vilnius. 1995 *Who is Who at the Baltic University. (Pinneberg, 1949) 4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Daukantas, Teodoras 1884 births 1960 deaths Lithuanian generals Imperial Russian Navy personnel Ministers of Defence of Lithuania Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University Academic staff of Vilnius University Lithuanian emigrants to Argentina