Vladas Jurgutis (17 November 1885 in Joskaudai near

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

– 9 January 1966 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 ...

) was a Lithuanian priest, economist, and professor. As the first chairman of the Bank of Lithuania he is unofficially considered to be the "father of the

Lithuanian litas The Lithuanian litas ( ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural ''litai'' (nominative) or ''litų'' (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 centų (genit ...

Biography

In 1902 Jurgutis graduated from a high school in Palanga and enrolled in the

Kaunas Priest Seminary Kaunas Priest Seminary ( lt, Kauno kunigų seminarija) is the largest seminary in Lithuania serving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. It is part of the Faculty of Theology of Vytautas Magnus University. Its current rector is Aurelijus Žuk ...

. After graduation in 1906 he continued his studies at the

Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy The Imperial Roman Catholic Theological Academy (russian: Императорская Римско-Католическая Духовная Академия) was an institution of higher education preparing Roman Catholic theologians in the Russia ...

and received a Master's Degree in 1910. From 1910 to 1913 he studied economics at

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. In 1913 he served as a priest in

Švėkšna Švėkšna is a town in the Šilutė District municipality, 21 km northeast of Šilutė, Lithuania. It is the administrative center of Švėkšna elderate. There are 29 streets in the town. In the western part of the town flows the river Šv ...

and later in

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Jurgutis retreated to Russia, where he worked as a pastor in Saratov and

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

. Upon his return to Lithuania, he worked at the Kaunas Priest Seminary until 1922. Jurgutis became active in Lithuanian politics, but never officially quit the priesthood.Vladas Jurgutis (1885 – 1966)
Retrieved 2009-01-27 Jurgutis was one of the initiators of the revival of the

Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party ( lt, Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija, LKDP) was a Christian-democratic political party in Lithuania. History Russian Empire and Republic of Lithuania A Christian Democratic movement was e ...

. 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 ...

(1920–1922) and headed a Finance and Budget Committee. From 1 January 1922 to 28 September 1922 Jurgutis served as the

Foreign Minister of Lithuania The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos užsienio reikalų ministerija) is a governmental body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania that shapes the national policy, and organises, coordinates, and ...

in the Cabinet 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 resigned to become the first chairman of the Bank of Lithuania. He served in this position until 1929. From 1925 he taught at the

University of Lithuania 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 k ...

, from 1940 at the

University of Vilnius 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 ...

. Jurgutis was the President of the

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LMA ( lt, Lietuvos mokslų akademija) is a state-funded independent organization in Lithuania dedicated for science and research. Its mission is to mobilize prominent scientists and initiate activities that ...

from 1941 to 1943, when he, along with other prominent public figures, was arrested and transported to the

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...

by the Nazi authorities. He returned to Lithuania in 1945 and retired from public life. In 1997 the Bank of Lithuania established Vladas Jurgutis scholarship and

Vladas Jurgutis Award Vladas Jurgutis Award is a prestigious economic award, once a year granted by the Bank of Lithuania and Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The aim of the Award is to encourage scientific activities in the area of research on Lithuania's banking, fin ...

to encourage scientific activities in the area of research on Lithuania‘s banking, finance, money and macroeconomics. Jurgutis was a member of the Catholic youth and student organization

Ateitis The Lithuanian Catholic Federation "Ateitis" (literally: ''future'') is a youth organization in Lithuania uniting Catholic-minded schoolchildren, university students, and alumni. Ateitis is a member of the umbrella of Catholic youth organizatio ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgutis, Vladas 1885 births 1966 deaths Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Lithuanian economists Chairmen of the Bank of Lithuania Academic staff of Vilnius University People from Palanga Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University 20th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests Stutthof concentration camp survivors