Wiktor Budzyński ( lt, Viktoras Budzinskis; born 7 March 1888, village of Eustachow, near

Vilkaviškis Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkau ...

– 1976,

Puszczykowo Puszczykowo (german: Puszczykowo; Unterberg) is a town in Poznań County, Poland, with 9,331 inhabitants (as of 2015). It is located about south of Poznań, the area is surrounded by the Wielkopolski National Park (located within the park buff ...

, near

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

) was an ethnic

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

politician, active in the interbellum period in the

Republic of Lithuania A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

. He was the leader of Polish minority in Lithuania, also between 1924 and 1927 a deputy to the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

, elected from the district of

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 ...

. Budzynski attended schools in

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 ...

and

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, where he graduated in 1907. Between 1907 and 1911, he studied at Kraków's

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

, then returned to his native village and managed a farm. 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 ...

, he was evacuated to Mohylew, where took care of Polish refugees. After the war Budzynski returned to Lithuania and was elected to the Parliament. Also, from 1924 to 1935 he was the director of Association of Poles in Lithuania ''

Pochodnia Pochodnia ( Polish: Torch, full name: the Association for the Promotion of Culture and Education "Torch", pl, Towarzystwo Popierania Kultury i Oświaty "Pochodnia") was a cultural association of Poles in Lithuania. The first chairman was Wiktor Bu ...

''. After 1935 he withdrew from social activities. During

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 lived 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 ...

, and in 1945 moved to

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...

, settling in Puszczykowo, where he died.

Sources

* Jackiewicz Mieczysław, "Polacy na Litwie 1918-2000", Warszawa 2003 * Buchowski Krzysztof, "Polacy w niepodleglym panstwie litewskim 1918-1940", Białystok 1999 1888 births 1976 deaths People from Vilkaviškis District Municipality People from Suwałki Governorate Lithuanian people of Polish descent Polish politicians Members of the Seimas Jagiellonian University alumni {{Poland-politician-stub