Zenonas Ivinskis (25 May 1908 in Kaušėnai village, near
Plungė
Plungė (; Samogitian: ''Plongė'') is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plungė is known for Plungė Manor and its park, Samogitian Art Museum. In the Oginskiai manor park stands the Perkūnas oak a natural monument. The Lourdes o ...
– 24 December 1971 in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
) was a noted
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 historian.
Education
Ivinskis studied at
Telšiai
Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis.
Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...
and
Plungė
Plungė (; Samogitian: ''Plongė'') is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plungė is known for Plungė Manor and its park, Samogitian Art Museum. In the Oginskiai manor park stands the Perkūnas oak a natural monument. The Lourdes o ...
gymnasiums. In 1925 he entered 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 ...
to study philosophy, but later changed the subject to history. In 1929, Ivinskis received a grant to continue his studies in Germany. There, under the direction of prof. Albert Brackmann, he received a Ph.D. for his thesis ''Geschichte des Bauerstandes in Litauen'' ( en, History of the Conditions of Lithuanian Farmers) in 1932. In 1933 in
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
he was
habilitated
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
for his work ''Lietuvių ir prūsų prekybiniai santykiai pirmojoje XVI a. pusėje'' ( en, Lithuanian and Prussian trade in the first half of the 16th century).
After returning to Lithuania he was drafted into the army. During his free time, he gave lectures at the
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 ...
and in 1940 became an extraordinary professor. In that year he was invited to work at the
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 ...
. He served as the dean of Faculty of Theology–Philosophy at the Vytautas Magnus University from 1941 to 1942. For his active public defense of university autonomy, the Nazis listed him among other prominent public figures to be transferred to
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-a ...
. Ivinskis was saved from death because he was ill, and was hospitalized for half a year.
Emigration
In 1944, Ivinskis retreated to the West. Unlike most other Lithuanian refugees, he did not emigrate to the United States and chose to live in Germany. He gave lectures as Gastprofessor at ''Baltisches Forchungsinstitut'' in Bonn, and from 1963 taught the history of Eastern Europe at
Bonn University. The next year he received his second
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
in Lithuanian and
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
history and was appointed as a full-time professor. While living in Germany he often traveled to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and conducted research at the
Vatican archives
, seal = Seal of the Vatican Secret Archives.svg
, seal_width = 200
, seal_caption = Former seal of the Vatican Apostolic Archive
, logo =
, formed =
, jurisdiction =
, headquarters = Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican City
, coordinates ...
. Ivinskis contributed to the
Lithuanian encyclopedias
Lithuanian encyclopedias are encyclopedias published in the Lithuanian language or encyclopedias about Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. The first known attempt to create a Lithuanian encyclopedia was in 1883, when Jonas Jacevičius failed ...
published in Boston.
Important works
*''Geschichte des Bauerstandes in Litauen'', Berlin 1933
*''Lietuvių ir prūsų prekybiniai santykiai pirmojoje XVI a. pusėje'' ( en, Lithuanian and Prussian trade in the first half of 16th century), 1933
*''Šv. Kazimieras'' ( en, Saint Casimir), 1955
*''Vyskupas Merkelis Giedraitis ir jo laikų Lietuva'' ( en, bishop Merkelis Giedraitis and Lithuanian of his time), manuscript based on research in Vatican archive
*''Lietuvos istorija (iki Vytauto Didžiojo mirties)'' ( en, History of Lithuania (until death of Vytautas the Great)), Rome 1978
External links
Short bio
1908 births
1971 deaths
20th-century Lithuanian historians
Historians of Lithuania
Lithuanian encyclopedists
Lithuanian male writers
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
People from Plungė
Academic staff of Vilnius University
Vytautas Magnus University alumni
Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University
{{Lithuania-historian-stub