Tadas Blinda
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Tadas Blinda (1846–1877) was a Lithuanian outlaw and folk hero.


Biography

He was born in the village of Kinčiuliai,
Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was forme ...
, in the region of
Samogitia Samogitia or Žemaitija ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
, and inherited his father's 40 hectares at the age of 20. He then married, had three daughters, and became the village elder. There are several versions of the turning point in his life that led to his later career. One story has it that he participated in the
1863 uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...
, and was sentenced to exile in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
. Another has it that his landlord, Duke Ogiński, ordered him to flog some serfs, became angry when Blinda refused, and then struck him with a whip. Blinda responded with a counterattack. After Blinda had chosen to live outside the law, he gathered a band of followers in the dense forests near Byvainė. According to his admirers, he was a latter-day
Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...
– he stole from the rich and gave to the poor. His detractors argued that he stole from the poor as well. Other stories have him disguising himself as a priest and collecting alms that he then gave away. Many of the tales claim that he buried a treasure in the forest, which remains undiscovered to this day. The circumstances surrounding his death have also been an object of contention. The popularly held version was that Duke Oginskis was finally able to gain revenge by organizing the local authorities and murdering him. In 1993 an archivist uncovered police records indicating that he was
lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
as a horse thief on April 22, 1877, and buried in an unconsecrated corner of a cemetery in
Luokė Luokė ( Samogitian: ''Loukė'', pl, Łukniki) is a town in Telšiai County, Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It ...
. No traces of this burial have been found.


Dramatizations

His life was first formally dramatized in 1907 by the Lithuanian writers Lazdynų Pelėda and Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis. The play, ''Blinda, the Leveller of the World'' ( lt, Blinda, svieto lygintojas), presented him as a champion of the common people, battling the
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 ...
landlords and the
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. ...
that governed Lithuania, and was enthusiastically received. The legend lived on and was made into a popular film in 1973. It featured the actor Vytautas Tomkus, dramatic hand-to-hand combat and horsemanship, and the scenery of
Aukštaitija National Park __NOTOC__ Aukštaitija National Park is a national park in north-eastern Lithuania, about 100 km north of Vilnius. Established in 1974, it is the oldest of the five national parks in Lithuania. At first it was named Lithuanian SSR National ...
— it was an immediate success. Although the film was released with the approval of the
Soviet government The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...
, many viewers interpreted it as a veiled reference to the
Lithuanian partisans The Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule ...
who, living in the forests, continued to resist the Soviet occupation during the 1940s and 1950s. Blinda's life was dramatized in a 2004 eponymous rock musical by Andrius Mamontovas that debuted 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 ...
. A local railway tour re-enacts a train robbery by Blinda, and Blindos beer by
Švyturys-Utenos alus Švyturys-Utenos Alus UAB is a Lithuanian beverage company. It comprises the two largest breweries in Lithuania – Švyturys in Klaipėda and Utenos Alus in Utena – and specialised establishments nationwide. In 1999, most of the shares in L ...
appeared in the 2000s. Another movie, '' Tadas Blinda Pradžia'', was produced by Taurus Films/Acme Film in 2011.


References


External links


The legend of Tadas Blinda

''Tadas Blinda'', 1972 film

Sociological analysis of Tadas Blinda's role in national identity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blinda, Tadas 1846 births 1877 deaths People from Telšiai District Municipality People from Telshevsky Uyezd Samogitian Roman Catholics