Vytautas Petrulis (born February 3, 1890 in Katelišės, near Vabalninkas; executed in 1942, near Uchta, RSFSR) was a Lithuanian politician, one of the main figures in 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 ...

, and an accountant. He is often nicknamed "the father of the Litas" as it was during his term as Minister of Finance that 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 ...

was introduced. In summer 1918, Petrulis became a member of the Council of Lithuania. Later he was acting

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in the 3rd Cabinet of Lithuania. He was Minister of Finance, Trade and Industry in the 7th, 8th, and 9th cabinets. In the 10th cabinet he was appointed as Minister of Finance. He was

Prime Minister of Lithuania The prime minister of Lithuania ( lt, Ministras Pirmininkas; "Minister-Chairman") is the head of the government of Lithuania. The prime minister is Lithuania's head of government and is appointed by the president with the assent of the Lithuani ...

in the 11th Cabinet, also acting as Minister of Finance. He was the speaker of Seimas from 1925 to 1926. On July 11, 1940 he was arrested by the Soviets and sent to the Kaunas Prison. In 1942, he was

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

because of anti-Soviet activities near Uchta.

References

External links

Bio at Lithuanian Seimas website
1890 births 1942 deaths People from Biržai District Municipality People from Ponevezhsky Uyezd Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party politicians Prime Ministers of Lithuania Ministers of Finance of Lithuania Speakers of the Seimas Lithuanian accountants Executed Lithuanian people Lithuanian people executed by the Soviet Union Executed prime ministers {{Lithuania-politician-stub