Eduardas Mieželaitis (3 October 1919 – 6 June 1997) was a Lithuanian Soviet poet, translator, essayist and public figure.

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1974).

Biography

He was born to the family of a village teacher. In 1923, he moved with his family to Kaunas and studied at the Faculty of Law of the

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, 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 as the University of Lithuania, but ...

from 1939. Mieželaitis was a member of the underground

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

of the

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

from 1935 and published his first poems in the same year. In 1940, Mieželaitis enthusiastically supported the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. He was appointed chief editor of the ''Komjaunimo tiesa'' (the Lithuanian language edition of ''

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (; ) is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925. Its name is in reference to the official Soviet newspaper '' Pravda'' (English: 'Truth'). History and profile During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya ...

''). After the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

, he was evacuated to Nikolsk in the

Penza Oblast Penza Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Penza. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was ...

where he worked at the Krasnyj Gigant factory. In 1942, he was mobilized to the Red Army, and in 1943, he was sent to the front as a war correspondent for the division newspaper of the 16th Rifle Division on the Bryansk, Central and 1st Baltic Front. In 1944 he was dismissed from the army and sent to work in the

organs. From 1944 to 1946, he was the secretary of the Lithuanian Komsomol Central Committee, and he wrote poetry simultaneously with his work in the Komsomol. Later, he became the editor of the communist periodical ''Jaunimo gretos'', then of the ''Žvaigždutė'' (until 1951). From 1951 he was engaged in literary activity. From 1954, he was secretary and from 1959 to 1970, Mieželaitis was president of the Writers' Union of the Lithuanian SSR. In the 1960s, he published many volumes of poetry. From 1960 to 1989, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, from 1962 to 1970 deputy to the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...

, and 1975 from 1989, deputy chairman of the Presidium of the

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR (; , ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics constituting the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was established ...

. Unlike most Lithuanian artists, Mieželaitis did not abandon his communist beliefs and distanced himself from the Lithuanian nationalist movement which led to Lithuania's independence.

Works

* Dainų išausiu margą raštą. 1952. * Mano lakstingala. 1956. * Žvaigždžių papėdė. 1959. * Broliska poema. Wilnius, 1960 * Lineliai. Wilnius, 1960 * Saulė gintare: eilėraščiai, apmąstymai. Wilnius, 1961 * Zmogus. Wilnius, 1962. * auto portraits. Aviaeskizai, 1962. * Atogrąžos panorama. 1963. * Lyriniai etiudai. 1964. * Naktiniai drugiai: monologas. Vilnius, 1966. * Antakalnio barokas. 1971. * Žibuoklių žvaigždynai. 1977. * Kardiograma. 1978. * Postskriptumai. 1986. * Gnomos. 1987. * Laida. 1992. * Saulės vėjas. 1995. * Mitai. 1996. * Mažoji lyra. 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mieželaitis, Eduardas 1919 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian poets People from Pakruojis District Municipality Vytautas Magnus University alumni Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Socialist realism writers Translators of Adam Mickiewicz Translators of Alexander Pushkin Lithuanian essayists Lithuanian male poets Polish–Lithuanian translators Soviet essayists Soviet male poets Soviet translators