Jurgis Šaulys (; 5 May 1879–18 October 1948) was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, diplomat, and politician, and one of the twenty signatories to the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania. Šaulys attended Palanga Progymnasium and Vilnius St. Joseph Seminary. He was dismissed from the seminary for participating in the Knygnešiai movement, which disseminated materials published in the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

, a practice outlawed at the time. After moving to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in 1900, he continued his political activities; he became one of the '' Twelve Apostles of Vilnius'' of the independence movement, and was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Democratic Party. He left for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

to study economics at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1912, but still contributed to these activities while abroad. Returning to Vilnius in 1912, he edited the '' Lietuvos žinios'' (Lithuanian News). After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out he served various charitable organizations. He was a member of the Vilnius Conference and was elected Secretary-General of the ensuing

Council of Lithuania In the history of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania (; ; ), after July 11, 1918, the State Council of Lithuania () was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place between 18 and 23 September 1917. The twenty men who composed the c ...

and later the Vice Chairman. Šaulys signed the Act of Independence on February 16, 1918. Šaulys went into the diplomatic service immediately afterwards, serving as an envoy to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

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, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In the wake of the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he moved to

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

in Switzerland with his wife, the Italian opera singer Mafalda Salvatini, acting as the Lithuanian ambassador in Berne until the legation was closed in 1946. He died in Lugano two years later. A dedicated

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

, he donated much of his collection to 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 ...

; the remainder of his collection is held at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

References

*"Šaulys, Jurgis". Encyclopedia Lituanica V: 78-79. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCCN 74-114275. 1879 births 1948 deaths Lithuanian diplomats Baltic diplomatic missions Lithuanian book smugglers Lithuanian book and manuscript collectors Members of the Council of Lithuania University of Bern alumni Lithuanian independence activists People from Lugano Lithuanian expatriates in Switzerland Politicians from Palanga {{Lithuania-politician-stub