Stasys Antanas Bačkis (10 February 1906 – 10 November 1999) 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 ...

n diplomat and civil servant who served as an assistant in the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1930 until 1938, Head of the Lithuanian Embassy in Paris and later Head of the

Lithuanian Diplomatic Service The Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Lithuania () is the part of the governmental service tasked with enforcing the foreign policy set by the President of Lithuania, President, the Seimas, Parliament, and the Government of Lithuania, Governmen ...

Washington D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. from 1983 until 1987. A graduate of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, Bačkis became an employee of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1930. In 1938, he was stationed at the Lithuanian embassy in Paris. After the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in June 1940, Lithuanian diplomats did not recognize the new Soviet government and established the

that functioned in conditions of

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

, continued to represent independent Lithuania, and preserved the legal continuity of the state. After the arrest of ambassador

Petras Klimas Petras Klimas (, 23 February 1891 - 16 January 1969) was a Lithuanian diplomat, author, historian, and one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Klimas attended law school at the University of Moscow. After graduatin ...

, Bačkis actively headed the unofficial Lithuanian embassy in Paris until 1960 when he relocated to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

After the death of

Stasys Lozoraitis :''See Stasys Lozoraitis Jr. for an article about a son of Stasys Lozoraitis.'' Stasys Lozoraitis ( – 24 December 1983) was a prominent Lithuanian diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Lithuania from 1934 until 1938. Af ...

, Bačkis was the chief of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service from 1983 until his return to Paris in 1988. Bačkis was the father of Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis.

Biography

Early life and career

Bačkis was in born in Pantakoniai,

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kovno (Kaunas). It was formed on 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas I from the western part of Vilna Govern ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. After graduation from the

Panevėžys Gymnasium Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

, he received a stipend form the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended the

where he studied law and political science. After graduation in 1930, he joined the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service where he worked as a secretary. He mainly translated and edited various diplomatic documents to French. He also published various articles in the Lithuanian press. From 1934 to 1938, he was a personal secretary of

, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, Bačkis participated in the assemblies of the

Baltic Entente The Baltic Entente was based on Treaty of Good-Understanding and Co-operation signed between Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on 12 September 1934 in Geneva. The main objective of the agreement was joint action in foreign policy. It also included co ...

and

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

as well as the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth, as King of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realm, ...

. He received the Swedish

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

in 1935 and Italian

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate Italian unification, the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for ...

in 1937. He was also rector of Valančius People's University (a

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

) established by

Pavasarininkai Pavasarininkai was the informal name for members of Lithuanian Catholic Youth Federation "Spring" (), a Lithuanian Catholic youth organization. It was active from 1912 until the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940), Soviet occupation of Lithuania ...

Diplomat in Paris

In August 1938, he joined the Lithuanian embassy in Paris as first secretary. On 14 June 1940, German forces entered undefended Paris. A day later, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. That left Lithuanian diplomats in Paris in a precarious situation. Ambassador

retreated south with

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

officials leaving Bačkis as the senior diplomat in Paris. Lithuania was converted to the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

and incorporated into the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Klimas and other Lithuanian diplomats protested these developments and refused to transfer their posts to Soviet officials creating the

. Acting in conditions of

, the service continued to represent independent Republic of Lithuania. Pressured by French and Soviet officials, Bačkis surrendered the embassy building to the Soviets on 23 August 1940. However, diplomatic privileges for existing ''à titre personnel'' diplomats were not revoked. That mean that Bačkis' diplomat identification would be annually renewed and that he could continue his diplomatic work and

consular assistance Consular assistance is help and advice provided by the diplomatic agents of a country to citizens of that country who are living or traveling overseas. The diplomats may be honorary consuls, or members of the country's diplomatic service. Such ...

. He did so from his private apartment until his departure to the United States in 1960. Bačkis' family in Lithuania was persecuted by the Soviets; his brother Juozas was

deported to Siberia From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly Population transfer, transferred populations of various groups. These act ...

in June 1941 where he died a year later. Klimas was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in September 1943 which left Bačkis as the senior diplomat in France. The same year, Bačkis defended his PhD thesis on the Lithuanian Concordat (published in Lithuanian in 2007; ). After the war, France did not officially recognize Lithuanian, Latvian, or

Estonian Diplomatic Service Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

s, but allowed them to function unofficially. Bačkis continued to educate various officials about Lithuania's occupation and lobby for non-recognition of the Lithuanian SSR to ensure state continuity. He also published informational bulletins on Lithuanian affairs (including 33 issues of ''Questions Lithuaniennes'', 8 issues of ''Bulletin Lithuanien'', and book ''Peuples opprimés. La tragédie des Etats Baltes''), helped Lithuanian refugees, etc. In 1948, Bačkis made contacts with

Juozas Lukša Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other pseudonyms as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisan armed resistance movement. Life Lukša was born on 10 August 1921 to a fa ...

, an anti-Soviet partisan who managed to escape the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

, and helped him spread information about the armed struggle. In 1949, Committee on Central and Eastern European Countries, chaired by British MP

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

and representing various

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

nations, was established by the

European Movement The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History Initially the Euro ...

. Bačkis became vice-chairman of the Committee in 1951. He was also a Lithuanian representative to the

Union of European Federalists The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is an international non-profit association originally founded in 1946 and refounded in 1973, promoting the advent of a European federal State based on the idea of unity in diversity. In 1946, it brought ...

, joined the Nouvelles équipes internationales (New International Teams), and

Assembly of Captive European Nations Assembly of Captive European Nations or ACEN was an organization founded on September 20, 1954, as a coalition of representatives from nine nations in Central and Eastern Europe under Soviet domination after World War II. Former political and c ...

. Bačkis also urged reestablishment of the

Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science ( or LKMA) is an academic organization ( academy of sciences) established in 1922 in Kaunas, Lithuania. It unites Catholic scientists from various fields, from humanities to astrophysics, and promotes academic ...

and actively presented research papers in its sessions. In 1950, he was awarded the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...

by the Vatican. Bačkis was financially supported by the

Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania or VLIK () was an organization seeking independence of Lithuania. It was established on November 25, 1943, during the Nazi occupation. After World War II it moved abroad and continued its operat ...

and by the Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, D.C. which had access to pre-war Lithuanian

gold reserves A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of v ...

kept by the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

. After the death of

Povilas Žadeikis Povilas Žadeikis (March 14, 1887 in Parešketis, Kovno Governorate – May 11, 1957 in the United States) was a representative of Lithuania in the United States from 1934 until his death in 1957. He was replaced by Juozas Kajeckas, who in turn w ...

, Lithuanian ambassador in Washington, D.C., in 1957, there was a need to strengthen the American mission. Bačkis agreed to relocate to the United States. In Paris, he was replaced by part-time

, who was based in Rome, and his deputy

Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jurgis Baltrušaitis (2 May 1873 – 3 January 1944) was a Lithuanian Symbolist poet and translator who wrote in Lithuanian and Russian, and was an exponent of iconology. He was the father of art historian and critic Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. ...

Diplomat in Washington, D.C.

Bačkis departed France on 15 June 1960. The Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, D.C. was headed by Juozas Kajeckas who maintained contacts with the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

that controlled the pre-war gold reserves and funded the entire

. Therefore, he thought the embassy was particularly important. Other diplomats did not approve his attitude and criticized his attempts to control the diplomatic service through finances. Kajackas' health deteriorated in 1975 and he reluctantly agreed to resign in June 1976. Bačkis was promoted to ''

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

''. In August 1978,

appointed Bačkis his deputy and successor. By 1980, the gold reserve was exhausted and the Lithuanian diplomatic service faced the possibility that it would have to close due to lack of funds. Bačkis actively sought out solutions. In January 1980, the Department of State organized a meeting between Bačkis and Anatols Dinbergs, head of the

Latvian Diplomatic Service The Latvian diplomatic service in exile () was the only governmental body of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia which continued its activities during the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Soviet occupation of Latvia during 1940–1991. L ...

. In the meeting, Dinbergs agreed to loan $120,000 () annually to the Lithuanians from the Latvian gold reserves. While the budget was minimal, it guaranteed survival of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service. Another critical issues was finding replacements for naturally ageing diplomats. The Department of State long held that only diplomats who were in service prior to June 1940 would be accepted. Without the ability to accept new blood, the diplomatic service would naturally die out. A group of

Lithuanian Americans Lithuanian Americans refer to American citizens and residents of Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population in the United States. ...

petitioned Stephen Aiello, Special Assistant to President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

for Ethnic Affairs, and the position was reversed in fall 1980. Bačkis had difficulty finding a future replacement for himself as he could offer a salary of only $10,000 (). In 1983,

Stasys Lozoraitis Jr. Stasys Lozoraitis Jr. (August 2, 1924 – June 13, 1994) was a Lithuanian diplomat and politician who served as the Head of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service from 1987 to 1991, Chief Diplomat to the United States 1991 to 1993 and Ambassador to Ita ...

agreed to become advisor to and eventual successor of Bačkis. Another challenge facing Bačkis was repairs of the embassy building. Built in 1909, the building sorely needed major repairs, particularly after the May 1979 bombing at the next-door

Cuban Interests Section Cuban or Cubans may refer to: Related to Cuba * of or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban Ameri ...

. Bačkis managed to raise about $130,000 () from

and repaired the building in 1981–1983. Stasys Lozoraitis, head of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, died on 24 December 1983. Bačkis, pursuant to a previous decree by Lozoraitis, assumed the position. However, in March 1986, while crossing a street Bačkis was hit by a car and severely injured. After a few months in a hospital, he returned to work but poor health forced him to resign in favor of Stasys Lozoraitis Jr. in November 1987. Bačkis remained the head of the diplomatic service. After the death of

in 1988, Bačkis decided to return to Paris and, health permitting, resume his unofficial position there. That left Lozoraitis a '' de facto'' leader of the diplomatic service.

Post-independence

Lithuania declared independence on 11 March 1990. The diplomats rejoiced the news, but were very careful not to surrender their positions to the new fragile Lithuanian government. After the August 1991 Putsch, western countries officially recognized independent Lithuania. On 6 September 1991, Bačkis sent a resignation letter to

Algirdas Saudargas Algirdas Saudargas (born April 17, 1948) is a Lithuanian politician and the signatory of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. He was the first foreign minister of Lithuania after it regained independence. Biography In 196 ...

, Minister of Foreign Affairs. That officially ended the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service in exile. In May 1992, Bačkis accompanied French president

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

on his official visit to Lithuania. In April 1993, Bačkis returned to Lithuania permanently. In 1996, he was awarded the Grand Gross of the

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

and the Officer rank of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. He died in 1999 in

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 ...

and was buried in

Antakalnis Cemetery Antakalnis Cemetery (, , ), sometimes referred as Antakalnis Military Cemetery, is an active cemetery in the Antakalnis district of Vilnius, Lithuania. It was established in 1809. Soldier burials 12 of the 14 victims of the Soviet attacks duri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Backis, Stasys Antanas 1906 births 1999 deaths Baltic diplomatic missions Grand Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Knights First Class of the Order of the Polar Star Knights of St. Gregory the Great Lithuanian diplomats Lithuanian Roman Catholics Officers of the Legion of Honour People from Kovno Governorate People from Pasvalys District Municipality University of Paris alumni Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery Lithuanian expatriates in France