Stasė Vaineikienė Paulauskaitė (31 March 1884 – 12 January 1946) was a Lithuanian writer and activist. Born to a family of petty

Lithuanian nobles The Lithuanian nobility () or ''szlachta'' of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (, ) was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (including during period of foreign r ...

, Vaineikienė married physician and activist

Liudas Vaineikis Liudas Vaineikis (31 August 1869 – 17 January 1938) was a physician and notable member of the Lithuanian book smuggling movement during the Lithuanian press ban (1864–1904). Already as a student at Mitau Gymnasium, Vaineikis joined the Li ...

. Together, they organized the smuggling of banned Lithuanian publications for which Vaineikis was sentenced to internal exile. During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, she helped smuggle social democratic press. During World War I, she lived in Central Asia. Upon her return to Lithuania, she settled in

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

and become active in city's life. She worked on reestablishing the Palanga Gymnasium and improving the city's sanitation. She was elected to the first city council in 1932. After the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic st ...

in June 1940, she became mayor of Palanga, was elected to the

People's Seimas The People's Seimas () was a puppet legislature organized in order to give legal sanction to the occupation and annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. After the Soviet ultimatum in June 1940, a new pro-Soviet government was formed, known a ...

, and became a member of the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR. She wrote three historical novels. Two novels about serfdom in Lithuania were published in 1937–1938 and republished in 1958–1959. The third novel has been lost. She also wrote three memoirs: about the life of Palanga (published in 1931), struggles in the Russian Empire (three volumes published in 1935–1936), and

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 ...

and

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

in Central Asia (published in 2014; Russian and Uzbek translations in 2022).

Biography

Russian Empire

Vaineikienė was born on 31 March 1884 in in the present-day

Kretinga District Municipality Kretinga District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. Locations in Kretinga District Municipality * Erškėtynas Stream and Chapel * Gargždelė * Kretinga * Salantai Elderships Kretinga District Municipality is divided into ...

in a family of petty

. Her mother owned about of land. The family spoke Polish, but she learned the

Samogitian dialect Samogitian ( or sometimes , or ; ), is an Eastern Baltic language spoken primarily in Samogitia and is often considered a dialect of Lithuanian. It has preserved many features of the extinct Curonian language, such as specific phonologica ...

and secretly taught village's children to read and write in Lithuanian. She studied foreign languages (German, French) as well as art, literature, music at a girls' boarding school in

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

. She married physician

(15 years her senior) and they moved to

in 1900. Together they organized the smuggling of banned Lithuanian publications. She continued this work even after Vaineikis was arrested and imprisoned in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

. When Vaineikis was sentenced to the internal exile to

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

in 1902, she voluntarily followed him. When the

Lithuanian press ban The Lithuanian press ban () was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet, in force from 1865 to 1904, within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications t ...

was lifted in 1904, she returned to Palanga while her husband moved to

Tilsit Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...

. During the

, she helped him smuggle social democratic press and weapons across the Prussia–Russia border. During World War I, together with her husband, she retreated to Russian and lived in Central Asia (

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

Emirate of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara (, ) was a Muslims, Muslim-Uzbeks, Uzbek polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rive ...

Turkestan Autonomy The Turkestan Autonomy or Kokand Autonomy was a short-lived state in Central Asia that existed at the beginning of the Russian Civil War. It was formed on 27 November 1917 and existed until 22 February 1918. It was a secular republic, headed by ...

). There, she witnessed power struggles, cruelty, and massacres.

Independent Lithuania

Vaineikienė returned to Palanga in 1921 and became involved in the city's life. She worked on reestablishing the Palanga Gymnasium: she chaired a committee set up to support the school, recruited qualified teachers, and worked as a teacher once the school opened in 1922. She also advocated for municipal water supply, sewer, and bath house. Together with others, she organized cooperative Talka. She contributed articles to the magazine ' and supplied Samogitian words to the

Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian The Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian ( or ) is a comprehensive thesaurus of the Lithuanian language and one of the most extensive lexicographical works in the world. The 20 volumes encompassing 22,000 pages were published between 1941 and 2002 ...

. Together with her husband, she was elected to the first city council of Palanga in December 1932. She participated in the

Klaipėda Revolt The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory or ). The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from East Prussia, German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a ...

in January 1923 and was awarded the silver Medal of the Liberation of Klaipėda. Vaineikis' house in Palanga was visited by many prominent Lithuanians, including

Jonas Jablonskis Jonas Jablonskis (; 30 December 1860, in Kubilėliai, Šakiai district – 23 February 1930, in Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language. He used the pseudonym ''Rygiškių Jonas'' ...

Augustinas Janulaitis Augustinas Janulaitis (1878–1950) was a Lithuanian attorney, judge, and university professor who specialized in the legal history of Lithuania. Janulatis studied law at the University of Moscow but was expelled for participating in the 1899 Ru ...

Liudas Gira Liudas Gira (27 August 1884 in Vilnius – 1 July 1946 in Vilnius) was a Lithuanian poet, writer, and literary critic. His is noted for his early poetry, which resembles traditional Lithuanian folk songs. Gira was active in cultural and political ...

, ,

Vydūnas Wilhelm Storost, artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas (22 March 1868 – 20 February 1953), mostly known as Vydūnas, was a Prussian-Lithuanian teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian writer, a leader of the Prussian Lithuani ...

Jonas Šliūpas Jonas Šliūpas (6 March 1861 – 6 November 1944) was a prominent and prolific Lithuanian activist during the Lithuanian National Revival. For 35 years, he lived in the United States working to build national consciousness of Lithuanian American ...

Jonas Basanavičius Jonas Basanavičius (, ; 23 November 1851 – 16 February 1927) was an activist and proponent of the Lithuanian National Revival. He participated in every major event leading to the independent Lithuanian state and is often given the informal hon ...

Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis (1852–1916) was a Lithuanian playwright and activists of the early Lithuanian amateur theater. Born to an old noble family, Landsbergis attended Šiauliai Gymnasium where his friend Petras Vileišis encourage ...

, .

Soviet Lithuania

After the

in June 1940, she became mayor of Palanga. She opened a public bath house and a weaving workshop. She was elected to the

and became one of the 20 Lithuanian representatives sent to Moscow to request the official incorporation of the newly proclaimed

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 ...

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 ...

. In fall 1940, she became a member of the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR and moved 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 1940, during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, she published a short article claiming that she was selected for the People's Seimas without her consent and that she knew nothing about its agenda. In February 1945, after the Soviets returned to Lithuania, she disowned those claims stating that they forced and edited 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 ...

. She died in Vilnius on 12 January 1946 and was buried in

Rasos Cemetery Rasos Cemetery (; , , ) is the oldest and most famous cemetery in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is named after the Rasos district where it is located. It is separated into two parts, the old and the new cemeteries, by a narrow Sukilėliai ...

Works

Novels

In her novels ' (Graf and the People; published in 1937, republished in 1958) and ' (Vaišvila, Leader of Samogitian Serfs; 1938 and 1959), Vaineikienė wrote about the

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

in Lithuania, its abolition in 1863, and social conflicts in villages. They were two of a few historical novels about serfdom in

Lithuanian literature Lithuanian literature () concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in the Middle Ages. The edi ...

. The works depict everyday life and customs of a Lithuanian village and are examples of

literary realism Literary realism is a movement and genre of literature that attempts to represent mundane and ordinary subject-matter in a faithful and straightforward way, avoiding grandiose or exotic subject-matter, exaggerated portrayals, and speculative ele ...

. There is little character development: characters are either good or bad. In particular, the nobility is portrayed as evil exploiters of the peasants. She also wrote a novel ''Lukštai'' about the

Samogitia Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...

, but the work was not published and the manuscript was lots.

Memoirs

She wrote three books of memoirs. ' (Memoirs of Palanga; 1931) is about the life and society in Palanga. The three-volume ' (From Past Struggles; 1935–1936) talks book smuggling in the Russian Empire, prison, and internal exile in Siberia. Based on her memoirs, Gintarė Adomaitytė wrote a play ' (Diamond Manor) in 2007. Vaineikienė wrote ' (Notes of a Refugee), a memoir about her life in Central Asia and the

. It was prepared for publication in December 1940, but it was not published as it did not reflect the official Bolshevik ideology. The book was published in 2014 (for her 130th birth anniversary). The memoir was translated to Russian and Uzbek and published in 2022 thanks to the efforts of the Uzbek professor .

Personal life

Vaineikienė married physician

in 1900. They had three children, including Liuda Vaineikytė (1908–1997) who was an active member of the

Lithuanian Communist Party 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 ...

and merited artists of the Lithuanian SSR (1958).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaineikiene, Stase 1884 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian women writers 20th-century Lithuanian writers 20th-century memoirists Lithuanian book smugglers Lithuanian collaborators with the Soviet Union (1940–41) Burials at Rasos Cemetery