Jurgis Šaulys (; 1879–1948) was a Lithuanian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the 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 field there are ...

, diplomat, and politician, and one of the twenty signatories to the 1918

Act of Independence of Lithuania The Act of Independence of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or the Act of February 16, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Nutarimas), The signed document is actually titled simply '' ...

. Šaulys attended secondary school in

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

and attended the Kaunas Theological Seminary. He was dismissed from the seminary for participating in the

Knygnešiai Lithuanian book smugglers or Lithuanian book carriers ( lt, knygnešys, plural: lt, knygnešiaĩ, label=none) transported Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a ba ...

movement, which disseminated materials published in the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 mill ...

, a practice outlawed at the time. After moving to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

in 1900, he continued his political actitivites; he became one of the ''

12 Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and ministry ...

'' of the independence movement, and was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Democratic Party. He left for Switzerland to study economics at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

, 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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out he served various charitable organizations. He was a member of the

Vilnius Conference The Vilnius Conference or Vilnius National Conference ( lt, Vilniaus konferencija) met between September 18, 1917 and September 22, 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would ...

and was elected Secretary-General of the ensuing Council of Lithuania, signing the Act of Independence in 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 is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Switzerland, the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

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

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

in Switzerland with his wife, the Italian opera singer

Mafalda Salvatini Mafalda Salvatini (17 October 188613 June 1971) was an Italian opera singer who was primarily active in Germany during the first half of the 20th century. She excelled in the dramatic soprano repertoire of the Italian language and was one of the l ...

, acting as the Lithuanian ambassador in Berne until the legation was closed in 1946. He died in Lugano two years later. A dedicated

bibliophile Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

, he donated much of his collection to the

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (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 ...

; the remainder of his collection is held at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

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 People from Palanga {{Lithuania-politician-stub