Alfonsas Eidintas (born 4 January 1952 in Vaiguva,

Kelmė District Municipality Kelmė (; ; Yiddish: קעלם) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė District Municipality. Name Kelmė's name is likely derived from t ...

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 ...

) is a historian, diplomat and novelist. He was Lithuania's ambassador to various countries.

Scholar

Between 1969 and 1973, Alfonsas Eidintas studied history at Vilnius Pedagogical University. He went to serve as chief lecturer, docent, head of the Universal History Department, and Deputy Dean at that institution. From 1986 to 1993, he was the Deputy Director for Research at the Lithuanian Institute of History of the

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LMA (, ) is a state-funded independent organization in Lithuania dedicated for science and research. Its mission is to mobilize prominent scientists and initiate activities that would strengthen the welfare ...

. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1990.

Diplomat

Eidintas entered the diplomatic service in 1993, serving as Lithuania's Ambassador to the United States. He also served as Lithuania's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Canada, Mexico, Norway, Israel, Cyprus, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria. He also worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, most recently as ambassador-at-large at the Foreign Ministry's Information and Public Relations Department. He was a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science.

Author

He had authored over 20 books and at least 50 scientific articles about Lithuanian history and politics and published works of historic fiction: ''Ieškok Maskvos sfinkso'' ("In Search of the Moscow Sphinx"), ''Erelio sparnų dvelksmas'', and ''Aukštai šaltos žvaigždės''.

Books

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 ...

: Knyga mokiniams. 1989. * Naujas požiūris į Lietuvos istoriją. 1989. * Antanas Smetona: Politines biografijos bruozai. 1990. * Lietuvos Respublikos prezidentai. 1991. * Slaptasis lietuvių diplomatas: istorinis detektyvas. 1992. * Kazys Grinius: Ministras pirmininkas ir prezidentas. 1993 * Lietuvių kolumbai: Lietuvių emigracijos istorijos apybraiža. 1993. * Aleksandras Stulginskis: Lietuvos prezidentas, Gulago kalinys. 1995. * Lietuvos ambasados rūmų Washington, D.C. istorija. 1996. * Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 (with Vytautas Zalys). 1999. * President of Lithuania: Prisoner of the Gulag-a Biography of Aleksandras Stulginskis. 2001. * Žydai, lietuviai ir holokaustas. 2002. * Jews, Lithuanians and the Holocaust. 2003. * Lithuanian Emigration to the United States 1868–1950. 2003. * Ambasadorius = Ambassador: tarnyba savo valstybei svetur: skiriama Lietuvos Respublikos užsienio reikalų ministerijos 85 metų sukakčiai. 2003. * Ieškok Maskvos sfinkso: istorinis romanas. 2006. * Žydai, Izraelis ir palestiniečiai. 2007. * Erelio sparnų dvelksmas: istorinis romanas: "Ieškok Maskvos sfinkso" tęsinys. 2008. * Istorija kaip politika: įvykių raidos apžvalgos. 2008. * Aukštai šaltos žvaigždės: istorinis romanas: "Ieškok Maskvos sfinkso" ir "Erelio sparnų dvelksmo" tęsinys. 2009. * The History of Lithuania. 2013. * Aleksandras Stulginskis ir jo epocha. – Vilnius: MELC, 2014.– ISBN 978-5-420-01743-2 * Gyvenimas Lietuvai: Vincas Mašalaitis ir jo darbai. – Vilnius: MELC, 2015. – ISBN 978-5-420-01757-9

Awards

*2003: Commander's Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuaniahttp://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_id=205778

Personal life

Eidintas is married; wife Birutė, a teacher. Daughters Aistė and Monika Albina, son Donatas.

References