Dovas Zaunius (19 June 1892 – 22 February 1940) was a Lithuanian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as Ambassador to Switzerland from 1925 until 1927 and Lithuanian Foreign Minister from 1929 to 1934.

Biography

Zaunius was born in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

as the youngest son of Dovas Zaunius (senior) who was a political and public figure in

Lithuania Minor Lithuania Minor (; ; ) or Prussian Lithuania (; ; ) is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is a historical region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians (or Lietuvininkai) lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Obla ...

. In 1911, he graduated from the Tilsit Gymnasium from there he went on to study law at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. In 1917, Zaunius defended his doctoral thesis in criminal and civil law at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

. During his studies Zaunius joined the Lithuanian Conservative Election Societies headed by his father Dovas Zaunius. During World War I, he served in the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

and after the German capitulation he was invited to work at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a qualified lawyer. From 1919 to 1920, he served as acting director of the Policy Department. In 1920, he was appointed Lithuanian affairs trustee in Latvia and Estonia. Zaunius began his diplomatic career after his appointment as

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

of Lithuania to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and Romania (1924–1925). In 1925, he was made envoy to Switzerland and permanent representative of Lithuania to the

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 ...

. In 1927, after the liquidation of the Lithuanian representation at the League of Nations, he returned to Lithuania and was appointed as secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry and envoy to Czechoslovakia. On 8 November 1929, Zaunius became the Lithuanian Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Juozas Tūbelis Juozas Tūbelis (9 April 1882 – 30 September 1939) was a Lithuanian politician, Prime Minister, and member and chairman of the Lithuanian Nationalists Union. In 1908, he graduated from Polytechnical Institute in Riga receiving a diploma in agron ...

. During his tenure, Lithuanian diplomats achieved some success at the

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

in cases against the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

(concerning rail traffic on the

Libau–Romny Railway Libau–Romny Railway was a railway company that built a railway line in the Russian Empire in 1871–74 to connect Romny in Ukraine with the port in Libau (Liepāja) in present-day Latvia. To do so it passed through Minsk. The objective of th ...

) and the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

(concerning the dismissal of Otto Böttcher, President of the

Directorate of the Klaipėda Region The Directorate of the Klaipėda Region (; ) was the main governing institution (executive branch) in the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) from February 1920 to March 1939. It was established by local German political parties to govern the regi ...

). Zaunius also made progress on forming 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 ...

. In 1934–1936, he worked at the

State Council of Lithuania The State Council of Lithuania () was a legislative institution in interwar Lithuania. It was an advisory institution that codified existing and proposed new laws. It was established by the constitution adopted on 15 May 1928. President Antanas Sm ...

, assisting with various agreements with foreign countries. After leaving the State Council in 1936, Zaunius became Chairman of the Board of the

Bank of Lithuania The Bank of Lithuania () is the national central bank for Lithuania within the Eurosystem. It was the Lithuanian central bank from 1922 to 2014, albeit with a long suspension between 1940 and 1993. It issued the Lithuanian litas between 1922 ...

(1936–1940) and Chairman of the Currency Commission. Zaunius also participated in activities of the

Lithuanian Riflemen's Union The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union (LRU, ), also referred to as Šauliai (''the Riflemen''; from for ''rifleman''), is a paramilitary organization supported by the Government of Lithuania and regulated by the dedicated law. It is active in three ...

, Union for the Liberation of Vilnius, and Scout Association of Lithuania. Zaunis worked at the Bank of Lithuania until his death in 1940. He was buried at the Kaunas Evangelical Cemetery (now Ramybė Park).

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaunius, Dovas 1892 births 1940 deaths Ministers of foreign affairs of Lithuania Ambassadors of Lithuania 20th-century Lithuanian lawyers Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni University of Königsberg alumni Ambassadors to Czechoslovakia Ambassadors to Switzerland