Jokūbas Šernas (14 June 1888 – 31 July 1926) 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 attorney, journalist, teacher and banker, one of the twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Born in

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

, he studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, graduating in 1914. After he returned to Lithuania, he worked 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 ...

for various political causes centering on independence and taught at the Vilnius Gymnasium, as well as editing ''Lietuvos žinios'' (Lithuanian News). He helped organize the Vilnius Conference and was elected to the

Council of Lithuania In the history of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania (; ; ), after July 11, 1918, the State Council of Lithuania () was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place between 18 and 23 September 1917. The twenty men who composed the c ...

, signing the Act in 1918. After independence Šernas served in the organizations working to establish democratic institutions in the new state, including the Ministry of the Interior. He founded and edited the journal ''Savivaldybės'' (Self Government) and was appointed director of the Commerce and Industry Bank. He was the father of the actor Jacques Sernas but died in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

in 1926, only a year after his son was born in 1925. He is buried in the cemetery of Nemunėlio Radviliškis

References

*" Šernas, Jokūbas". Encyclopedia Lituanica V: 123. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCCN 74-114275. 1888 births 1926 deaths Lithuanian jurists Lithuanian bankers Ministers of internal affairs of Lithuania Members of the Council of Lithuania Saint Petersburg State University alumni Lithuanian independence activists 20th-century Lithuanian journalists {{Lithuania-politician-stub