Steponas Kairys (; 1879 in Užnevėžiai near

Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; ) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius. It is the administrative center of the Ukmergė District Municipality. Ukmergė (Vilkmergė) was mentioned for the first time as a ...

– 16 December 1964 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

) was a Lithuanian engineer, nationalist, and

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. He was among the 20 men to sign the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918.

Engineering career

Born in the

Anykščiai district Anykščiai (; see other names) is a ski resort city in Lithuania, west of Utena. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Anykščiai is the tallest church in Lithuania, with spires measuring in height. Anykščiai has a resort status i ...

, then in

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

, Kairys graduated from the Institute of Technology in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Due to conflicts with the academic administration concerning his participation in student clubs and dissident demonstrations, his studies were intermittently interrupted. Following graduation he worked for several years in railroad construction in the

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

and

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

regions of Russia. He returned to Lithuania in 1912 and worked on city sanitation and water supply systems 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 ...

, and following the Polish occupation of the city left to the

temporary capital of Lithuania The temporary capital of Lithuania () was the official designation of the city of Kaunas in Lithuania during the interwar period. It was in contrast to the declared capital in Vilnius, which was the capital of the Republic of Central Lithuania ( ...

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 ...

. After 1923, he taught at the

University of Lithuania Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the Polish–Lithuanian War, interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the Univ ...

in Kaunas, where in 1940, he received an honorary doctorate in engineering.

Political career

Kairys joined the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party in 1900. The party had already separated itself from the Russian Social Democrats and sought independence for Lithuania. Kairys was elected to the Central Committee of the party next year and remained in the leadership roles until the party ceased its activities in 1944. 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 ...

, he participated in the

Great Seimas of Vilnius The Great Seimas of Vilnius (, also known as the ''Great Assembly of Vilnius'', the ''Grand Diet of Vilnius'', or the ''Great Diet of Vilnius'') was a major assembly held on December 4 and 5, 1905 (November 21–22, 1905 Old Style and New Style d ...

as a member of presidium. The Great Seimas clearly expressed Lithuania's intentions to become an independent state, or at least to gain considerable autonomy from the Russian Empire. In 1906, he published the first publications about

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in Lithuanian, in which, based on the sources, he briefly described the social system and the Constitution of the then Japan, which is why he is often called the first Lithuanian japonologist. In 1907, Kairys helped the five Lithuanian social democrats elected to the second

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

write speeches and letters. Before

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 ...

, Kairys worked to promote his party and social democracy. After the German occupation during the war, Kairys became actively involved with people seeking independence for Lithuania. In 1917, he attended the

Vilnius Conference In the history of Lithuania, the Vilnius Conference () or Vilnius National Conference met on 18–22 September 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of ...

, where he was elected to the 20-member

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 ...

. The council was formed by the conference to declare and establish independence of Lithuania. The task, however, was extremely tough because of the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

presence in the state. The Germans promised to recognize the state if the council agreed to form a firm and permanent federation with Germany. The council issued a declaration to that effect on 11 December 1917. However, Germany did not keep its word and did not recognize the state. The council was torn apart and Kairys with the three others socialists withdrew on 26 January 1918. However, on 16 February 1918 they returned to sign the Act of Independence of Lithuania. The act did not mention anything in specific about relations to Germany. The council proceeded to negotiate with Germany, which now demanded to void the 16 February decision and recognized the state based on the 11 December declaration. On 13 July 1918, the council, in hopes to avoid being incorporated into a personal union with the Hohenzollern dynasty, elected Mindaugas II as

King of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crowned king in 1 ...

. This was unacceptable for Kairys and he left the council, this time permanently. However, he remained active in the politics: he was elected to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

and all three

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

before the coup d'état of 1926. The authoritarian regime of

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

placed Kairys in an opposition.

In exile

After the 1940

Soviet 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 ...

invasion of Lithuania, the

Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania or VLIK () was an organization seeking independence of Lithuania. It was established on November 25, 1943, during the Nazi occupation. After World War II it moved abroad and continued its operat ...

( or ''VLIK'') was formed and Kairys became its chairman in 1943. The organization united people of different political views. In April 1944 majority of the members were arrested 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 ...

. Kairys changed his name to Juozas Kaminskas and tried to escape to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Before moving to the United States in 1951, he lived in Germany, where VLIK was revived. Kairys attempted to gain political support for a democratic socialist opposition among other exiles and expatriates. For the last decade of his life, he battled illness and could not fully participate in various political organizations. Two volumes of his memoirs were published. He died in 1964 in New York. Kairys was reinterred in

Petrašiūnai Cemetery Petrašiūnai Cemetery () is Lithuania's premiere last resting place formally designated for graves of people influential in national history, politics, arts, and science. Location Petrašiūnai Cemetery is located about south-east of the cent ...

. In 1942, together with his wife, Ona Kairiene, Kairys sheltered 11-year-old Anusė Keilsonaitė, a Jewish girl from the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered . During the approximately two years of its existen ...

. For this, both of them were later deemed

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

References

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Engineering career

Political career

In exile

References

Further reading