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| name = Jurgis Smolskis |
| name = Jurgis Smolskis |
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| image = |
| image = |
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| image_size = 300px |
| image_size = 300px |
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| caption = |
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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1881|5|3|}} |
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1881|5|3|}} |
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| birth_place = [[Kamajai]], [[Kovno |
| birth_place = [[Kamajai]], [[Kovno Governorate]] , [[Russian Empire]] |
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1919|7|6|1881|5|3}} |
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1919|7|6|1881|5|3}} |
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| death_place = |
| death_place = {{ill|Pakriaunys|lt}}, near [[Obeliai]], [[Lithuania]] |
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| nationality = [[Lithuanian people| |
| nationality = [[Lithuanian people|Lithuanian]] |
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| spouse |
| spouse = Germaine Geelens (1888–1960) |
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| children |
| children = Jurgita Smolski (1920–2012) |
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| occupation = Writer, socialist activist |
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| profession = Lawyer, journalist, writer, revolutionary politician |
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| known_for = |
| known_for = Execution by the [[Lithuanian Army]] |
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| party |
| party = [[Lithuanian Social Democratic Party]] |
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| alma_mater = [[University of St. Petersburg]] |
| alma_mater = [[University of St. Petersburg]] <br> [[New University of Brussels]] |
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}} |
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'''Jurgis |
'''Jurgis Smolskis''' ({{lang-lt|Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys}}, {{lang-ru|Юрий Осипович Смольский}} (Yuri Osipovich Smolski), {{lang-fr|Georges Smolski}}; 1881–1919) was a writer and socialist activist in the [[Rokiškis District]], then part of the [[Russian Empire]] now [[Lithuania]]. |
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As a gymnasium student in [[Riga]] and a law student at the [[University of St. Petersburg]], Smolskis joined the [[Lithuanian National Revival]] and started contributing his poetry and articles to Lithuanian periodicals, including ''[[Ūkininkas]]'' and ''[[Tėvynės sargas]]''. He also joined an amateur theater troupe in his native [[Kamajai]] and performed in [[Grīva]], [[Subate]], [[Panevėžys]], [[Rokiškis]]. Smolskis joined the [[Lithuanian Social Democratic Party]] (LSDP) and was a delegate at the [[Great Seimas of Vilnius]]. He was an active organizer of anti-Tsarist protests in the Rokiškis District during the [[Russian Revolution of 1905]]. In retaliation, Russian soldiers shot four cannonballs into his parents' house in Kamajai. Smolskis escaped to Switzerland, but soon returned to Lithuania and continue working with LSDP in [[Vilnius]]. He was searched by the police and decided to escape to [[Crimea]]. He was arrested in [[Simferopol]] but managed to escape in summer 1907. He briefly lived in the [[Austrian Empire]], Italy, and Switzerland before starting studies at the [[New University of Brussels]] in 1910. After graduation in late 1913, he returned to the Russian Empire and rejoined socialist activities. He was again arrested and imprisoned in May 1916 but was freed after the [[February Revolution]]. He joined the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]] ([[Bolsheviks]]) and participated at the [[Petrograd Seimas]] in June 1917. |
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Spiritual heir from the [[Lithuanian national revival]] movement in modernity, in struggle for [[democracy]], social justice and cultural and linguistic freedom, he suffered the imprisonment of the [[Russian Empire|Russian imperial regime]] and meanwhile exile in Western Europe. |
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In June 1918, following the [[Peace of Brest-Litovsk]], he returned to his homeland and was elected chairman of the local committee of [[Rokiškis]] but soon the are was taken over by the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919)|Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]] led by [[Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas]]. When the Lithuanian troops of Colonel {{ill|Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis|lt}} captured Rokiškis on 31 May 1919, Smolskis was arrested, tried by a military court, and sentenced to six years of hard labor. He was shot and killed by Petras Valasinavičius during a transfer to [[Obeliai]] allegedly because he tried to escape. His death caused a scandal in Lithuania and his widow sued in 1922. The court found Valasinavičius guilty and sentenced him to eight years of hard labor; he did not serve the full sentence as he received a presidential pardon. |
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Jurgis Smolski returned to Lithuania at the beginning of independence as a regional representative and developed public and secular education. During the [[Lithuanian Wars of Independence|1919 civil war]], he was arrested arbitrarily and shot under the orders of ultra-reactionary officers of the national army being organized. His social and cultural commitments are admired by the liberal currents of the first republic, and stigmatized by the authoritarian regime established after the [[1926 Lithuanian coup d'état]] . |
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==Biography== |
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From 1955, accepted but censored as a left wing precursor of the Soviet regime, its literary and patriotic contribution has been recognized since the return of independence by Lithuanian historiography. Due to the opaque situation of the archives before 1990 and the disappearance of the witnesses, gaps remain in his biography as in all the Baltic history of the twentieth century, while the critical research is refined. Citizen of the world following his exile, mastery of languages (Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, German, French ...) and open-mindedness, Jurgis Smolski also contributed to the notoriety of his homeland. |
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Smolskis was one of thirteen children and the eldest of five surviving siblings in a family of farmers in [[Kamajai]], then part of the [[Russian Empire]]. His Lithuanian last name is Smalstys, but due to [[Polonization]] it was recorded as Smolskis in his birth records.<ref name=misius/> His uncle lived in [[Riga]] and so Smolskis attended a gymnasium there. He began reading Lithuanian periodicals which [[Lithuanian press ban|were at the time banned]] in the Russian Empire. His parents wanted him to become a Catholic priest and when he refused, he had to earn a living as a tutor.<ref name=kirve/> Smolskis studied at the Faculty of Law of the [[University of St. Petersburg]] from 1900 to 1905.<ref name=misius/> In 1900, he published his first poems in ''[[Ūkininkas]]'' (The Farmer) and ''[[Tėvynės sargas]]'' (The Guardian of the Homeland). He later published articles with news and events from his native Kamajai. In December 1903, he sent a letter to [[Jonas Basanavičius]] regarding the collection of examples of Lithuanian folklore.<ref name=misius/> Smolskis was also active in the amateur Lithuanian theater. He organized several illegal theater performances accompanied by lectures and poetry readings in villages near Kamajai. Since government permits were easier to obtain in the [[Courland Governorate]], Smolskis organized a legal performance of comedies ''[[Amerika pirtyje]]'' (America in the Bathhouse) by Keturakis and ''Neatmezgamas mazgas'' (The Impossible Knot) by {{ill|Petras Pundzevičius-Petliukas|lt}} in [[Grīva]] in December 1904.<ref name=misius1905/> In 1905, the troupe performed legally in [[Subate]], [[Panevėžys]] (twice), [[Rokiškis]], and Kamajai. In July 1905, Smolskis refused entry to a performance to a uryadnik (police officer) who did not purchase a ticket and chased him away with a group of men. Smolskis was sentenced to six weeks in prison in [[Zarasai]].<ref name=misius1905/> |
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=== Revolution of 1905 and exile === |
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As a student, Smolskis became a supporter of [[social democracy]]. In summer 1904, he organized the congress of the youth organization of the [[Lithuanian Social Democratic Party]] (LSDP) at the manor of {{ill|Vladas Sirutavičius|lt}} in {{ill|Kairiškiai|lt}}.<ref name=kirve/> Smolskis supported the [[Russian Revolution of 1905]] and organized the Republic of Kamajai in summer 1905. The republic removed Russian officials and organized its own library, [[hectograph]], armed guard, and court. It had two flags, one red with the slogan ''Long live socialism'' and another black with the slogan ''Death to tyrants''.<ref name=misius1905/> Smolskis organized various public protests and delivered anti-government speeches in [[Jūžintai]], [[Obeliai]], [[Dusetos]], [[Zarasai]], [[Užpaliai]].<ref name=kirve/> His activities reached as far as [[Utena]] and [[Alanta]].<ref name=sarma/> He was arrested during a speech in [[Rokiškis]].<ref name=kirve/> During a protest on {{OldStyleDate|30 October|1905|17 October}} in Kamajai, Smolskis detained a pristav (police officer), confiscated his weapons, and forced him to walk around with a black flag which had an anti-Tsarist slogan.<ref name=misius1905/> Smolskis also agitated Kamajai resisdents against anti-Jewish [[pogrom]]s.<ref name=kirve/><ref name=kagan/> Smoskis participated in the [[Great Seimas of Vilnius]] which adopted a resolution demanding a wide political autonomy within the Russian Empire and urged people to engage in [[nonviolent resistance]] to achieve this goal.<ref name=misius1905/> However, Russian authorities started to crack down on the revolutionaries. Russian policemen accompanied by about 100 [[Cossacks]] searched the home of Smolskis' parents on {{OldStyleDate|26 December|1905|13 December}}.<ref name=misius1905/> The house was looted (the damage was appraised at 25 [[Russian rubles]]) and Smolskis' brother Balys was beaten with a [[nagaika]] and arrested. On {{OldStyleDate|3 February|1906|21 January}}, about 300 [[dragoon]]s and infantrymen with four cannons arrived to Kamajai for a punitive action. The soldiers surrounded and robbed Smolskis' home before firing four cannonballs into its walls.<ref name=misius1905/> |
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Smolskis is a son of Juozapas Smalstys and Karolyna Grižaite, who are farmers of [[Kamajai]]. He is the eldest of many siblings. Recognized as a gifted pupil at the parish primary school, he enrolled into a Catholic seminary. At the age of fifteen, he voluntarily left to complete his secondary education at the Riga's Russian Gymnasium <ref>Picture in College uniform, at about 16, and oral family transmission </ref>. |
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As it was unsafe in Lithuania, Smolskis escaped to [[East Prussia]] around February 1906.<ref name=misius/> He traveled to Switzerland, but soon returned to Lithuania and joined the central committee of the LSDP in [[Vilnius]]. He instigated farmer strikes in [[Suvalkija]] and organized textile workers in [[Białystok]].<ref name=kirve/> Searched by police, Smolskis decided to travel to [[Crimea]] where he was caught and imprisoned in [[Simferopol]]. He befriended a peasant who agreed to take Smolskis' place allowing him to escape during prisoner transfer in July 1907. He briefly stayed in [[Kraków]] and [[Zakopane]] (then part of the [[Austrian Empire]]), [[Capri]] (Italy), [[Davos]] and [[Arosa]] (Switzerland), before moving to [[Brussels]] to study sociology under professor {{ill|Guillaume De Greef|fr}} at the [[New University of Brussels]] in 1910. There he met his future wife Germaine "Maine" Geelens, a teacher following new pedagogical methods of [[Ovide Decroly]].<ref name=kirve/> |
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Smolski studied at the Faculty of Law of the [[University of St. Petersburg]] from 1900 to 1905. While studying, he approached [[social democracy]] and disseminated [[Lithuanian press ban|the clandestine press and literature in Lithuanian]]. |
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===Return to Russia=== |
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== Entrance into politics == |
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After graduation from the university in late 1913, Smolskis returned to Russia with fake papers and obtained a bookkeeping job in a mine in the [[Ural (region)|Ural]].<ref name=kirve/> In June 1914, Smolskis and Geelens reunited in [[Bazilionai]] near [[Šiauliai]]. The couple did not feel safe in Lithuania and traveled to [[Saint Petersburg]] where Smolskis joined socialist activities. When, due to World War I, police archives from Vilnius were moved to Saint Petersburg, the couple decided to move to Siberia in May 1916 but Smolskis was arrested at the train station in [[Irkutsk]] and imprisoned in [[Kostroma]].<ref name=kirve/> Due to poor health ([[neurasthenia]] and severe [[anemia]]),<ref name=misius/> he was transferred to a prison in [[Zamoskvorechye District]], [[Moscow]], where he married Geelens in a ceremony officiated by [[Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas]].<ref name=kirve/> He was freed from prison after the [[February Revolution]].<ref name=kirve/> |
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{{multiple image |
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| image1 = Jurgis smolskis bicycle.jpg |
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| caption1 = {{center|Local group, Jurgis Smolski is the cyclist with the white jacket<ref>Family archives</ref>}} |
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| image2 = Jurgis Smolskis theatre troupe.jpg |
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| caption2 = {{center|The amateur theater troupe of Kamajai<ref>Family archives</ref>}} |
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| image3 = Jurgis Smolskis and wife.jpg |
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| caption3 = {{center|Germaine Geelens and her husband Jurgis Smolski.<ref>Family archives</ref>}} |
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| image4 = |
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| caption4 = {{center|Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis, caricature by the painter [[Adomas Varnas]] at the Lithuanian Assembly of Petrograd, June 1917. Silhouette of [[Augustinas Voldemaras]] as chairman of the meeting<ref>VARNAS, Adomas, Ant Politikos Laktu,[On Politics Elbow] Ed. "Vaivos", Kaunas, 1922</ref>}} |
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After a brief rest in the [[Caucasus]], Smolskis returned to Moscow and joined revolutionary activities of the legalized LSDP and collaborated with {{ill|Stasys Matulaitis|lt}} on publishing ''Socialdemokratas'' (Social Democrat).<ref name=misius/> He also joined the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]] ([[Bolsheviks]]) and edited the communist newspaper ''[[Tiesa]]'' (The Truth).<ref name=sarma/> However, he supported social democrats and cooperation with other parties and thus soon withdrew from the Bolsheviks.<ref name=sarma/><ref name=sarma232/> Smolskis was an active participant in the [[Petrograd Seimas]] in June 1917. The Seimas discussed Lithuania's political future after the war. The socialists, including Smolskis, advocated for autonomy within Russia and withdrew from the proceedings when a resolution calling for full independence won by a narrow margin. After the [[October Revolution]], Smolskis worked at the Lithuanian section of the [[People's Commissariat for Nationalities]] on cataloging valuables (equipment, archives, art) evacuated from Lithuania during the war.<ref name=misius/> |
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In '''1904''', he organized the congress of the youth organization of the [[Lithuanian Social Democratic Party]] (LSDP) at the manor of Vladas Sirutavičius in Kairiškiai. Smolski directs the organization of the LSDP in Kamajai from 1905 to 1906. He supported the unionization of agricultural workers and peasant claims,<ref>See his contributions to the journal Ukininkas (The Farmer) and the short story Vasaros Rytas [Summer Morning], 1906)</ref> and organized demonstrations throughout Upper Lithuania. |
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===Execution by the Lithuanian Army=== |
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In the autumn of '''1905''', the tsarist administration is forced to withdraw from Kamajai where a "republic" is proclaimed. At a local open meeting, Jurgis Smolski forces the police commissioner to wear a red flag. The authorities are trying to foment a pogrom against the many Jewish inhabitants of the town, which Jurgis Smolski prevents with the solidarity of the different communities. In retaliation, the [[Cossacks]] fire with cannon on the family house<ref>For the Tsarist period, extracts from the Archives of the Lithuanian SSR, reported in 1965 as a microfilm in Russian to Jurgita Smolski. Probably at the State Archives of Lithuania</ref> of the Smalstys. |
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In June 1918, following the [[Peace of Brest-Litovsk]], he returned to his formally independent homeland and was elected chairman of the local committee of [[Rokiškis]] which attempted to establish local Lithuanian administration.<ref name=kirve/> After the outbreak of the [[Lithuanian–Soviet War]], Rokiškis was taken over by the communists and the newly proclaimed [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919)|Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]] led by [[Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas]]. The local committee was replaced by a [[Revolutionary committee (Soviet Union)|revolutionary committee]] (revkom) and Smolskis became a deputy of his friend [[Antanas Purėnas]] who was in charge of schools in the district.<ref name=kirve/> On 31 May 1919, Rokiškis was captured by the Lithuanian troops of Colonel {{ill|Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis|lt}} who was known for executions of civilians suspected of sympathizing with the communists.<ref name=petro/> Smolskis was arrested on 26 June and tried by a military court. He was suspected of being responsible for the execution of a Catholic priest in [[Ilūkste]] but was cleared of that charge and avoided a [[Capital punishment in Lithuania|death penalty]].<ref name=misius/> The court still sentenced him to three years of hard labor, but Grigaliūnas-Glovackis refused to confirm the sentence and convened the second court. This time he was sentenced to six years of hard labor. In the morning of 6 July 1919, Smolskis was escorted from {{ill|Pakriaunys|lt}} to [[Obeliai]] by soldiers Petras Valasinavičius and Juozas Pėža. Just outside the village, Valasinavičius killed Smolskis with a single shot to the head.<ref name=misius/> Grigaliūnas-Glovackis, treating Smolskis as a traitor and an atheist, forbade the funeral procession to Rokiškis or a cross on his grave.<ref name=griga/> Smolskis was buried where he was shot; his remains were exhumed and transferred to Obeliai in 1947.<ref name=kirve/> |
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Returning to her parents in [[Verviers]], his widow Geelens gave birth in February 1920 to a [[Posthumous birth|posthumous girl]], named Jurgita (Georgette) after her father.<ref name=kirve/> Back to Lithuania, she sued for justice in a Kaunas court in 1922. Valasinavičius claimed that Smolskis tried to escape, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to eight years of hard labor. After a couple of years, Valasinavičius received a presidential pardon and emigrated abroad.<ref name=misius/> The executions of Smolskis and of {{ill|Feliksas Valiukas|lt}} and his wife became the two most prominent examples of excesses committed by Grigaliūnas-Glovackis.<ref name=petro/> |
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In '''1906''', in [[Vilnius]], he is a member of the LSDP Committee. |
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'''1907''' Imprisoned in [[Yalta]], Jurgis Smolski escapes by name substitution during a transfer to [[Simferopol]]. He exiles himself in Western Europe via [[Tilsit]] (East Prussia). |
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Smolskis wrote poetry and short stories, but his most popular literary work is the one-act comedy ''Nutrūko'' ([It] Broke) published in 1906. It was performed at least 51 time by various amateur troupes in 1906–1910.<ref name=misius/> In 1906, he also published two short stories, his own ''Vararos rytas'' (Summer Morning) and translated ''Kalinių badavimas'' (Hunger of Prisoners).<ref name=epaveldas/> His short stories were published in ''Audroms siaučiant'' (When the Storms Raged), an anthology of revolutionary writers published in Vilnius in 1955. Many of his works were destroyed during his arrests and the wars.<ref name=misius/> |
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⚫ | His daughter Georgette Smolski ({{lang-lt|Jurgita Smolskytė}}) published her father's biography in Lithuanian and French. In 1996, she founded the Smolski–Geelens Foundation to support graduate students in history at [[Vilnius University]] and the [[Free University of Brussels]].<ref name=kirve/> In 2009, a memorial to Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis is inaugurated in Pakriaunys at the execution site. On the occasion of the centenary of his death, a stele with a portrait of the couple was erected in the name of the descendants from Belgium.<ref name=major/> |
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'''1907–1913''' He stays in [[Kraków]] (then in the Austrian Empire) and in Switzerland. A student at the New University of Brussels, in the course of Professor [[Guillaume De Greef]], he meets a Belgian teacher, Germaine Geelens, in the movement of the pedagogue [[Ovide Decroly]] . Jurgis Smolski participates in the political activities of the exiles and in the press, in particular to prepare the legal bases of a national banking system.<ref>Lietuvos žinios, [Lithuanian News], April 17, 1910</ref> With his wife “Maine” Geelens, he comes back to Russian Lithuania in June 1914. |
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'''1914–1917''' One year after the outbreak of the World War, the German army occupies Lithuania. The couple lives in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where Jurgis Smolski heads the underground organization of the LSDP. |
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In the autumn of 1916, during an attempted emigration through the [[Trans-Siberian railway]], he is arrested near [[Irkutsk]] and imprisoned in [[Kostroma]], where the Vilnius Public Prosecutor's Office retreated. His health is deteriorating; he survives thanks to the support of his wife and is transferred to a Moscow prison. |
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Freed by the revolution of February / March 1917 and the fall of Russian Empire, he led the legalized Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and moved closer to the Bolshevik faction, participating in the drafting of the newspaper Tiesa (The Truth). |
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<ref name=epaveldas>{{cite web |url=https://www.epaveldas.lt/object/recordDescription/LNB/C1R0000015214 |title=Vasaros rytas / parašė Jurgis Smalstys. - 1906. - 16 p. - („Naujosios gadynės“ išleidimas) |language=lt |accessdate=2 November 2019 |website=epaveldas.lt |publisher=Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka }}</ref> |
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In June, in the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament) of Petrograd, he represents and leads the LSDP group. |
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<ref name=griga>{{cite book |last=Grigaliūnas-Glovackis |first=Vincas |title=Generolo atsiminimai |series=Lietuvos kariuomenės istorija |volume=II and III |publisher=Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija, Lituanistikos tyrimo ir studijų centras |url=http://www.llks.lt/pdf2/knyga%20glovackis%202%20tomas%20%20internetui.pdf |language=lt |isbn= 978-609-8074-69-7 |location=Vilnius |year=2017 | page=75}}</ref> |
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'''1918''' From January to April in Moscow, during a famine winter, J. Smolski organizes the supply and repatriation of Lithuanian refugees. Following the [[peace of Brest-Litovsk]], he returned to his formally independent homeland and was elected chairman of the regional committee of Rokiškis. In December, he is in charge of the People's Education Department of Rokiškis County. |
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<ref name=kagan>{{cite book |first=Berl |last=Kagan |chapter=Kamajų žydai |translator=Aušra Pažėraitė |editor-first=Venantas |editor-last=Mačiekus |title=Kamajai |publisher=Versmė |location=Vilnius |year=2016 |series=Lietuvos valsčiai |volume=31 |isbn=978-609-8148-41-1 |language=lt |page=199 }}</ref> |
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'''1919''' After the collapse of the German Empire and the end of the World War, the Red Army occupies two-thirds of the territory of Lithuania and supports the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic led by the communist intellectual [[Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas]] . The soviet elected in Vilnius also includes [[LSDP]], [[Menshevik]] and [[Jewish Bund]] delegates. Most of the administration remains in place and Jurgis Smolski continues to exercise his responsibilities in Rokiškis. |
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While his PSDL comrade [[Steponas Kairys]] participates in the coalition government folded in Kaunas, the national army in training relies on officers close to white Russians. In offensive against the Bolsheviks ("Reds") and rivals of the Polish Pildsuski, the "Whites" are themselves divided into supporters of the Entente, and German Freikorps of the Baltic. The White Guards occupied Panevežis and Rokiškis at the end of May 1919 and the rest of Upper Lithuania during the following month. Arrested on June 26 by the troops of Colonel Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis, Jurgis Smolski is imprisoned in Pakriaunys near Obeliai and sentenced by a court martial to six years of fortress.<ref>L’armée de l’ordre en Lituanie, [The Army of the Order in Lithuania] 5 sheets typed in 1919, from the hand of Germaine Geelens. Family archives. In French with Lithuanian translation on http://fle.paixactive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Larm%C3%A9e-de-lordre-en-Lituanie-FR-LT-1.pdf</ref> On July 6, during a transfer, he was shot in the nearby forest on the pretext of an escape attempt. His death and the White and anti-Semitic Terror against hundreds of left-wing suspects arouse indignation in the region, speaking out in petitions, and among the progressive circles of Kaunas. Colonel Glovackis, who does not forgive Smolski for his secular and revolutionary commitment, forbids the burial at Rokiškis and any procession, to avoid the risk of political protest.<ref>GRIGALIŪNAS-GLOVACKIS, Vincas, Generolo atsiminimai [Memories of a General], Lietuvos kariuomenés istorija [Military History of Lithuania] Vilnius, 2017, pages 64 and 75-76.</ref> |
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<ref name=kirve>{{cite journal |last=Kirvelis |first=Dobilas |title=Ramybės drumstėjas: Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys ir jo šeima |url=http://media.search.lt/GetFile.php?OID=236500&FID=691257 |journal= Gairės |date=December 2011 |volume=10 |issue=209 |issn=1392-0251 |language=lt |pages=32–39}}</ref> |
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Returning exhausted at her parents in [[Verviers]] , his widow Germaine Geelens, gives birth in February 1920 to a posthumous girl, Jurgita. Back to Lithuania as a teacher on the return of a rule of law, she filed for justice in a Kaunas court. Under pressure from ultra-reactionary elements of the army, the Court acquitted the responsible officers and sentenced the executing soldier to a symbolic prison sentence. |
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<ref name=major>{{cite web |first=Michel |last=Majoros | url=http://fle.paixactive.org/memoire-balte |title=Mémoire balte |accessdate=2 November 2019 |language=fr |}}</ref> |
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The most popular literary work of J. Smolski is the comedy Nutrūko ("The Break") (1906), widely interpreted by amateur theater groups. Many works-poems, short stories, plays have been destroyed or have remained handwritten.<ref>For different pseudonyms, ee On line Catalogue of Library of Vilnius University </ref> |
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From 1962 to 2005, his daughter Jurgita Smolski traveled several times to Lithuania under Soviet rule, and since 1990 independent Lithuania. She published her father's biography and encouraged research about. In 1996, she founded the Smolski – Geelens Foundation to support graduate students in history at the University of Vilnius at the Free University of Brussels. |
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<ref name=misius>{{cite book |first=Kazys |last=Misius |chapter=Rašytojas socialdemokratas Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis |editor-first=Venantas |editor-last=Mačiekus |title=Kamajai |publisher=Versmė |location=Vilnius |year=2016 |series=Lietuvos valsčiai |volume=31 |isbn=978-609-8148-41-1 |language=lt |pages=1419–1428 }}</ref> |
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== Bibliography == |
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* ''Audroms siaučiant'',[''When the Storms Raged'', an anthology of revolutionary writers published at Valstybine Grožines Literatūros Leidykla Vilnius, 1955. |
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* ''KAMAJAI'' – Monograph published by Versmés, Vilnius, 2016. |
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** Kazys MISIUS. ''1905–1906 mete revoliucijos įvykiai Kamajuose'' [The Events of 1905–1906 in Kamajai] - |
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** Berl KAGAN. ''Kamajų žydai'' [The Jews of Kamajai] - |
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** Kazys MISIUS. ''Lietuviškos spaudos draudimo metai Kamajų apylinkėse'' [The years of ban of the Lithuanian press in the Kamajai region] |
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** Kazys MISIUS. ''Rašytojas socialdemokratas Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis'' [Social Democrat writer Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis] - |
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* KIRVELIS, Dobilas, ''Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys ir jo seima'' (J.S. and his family) in the magazine Gaires 10/2011. |
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* SMOLSKI, Georgette, Jurgis Smolskis, ''Un destin lituanien'' [A Lithuanian Destiny], L'Harmattan, Paris, 2001 |
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* SMOLSKI, Jurgita, ''Mano Tevas'' [My father], translated in Lithuanian by Vytautas Kauneckas, Ed. Vaga, Vilnius, 1967. |
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* SMOLSKI, J. ''Maine, Vieno gyvenimo šviesa'' [Maine, The Light of a Life] /, translated from French by I. Mikalkevičienė.Vilnius, 1998. |
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<ref name=misius1905>{{cite book |first=Kazys |last=Misius |title=Kamajai |chapter=1905–1906 metų revoliucijos įvykiai Kamajuose |editor-first=Venantas |editor-last=Mačiekus |publisher=Versmė |location=Vilnius |year=2016 |series=Lietuvos valsčiai |volume=31 |isbn=978-609-8148-41-1 |language=lt |pages=185, 187–193}}</ref> |
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<ref name=petro>{{cite journal |last=Petronis |first=Vytautas |title=Neperkirstas Gordijo mazgas: valstybinės prievartos prieš visuomenę Lietuvoje genezė (1918–1921) |journal=Lietuvos istorijos metraštis |year=2015 |volume=1 |url=https://etalpykla.lituanistikadb.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2016~1496748906074/J.04~2016~1496748906074.pdf |language=lt |issn=0202-3342 |pages=76–80}}</ref> |
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<ref name=sarma>{{cite encyclopedia | editor-first=Jonas |editor-last=Zinkus |first=Romas |last=Šarmaitis| encyclopedia=Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija | title=Smalstys, Jurgis | year=1985–1988 | publisher=Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija | volume=IV | location=Vilnius |oclc=20017802 | page=46 |language=lt|display-editors=etal}}</ref> |
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<ref name=sarma232>{{cite book |first=Romas |last=Šarmaitis |title=Lietuvos revoliucionieriai |url=https://marksistobiblioteka.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/lietuvos_revoliucionieriai_1988.pdf |language=lt |pages=232 |publisher=Mintis |year=1988 |isbn=5-417-00071-X}}</ref> |
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==Further reading== |
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* {{cite book| last=Smalstytė |first= Jurgita |title=Mano tėvas |translator= Vytautas Kauneckas |publisher= Vaga |location=Vilnius |year=1967 |language=lt |oclc=74753088}} |
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* {{cite book| last=Smalstytė |first= Jurgita |title=Vieno gyvenimo šviesa |translator= Irina Mikalkevičienė |publisher=Vilniaus universiteto leidykla |location=Vilnius |year=1998 |language=lt |isbn=9986-19-319-2}} |
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* {{cite book| last=Smolski |first= Georgette |title=Jurgis Smalstys: Un destin lituanien |publisher=L'Harmattan |location=Paris |year=2001 |language=fr |isbn=2747502260}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smolskis, Jurgis}} |
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[[Category:1881 births]] |
[[Category:1881 births]] |
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[[Category:1919 deaths]] |
[[Category:1919 deaths]] |
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[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Lithuania politicians]] |
[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Lithuania politicians]] |
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[[Category:Lithuanian |
[[Category:Lithuanian writers]] |
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[[Category:Lithuanian journalists]] |
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[[Category:Executed Lithuanian people]] |
[[Category:Executed Lithuanian people]] |
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[[Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni]] |
Revision as of 02:04, 3 November 2019
Jurgis Smolskis | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 6 July 1919 | (aged 38)
Nationality | Lithuanian |
Alma mater | University of St. Petersburg New University of Brussels |
Occupation(s) | Writer, socialist activist |
Known for | Execution by the Lithuanian Army |
Political party | Lithuanian Social Democratic Party |
Spouse | Germaine Geelens (1888–1960) |
Children | Jurgita Smolski (1920–2012) |
Jurgis Smolskis (Lithuanian: Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys, Russian: Юрий Осипович Смольский (Yuri Osipovich Smolski), French: Georges Smolski; 1881–1919) was a writer and socialist activist in the Rokiškis District, then part of the Russian Empire now Lithuania.
As a gymnasium student in Riga and a law student at the University of St. Petersburg, Smolskis joined the Lithuanian National Revival and started contributing his poetry and articles to Lithuanian periodicals, including Ūkininkas and Tėvynės sargas. He also joined an amateur theater troupe in his native Kamajai and performed in Grīva, Subate, Panevėžys, Rokiškis. Smolskis joined the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) and was a delegate at the Great Seimas of Vilnius. He was an active organizer of anti-Tsarist protests in the Rokiškis District during the Russian Revolution of 1905. In retaliation, Russian soldiers shot four cannonballs into his parents' house in Kamajai. Smolskis escaped to Switzerland, but soon returned to Lithuania and continue working with LSDP in Vilnius. He was searched by the police and decided to escape to Crimea. He was arrested in Simferopol but managed to escape in summer 1907. He briefly lived in the Austrian Empire, Italy, and Switzerland before starting studies at the New University of Brussels in 1910. After graduation in late 1913, he returned to the Russian Empire and rejoined socialist activities. He was again arrested and imprisoned in May 1916 but was freed after the February Revolution. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) and participated at the Petrograd Seimas in June 1917.
In June 1918, following the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, he returned to his homeland and was elected chairman of the local committee of Rokiškis but soon the are was taken over by the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. When the Lithuanian troops of Colonel Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis captured Rokiškis on 31 May 1919, Smolskis was arrested, tried by a military court, and sentenced to six years of hard labor. He was shot and killed by Petras Valasinavičius during a transfer to Obeliai allegedly because he tried to escape. His death caused a scandal in Lithuania and his widow sued in 1922. The court found Valasinavičius guilty and sentenced him to eight years of hard labor; he did not serve the full sentence as he received a presidential pardon.
Biography
Early life
Smolskis was one of thirteen children and the eldest of five surviving siblings in a family of farmers in Kamajai, then part of the Russian Empire. His Lithuanian last name is Smalstys, but due to Polonization it was recorded as Smolskis in his birth records.[1] His uncle lived in Riga and so Smolskis attended a gymnasium there. He began reading Lithuanian periodicals which were at the time banned in the Russian Empire. His parents wanted him to become a Catholic priest and when he refused, he had to earn a living as a tutor.[2] Smolskis studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of St. Petersburg from 1900 to 1905.[1] In 1900, he published his first poems in Ūkininkas (The Farmer) and Tėvynės sargas (The Guardian of the Homeland). He later published articles with news and events from his native Kamajai. In December 1903, he sent a letter to Jonas Basanavičius regarding the collection of examples of Lithuanian folklore.[1] Smolskis was also active in the amateur Lithuanian theater. He organized several illegal theater performances accompanied by lectures and poetry readings in villages near Kamajai. Since government permits were easier to obtain in the Courland Governorate, Smolskis organized a legal performance of comedies Amerika pirtyje (America in the Bathhouse) by Keturakis and Neatmezgamas mazgas (The Impossible Knot) by Petras Pundzevičius-Petliukas in Grīva in December 1904.[3] In 1905, the troupe performed legally in Subate, Panevėžys (twice), Rokiškis, and Kamajai. In July 1905, Smolskis refused entry to a performance to a uryadnik (police officer) who did not purchase a ticket and chased him away with a group of men. Smolskis was sentenced to six weeks in prison in Zarasai.[3]
Revolution of 1905 and exile
As a student, Smolskis became a supporter of social democracy. In summer 1904, he organized the congress of the youth organization of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) at the manor of Vladas Sirutavičius in Kairiškiai .[2] Smolskis supported the Russian Revolution of 1905 and organized the Republic of Kamajai in summer 1905. The republic removed Russian officials and organized its own library, hectograph, armed guard, and court. It had two flags, one red with the slogan Long live socialism and another black with the slogan Death to tyrants.[3] Smolskis organized various public protests and delivered anti-government speeches in Jūžintai, Obeliai, Dusetos, Zarasai, Užpaliai.[2] His activities reached as far as Utena and Alanta.[4] He was arrested during a speech in Rokiškis.[2] During a protest on 30 October [O.S. 17 October] 1905 in Kamajai, Smolskis detained a pristav (police officer), confiscated his weapons, and forced him to walk around with a black flag which had an anti-Tsarist slogan.[3] Smolskis also agitated Kamajai resisdents against anti-Jewish pogroms.[2][5] Smoskis participated in the Great Seimas of Vilnius which adopted a resolution demanding a wide political autonomy within the Russian Empire and urged people to engage in nonviolent resistance to achieve this goal.[3] However, Russian authorities started to crack down on the revolutionaries. Russian policemen accompanied by about 100 Cossacks searched the home of Smolskis' parents on 26 December [O.S. 13 December] 1905.[3] The house was looted (the damage was appraised at 25 Russian rubles) and Smolskis' brother Balys was beaten with a nagaika and arrested. On 3 February [O.S. 21 January] 1906, about 300 dragoons and infantrymen with four cannons arrived to Kamajai for a punitive action. The soldiers surrounded and robbed Smolskis' home before firing four cannonballs into its walls.[3]
As it was unsafe in Lithuania, Smolskis escaped to East Prussia around February 1906.[1] He traveled to Switzerland, but soon returned to Lithuania and joined the central committee of the LSDP in Vilnius. He instigated farmer strikes in Suvalkija and organized textile workers in Białystok.[2] Searched by police, Smolskis decided to travel to Crimea where he was caught and imprisoned in Simferopol. He befriended a peasant who agreed to take Smolskis' place allowing him to escape during prisoner transfer in July 1907. He briefly stayed in Kraków and Zakopane (then part of the Austrian Empire), Capri (Italy), Davos and Arosa (Switzerland), before moving to Brussels to study sociology under professor Guillaume De Greef at the New University of Brussels in 1910. There he met his future wife Germaine "Maine" Geelens, a teacher following new pedagogical methods of Ovide Decroly.[2]
Return to Russia
After graduation from the university in late 1913, Smolskis returned to Russia with fake papers and obtained a bookkeeping job in a mine in the Ural.[2] In June 1914, Smolskis and Geelens reunited in Bazilionai near Šiauliai. The couple did not feel safe in Lithuania and traveled to Saint Petersburg where Smolskis joined socialist activities. When, due to World War I, police archives from Vilnius were moved to Saint Petersburg, the couple decided to move to Siberia in May 1916 but Smolskis was arrested at the train station in Irkutsk and imprisoned in Kostroma.[2] Due to poor health (neurasthenia and severe anemia),[1] he was transferred to a prison in Zamoskvorechye District, Moscow, where he married Geelens in a ceremony officiated by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.[2] He was freed from prison after the February Revolution.[2]
After a brief rest in the Caucasus, Smolskis returned to Moscow and joined revolutionary activities of the legalized LSDP and collaborated with Stasys Matulaitis on publishing Socialdemokratas (Social Democrat).[1] He also joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) and edited the communist newspaper Tiesa (The Truth).[4] However, he supported social democrats and cooperation with other parties and thus soon withdrew from the Bolsheviks.[4][6] Smolskis was an active participant in the Petrograd Seimas in June 1917. The Seimas discussed Lithuania's political future after the war. The socialists, including Smolskis, advocated for autonomy within Russia and withdrew from the proceedings when a resolution calling for full independence won by a narrow margin. After the October Revolution, Smolskis worked at the Lithuanian section of the People's Commissariat for Nationalities on cataloging valuables (equipment, archives, art) evacuated from Lithuania during the war.[1]
Execution by the Lithuanian Army
In June 1918, following the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, he returned to his formally independent homeland and was elected chairman of the local committee of Rokiškis which attempted to establish local Lithuanian administration.[2] After the outbreak of the Lithuanian–Soviet War, Rokiškis was taken over by the communists and the newly proclaimed Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. The local committee was replaced by a revolutionary committee (revkom) and Smolskis became a deputy of his friend Antanas Purėnas who was in charge of schools in the district.[2] On 31 May 1919, Rokiškis was captured by the Lithuanian troops of Colonel Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis who was known for executions of civilians suspected of sympathizing with the communists.[7] Smolskis was arrested on 26 June and tried by a military court. He was suspected of being responsible for the execution of a Catholic priest in Ilūkste but was cleared of that charge and avoided a death penalty.[1] The court still sentenced him to three years of hard labor, but Grigaliūnas-Glovackis refused to confirm the sentence and convened the second court. This time he was sentenced to six years of hard labor. In the morning of 6 July 1919, Smolskis was escorted from Pakriaunys to Obeliai by soldiers Petras Valasinavičius and Juozas Pėža. Just outside the village, Valasinavičius killed Smolskis with a single shot to the head.[1] Grigaliūnas-Glovackis, treating Smolskis as a traitor and an atheist, forbade the funeral procession to Rokiškis or a cross on his grave.[8] Smolskis was buried where he was shot; his remains were exhumed and transferred to Obeliai in 1947.[2]
Returning to her parents in Verviers, his widow Geelens gave birth in February 1920 to a posthumous girl, named Jurgita (Georgette) after her father.[2] Back to Lithuania, she sued for justice in a Kaunas court in 1922. Valasinavičius claimed that Smolskis tried to escape, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to eight years of hard labor. After a couple of years, Valasinavičius received a presidential pardon and emigrated abroad.[1] The executions of Smolskis and of Feliksas Valiukas and his wife became the two most prominent examples of excesses committed by Grigaliūnas-Glovackis.[7]
Works and legacy
Smolskis wrote poetry and short stories, but his most popular literary work is the one-act comedy Nutrūko ([It] Broke) published in 1906. It was performed at least 51 time by various amateur troupes in 1906–1910.[1] In 1906, he also published two short stories, his own Vararos rytas (Summer Morning) and translated Kalinių badavimas (Hunger of Prisoners).[9] His short stories were published in Audroms siaučiant (When the Storms Raged), an anthology of revolutionary writers published in Vilnius in 1955. Many of his works were destroyed during his arrests and the wars.[1]
His daughter Georgette Smolski (Lithuanian: Jurgita Smolskytė) published her father's biography in Lithuanian and French. In 1996, she founded the Smolski–Geelens Foundation to support graduate students in history at Vilnius University and the Free University of Brussels.[2] In 2009, a memorial to Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis is inaugurated in Pakriaunys at the execution site. On the occasion of the centenary of his death, a stele with a portrait of the couple was erected in the name of the descendants from Belgium.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Misius, Kazys (2016). "Rašytojas socialdemokratas Jurgis Smalstys-Smolskis". In Mačiekus, Venantas (ed.). Kamajai. Lietuvos valsčiai (in Lithuanian). Vol. 31. Vilnius: Versmė. pp. 1419–1428. ISBN 978-609-8148-41-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Kirvelis, Dobilas (December 2011). "Ramybės drumstėjas: Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys ir jo šeima". Gairės (in Lithuanian). 10 (209): 32–39. ISSN 1392-0251.
- ^ a b c d e f g Misius, Kazys (2016). "1905–1906 metų revoliucijos įvykiai Kamajuose". In Mačiekus, Venantas (ed.). Kamajai. Lietuvos valsčiai (in Lithuanian). Vol. 31. Vilnius: Versmė. pp. 185, 187–193. ISBN 978-609-8148-41-1.
- ^ a b c Šarmaitis, Romas (1985–1988). "Smalstys, Jurgis". In Zinkus, Jonas; et al. (eds.). Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Vol. IV. Vilnius: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. p. 46. OCLC 20017802.
- ^ Kagan, Berl (2016). "Kamajų žydai". In Mačiekus, Venantas (ed.). Kamajai. Lietuvos valsčiai (in Lithuanian). Vol. 31. Translated by Aušra Pažėraitė. Vilnius: Versmė. p. 199. ISBN 978-609-8148-41-1.
- ^ Šarmaitis, Romas (1988). Lietuvos revoliucionieriai (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Mintis. p. 232. ISBN 5-417-00071-X.
- ^ a b Petronis, Vytautas (2015). "Neperkirstas Gordijo mazgas: valstybinės prievartos prieš visuomenę Lietuvoje genezė (1918–1921)" (PDF). Lietuvos istorijos metraštis (in Lithuanian). 1: 76–80. ISSN 0202-3342.
- ^ Grigaliūnas-Glovackis, Vincas (2017). Generolo atsiminimai (PDF). Lietuvos kariuomenės istorija (in Lithuanian). Vol. II and III. Vilnius: Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija, Lituanistikos tyrimo ir studijų centras. p. 75. ISBN 978-609-8074-69-7.
- ^ "Vasaros rytas / parašė Jurgis Smalstys. - 1906. - 16 p. - („Naujosios gadynės" išleidimas)". epaveldas.lt (in Lithuanian). Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- ^ Majoros, Michel. "Mémoire balte" (in French). Retrieved 2 November 2019.
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Further reading
- Smalstytė, Jurgita (1967). Mano tėvas (in Lithuanian). Translated by Vytautas Kauneckas. Vilnius: Vaga. OCLC 74753088.
- Smalstytė, Jurgita (1998). Vieno gyvenimo šviesa (in Lithuanian). Translated by Irina Mikalkevičienė. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. ISBN 9986-19-319-2.
- Smolski, Georgette (2001). Jurgis Smalstys: Un destin lituanien (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2747502260.