Jurgis Bielinis
Jurgis Bielinis (born March 16, 1846 in Purviškiai near Biržai ; † January 18, 1918 in Katinai near Panevėžys ) was one of the leading figures behind the organized smuggling of books printed in Latin letters to Lithuania by Knygnešiai during the period of the Lithuanian press ban from 1866 to 1904. He was also active as a journalist.
Life
Bielinis attended a German primary school in Riga . In 1872 he completed his training. From 1873 Bielinis was involved in book smuggling, initially working with Motiejus Valančius . From 1890 he was on the wanted lists of the Russian authorities and had to go underground. He escaped at least five times after being arrested and despite receiving high rewards for his arrest. The criminalization forced him to organize the book smuggling even better and safer in the form of a conspiratorial network. Bielinis became the most important distributor of Lithuanian scripts in northern Lithuania. The Garšviai society he founded was the largest of its kind. His organization also supplied neighboring Latvia with banned Latvian-language books. Bielinis built up a distribution of newspapers and magazines and had regular customers. His outstanding position in the smuggling industry earned him the nickname "knygnešių karalius" ( King of the book smugglers ). It is believed that Bielinis distributed about half of all books smuggled in from Lithuania Minor during the 31 years of his activity .
Bielinis also brought out his own newspaper Baltasis erelis and wrote for the newspapers Aušra and Varpas . He used the pseudonyms Bieliakas and Jakulis . Various brochures on Lithuanian history are also from his pen. He was one of the first to openly demand an independent Lithuania.
He died walking to a meeting in Vilnius and was buried in the cemetery in Suostas village. Jurgis Bielinis' birthday is celebrated today in Lithuania as Bookkeeper Day.
swell
- ↑ a b c d e Benjaminas Kaluškevičius, Ona Žemaitytės - Narkevičienė: Jurgis Bielinis . In: Šimtas Knygnešių . Lietuvos knygnešio draugija. 1998. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- ↑ A. STRAŽAS: Lithuania 1863-1893 . Retrieved July 17, 2008.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bielinis, Jurgis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bieliakas Jakulis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Lithuanian book smuggler and publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 16, 1846 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Purviškiai near Biržai |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1918 |
| Place of death | Katinai at Panevėžys |