Kazys Grinius, Date of Birth, Date of Death

    

Kazys Grinius

Third President of Lithuania from 7 June 1926 until 17 December 1926

Date of Birth: 17-Dec-1866

Date of Death: 04-Jun-1950

Profession: politician, journalist

Nationality: Lithuania

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Kazys Grinius

  • Kazys Grinius ([k?'z?i?s 'g?r??n??s] (listen), 17 December 1866 – 4 June 1950) was the third President of Lithuania, and held that office from 7 June 1926 to 17 December 1926.Grinius was born in Selema, near Marijampole, in the Augustów Governorate of Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania).
  • He studied medicine at the University of Moscow and became a physician.
  • As a young man, he became involved in Lithuanian political activities, and was persecuted by the Tsarist authorities.
  • In 1896, he was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP). That same year he married Joana Pavalkyte.
  • For some time they lived in Virbalis.
  • In 1899, their son Kazys was born, and in 1902, their daughter Gražina was born.
  • During World War I they lived in Kislovodsk.
  • In 1918, during a Red Army attack his wife and daughter were killed.
  • They were buried in Kislovodsk cemetery. When Lithuania regained its independence in 1918, Grinius became a member of the National Assembly as a member of the Peasant Populist Party.
  • He served as Prime Minister from 1920 until 1922, and signed a treaty with the Soviet Union.
  • He was elected President by the Third Seimas, but served for only six months, as he was deposed in a coup led by Antanas Smetona, under the pretext that there was an imminent communist plot to take over Lithuania.
  • (Smetona took the Presidency after two others held the office for less than a day each.) When Nazi Germany invaded Lithuania in 1941, Grinius refused to collaborate with the Germans because of his opposition to the occupation of Lithuania by any foreign power.
  • He fled to the West, when the Soviet army reoccupied Lithuania in 1944, and emigrated to the United States in 1947.He died in Chicago, Illinois in 1950.
  • After Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, his remains were returned and buried there.

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