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Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas | |
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![]() Vydūnas in 1930 | |
Born | Wilhelm Storost 22 March 1868 Jonaten, Kingdom of Prussia |
Died | 20 February 1953 84) | (aged
Resting place | Bitėnai (reburied 1991) [1] |
Spouse | Klara Füllhase |
Wilhelm Storost, artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas (22 March 1868 – 20 February 1953), mostly known as Vydūnas, was a Prussian-Lithuanian [2] teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian [3] [4] [5] [6] writer, a leader of the Prussian Lithuanian national movement in Lithuania Minor, and one of leaders of the theosophical movement in East Prussia.
The Storost family was a long-established family in East Prussia and Wilhelm was born in the village of Jonaten (Lithuanian : Jonaičiai), near Heydekrug, in the Kingdom of Prussia. Wilhelm Storost was the name on his German passport, while Vilimas or Vilius Storostas was the literature Lithuanian form used by himself, his family, and other Lithuanians. "Vydūnas" was added to his surname as a pseudonym when he was about 40 years old. Storost was married to Klara Füllhase.
Storost was educated as teacher at the Präparandenanstalt in Pillkallen (lit. Pilkalnis) (1883–85) and at teacher seminar in Ragnit (lit. Ragainė) (1885–88). From 1888 to 1892 he was a teacher in Kinten (lit. Kintai), when he went to teach at a boys school in Tilsit (lit. Tilžė) until 1912 and taught German, French, English, Lithuanian and sports. In 1912 he left his teaching position in order to take up philosophical studies, which he took at the universities of Greifswald, Halle, Leipzig and Berlin. 1918/19 he taught Lithuanian at the Seminar for Oriental Languages in Berlin under the director Eduard Sachau. Back in Tilsit he dedicated himself to reestablishment of Lithuanian Culture, especially folks songs and rural traditions. He directed a choir and wrote songs as well as theater plays. From 1933 on he worked in Memel at the music school.
1932 he published the book Sieben Hundert Jahren Deutsch-Litauischer Beziehung (Seven Hundred Years of German-Lithuanian relations) focusing on German trade, military and religious colonization and genocide of Old Prussians. The book did not please the Nazis and in 1933 was outlawed. 1938 he was shortly incarcerated, but because of protests released after two months.
Together with nearly all of the people of East Prussia he was expelled during the Soviet take-over and lived in a refugee camp for some time. He died in Detmold, West Germany. [7] His grand nephew Jürgen Storost recently explained that Wilhelm Storost's answered his friend Viktor Falkenhahn, that "his use of the pen name Vydūnas was his chosen anthroposophic mission; that he did not want to be a "pavydūnas", but a "vydūnas" (one who wishes everyone everything good).
Vydūnas was active in the old Lithuanian religion (see Romuva). However, he did not declare the revival of the pagan religion as either his personal goal or a goal of Lithuanians, remaining a national leader but not a religious one. His moral influence transcended the confines of being a typical political leader or a writer at his time. He was compared by later biographers with national leaders in India of his time, such as Rabindranath Tagore or Mahatma Gandhi. Pantheistic universalism, not predefined with participating in any obligatory religious practice, was one of the leading ideas of his philosophy, and gained him later fame as a pioneer of both pagan revival and theosophy in Lithuania.
Vydūnas was an ethical vegetarian and wrote several essays about his ethical choices. [8]
Vydūnas was nominated for the Nobel Prize by the Lithuanian Writers Association. [3] [9]
Albrecht Giese was a councilman and diplomat of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk). He was a member of the Hanseatic League, and part of an important merchant family who had offices in London and Danzig.
Romuva is a neo-pagan movement derived from the traditional mythology of the Lithuanians, attempting to reconstruct the religious rituals of the Lithuanians before their Christianization in 1387. Practitioners of Romuva claim to continue Baltic pagan traditions which survived in folklore, customs and superstition. Romuva is a polytheistic pagan faith which asserts the sanctity of nature and ancestor worship. Practicing the Romuva faith is seen by many adherents as a form of cultural pride, along with celebrating traditional forms of art, retelling Baltic folklore, practicing traditional holidays, playing traditional Baltic music, singing traditional dainos (songs), as well as ecological activism and stewarding sacred places.
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Lithuania Minor encompassed the northeastern part of the region and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land depopulated during the incessant war between Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was repopulated by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526.
Šilutė is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County in western Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of Šilutė County and is currently the capital of Šilutė District Municipality.
Low Prussian, sometimes known simply as Prussian (Preußisch), is a moribund dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. In Danzig it formed the basis of the particular city dialect of Danzig German. It developed on a Baltic substrate through the influx of Dutch- and Low German-speaking immigrants. It supplanted Old Prussian, which became extinct in the early 18th century.
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The Act of Tilsit was an act, signed in Tilsit by 24 members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor on November 30, 1918. Signatories demanded unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Proper into a single Lithuanian state. This would mean detaching the northern areas of East Prussia, inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians, from the German Empire.
Stanislovas Svetkus Rapolionis was a Lutheran activist and Protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With patronage of Albert, Duke of Prussia, he obtained the doctorate of theology from the Protestant University of Wittenberg where he studied under Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. After graduation, he became the first professor of theology at the newly established University of Königsberg, also known as Albertina. As professor he began working on several Protestant publications and translations, including a Bible translation into Polish. It is believed that he also started the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian. Together with Abraomas Kulvietis, Rapolionis was one of the first authors to write in the Lithuanian language. While Rapolionis and Kulvietis died early leaving their work unfinished, they laid the foundations for future Lithuanian writers and translators.
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Martynas Jankus or Martin Jankus was a Prussian-Lithuanian printer, social activist and publisher in East Prussia, called the Patriarch of Lithuania Minor. He was one of the publishers of Aušra, the first Lithuanian-language newspaper for both Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major. Jankus used various pen names, including V. Giedris, Martyneitis, Bitėnų Merčius, and Gyvoleitis.
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The Lithuanian Literary Society was a literary society dedicated to the Lithuanian language that was active from 1879 to about 1923 in Tilsit, East Prussia. It was the first scientific society dedicated to Lithuanian studies. It sought to document, preserve, and study Lithuanian language, folklore, literature, and cultural heritage. Members of the society were mostly non-Lithuanian scholars and conducted its proceedings in German.
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Bitėnai is a small village in the Pagėgiai Municipality, in western Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 76, a decline from 119 in 2001. It is situated along the Neman River near the Rambynas hill and is known as the location of the Martynas Jankus printing press. Jankus Museum and the visitors' center of the Rambynas Regional Park are located in the village.
Vilius Gaigalaitis or Wilhelm Gaigalat was a Lutheran priest and Prussian Lithuanian activist. He was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives (1903–1918), director of the consistory of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania (1925–1933), and professor at Vytautas Magnus University (1925–1936).
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ignored (help)Lithuanian philosopher Vydunas