Petras Kriaučiūnas

Petras Kriaučiūnas
Born	(1850-09-16)16 September 1850 Girėnai,Suwałki Governorate,Congress Poland
Died	20 January 1916(1916-01-20)(aged 65) Yaroslavl,Russian Empire
Nationality	Lithuanian
Alma mater	Sejny Priest Seminary Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy University of Warsaw
Occupation(s)	Teacher, judge, attorney
Employer	Marijampolė Gymnasium
Movement	Lithuanian National Revival
Spouse	Sofija Zalevskaitė (1849–1912)

Petras Kriaučiūnas(1850–1916) was an activist during theLithuanian National Revival.Educated as a priest, he taught at theMarijampolė Gymnasiumin 1881–1887 and 1906–1914 and was active as an amateur linguist.

Kriaučiūnas was born into a well-off Lithuanian family inSuvalkija.He attendedMarijampolė GymnasiumandSejny Priest Seminary.As a good student, he obtained a stipend from theArchbishop of Mogilevto study at theSaint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy.However, the stipend obligated him to work at the Archdiocese of Mogilev. Therefore, he declined the final ordination to priesthood and attendedUniversity of Warsawfor a year to get a teaching diploma. He then returned to Lithuania and became a teacher at the Marijampolė Gymnasium. He taught Latin, Lithuanian, German and Greek languages and encouraged his students, many of whom later became prominent figures in independent Lithuania, to be proud of their Lithuanian identity and heritage. He defied theLithuanian press banteaching his students Lithuanian in theLatin alphabetand not the government-imposedCyrillic script.Kriaučiūnas actively supportedAušraandVarpas,the key Lithuanian-language periodicals. He was forced to resign from the gymnasium in 1887 and found employment with the Marijampolė Court. In 1889, he was assigned asjustice of the peacetoPlokščiaiwhere he spent a decade. During his free time, he continued to study linguistics. While his contemporaries were impressed by his wealth of knowledge, he wrote very little. His home was frequently visited by various activists and scholars. He was particularly close withVincas Kudirka.In 1899, he lost his government job and was forced to take up a private attorney practice in Marijampolė until he was able to regain his teaching position at the Marijampolė Gymnasium in 1906. He taught Latin and Lithuanian languages and law. DuringWorld War I,the gymnasium evacuated toYaroslavlwhere he died in January 1916.

Biography

Early life and education

Kriaučiūnas was born on 16 September [O.S.4 September] 1850to a well-off family of Lithuanian farmers inGirėnailocated near the Russia–Prussia border betweenVištytisandKybartai.He was the eldest of eight children. His father was an educated man who acted as a locallay judge.The family owned about 150morgensof land.As many parents of the time, Kriaučiūnas' family wanted him to become a Catholic priest and sent him to get education.He first studied at a primary school in Vištytis and in 1864 enrolled into a four-year school in Marijampolė. In the aftermath of theUprising of 1863,the school was undergoing reorganization – it was transformed into aseven-year gymnasiumand teaching language switched from Polish to Russian in 1866–1867.Despite widespreadPolonizationandRussification,Kriaučiūnas was proud of his Lithuanian identity and heritage. He started comparing Lithuanian words with Latin and Greek words exploring theirIndo-Europeanroots (he got up to the letter P).When one teacher mocked theLithuanian language,he translated the poemCzego chcesz od nas, PaniebyJan Kochanowskiand the fableThe Old Man and DeathbyIvan Krylovinto Lithuanian and read them during a graduation ceremony.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Kriaučiūnas became a cleric at theSejny Priest Seminaryin 1871.He was a good student and worked as an assistant librarian keeping up with the newest books and periodicals. He wanted to continue his studies at theSaint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy,but the seminary would not grant him a stipend. He then managed to get a stipend from theArchbishop of Mogilevand started his studies at the academy in 1876. In Saint Petersburg, he metSilvestras GimžauskasandKazimieras Jauniuswho were also active in theLithuanian National Revival.At the time, several noted linguists and philologists, includingLucian Müller,Franz Anton Schiefner,Daniel Chwolson,andNikolai Petrovich Nekrasov,taught at the academy.In 1880, Kriaučiūnas completed his exams and received acandidate degreein theology, but as a stipend recipient he would have been obligated to work in the Archdiocese of Mogilev. Therefore, Kriaučiūnas did not accept the final ordination to priesthood and returned to Lithuania. He then studied at theUniversity of Warsawfor a year and received a Latin teacher's diploma.

During the Lithuanian press ban

In November 1881, Kriaučiūnas became a teacher at theMarijampolė Gymnasium.He taught Latin, Lithuanian, German and Greek languages. He was a dedicated teacher using new teaching methods (e.g. rhymes to help memorize grammar rules). He defied theLithuanian press banand in Lithuanian lessons used illegal Lithuanian books in theLatin alphabetinstead of the legal publications in the government-imposedCyrillic script.He encouraged his students to translate texts into Lithuanian, collect samples ofLithuanian folklore,learn and study Lithuanian history and culture.His students included futurePresident of LithuaniaKazys Griniuswho counted some 80 students of Kriaučiūnas who later became prominent figures in Lithuanian culture, science, politics,including 30 who became members of theSeimas,government ministers, and university professors.While his lessons inspired patriotic feelings, they lacked structure and consistency. He taught Lithuanian grammar that was based on an eclectic mix of previous works byAugust Schleicher,Friedrich Kurschat,Antanas Baranauskas,Kazimieras Jaunius.His apartment at the Warsaw Hotel was frequently visited by students, various activists,Lithuanian book smugglers.Kriaučiūnas became a strong supporter ofAušra,the first Lithuanian-language periodical aimed at Lithuanians in the Russian Empire – he edited articles, donated funds, distributed physical copies. He later also supportedVarpas– the first meeting ofVarpascollaborators took place at his apartment in June 1888.

The Tsarist authorities noticed Lithuanian activities and one by one Lithuanian personnel were forced out of the gymnasium. Kriaučiūnas' workload was reduced to 10 lessons and his salary was cut to 250rublesa year. He resigned on 1 September 1887.He found employment as a secretary of the Marijampolė Court with a monthly salary of 25 rubles which he shared withJonas Jablonskiswho briefly worked at the court before his appointment to theMitau Gymnasium.In January 1889, he was transferred as ajudge of the peacetoPlokščiaiwhere he spent a decade. A position somewhere in the interior of Russia would have been more prestigious and lucrative, but Kriaučiūnas wanted to remain in his nativeSuvalkija.In May 1889, he married Sofija Zalevskaitė, a widow of the teacher and writerPetras Arminas-Trupinėlis.Kriaučiūnas collected and published Arminas' works in 1893 (republished in 1907).Kriaučiūnas was disliked by Tsarist officials and local landowners and was dismissed from his court job in 1899 and returned toMarijampolėwhere he started a private attorney practice.

During this time, he devoted his free time to philological studies and developed a scholarly reputation. He delivered two lectures to philological societies in Saint Petersburg in 1897 and 1900and was a member of theLithuanian Literary Society.His home was frequently visited by various activists and researchers, including foreignersJan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay,J. J. Mikkolaand his wifeMaila Talvio,Aukusti Niemi,Eduards Volters,Alexander Alexandrov,Åge Meyer Benedictsen.His Lithuanian visitors includedAntanas Baranauskas,Jonas Jablonskis,Petras Avižonis,Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas,Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė,Povilas Višinskis.Kriaučiūnas was particularly close withVincas Kudirka.Kriaučiūnas submitted numerous petitions arguing in favor of lifting the Lithuanian press ban.He knew eight languages (Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Latin, Greek, Latvian, German, and French) and had a rich philological library.However, he wrote very little and left no extensive bibliography.He collected examples of Lithuanian folklore (about 160 songs collected by him are known),contributed material to the dictionary ofAntanas Juška,translated ten poems from various languages (works byGavrila Derzhavin,Victor Hugo,Mikhail Lermontov,Friedrich Schiller,Alexander Pushkin,Maria Konopnicka), and wrote a couple papers and articles on language matters.There are hints that he was working on a Russian–Polish–Lithuanian dictionary – no manuscript is known though he was well known to collect words. Even as a judge, he would interrupt court proceedings to take notes on a rarer or more interesting word. Kriaučiūnas had a manuscript of a Lithuanian–Polish dictionary with about 21,000 words from 1820 that we was annotating and correcting.

Members of the Lithuanian Science Society in 1912. Kriaučiūnas sits third from left betweenŽemaitėandJonas Basanavičius

After the Russian Revolution of 1905

The Lithuanian press ban was lifted in 1904 and theRussian Revolution of 1905brought some relaxation of the various Russification policies. Kriaučiūnas was able to regain his teaching position at the Marijampolė Gymnasium in September 1906. He taught Latin and Lithuanian languages and law. As a school librarian, he established a section of Lithuanian publications in the library. At the same time, he also taught at the girls' progymnasium established by theŽiburys Societyand the girls' gymnasium established by Ksenija Breverniūtė.In 1909, he published a slim 18-page textbook onLatin syntaxin Russian.In 1913–1914, he prepared a program for teaching Lithuanian language in schools and sent it to theMinistry of National Educationfor approval.In 1909, he joined the newly establishedLithuanian Scientific Societyand worked on the failed attempt to establish its chapter in Marijampolė.

At the outbreak ofWorld War I,Kriaučiūnas retreated toVilniuswhere he lived at the premises of theLithuanian Scientific Society.In August 1915, together with the Marijampolė Gymnasium, he evacuated toYaroslavlwhere he fell ill in late 1915 and died on 20 January 1916. He was buried in the old cemetery of Yaroslavl. His grave was destroyed when the cemetery was liquidated.A primary school and a public library in Marijampolė were named after Kriaučiūnas in 1935 and 1937. A middle school inVištytiswas named after Kriaučiūnas in 1999.