Edvardas Turauskas

Edvardas Turauskas (30 May 1896 – 12 September 1966) was a Lithuanian diplomat.

He started law studies at the Saint Petersburg University, but they were interrupted by the October Revolution. In Lithuania, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which sent him to work at the Lithuanian legation in Switzerland. At the same time, he completed his philosophy and law studies at the University of Fribourg. He was the chargés d'affaires ad interim to Switzerland from June 1922 to the closing of the Lithuanian mission in August 1923. He then moved to Paris to study law at the University of Paris. He returned to Lithuania in 1926 and, as a member of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, he was elected to the Third Seimas (parliament). He became the editor of the daily newspaper (1927–1928) and director of ELTA, the Lithuanian news agency (1928–1934). At the same time, he was active in Lithuanian public life. He was elected chairman of the Ateitis Federation of Catholic youth, an active member of various Catholic societies, and author and translator of several booklets. In 1934, Turauskas was appointed as the envoy to Czechoslovakia and later to Romania and Yugoslavia. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he returned to Lithuania and became the director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had to coordinate Lithuania's response to the outbreak of World War II and the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty. In March 1940, he became a representative to the League of Nations and a deputy of Jurgis Šaulys, the Lithuanian envoy to Switzerland. After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in June 1940, he worked to protect and preserve the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service as a representative of the independent Lithuania thus preserving the legal continuity of the Lithuanian state. He continued to represent Lithuania at the League of Nations until it was closed in 1946. He then retired from the diplomatic service and moved to Paris. He continued to be involved with various international and Lithuanian Catholic and anti-Soviet organizations, including Pax Romana, Assembly of Captive European Nations, European Movement International, Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, American Lithuanian Council, United Lithuanian Relief Fund of America, until his death in 1966.

Biography Early life and education Turauskas was born in Endriejavas, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire. He was the only son of a sacristan who organized book smuggling during the Lithuanian press ban.