Jonas Kriaučiūnas

Jonas Kriaučiūnas (18 June 1864 – 5 February 1941) was a Lithuanian activist during the Lithuanian National Revival mostly noted for editing and publishing Lithuanian periodicals Varpas and Ūkininkas in 1891–1895 and Vilniaus žinios in 1905–1906.

Born in Suvalkija, Kriaučiūnas studied medicine at the Imperial Moscow University but did not complete his studies. In 1889, to avoid conscription to the Russian Army, he moved to Tilsit in East Prussia where he worked at printing presses. When Juozas Adomaitis-Šernas fled East Prussia due to troubles with the police, Kriaučiūnas became responsible for editing and publishing Varpas and Ūkininkas. He attracted German police attention after he directed a Lithuanian historical play by the Birutė Society in early 1895. He returned to Lithuania but was arrested and imprisoned by the Tsarist police in Kaunas and Saint Petersburg. For violating the Lithuanian press ban, he was sentenced to three years of exile in Tallinn. In 1904, Petras Vileišis offered him a job publishing the first Lithuanian daily Vilniaus žinios (he resigned in January 1906). In late 1905, Kriaučiūnas was one of the main initiators and organizers of the Great Seimas of Vilnius. He later published and edited Rygos garsas in Riga and German-sponsored Dabartis. After World War I, he retired from public life.

Biography Early life and education Kriaučiūnas was born in the village of in the present-day Šakiai District Municipality. It was then part of Congress Poland, client state of the Russian Empire. After attending primary schools in Žemoji Panemunė and Lekėčiai, he was admitted to the second grade at the .