Liudas Vaineikis

Liudas Vaineikis (31 August 1869 – 17 January 1938) was a physician and notable member of the Lithuanian book smuggling movement during the Lithuanian press ban (1864–1904).

Already as a student at Mitau Gymnasium, Vaineikis joined the Lithuanian National Revival. He studied medicine at the Imperial Moscow University but was expelled when he was arrested together with member of Atgaja Society which he helped establishing in 1889. He managed to complete his degree at Kazan University and moved to Palanga to work as a physician. He continued to be involved in Lithuanian cultural life and smuggle illegal Lithuanian and social democratic publications. In 1899, he managed to obtain a government permit for America in the Bathhouse (Amerika pirtyje), the first Lithuanian-language theater performance in present-day Lithuania. He was arrested in 1900. His cased grew to involve many other prominent Lithuanian activists. He was sentenced to five years of internal exile in February 1902 but was released after the Lithuanian press ban was lifted in 1904.

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he supported the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and edited the party's newspaper Darbininkų balsas. After around 1908, he distanced himself from political work. During World War I, he worked as a doctor in Central Asia. He returned to Palanga in 1922 and unsuccessfully participated in the elections to the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament). He was elected to the first city council of Palanga in 1932, but the Lithuanian government would not approve him as deputy mayor. He died of a heart disease in Kaunas in 1938.

Biography Early life and education Vaineikis was born on 31 August 1869 in in the present-day Joniškis District Municipality. He received his first education at home and at a primary school in Joniškis.