Juozas Purickis

According to his baptismal records discovered in early 2000s, Purickis was born on 19 April 1883 in Petrošiškės about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east of Semeliškės in the present-day Elektrėnai Municipality. Earlier works provided that he was born on 12 November 1883 in nearby Pakrovai where his father later bought a 60-hectare (150-acre) farm.[1] It appears that his family was of noble origin, but their property was confiscated by the Tsarist authorities for their participation in the failed Uprising of 1863. Purickis' uncle served 25 years in katorga in Siberia; his parents rented various farms to make a living.[2] Purickis had four other brothers.[3]

In 1891, Purickis began his education at the parish school in Stakliškės that he attended with Liudas Gira (they remained close friends for life). Local priest Vincentas Butvydas, who was implicated in a book smuggling operation set up by bishop Motiejus Valančius,[4] took care of the boys and encouraged them to pursue priesthood.[5] After a year, Purickis transferred to a Russian government school in Jieznas and graduated in 1895. He showed an aptitude for learning, but due to financial difficulties could not pursue further education for three years and helped his family with farm work.[5] With the help from a relative and Butvydas,[6] Purickis moved to Kaunas in 1898 to study privately. He passed four-year school exams in Moscow in 1902 and enrolled into the Kaunas Priest Seminary in 1904. Many clerics would not graduate from the seminary. Out of 48 students admitted in 1905 only 13 graduated.[7] The seminary was a center of Lithuanian culture with professors such as Juozapas Skvireckas, Kazimieras Šaulys, Adomas Jakštas. Purickis got acquainted with Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas and belonged to a student group that was interested in Lithuanian history, language, culture.[8]

Upon graduation in 1908, Purickis was sent for further studies at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy. He was ordained as subdeacon in June 1909 and deacon in his final year of study. He graduated in 1912 with a master's degree in theology and a gold medal for academic excellence. He returned to Kaunas and was assigned as a teacher to the Kaunas Priest Seminary. At the same time, he collected data for his thesis on the Reformation in Lithuania and published his first studies in Draugija.[9] It appears that Purickis traveled to Switzerland to study at the University of Fribourg without the proper government permits. His letters to Liudas Gira show that he was already in Fribourg in March 1913 and spent the summer in Rome collecting information for his thesis. According to a note by rector of the university, Purickis was officially registered as a student in June 1914.[10] He defended his thesis on the reasons for the failure of the Reformation in Lithuania on 25 July 1916 and was awarded a doctorate.[11] The thesis was mostly a historical work based on many archival documents and the first extensive study on the subject. His contemporaries often disagreed with Purickis' harsh criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, but he took a rather novel approach at evaluating the Reformation in the larger political, social, and economic context.[12]

In Switzerland, Purickis joined Lithuanian cultural life and became a member of Rūta and Lituania student societies.[13] In December 1915, he became the secretary of the Central Committee for the Relief of War Victims in Lithuania, chaired by Bronisław Piłsudski. A number of Polish nobles belonged to the committee and soon Lithuanian representatives began clashing with them over the political issues of future independent Poland and Lithuania.[14] A particular issue was 50,000 Swiss francs raised by a Polish committee led by Henryk Sienkiewicz and Ignacy Jan Paderewski and sent to Vilnius. At least a third of the sum was supposed to be given to Lithuanian-speaking residents, but according to Swiss Lithuanians all of the money were used for Polish refugees. Therefore, Lithuanians decided to separate from the Central Committee and establish their own. They collected about 10,000 francs and sent to the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers.[15]

In November 1915, Purickis expanded and reorganized the Lituania student society into a society that provided support to Lithuanian prisoners of war in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere. In December 1916, after breaking up from the Polish committee, the society's mission was further expanded to encompass relief for all war victims and refugees.[16] Purickis became secretary of a six-person committee that organized the world-wide donation drive on the Lithuanian Day – 20 May 1917 as declared by Pope Benedict XV.[17] Purickis traveled to Marseille to mail the appeal for donation to bishops around the world and personally visited French bishops and priests promoting the donation drive.[18] In early 1916, Lituania joined the Lithuanian Information Bureau established by Juozas Gabrys and Purickis became bureau's collaborator.[19] The bureau published two monthly magazines, Pro Lituania in French and Litauen in German. Purickis wrote many articles for these journals and edited Litauen as well as published three separate booklets with his thesis on the Reformation,[20] about Lithuania's economy to encourage foreign trade and investments, and about the ethnic composition of the Grodno Governorate to substantiate Lithuania's territorial claims in the region.[21] He also attended the Lithuanian conferences during World War I that were held in Switzerland.[22]

Purickis from Album of Lithuania published in 1921

In April 1920, Purickis as a delegate of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania in the IV district of Utena.[38] The Assembly convened on 15 May and Purickis was elected to the commission for drafting the Constitution of Lithuania.[39] On Jun 19, Prime Minister Kazys Grinius organized a new government and Purickis became the Minister of Foreign Affairs.[40] At the time, Lithuania was in a difficult international position. It was recognized de jure only by Germany; many of the Western powers did not recognize Lithuania even de facto as they still hoped for some kind of Polish–Lithuanian union in the spirit of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[41] During Purickis' tenure, Lithuania was recognized de jure by Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Soviet Union, Estonia, Argentina, Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Brazil and became a full member of the League of Nations on 22 September 1921.[42]

In July 1920, Lithuania concluded the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty which recognized Vilnius Region to Lithuania. When Poland achieved a major victory in the Battle of Warsaw and forced the Soviets to retreat in August 1920, Lithuanians defended their new borders while Poland claimed that Lithuania became a Soviet ally (see the Polish–Lithuanian War). Under pressure from the League of Nations, Poland signed the Suwałki Agreement on 7 October 1920 but immediately staged the Żeligowski's Mutiny and captured Vilnius from the Lithuanians. Polish general Lucjan Żeligowski proclaimed creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania with capital in Vilnius. Lithuania and Poland began the prolonged mediation at the League of Nations. Purickis and a delegation of the Constituent Assembly visited political and religious leaders in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome in largely unsuccessful attempt to garner support for the Lithuanian cause. Lithuanians rejected plans for a plebiscite or a compromise solution drawn up by Paul Hymans.[43] At about 3:30 am on 19 June 1921, an unknown person shot at Purickis' bedroom window in an apparent assassination attempt. Purickis was not injured. The police did not find a suspect but historians believe that the incident was provoked by Purickis' soft diplomatic stance on the issue of the plebiscite and Hymans' plans.[44] As the mediation efforts stalled, there were no diplomatic relations between Poland and Lithuania until the Polish ultimatum on 1938.

As a counterbalance to Poland, Purickis sought out closer relationship with Latvia and Estonia.[45] In March 1921, Lithuania and Latvia concluded a treaty determining the Latvia–Lithuania border. Lithuania gained Palanga and Šventoji; Latvia gained Ilūkste and Aknīste. The three countries concluded various conventions on communications, extradition of criminals, consular services, but Purickis great hope for the Baltic Entente was not realized until 1934.[45] Purickis also standardized the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, its structure, staff, pay, and organized a conference of all Lithuanian diplomats in October–November 1921.[46] When Prime Minister Kazys Grinius took a month-long medical leave in October 1921, Purickis became the acting Prime Minister. However, he was forced to resign due to a corruption scandal (smuggling contraband items using diplomatic privileges) in December 1921.[47] The scandal created a government crisis and forced Grinius' Cabinet to resign on 18 January 1922[48] and is cited among the reasons for the poor Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party results in the May 1926 parliamentary elections.[49]

According to the findings of the Lithuanian Tribunal, Juozas Avižonis, deputy of the Lithuanian representative to Moscow Jurgis Baltrušaitis, attended a celebration of the 4th anniversary of the October Revolution and made an impromptu promise to Georgy Chicherin to supply two train cars worth of flour and sugar for the relief of the Russian famine of 1921–22.[50] Since the Lithuanian government did not have enough funds to purchase the supplies, Avižonis found Zacharias Milikovsky, a former owner of a factory in Moscow, who agreed to finance the two train cars in exchange for a third train car that he could fill up with other goods for his business. The cars would travel under a diplomatic exemption and thus would not be inspected by police or custom officers. Purickis, not wanting to risk an incident with the Russians and not having other means of fulfilling the promise, approved the deal.[51] Lithuanian counter-intelligence, led by Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys, learned of the affair and stopped the train in Joniškis on 29 November 1921. An inspection of the train cars revealed 299 boxes of sugar and 184 bags of wheat flour, but also 194 boxes (almost 10 tonnes or 22,000 pounds) of saccharin, 13 boxes with foodstuffs (sausage, cocoa, butter, apples, pasta, rice, etc.),[52] 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) of cocaine, four boxes of various fashion accessories, three boxes of alcohol, a box of candies.[53] At the time, saccharin was sold only pharmacies and special procedures applied to its export.[6] The cocaine was in a package addressed to Konstantinas Avižienis, Lithuanian military attaché in Moscow, but he was murdered by a local communist on 2 January 1922.[54][55] According to a story published in the daily Lietuva, Avižienis was murdered by a jealous husband of his lover.[56] On 10 February 1925, after a prolonged investigation, the Lithuanian Tribunal found Purickis, Avižonis, and two others not guilty.[57]

The Tribunal portrayed the so-called saccharin case as an isolated episode, but there is plenty of evidence that the practice of smuggling items in diplomatic packages was well known and widespread. Due to the famine, Russians lacked food but had plenty of valuables (including furniture, rugs, tableware, jewelry, art, fur) that were confiscated from nobles and bourgeoisie. A business plan was developed – food items purchased in Germany would arrive to Kaunas legally and then would be transported to Russia in diplomatic packages where they would be exchanged for valuables.[58] In his memoirs, Lithuanian diplomat Bronius Kazys Balutis wrote that the practice was justified as a way to recover at least some of the confiscated property and at one point it was even semi-legalized when a special commission assessed a 10% tax on the items brought back from Russia.[59] Surviving letters by Avižonis show that he moved items worth billions of roubles (then subject to hyperinflation) and that he planned to use the money to purchase a building for the Lithuanian legation in Moscow.[60] In his memoirs, Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys claimed that on the Russian side, the trade was organized by the Cheka and thus could be easily used to blackmail Lithuanian officials into spying for the Russians.[61] Avižonis is known to have established contacts with Cheka men Semyon Aralov, Yakov Davydov, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky.[62]

Immediately after his resignation, Purickis left for Germany.[63] He was subject to widespread criticism and ridicule in the opposition press, particularly by Augustinas Voldemaras.[64] The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania launched an investigation into the finances of the Lithuanian legations in Berlin and Moscow.[65] The state auditor found several large bank accounts in Purickis' name. He explained that he did not keep very good records due to the post-war chaos and commingled personal and state funds because some funds raised for charitable causes were transferred to his personal accounts due to bureaucratic obstacles. In the end, Purickis transferred more than 12 million Lithuanian auksinas to Lithuania.[63]

In 1922, Purickis spent almost the entire year in Berlin trying to clear up the financial records. At the very end of the year, Prime Minister Ernestas Galvanauskas invited Purickis to participate in the Klaipėda Revolt of January 1923 and help Lithuanians capture the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory), then a mandate of the League of Nations under temporary French administration.[57] Purickis made declarations and explored possibilities of gaining Klaipėda Region was he was the Minister.[66] Purickis was issued a fake passport under a Prussian Lithuanian-sounding last name Pėteraitis and helped rebels (mostly members of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union) handle diplomatic aspects of the revolt[67] – writing manifestos, negotiating with the French administration, organizing propaganda efforts, etc.[68] Officially, he was the Lithuanian representative to the Directorate of the Klaipėda Region. The revolt was a success and Purickis was offered a job editing Lithuanian newspapers in Klaipėda Region, but refused and returned to Berlin.[67]

Purickis also helped Lithuania to negotiate trade deals with Germany (concluded on 1 June 1923) and Sweden (concluded on 17 February 1924).[67][69] In March 1925, Purickis was sent as a special envoy to the Vatican to protest the Concordat with Poland. He brought a sternly worded diplomatic note, but could not deliver it to a Vatican official. Therefore, he modified the text and had it published in an Italian newspaper. Such a public airing of grievances led to the deterioration of the Holy See–Lithuania relations.[70]

In early 1926, Purickis returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director of the newly created Economics Department. It was established to conduct trade negotiations with Latvia, Germany, Soviet Union, France, and other countries.[71] Purickis also dealt with a complaint of the Parliament of the Klaipėda Region to the League of Nations regarding the division of tax revenue and helped negotiate the Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact.[72] In 1926, Purickis submitted a request to be defrocked but it was granted only in June 1929. On 20 December 1926, during trade negotiations in Moscow, Purickis married Elena Skriabina, a Ukrainian lady of Eastern Orthodox faith born in 1900, in a civil ceremony.[73] The trade deal with the Soviet Union was concluded only in 1928.[74]

After the coup d'état in December 1926, Purickis was promoted to director of the Law–Administrative Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party decided to withdraw from the government on 15 May 1927, Purickis followed suit and resigned. It meant his retirement from politics and diplomacy.[74]