Stasys Lozoraitis (junior)

Stasys Lozoraitis (August 2, 1924 in Berlin – June 13, 1994 in Washington, D.C.) was a Lithuanian diplomat. He was a son of Stasys Lozoraitis (1898–1983) and brother of Kazys Lozoraitis.

Lozoraitis studied law at the Sapienza University of Rome from 1944 to 1948. He worked at the Lithuanian legation to the Holy See in Rome from 1943. In 1970, after death of Stasys Girdvainis, Lozoraitis became the chargé d’affaires in Rome.^[1] On November 15, 1987, Lozoraitis succeeded Stasys Bačkis as the leader of Lithuania's diplomatic service in exile, the position held by his father until 1983.^[2] The diplomatic service, based in Washington, D.C., was representation of interwar independent Lithuania and did not recognize authority of the Lithuanian SSR, a republic of the Soviet Union.^[3]

In March 1990, Lithuania declared restoration of its independence. On September 6, 1991, following August Putsch in Moscow and international recognition of independent Lithuania, Lozoraitis resigned the diplomatic service in favor of the national government established in Vilnius.^[2] In December 1991, he was appointed as the new government's chief diplomat to the United States, where he re-established the embassy.^[1] He was a candidate in the Lithuanian presidential election of February 1993, gathering 38.9% of vote and losing to Algirdas Brazauskas. In May 1993, just a few months after the election, Brazauskas recalled Lozoraitis as ambassador to the U.S. despite criticism of politicizing the issue.^[4] In late 1993, Lozoraitis was appointed as the ambassador to Italy.^[1]

Lozoraitis died of kidney failure at Georgetown University Hospital.^[5] He was buried in Putnam Cemetery in Connecticut;^[6] he was reburied in Petrašiūnai Cemetery in Kaunas in 1999.^[7] The same year he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis. Documentary Vilties prezidentas (The President of Hope) was produced by Vytautas Landsbergis in 1996.^[8]

References

1. McHugh, James T.; James S. Pacy (2001). Diplomats without a country: Baltic diplomacy, international law, and the Cold War. Contributions to the study of world history. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 238–239. ISBN 978-0-313-31878-8.
2. Žalys, Vytautas. "Lietuvos diplomatinė tarnyba 1918–1990. Trumpa raidos apžvalga" (in Lithuanian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.
3. Senn, Alfred Erich (1995). Gorbachev's failure in Lithuania. Palgrave Macmillan. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-312-12457-1.
4. Ashbourne, Alexandra (1999). Lithuania: the rebirth of a nation, 1991–1994. Lexington Books. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-7391-0027-1.
5. "Stasys Lozoraitis, Vilnius Envoy, 69". The New York Times. June 16, 1994.
6. "The S. & S. Lozoraitis Museum". Lithuanian Art Museum. 2005-03-23. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
7. "Kaune palaidoti Stasio Lozoraičio palaikai". Bažnyčios žinios (in Lithuanian) (12). 1999-06-30.
8. "1996 / Vilties Prezidentas" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian film center. Retrieved 2010-01-30.