On 23 March 2021, a monograph on the prominent politician and public figure, well-known diplomat was presented at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – “Eduardas Turauskas (1896-1966). Atheist, lawyer, journalist, diplomat, member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science”.
The event was attended by the author of the book, Ms Joana Viga Čiplytė, and the diplomat’s niece Ms Karolina Masiulytė-Paliulis. The discussion was moderated by Ambassador-at-Large Prof. Alfonsas Eidintas.
The documentary monograph is published by “Versus Aureus” to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth and 50th anniversary of the death of E. Turauskas. The solid book, for which documents have been collected not only in the Central State Archives of Lithuania, but also in the archives of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in the USA, covers his long life and significant political and social activities.
Diplomat E. Turauskas was a prominent political and public figure in the independent Lithuania, a doctor of law, a journalist, a member of the Third and Fourth Seimas of the Lithuanian Parliament, Lithuania’s Envoy, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Minister to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. During the crucial period for our country, he served as Director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was involved in “all major foreign policy issues: the conclusion of the 1939 Treaty with the Soviet Union, the return of the Vilnius region, etc.” He accumulated an impressive archive of documents and publications, and preserved “valuable historical testimonies from the most complicated period of Lithuanian history”.
On 15 June 1940, he left Lithuania and worked in Switzerland as a counsellor of the Lithuanian Embassy in Bern and as a permanent Lithuanian delegate to the League of Nations. After six years, his health deteriorated and he resigned from this position. From 1947 until the end of his life, he worked as a correspondent in Paris for the Lithuanian newspaper “Draugas” published in Chicago. After retiring from active diplomatic work, E. Turauskas continued to represent the Lithuanian nation in international gatherings.
The author of the monograph has set a goal “to shed light on the life of E. Turauskas by using the human factor, trying to reveal his inner world, his relationship with his family, friends, foreign diplomats, media representatives, etc., and to give the reader of the book the freedom to think, to make assumptions and draw conclusions about one or another issue.” The book reflects his relations with many political figures of that time – President Antanas Smetona, Foreign Minister Stasys Lozoraitis, Lithuanian diplomats (Jurgis Šaulis, Vytautas Gylis, Povilas Žadeikis, Jurgis Savickas, etc.), and representatives of foreign countries. The book contains articles, essays, pro memoria and letters by E. Turauskas. The author presents an idyllic picture of E. Turauskas’s family life, introduces his wife Elena Jankauskaite-Turauskienė and describes her contribution to her husband’s political activities.