Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Switzerland

The importance of Switzerland to Lithuania peaked in 1880s-1930s. Main political decisions that shaped the contemporary Republic of Lithuania were made here while the Lithuanian elite were frequent guests in the country.

With the 1890s advent of traveling and popular belief in the health-restoring powers of mountain air, Lithuanians (mainly rich and/or famous) started to visit Switzerland.

Swiss universities were also popular among Lithuanians.

Commemorative plaques for Lithuanian arists

Maironis (Lithuania's most famous poet and national revival ideologist) spent time in Lucerne where he wrote poems about both Lithuania ("Jaunoji Lietuva" - "Young Lithuania") and Switzerland (Four Cantons lake, Rigi Kulm mountain). St. Charles Hall villa where Maironis used to stay in Meggen suburb of Lucerne (6045 Meggen; Bezeholzstrasse) now has a memorial plaque created by the Lithuanian-Swiss Community.

Villa where Maironis penned some of his most famous works

Villa where Maironis penned some of his most famous works

Maironis commemorative plaque on that villa

Maironis commemorative plaque on that villa

Meanwhile, Lithuanian modern painter Antanas Samuolis (1899-1942) and philosopher Ramūnas Bytautas (1886-1915) both went to Switzerland to heal their tuberculosis and both died there. Both are buried in Leysin cemetery, as Leysin was popular for such health tourism. In Switzerland, however, ,gravestones are temporary and Bytautas's and Samuolis's gravestones no longer surviev; modern-day Lithuanians of Switzerland marked the fact that they were buried there by commemorative plaques located on the cemetery wall.

Bytautas and Samuolis plaques on the Leysin cemetery wall

Bytautas and Samuolis plaques on the Leysin cemetery wall

Sites of Switzerland related to the rebirth of Lithuania

When World War 1 was raging in Europe (and Lithuania was caught in its Eastern Front) neutral Switzerland played a key role in developing Lithuanian aspirations. Lithuanian Informational Bureau worked in Lausanne in 1915-1919, propagating the idea of independent Lithuania. Seven political conferences took place (4 of them in Lausanne) where key Lithuanian politicians reached a consensus on future goals (borders of expected independent Lithuania, completely abandoning the idea of union with Poland, etc.).

In 1918 Lithuania declared its independence while in 1919 League of Nations (United Nations precursor) was established in Geneve. Lithuania now had its official representation and clearer goals than ever: to secure a wide recognition of its independence (1918-1922), to win support in territorial disputes over Vilnius (vs. Poland) and Klaipėda (vs. Germany).

However, even before Lithuania became independent, Switzerland attracted numerous figures of the Lithuanian national revival who studied in the universities of democratic Switzerland, among them, for example, the geographer Kazys Pakštas. In the university of Freibourg, these Lithuanians made a local Swiss Joseph Ehret especially interested in the Lithuanian cause. So much so, that Ehret wrote a book on Lithuania, helped Lithuania establish its information agency that is named after him to this date (ELTA - Ehret Lithuanian Telegram Agency / Ereto Lietuvos telegramų agentūra). He eventually moved to Lithuania, became a Lithuanian citizen, and married a Lithuanian woman, whose last name Jakaitis he also took. At one point, he was even elected to the Lithuanian parliament. While he had to go back to Switzerland as Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, his deeds for Lithuanian causes inspired the Lithuanians of Switzerland to put up a comemorative plaque on a building where he lived in Basel. On the plaque that also includes his portrait, he is said to have been "son of Switzerland and patriot of Lithuania".

Ehret plaque in Basel

Ehret plaque in Basel

Lithuanian DPs and politicians in Switzerland

After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania during World War 2, the Lithuanian community in Switzerland was joined by new people who escaped the Soviet Genocide who were known as DPs (displaced persons). About 200 of them were housed in the Lithuanian DP camp "Židinys" in Yverdon-les-Bains in 1945-1946. The former camp is now Hotel La Prairie, but the site's history is marked by a small monument in its yard. The monument with a Lithuanian coat of arms was built in 2020, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the DP camp. An oak was planted nearby by the Lithuanians.

Yverdon-les-Bains Lithuanian camp memorial

Yverdon-les-Bains Lithuanian camp memorial

During World War 2, the neutral Switzerland was a coveted place for Lithuanians to flee. Not only were the Lithuanians safe there from the Soviet persecution, they were also safe from war. However, entering Switzerland was not easy, and, after World War 2, most of the Lithuanians who were in Switzerland had to move elsewhere.

As such, Lithuanians in Switzerland have always been few in number but were mainly influential intellectuals who continued to advance Lithuanian independence goals through local media, as well as were instrumental in collecting donations for the establishment of a Lithuanian gymnasium in nearby Germany. Among the Lithuanians who remained in Switzerland after World War 2 was Jurgis Šaulys, one of the signatories of the 1918 Lithuanian Declaration of Independence. Jurgis Šaulys grave is located in Castagnola cemetery of Lugano.

Jurgis Šaulys grave in Lugano

Jurgis Šaulys grave in Lugano

Another signatory of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence Kazimieras Šaulys also lived in Lugano. Being a priest, he served the local St. Brigitte convent of nuns. In that convent, a commemorative room for Kazimieras Šaulys was opened. The room includes his photo and a plaque about him. Unlike Jurgis, Kazimieras is not buried in Lugano but rather in Rome.

The fact that two signatories of the Lithuanian declaration of independence lived in Lugano is impressive knowing that there were just 20 signatories in total.

Kazimieras Šaulys room in Lugano

Kazimieras Šaulys room in Lugano

Lithuanian symbols from the 19th century

Switzerland served as a place of refuge for people from Lithuania long before World War 2. After the failed Polish-Lithuanian uprising against the Russian Empire rule in the 1830s, a significant part of the Lithuanian elite fled the country, some of them ending up in Switzerland.

Vladislovas Broel-Plateris (Wladyslaw Broel-Plater, 1808-1889), a Vilnius-born 19th century noble, has rented Rapperswil-Jona castle for 99 years and establish the Museum of Poland there, which is still in operation.

Vytis symbol (Lithuanian coat of arms) is also featured there together with the coat of arms of Poland, e.g. on the column near the entrance of the castle. That is beacause before being annexed by the major great powers of Europe in 1795, Poland-Lithuania formed a united country. Those annexations happened before Plater was even born (1795) thus the museum served as a memory for the country he considered his homeland but never saw in person.

Column with Vytis at Rapperswil

Column with Vytis at Rapperswil

At that time, however, the elite of both Poland and Lithuania still saw themselves as a part of the same community, with Polish language being the language of science and literature among them, a situation that continued until the Lithuanian national revival that began in late 19th century, many members of which (e.g. Maironis) also had spent prolonged time in Switzerland.

Other Lithuanian-Swiss relations

Even today the Lithuanians of Switzerland are disproportionately active in memorizing the Lithuanian-Swiss contacts in the past, with the Lithuanian Community in Switzerland being instrumental in erecting the aforementioned commemorative plaques. Multiple books have been published on Lithuanians in Switzerland.

One such work found out that Lithuanian-Swiss contacts far predated the 19th century. During the 16th-18th centuries, Italian architects and sculptors have been popular across Europe in building and decorating churches and manors. Many such artists came to Lithuania and left their works in Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai, and elsewhere. As much as 40 of these artists were actually not from Italy-proper but from the ethnically Italian Swiss canton of Ticino, where they left their other works.

There were far more famous Lithuanians who spent time in Switzerland for health, studying, political, or other reasons at the time when mass tourism was not available. These included Jonas Bili8nas, Jonas Basanvičius, Mikas Petrauskas, Petras Kalpokas, Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Kipras Petrauskas, Balys Sruoga, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, Salomėja Nėris.

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