Jonas BasanaviÄius
Jonas Basanavičius ( born November 23, 1851 in Ožkabaliai, Rajongemeinde Vilkaviškis, † February 16, 1927 in Vilnius ) was a Lithuanian physician, scientist and politician.
Life
Jonas Basanavičius was born in a middle peasant family. He attended high school in Marijampolė. Against the wishes of his parents, who wanted to see him at the seminary, he enrolled in 1873 at the Faculty of Moscow State University philological- historical. After a year he moved to the Faculty of Medicine, where he also received a scholarship. In 1879 he finished the University as a physician.
As there is no possibility of a job in Lithuania revealed he accepted an offer to work in Bulgaria. From 1880 he worked as a hospital doctor in Lom. In addition to his medical work, he devoted himself to political issues, wrote for magazines and was co-founder of the Lithuanian newspaper Aušra. Next he worked on ethnological subjects and history. From his pen some important essays submitted to the Bulgarian ethnography, partly in comparison to Lithuanian conditions. In particular, he was interested in the question of the origin of Lithuanians - Basanavičius represented here the theory that they come from the Danube region and close relationship exists with the Thracians. For this purpose he went to museums, libraries and archives throughout Europe and entertained extensive correspondence.
While further studies in Prague he met his future wife Eleanor, but died shortly after the marriage in 1889 of tuberculosis. Basanavičius narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, whose background was not clear, but probably was politically motivated. After further activity in Varna, Lom and Elena in 1904, he returned to Lithuania back. 1907 was founded on his initiative the Mokslo draugija ( ' science society '), was later to become the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. On February 16, 1918, he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of Lithuania.
In 1927, he died in Vilnius, where he is buried in the cemetery Rasos.
Works
Basanavičius engaged in the collection of fairy tales, legends, folk songs, disease names, among others Some he collected, he received another sent - sometimes he paid for the collector's most, about his brother Vincas. Currently, the collected folklore together with articles being edited on the subject in a 15 - volume edition: Jono Basanavičiaus tautosakos biblioteka Vilnius. 1993 -
Reception
Basanavičius is seen in polls as the most influential of the 20th century Lithuanians. The Basanavičius Prize is the largest prize ( 31,000 LTL ) for scientists and cultural workers in the field of folklore, ethnology in Lithuania.