Vilma Bukaitė. Petras Klimas, signatory of the Act of Independence

Description

This is the biography of Lithuanian statesman, diplomat, historian, and publicist Petras Klimas (1891–1969). The twists of history divided his life into three distinct parts: nearly 25 years in the Russian Empire, followed by nearly the same period in the Soviet Union. The active period of his public, cultural, and political work, from 1916 to 1940, also lasted almost a quarter of a century. Persistence in pursuing his goals, reliability, and the ability to work patiently during the First World War brought P. Klimas into the arena of decisive political events and helped him become one of the key signatories of the most significant political document of the 20th century for Lithuania, the Act of Independence of 1918. His fate was closely intertwined with the birth of the Republic of Lithuania and its foreign policy events.