MORTA
ZAUNIUTE, (1876-1945?), propagator of and collaborator on Lithuanian
publications at the time of the Press Ban, daughter of Dovas Zaunius, born
on March 22, 1876, in Rokaiciai, Lithuania Minor (East Prussia). She
received her secondary education at Tilze (Tilsit) and later worked there as
administrator of several periodicals, including Varpas (The Bell) and
Ukininkas (The Farmer), which were printed in the city and then
smuggled across the Prussian border into Lithuania Major, where a
prohibition on printing In Latin characters was in effect. She maintained
contact with the newspaper contributors living in Lithuania, Western Europe
and the United States. For the World's Fair in Paris In 1900 she edited and
published three catalogues of Lithuanian newspapers and books that had
appeared between 1864 and 1900; she had gathered a large collection of these
at her father's farm in Rokaiciai. In 1902 she opened her own book store out
of which she supplied a great many booksmugglers with printed material. She
was a member of the so-called Martyrs' Fund, established in Vilnius to
provide help to Lithuanians persecuted or incarcerated by the tsarist
authorities. Around 1930, as pressures on national minorities intensified in
German East Prussia due to the growth of Nazi ideology, Zauniute moved from
Tilze to Klaipeda (then part of the independent Republic of Lithuania) where
she settled with her sister. Towards the end of World War II (1944-1945),
she left the city at the approach of the Soviet front. The exact date and
circumstances of her death are unknown.
Literature:
ENCYCLOPEDIA LITUANICA I-VI, 1970-1978, Boston
MORTA
ZAUNIUTE, (1876-1945?), propagator of and collaborator on Lithuanian
publications at the time of the Press Ban, daughter of Dovas Zaunius, born
on March 22, 1876, in Rokaiciai, Lithuania Minor (East Prussia). She
received her secondary education at Tilze (Tilsit) and later worked there as
administrator of several periodicals, including Varpas (The Bell) and
Ukininkas (The Farmer), which were printed in the city and then
smuggled across the Prussian border into Lithuania Major, where a
prohibition on printing In Latin characters was in effect. She maintained
contact with the newspaper contributors living in Lithuania, Western Europe
and the United States. For the World's Fair in Paris In 1900 she edited and
published three catalogues of Lithuanian newspapers and books that had
appeared between 1864 and 1900; she had gathered a large collection of these
at her father's farm in Rokaiciai. In 1902 she opened her own book store out
of which she supplied a great many booksmugglers with printed material. She
was a member of the so-called Martyrs' Fund, established in Vilnius to
provide help to Lithuanians persecuted or incarcerated by the tsarist
authorities. Around 1930, as pressures on national minorities intensified in
German East Prussia due to the growth of Nazi ideology, Zauniute moved from
Tilze to Klaipeda (then part of the independent Republic of Lithuania) where
she settled with her sister. Towards the end of World War II (1944-1945),
she left the city at the approach of the Soviet front. The exact date and
circumstances of her death are unknown.