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Jozeph Ehret | |
|---|---|
Juozas Eretas | |
 | |
| Born | October 18, 1896 |
| Died | March 13, 1984 (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | University of Fribourg |
| Spouse | Ona Jakaitytė-Eretienė |
| Children | Juozas, Aldona, Laisvė, Birutė, Julija |
Jozeph Ehret (18 October 1896 – 13 March 1984) was a Swiss-Lithuanian scientist, historian, writer, and educator. He was also the founder and first director of the Lithuanian Telegraph Agency (ELTA).
Ehret attended university in Fribourg, Switzerland where he met members of the Lithuanian community. When a friend died of the Spanish flu, Ehret promised to take his place in the new nation. Ehret worked initially as a press officer for the Lithuanian government in Switzerland. He moved to Lithuania in 1919, where he set up the Lithuanian Telegraph Agency and served as its director until 1922. In 1919, he also set up the humanities department at what would become Vytautas Magnus University. He became a professor in the faculty of theology and philosophy, and the head of the university's literature department. Ehret served briefly as a member of the Lithuanian parliament but politics held little interest for him. Instead, he committed himself to youth and community affairs. Ehret revived a temperance society, established the Lithuanian Sports League, founded the Lithuanian Gymnastics and Sports Federation and a rural youth organization called Spring Movement. Ehret also wrote two textbooks and founded and edited numerous newspapers. In 1925, he co-founded the People's University, which provided opportunities for financially-disadvantaged youth and working adults.
In 1941, Ehret had to flee Lithuania. He and his family returned to Switzerland, where he served briefly as chancellor of the University of Fribourg before serving in the Swiss army as a senior lieutenant from 1942-1956. In Switzerland, Ehret continued to participate in Swiss-Lithuanian community activities and to meet with Lithuanian expats. After his death in 1984, Ehret was honoured with memorial plaques at his homes in Basel and Kaunas. In 2000, Lithuania Post issued a commemorative stamp in his honour.
Early life and education
[edit]Jozeph Ehret was born in Basel, Switzerland on 18 October 1896. He graduated from a gymnasium in Basil. In 1915, he began studying German studies and history at the University of Fribourg, the University of Basel, and the University of Lausanne. In 1918, he defended his doctoral dissertation in philosophy about Jesuit theater in Fribourg.
In 1917, while studying in Fribourg, Ehret became friends with the Lithuanian Mikelis Ašmys, from the Klaipėda region of Lithuania.[2] With Ašmys's help, Ehret began learning Lithuanian and became acquainted with other Lithuanian students, Stasys Šalkauskis, Kazys Pakštas, and Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas.
Together, Ehret and Ašmys published the magazine "Litauen" and a number of information bulletins. In 1918, Ehret wrote the German language book Lithuania in the Past, Present and Future. The book became one of the first books about the new country, which had declared its independence from Russia in 1918.[3]
In 1918, Ehret's friend, Ašmys was struck with the Spanish flu. Ašmys expressed his aspirations for Lithuania to Ehret and asked Ehret to take his place and work for the benefit of Ašmys' homeland, which Ehret promised to do.
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]In 1918, on the recommendation of a pro-Lithuanian professor, Gustav Šniurier, Ehret started working at the Lithuanian Information Bureau in Lausanne. From January 1919, he worked as a press specialist at the Lithuanian mission in Bern and, from September 1919, at the press bureau in Berlin. That same year, Lithuania's representative in Bern, Juozas Purickis, invited Ehret to work at the diplomatic mission as a press attaché. At the end of 1919, Ehret had been offered a job at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an advisor to organize information services in Lithuania.
Lithuania (1919-1941)
[edit]Ehret arrived in Kaunas on October 15, 1919, where he appointed as press advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Beginning in Spring 1920, Ehret established a press bureau and became its director. On the instruction of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ehret established the Lithuanian Telegraph Agency (ELTA) on April 1, 1920, under the Information Department, and headed its 14 branches in Lithuania and abroad. He served as director until February 4, 1922, transferring his duties to Matas Šalčius.
In 1919, Ehret was invited to set up the humanities department at Aukštieji Kursai, Lithuania's first independent higher education institute.[4] There, he taught literature, German language and literature, and art history from 1919-1922. When Vytautas Magnus University was created in 1922, Ehret became a professor in the faculty of theology and philosophy,[citation needed] and the head of the department of literature.[5]
Ehret served as a press officer in 1920, during the Lithuanian government's negotiations with Poland in Geneva and again in 1921 in Brussels.
Encouraged by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Ehret revived Motiejus Valančius's temperance society around 1921 and, in 1922, founded and began publishing the society's magazine "Sargyba" (The Guard). He also promoted healthy living through sports and wrote two sports textbooks. In 1923, he helped establish the Lithuanian Sports League (LSL) and founded and edited the league's newspaper "Sportas" (Sports). Together with Karolis Dineika in 1922, he founded the Lithuanian Gymnastics and Sports Federation (LGSF) and published the federation's newspaper "Jėga ir grožis" (Strength and Beauty). He also helped establish a children's newspaper "Angelas sargas" (Guardian Angel), which was later renamed "Žvaigždutė" (Little Star).[6]
In 1923, Ehret was elected to Parliament but political career held little interest for him and he resigned before completing his term. He was much more drawn to academic and social work, especially youth affairs. He founded the Catholic rural youth educational organization, Pavasarininkai (Spring Movement). In 1926, he founded the newspaper "Pavasaris", which was latter reorganized and renamed "Jaunimo vadas" (Youth Leader). In 1925, together with others, he founded the "Pavasaris" or People's University, which was named after Bishop Motiejus Valančius. The "Pavasaris" People's University provided opportunities for higher education to financially-disadvantaged youth and working adults.
In October 1929, he joined Lithuanian army forces, served as the first volunteer regiment commander Kazys Škirpa adjutant.
In 1940, when the faculty of theology and philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University was closed, all faculty members, including Ehret, were dismissed. Ehret moved with his family to his wife's ancestral home in Pakorbūdžiai village and hid among farmers to avoid arrest.
In 1941, he fled to Germany but he and his family ended up in SS camps, from which they were freed through the efforts of the Swiss government.
Switzerland
[edit]On March 22, 1941, Ehret returned, with his family, to Switzerland, and settled in his native Basel. In 1942, he served as chancellor of the University of Fribourg.
From 1942-1956, he served in the Swiss army as a senior lieutenant. Until his retirement in 1962, he worked at Basel City Gymnasium.[7]
Despite living in Switzerland, he never forgot Lithuania. He edited chapters on the Baltic states in the Swiss Encyclopedia (1945-1948) and the “Women’s Encyclopedia” (1953-1954). He wrote [for] the journal "Europe Acterna" (1955). He continued to have articles published in Lithuanian magazines and newspapers such as Aidai, Draugas, Tėvynės Sargas and Saltinis. Ehret also actively participated in Swiss-Lithuanian community activities. He gave lectures during commemorations for Lithuanian Independence and Lithuanian study weeks, and he continued to meet with Lithuanians when visiting the United States, Italy, and Germany.
Personal life and death
[edit]In 1922, Ehret received Lithuanian citizenship. He died in Switzerland on 13 March 1984 and was buried in Basel cemetery.[8]
Legacy
[edit]
In 1996, to commemorate his 100th birthday, his family members donated a large portion of his personal archive (including photographs, books, and letters) to Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas.
Ehret's house in Basel on Oetlingerstrasse g. Nr. 42,[9] where he and his family lived after his return to Switzerland, is marked by a memorial plaque created by Lithuanian sculptor Algirdas Bosas. The plaque is based on an image of Ehret as in 1941.[10]
Ehret's daughters Laisvė and Julija visited Lithuania and petitioned for their father to be commemorated on a postage stamp. An artist, Antanas Rimantas Šakalys who created the cover of "Forgotten Balts", had already created a mock-up. The Lithuanian postal service refused a number of requests. It was only after a Lithuanian World Community X meeting on 19 August 2000 at the Lithuanian Parliament that a resolution was passed, and a commemorative postage stamp finally issued[11].
On 25 September, 2006, the municipality of Kaunas approved the installation of a memorial plaque Ehret's old house at Rotušės a. 23/2 (23/2 Town Hall Square) in Kaunas, to mark his 110th birthday.[12] The memorial plaque reads:
In this house, from 1932 to 1937, lived Dr. Joseph Ehret, a literature historian, journalist, politician, volunteer at the Lithuanian Army, academic of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences, and professor of Vytautas Magnus University. He died in 1984 in Switzerland.
References
[edit]- ^ "Eretas Juozas (Ehret Jozeph)". Ąžuolyno biblioteka (in Lithuanian).
- ^ Vasiliauskienė, Aldona. "Juozas Eretas – "Tūkstantmečio šveicaras"" [Joseph Ehret – "The Swiss of the Millennium"]. Šveicarijos lietuvių bendruomenė (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
- ^ "Juozas Eretas ir 100 metų Lietuvos žurnalistikos agentūrai" [Jozeph Ehret and 100 years of the Lithuanian Journalism Agency]. Bernardinai.lt (in Lithuanian). 6 April 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ [Aukštieji kursai. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, T. II (Arktis-Beketas). – Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2002]
- ^ L. D.; Voras (29 October 2002). "Juozui Eretui - 100: Kauno Miesto Savivaldybės Kultūros Skyrius" [Jozeph Ehret 100]. javlb.org. Lithuanian-American Community. Archived from the original on 2004-12-24. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
- ^ Juozo Ereto nuopelnai Lietuvai // XXI amžius, 2008-07-02, Nr. 50 (1643) Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Paminėtos prof. Juozo Ereto 100-osios gimimo metinės.
- ^ Pagerbtas Šveicarijos sūnus, Lietuvos patriotas // XXI amžius, 2001-10-10, Nr. 76 (985) Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vasiliauskienė, Aldona (2012). "Juozas Eretas (Joseph Ehret): veikla Lietuvai, sugrįžus į gimtinę" [Joseph Ehret: Work for Lithuania upon Returning to the Homeland] (PDF). Evolution of Science and Technology. 4 (1): 62–79. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022.
- ^ https://aidas.lt/lt/asmenybes/article/31-profesoriaus-juozo-ereto-joseph-ehret-vardo-garsinimas-amerika-lietuva-sveicarija
- ^ Algimantas Zolubas. „Kuklios pagarbos ženklai Juozui Eretui Jakaičiui“. Alkas.lt
- ^ "Kauno miesto savivaldybės administracijos direktoriaus įsakymas" [Order of the Director of the Kaunas City Municipality Administration]. Kauno miesto savivaldybė (Municipal order) (in Lithuanian). Kaunas City Municipality. 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2025-09-24.