Jokūbas Šernas (; 27 June 1888 – 31 July 1926) was a Lithuanian activist and one of the twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania.
He studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, graduating in 1914. After he returned to Lithuania, he edited the daily newspaper Lietuvos žinios. During World War I, he joined the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers and taught history at the Lithuanian Rytas Gymnasium. He helped organize the Vilnius Conference and was elected to the Council of Lithuania, which adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918. Šernas was the secretary of the Council of Lithuania from September 1917 to March 1919 handling its paperwork and day-to-day business. From February 1918 to March 1919, he was one of the four members of the presidium that acted in the council's name while it was not in session.
Šernas was a member of various special government commissions, including those that organized the Second Conference of the State of Lithuania, investigated the deaths of Jurgis Smolskis and and Kaunas garrison mutiny, drafted the . From 12 April to 7 October 1919, Šernas was the minister without portfolio in the Sleževičius Cabinet II. In February–March 1920, Šernas worked to convince four members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor to join the Council of Lithuania. It was accomplished on 20 March 1920 which was celebrated as a symbolic unification of Lithuania Minor with Lithuania.
Šernas was not elected to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania. He then turned to business ventures becoming a board member of the Trade and Industry Bank. He was also involved with breweries Gubernija and Ragutis, and insurance company . In 1925, he returned to government service to head the Municipalities Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He died of stomach cancer in July 1926. His son Jacques Sernas became an actor in France and United States.
Biography Early life and education Jokūbas Šernas was born on 1888 in Jasiškiai near the present-day Latvia–Lithuania border. His family were members of the Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church. He had ten siblings, but four of them died in childhood. His brother Adomas Šernas became superintendent of the Evangelical Reformed Church in 1942. His family maintained contact with Jurgis Bielinis, a Lithuanian book smuggler who lived in nearby .
Šernas attended primary school in Nemunėlio Radviliškis which was about north from home. It was a Russian school maintained by the Evangelical Reformed Church. In 1903, enrolled at the third grade of the . It was an old Evangelical Reformed school, but Tsarist authorities took control of the school in 1881. Nevertheless, it remained popular among the congregation. In 1906, Šernas was expelled from the school for supporting the Russian Revolution of 1905. Initially, he was prohibited from attending another school. However, he managed to get help from , curator of the , and enroll at the private German Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Dorpat. He graduated in July 1910.
Šernas then enrolled at the University of Dorpat to study law. Many Evangelical Reformed students, including Šernas's brother Adomas, attended the university. However, after just a year, Šernas transferred to the University of Saint Petersburg. He received a stipend from the Evangelical Reformed Church. He joined a Lithuanian student society and was its chairman for a year. There is some evidence that, together with Martynas Yčas, he planned on publishing Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvių balsas, but it was published only in August 1915. In December 1914, he passed his final exams but did not submit thesis required for a diploma.
Activist in Vilnius
In 1914, Šernas returned to Lithuania and settled in Vilnius. He worked as the editor of the daily Lietuvos žinios from January to July 1914. He joined the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers and was elected to its central committee in December 1914. In January 1915, he became a clerk (secretary) of the Lithuanian Society and earned a salary of 100 Russian rubles.
Unlike many other Lithuanian activists, he did not retreat to Russia when Germans occupied the city in September 1915. Instead, he temporarily became the head of the Infant Jesus Shelter (originally established in 1787) which housed 166 children. In December 1915, he took over an orphanage in Šnipiškės which was previously headed by Antanas Žmuidzinavičius. Šernas helped organizing the Lithuanian Rytas Gymnasium and became its history teacher (he taught until March 1918). He was a member of a commission of the Lithuanian Society that collaborated with the Lithuanian Education Society Rytas and assisted in organizing Lithuanian primary schools. In 1917, Šernas worked on relocating the orphanage from Šnipiškės to Žasliai and establishing a new orphanage in Vievis. In fall 1918, he became a member of the Lithuanian Scientific Society.
Vilnius Conference Šernas was politically active. Already in 1916, he participated in informal meetings that discussed Lithuania's political future, was one of the Lithuanian representatives supervising the March 1916 German census in Vilnius, and later signed a protest letter questioning the validity of the census results.
As German military advances stalled, German leadership rethought their strategy for occupied Lithuania. The policy of open annexation was replaced by a more subtle strategy of creating a network of formally independent states under German influence (the so-called Mitteleuropa). To that end, Germans asked Lithuanians to establish an advisory council (Vertrauensrat). Lithuanians started organizing Vilnius Conference which would elect such council, which became known as the Council of Lithuania. Šernas's brother Adomas was one of the 22 members of the conference's organizing committee.
Šernas registered attendees of Vilnius Conference and was a member of a commission which investigated why only 213 out of 264 delegates arrived to the conference. The conference convened in September 1917. Šernas, as a nonpartisan candidate, received 119 votes for and 85 votes against, and was elected to the 20-member Council of Lithuania.
Council of Lithuania Independence proclamation
The council first convened on 24 September 1917. Šaulys was elected its secretary and continued in this role until 14 March 1919. In February 1918, Šernas became one of the four members of the council's presidium which acted in council's name while it was not in session. As secretary, Šernas prepared official meeting protocols, handled paperwork and bookkeeping, managed the office and its repairs, and other day-to-day business.
Šernas, together with Antanas Smetona and Jurgis Šaulys, was believed that Lithuania should align with Germany. Therefore, he supported the Act of 11 December 1918 which called for an independent Lithuania but called for "a firm and permanent alliance" with Germany. This caused a crisis within the council and four members withdrew in protest. However, the members reached a compromise and adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918. In June 1918, the four-member presidium (including Šernas) decided to invite Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach, to become the King of Lithuania. The proclaimed monarchy was controversial and four council members resigned in protest. In July 1918, Šernas initiated the renaming of the council to the State Council of Lithuania to better reflect Lithuania's political ambitions. However, the Germans rejected the new name and it was not fully adopted.
In summer 1918, Šernas was a member of a commission that investigated the causes of banditry (which they attributed to escaped POWs) and drafted plans for a Lithuanian police force. They petitioned General Max Hoffmann, the German chief of the staff in east, and Rudolf Nadolny, the acting head of the Eastern Department of the German Foreign Office. However, the petitions were rejected. On 20 October 1918, a Lithuanian delegation, including Šernas, traveled to Berlin for an official meeting with Prince Maximilian of Baden, the new chancellor of the German Empire.
After the German surrender Lithuanians gained more freedom of action after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and organized the first cabinet of ministers. The was adopted on 2 November 1918. It envisioned the Council of Lithuania as a parliament (legislative branch) and its presidium as a collective presidency. On 15 November 1918, the Council of Lithuania elected Kazys Bizauskas as the first secretary, which made Šernas the second secretary. Šernas was primarily in charge of the presidium's affairs, while Bizauskas primarily dealt with council's affairs. This increased Šernas's political influence.
At the outbreak of the Lithuanian–Soviet War at the end of December 1918, Council's chairman Antanas Smetona and Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras left to Germany to request financial aid. This left the government in a crisis. Šernas participated in meetings in which Mykolas Sleževičius agreed to step up and form a new government. Sleževičius considered declaring himself a dictator similar to the Chief of State in Poland, but was staunchly opposed by Šernas.
On 15 November 1918, Šernas was elected to a commission that organized the Second Conference of the State of Lithuania. Šernas with Stasys Šilingas became the primary authors of the law on this conference. Šernas became one of the six committee members that were tasked with organizing the conference which convened in January 1919 in Kaunas. The conference exposed the deep conflict between the Council of Lithuania and the government of Mykolas Sleževičius. Šernas, along with others, attempted to mediate. In the end, Sleževičius prevailed and the Council of Lithuania effectively suspended its activities until Sleževičius's resignation in October 1919.
Minister without portfolio On 12 April 1919, Šernas became the minister without portfolio in the Sleževičius Cabinet II. Šernas was tasked with secretarial duties of preparing law drafts for deliberation. He was also tasked with maintaining contacts with the National Council of Lithuania Minor which called for the unification of Lithuania Minor with Lithuania.
In summer 1919, Šernas chaired a commission sent to investigate the deaths of Jurgis Smolskis and while in custody of the 2nd Infantry Regiment commanded by . He concluded that these were extrajudicial murders and the cases were referred to a military court.
In August 1919, Augustinas Voldemaras and Martynas Yčas returned from the Paris Peace Conference and started protesting the inaction of the Council of Lithuania. On 25 September 1919, four ministers from the Party of National Progress, including Šernas, submitted their resignation. The cabined officially dissolved on 7 October 1919. Šernas later stated that the government sought to become a dictatorship, ignored the Council of Lithuania, and wanted to gain control of the Lithuanian Army. The Party of National Progress resisted these attempts and so no other option than to resign.
Government commissions In November 1919, the Council of Lithuania sent Šernas and Aleksandras Stulginskis to Šiauliai to report on the Lithuanian–Bermontian War. Šernas published a lengthy article on this trip in Tauta.
In December 1919, Šernas became a member of the 9-member commission, chaired by Liudas Noreika, to draft the which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania in June 1920.