Jurgis Bielinis (16 March 1846 – 18 January 1918) was one of the main organizers of the illegal book-smuggling at the time of the Lithuanian press ban (1864–1904). Bielinis is informally referred to as the King of Book Smugglers. Since 1989, Bielinis's birthday (16 March) is commemorated as the Day of Book Smugglers ().
Around 1885 Bielinis founded the Garšviai Book Smuggling Society. They purchased large quantities of Lithuanian publications in East Prussia, smuggled them across the Prussia–Russia border, and distributed across Lithuania reaching as far as Riga and Jelgava in present-day Latvia. The Garšviai Society avoided more serious legal troubles for almost a decade. Bielinis evaded police capture and continued to smuggle books living a nomadic lifestyle – he continuously moved from one sympathetic Lithuanian family to another, never staying too long at one location. Active as a book smuggler for 32 years, Bielinis was arrested five times but never tried or sentenced and developed a folk hero reputation for his ability to outsmart the police.
He has published three issues of newspaper Baltasis erelis (The White Eagle) in 1897, 1911, and 1912, several booklets, and a few articles in the Lithuanian press including Aušra, Varpas, Ūkininkas, Tėvynės sargas, Vienybė lietuvninkų Lietuvos ūkininkas, Vilniaus žinios. His main area of interest was the various injustices suffered by the Lithuanian serfs and peasants at the hands of the large landowners. In 1897, he published a history of Lithuania using the text by Simonas Daukantas up to year 1201 and then adding his own text.
Biography Early life
Bielinis was born to a family of Lithuanian serfs on in in Biržai District, then part of the Russian Empire. The village belonged to Janusz Kościałkowski, the owner of Papilys. Bielinis' family worked about two voloks of land and he helped with farm work and herding. He learned to read and write without attending a school. In August 1860, Bielinis' father died leaving him in change of the farm and two younger siblings. Serfdom was abolished in 1861 but former serfs still needed to buy out their land. During the Uprising of 1863, the Battle of Biržai was fought near Purviškiai, but Bielinis was later able to prove that he did not participate in the uprising. The uprising resulted in the Lithuanian press ban – the prohibition of Lithuanian-language texts printed in the Latin alphabet. Bielinis became involved in several local disputes with a land surveyor, inn owner, manor tenant. He felt that his lack of education prevented him from winning the disputes. His newborn son and wife died in late 1867 or early 1868, and Bielinis decided to rent part of his farm and use the money to pursue primary education in Šiauliai, Mitau (Jelgava), Riga. He struggled financially and in five years was able to complete three grades. In fall 1873, he traveled to Kaunas with hopes of completing the fourth grade, but was robbed of his money. Left penniless, Bielinis met two Lithuanian book smugglers who worked with bishop Motiejus Valančius and suggested that Bielinis make some money by distributing Lithuanian books in the countryside.
Beginnings From fall 1873, Bielinis worked on selling various, mostly religious, Lithuanian books in the countryside for about three years. He obtained them in Kaunas via bishop Motiejus Valančius and his assistants or in Vilnius from the Józef Zawadzki printing shop which still had a permit to sell off pre-1864 Lithuanian books. Bielinis' biographers often claim that Valančius gave an envelope with 2,000 or 3,000 rubles to Bielinis for him to deliver to his publisher priest Johann Zabermann in East Prussia, but that is doubtful that Valančius would trust a new person when his earlier courier was caught in 1871. He still wanted to complete his primary education and then study at the Kaunas Priest Seminary, but lack of funds and his 30 years of age forced him to return to his farm in 1876. Bielinis remarried and had five children born in 1878–1889. He liked to read and continued to support book smugglers. He became more active again after Aušra, the first Lithuanian periodical, was published in 1883. He established contacts with and founded the Garšviai Book Smuggling Society around 1885. Bielinis began visiting Martynas Jankus in Bitėnai and Otto von Mauderode in Tilsit, East Prussia. According to the memoirs of Jankus, one time Bielinis and Martynas Survila bought copies of the popular prayer book Aukso altorius (Golden Altar) at 0.75 rubles and were able to immediately sell them to a priest for 3 rubles each, netting a quick profit of 600 rubles. In summer 1887, Bielinis was taken from his home and briefly arrested, but it most likely related to a local land dispute and not to smuggling activities.
In 1885, Bielinis published an appeal in Aušra in which he proposed a cooperative to purchase land from the large manor owners. It was the only text by Bielinis printed in Aušra and his proposal went unanswered. In 1886, Bielinis agreed to work on getting a priest appointed to Daujėnai, a town with a brick church but no permanent priest. If successful, he was to be paid a commission by town residents. Bielinis petitioned bishop Mečislovas Leonardas Paliulionis to appoint a priest and a local landowner to donate land to the church so that the priest could support himself, but his requests were denied. Around the same time, he agreed to petition the government to return the Catholic church in to the faithful. The church was closed in 1864 by orders of Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky. According to Bielinis, he traveled twice to Saint Petersburg to plead the case, but it is unknown what institutions he petitioned. The church was sold in an auction with orders to demolish it. When the demolition started, locals attacked Russian officials leading to a large trial and a search of Bielinis' home in 1890.
In 1886–1887, Bielinis improved his farm (e.g. dug out drainage canals, implemented crop rotation) possibly based on farming practices he observed in East Prussia. In 1888, he rented out his farm and traveled to Western Europe. It is unknown what prompted him to the journey. In Hanover, he ordered a painting of a white eagle and later a few prints of this painting, but they were confiscated by customs officers. Bielinis, likely introduced through a Lithuanian organization Želmuo, participated in a Polish émigré congress in Paris as a representative from Lithuania. The delegates discussed independence of Poland but Bielinis protested declarations that Lithuania was an inseparable part of Poland and was asked to leave.
Book smuggling The Garšviai Book Smuggling Society became more active in fall 1888 when Bielinis returned from Western Europe. Bielinis, known as ministeris (minister), led the illegal society. They hired Antanas Bružys, who had a legal permit to cross the Prussia–Russia border, to transport large quantities of books and other publications. Then they recruited various helpers to hide and distribute the publications across Lithuania. Bielinis distributed the publications to Joniškėlis, Linkuva, Pasvalys, Pumpėnai, Pušalotas, Rozalimas, Smilgiai, Vaškai, even reached Riga and Mitau (Jelgava) in present-day Latvia where his son Kipras attended a school. He also continued to travel to East Prussia to purchase books (though he did not transport them across the border). He also acted as the messenger and courier between Lithuanian students and activists in Latvia who wrote Lithuanian texts and publishers in East Prussia. Bielinis was caught and beaten by border patrols at least on one occasion around 1891. For about a decade, the Garšviai Book Smuggling Society avoided more serious run-ins with the police likely due to the police chief in Naujamiestis who supported the Lithuanian press.
In April 1890, Bileinis home was searched by the police in connection with the skirmish during the church demolition in . The police found two bags of books, but since there were no anti-Tsarist texts, Bielinis faced only three-month arrest or a fine of 300 rubles. Since Bielinis was not present, the police dropped the case. Nevertheless, Bielinis became more careful, avoided public appearances, and returned home infrequently, mostly at night. From 1891, he lived with Ūdra in Garšviai. In February 1894, Bružys, Ūdra, and Bielinis were caught transporting two cart loads worth of publications (total of 4,068 copies) near Raseiniai. They managed to bribe themselves out of arrest, but the books and horses were confiscated. In April 1894, Ūdra's neighbor accidentally found two packets with books and newspapers and gave them to the police which searched Ūdra's home in June and found more than 450 copies of newspapers (mainly Žemaičių ir Lietuvos apžvalga) and 37 books. Perhaps due to bribes, the case lingered at the local police station for more than a year. In November 1894, Bružys was caught with 1,254 books and 481 newspapers. Because some of these had anti-Tsarists texts, he was sentenced to two years in prison and three years in exile. In April 1895, Bielinis' brother Andrius was caught by the German police in Tilsit (Sovetsk) and handed over to the Russians. He was sentenced to one year in prison and five years of exile. He attempted to escape to the United States, but became ill and had his left leg amputated in New York. Invalided, he returned to Lithuania, was caught by police, and exiled to Yaransk where he died in 1901. Ūdra was caught in June 1895 starting the Garšviai trial. In October 1896, Ūdra was sentenced to three years in prison and five years in exile. Five other men received various sentences, while Bielinis evaded capture. He escaped a policeman not too far from his home in Purviškiai in August 1896. The police launched an investigation and organized a wide search, including several ambushes, but by February 1897 was forced to conclude that they were unable to conclusively prove that the escaped man was Bielinis.
Despite arrests and police investigations, Bielinis did not abandon book smuggling but did not organize another book smuggling society and purchased more religious books which attracted much less attention from the police. He brought books to some of the noted Lithuanian figures, including Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Petras Avižonis, , Jonas Jablonskis, Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis. Bielinis also smuggled some publications in the Latgalian language that were similarly banned by the Tsarist authorities. He did not have a more permanent living quarters and continued to move from one sympathetic Lithuanian family to another. He relied on a network of trusted associates who helped to procure, hide, and distribute books as well as with food, sleeping quarters, or a space to write and rest. Avoiding the police, he stopped visiting his home and had to meet family members at a trusted location. He kept changing his appearance (e.g. grow or shave his beard) and horses, even adapting his carriage to regional design differences. Such nomadic lifestyle negatively affected Bielinis' health and in 1902 he published an appeal to Lithuanian Americans asking for personal financial aid. In February 1903, Bielinis was arrested by the police in a village near Linkuva with copies of books on the Kražiai massacre and moved from a police station in Pasvalys to Panevėžys. He was sent back to Pasvalys to determine his true identity, but he managed to escape – dressed only in a shirt during the winter, he ran barefoot in a stream to cover his tracks to a nearby acquaintance. He took about six weeks to recover from the ordeal. Despite many run-ins with the police, Bielinis was never tried or sentenced. There were many stories, anecdotes, and folk legends on how Bielinis escaped or outsmarted the police. For example, there are stories on how he hid from the police under his wife's skirt or how he pretended to be a beggar and even received a couple coins from a policeman.
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