Vytautas Landsbergis

Professor Vytautas Landsbergis (, born October 18, 1932) is a Lithuanian conservative politician and member of the European Parliament. He was the first head of state of Lithuania after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union and served as President of the Lithuanian Parliament. Professor Landsbergis is an intellectual who has been active in Lithuania's political arena for almost two decades and is a world established politician who has gone down in history as a contributor to the demise of the Soviet Union. Professor Vytautas Landsbergis is an author of twenty books on a variety of topics, including a biography of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, politics, and music.

Biography

Vytautas Landsbergis was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in a family of famous architect Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis and ophthalmologist Ona Jablonskytė-Landsbergienė.

In 1955 he graduated from the Lithuanian Conservatory of Music (now Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre).

In 1969 he wrote his thesis for his doctorate degree.

In 1978 he became a Professor at the Lithuanian Conservatory of Music.

From 1978 to 1990 he was a professor at both the Lithuanian Conservatory of Music and the Vilnius Pedagogical University.

In 1994 he wrote a thesis for his doctor habilitus degree.

Awards

In 1991 Mr. Landsbergis received:

The Norwegian People's Peace Prize for his role in the restoration of Lithuanian independence;
The Award of Foundation du Future (France);
The International Freedom Foundation's (UK) 1991 Freedom Award;
Honorary degree of Doctor by Loyola University in Chicago (USA).

In 1992 V. Landsbergis was given:

Honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania);
Honorary degree of Doctor of the Humanities by Weber State University in Ogden (USA);
Herman Ehlers Prize;
Order of Merit of the Republic of Estonia;
He was nominated for an honorary degree of Doctor of Law by Yale University (USA), but he could not participate in the award ceremony, because of his required presence concerning political matters at home.

In 1994 V. Landsbergis received the 9th International Ramon Llull Prize of the Catalonian Culture Congress Foundation.

In 1995 he became a Companion of the German St. Sebastian's Rifle Order.

In 1997 Vytautas Landsbergis was awarded the French Legion of Honour.

In 1998 Vytautas Landsbergis:

became an Honorary Member of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania);
was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Norwegian Order of Merit.

In 1999 Vytautas Landsbergis was awarded with:

Poland Great Cross Order;
Great Cross of Medal of Honor of Greece;
UNESCO Medal for developing democracy and fighting for human rights.

In 2000 Vytautas Landsbergis was given an honorary degree of Doctor by:

Lithuanian University of Law;
Helsinki University (Finland);
Cardiff University (Wales).

In 2001 V. Landsbergis was given an honorary Doctorate by the Sorbonne University (France).

In 2003 he was given an honorary Doctorate from the Lithuanian Art Academy.

Family

Mr. V. Landsbergis is married, his wife Mrs. Gražina Ručytė-Landsbergienė is a well-known Lithuanian pianist and associate Professor of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. His daughters Jūratė and Birutė are also musicians. His son Vytautas is a well-known Lithuanian writer and film director.

Political career

Vytautas Landsbergis entered politics in 1988 as one of the founders of Sąjūdis, the Lithuanian pro-independence political movement. After Sąjūdis' victory in the 1990 elections, he became the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania.

On March 11, 1990 he headed the Parliamentary session during which the restoration of Lithuanian Independence from the Soviet Union was declared. Lithuania became the first Soviet Republic to do so. According to the temporary Constitution of Lithuania, Vytautas Landsbergis had constitutional authority over both the Leader of the State and the Speaker of the Parliament. V. Landsbergis held this post from March 1990 until the next elections in November 1992.

The Soviet Union had attempted to stifle this activity by economic blockade in 1990, but it failed, and other Soviet Republics soon followed suit and declared their independence from Moscow, as well.

Iceland was the first state that officially recognized the restoration of Lithuanian Independence and Professor Landsbergis was somewhat critical of certain Western powers (like the United States and United Kingdom), for not showing enough support in Lithuania's bid to restore its independence after more than 40 years of Soviet occupation. He was also extremely dubious of the claim that Mikhail Gorbachev was trying to liberalize the Soviet Union, and that Lithuania should not prevent him from doing so.

In 1993, Vytautas Landsbergis founded a new political party, the Homeland Union - Tevynes Sajunga. It gained a landslide victory in the 1996 parliamentary elections and Professor Landsbergis served as the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament called Seimas from 1996 until 2000. He ran, although unsuccessfully, for President in 1997 (coming up the third after receiving 15.9% of the votes). During the runoff he supported Valdas Adamkus, who had finished second in the first round. V. Adamkus eventually became President.

In 2004 Professor V. Landsbergis was elected by Lithuanian voters to the European Parliament and has an office in Brussels (the total number of EPMs from Lithuania in Brussels is 13).

Attempt to ban Communist and Nazi insignia

In January 2005 Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis, backed by another Member of the European Parliament from Hungary, urged a ban on the Soviet and Nazi symbols. He also sent a letter to Mr. Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner of Justice and Internal Affairs, where he suggested that in case the EU decides to ban Nazi symbols, Communist symbols should be banned too. The Commissioner became interested in this proposal and said: "I am ready to join this discussion. The Communist dictatorships no less than the Nazi ones are responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people". A bit later, however, the Commissioner under pressure from Italian communists backed off his initial statement.

Prof. Landsbergis' proposal caused quite a stir in Italy where Italian leftists in the beginning of February, 2005 strongly protested against such a move. The reformed Communist Party and Italian Communists were outraged at Landsbergis' proposal. The Professor's proposal became the center of the Italian media's attention. One of the most influential Italian dailies, "La Repubblica", had even published an interview with Professor Vytautas Landsbergis outlining his proposal. It was indeed the first time when the daily allocated a full page for a politician from Lithuania.

Nevertheless, Landsbergis' proposal found few supporters among Italian politicians. However one who did, Alessandra Mussolini, a grand-daughter of former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini commented: "To implement the proposal of the Members of the European Parliament regarding Communist symbols is our moral duty".

The proposal of Professor V. Landsbergis did not go by without a response from the Russian Parliament as well. The First Vicespeaker of the Russian State Duma has called Professor's proposal as "abnormal". Another Russian MP, a communist, commented by saying that "somebody in Europe became insolent and forgot who saved them from the fascists".

However, the debate came to an end when in the beginning of February, 2005 the European Commission rejected calls for a proposed Europe-wide ban on Nazi symbols to be extended to cover Communist Party symbols as well. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said it would not be appropriate to include the red star and the hammer and sickle in a draft EU law on racism.

Finally, at the end of February, 2005 the European Union dropped proposals to ban Nazi symbols across its 25 member states. Luxembourg withdrew the plan when it became clear that members could not reach a consensus on which symbols to ban. There were also concerns that the proposed ban was a threat to freedom of expression. The only country in Europe which has banned the use of Nazi insignia is Germany.

Landsbergis vs. Russia

Professor V. Landsbergis is a fierce critic of Russia's intentions to impose any kind of influence on the Baltic States and publicly questions Russia's actions vis a vis the Baltic States on both local and international media, as well as in the circles of the European Parliament. He warns that Russia might have intentions to control Lithuania and the other Baltic States economically and politically through a wide network of former KGB agents and other clandestine activities. Vytautas Landsbergis is one of the most active politicians, who urge Russia to compensate Lithuania and other post-Soviet republics for damages done to them during their occupations.

Landsbergis and Fluxus

Professor Landsbergis is also known as one of the most important Fluxus artists. George Maciunas (actually, Jurgis Mačiūnas), one of the leaders of the movement, and Landsbergis were the best schoolfriends.

External links

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