Leonas Bistras

Leonas Bistras (20 October 1890 in Liepāja – 17 October 1971 in Kaunas) was a Lithuanian politician, journalist, translator, philosopher and professor.

Bistras was elected to the Second Seimas representing the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party. He was also elected as the Speaker of Seimas. In the 9th and 10th Cabinet of Ministers of Lithuania, he was the Minister of Education. After Vytautas Petrulis' cabinet resigned, he took the office of Prime Minister of Lithuania and the Minister of Defense in the 12th cabinet. From April 14, 1926 he was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After the coup d'état at the end of 1926, he was appointed as the Minister of Education, but left the Government after the Third Seimas was dissolved. He returned to the Government after Lithuania lost Klaipėda Region in 1939, and in the 20th cabinet served as the Minister of Education and declined the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On 11 July 1940 he was arrested, imprisoned in the Kaunas Prison and deported to Siberia in 1941, returning to Lithuania in 1945. In 1950, he was again arrested and sent to Siberia, only returning in 1956. As he was not granted a pension by the Soviet government, he lived on donations from people in Kaunas, where he died three days before his 81st birthday. He was buried in Petrašiūnai Cemetery of Kaunas.

External links

(Lithuanian) Bio at Lithuanian Seimas website

Preceded by Vytautas Petrulis	Prime Minister of Lithuania 25 September 1925 – 15 June 1926	Succeeded by Mykolas Sleževičius

Prime Ministers of Lithuania

1918–1940	Augustinas Voldemaras Mykolas Sleževičius Pranas Dovydaitis Mykolas Sleževičius Ernestas Galvanauskas Kazys Grinius Ernestas Galvanauskas Antanas Tumėnas Vytautas Petrulis Leonas Bistras Mykolas Sleževičius Augustinas Voldemaras Juozas Tūbelis Vladas Mironas Jonas Černius Antanas Merkys

Lithuanian SSR	Mečislovas Gedvilas Motiejus Šumauskas Juozas Maniušis Ringaudas Songaila Vytautas Sakalauskas

since 1990	Kazimira Prunskienė Albertas Šimėnas Gediminas Vagnorius Aleksandras Abišala Bronislovas Lubys Adolfas Šleževičius Laurynas Stankevičius Gediminas Vagnorius Irena Degutienė Rolandas Paksas Irena Degutienė Andrius Kubilius Rolandas Paksas Eugenijus Gentvilas Algirdas Brazauskas Zigmantas Balčytis Gediminas Kirkilas Andrius Kubilius Algirdas Butkevičius

Italics indicate acting Prime Ministers

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