Donatas Malinauskas

Who was Donatas Malinauskas?

Donatas Malinauskas was a Lithuanian politician and diplomat, and one of twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania.

Malinauskas was born to a Lithuanian family of nobility and educated in Vilnius. Later he moved to study at the Agricultural Academy in Tabor, Bohemia, where he supported Czech nationalist movements among the student body.

After graduation he returned to the family estate near Trakai, and became involved with various political and charitable causes. He was part of a group referred to as one of the "Twelve apostles". Their objectives included a campaign to allow the use of the Lithuanian language in Roman Catholic services in Lithuania, which at the time required the use of either Latin or Polish, and the establishment of the Lithuanian Central Relief Committee. His work at this Committee led to his election to the Council of Lithuania and the signing of the Act of Independence in 1918.

During the Interwar period Malinauskas served as a diplomatic envoy to Czechoslovakia and Estonia.