Meilė Lukšienė

Who was Meilė Lukšienė?

Meilutė Julija Lukšienė–Matjošaitytė was a Lithuanian cultural historian and activist. She was a founding member of the Sąjūdis, a political organization which advocated for the independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Meilutė Julija Lukšienė originates from a famous family active in the Lithuanian culture. She obtained her formal education in inter-war period in Lithuania – in year 1931 graduated from Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium, in year 1942 graduated from the Humanitarian Faculty at Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University, obtained Lithuanian literature history speciality and Lithuanian language critic, French literature, Pedagogics specialities.Meilė Lukšienė defended two dissertations: of humanitarian science and doctor habilitatus in social science. A home of Meilė Lukšienė was full of great respect for the human idea, perception, consciousness and inquiring mind. Her husband Kazimieras Lukša in the independent Republic of Lithuania was a high economic relations officer, high -level Lithuanian bank employee. 1940-1970 Kazimieras Lukša had been teaching the science of balance, economic analysis and international trade courses at Vilnius University. 1945-1946 he was a dean of the Faculty of Economics. They brought up three children: Dr. Hab. of History Ingė Lukšaitė, an organist Giedre Lukšaitė-Mrazkova, she is a Professor of the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and a son Rimtis Lukša who is a doctor of Natural Sciences.