ROTARY AND LITHUANIA

Made by Ugnius Bieliūnas

 FIRST ROTARY CLUB IN LITHUANIA

• The idea of creating a Rotary Club in Lithuania originated with chief justiciar of
Kaunas district court, Karolis Žalkauskas. In July of 1933 Karolis Žalkauskas, the
Club chairman, along with Juozas Urmanas, the Club secretary, singed the bylaws of
Kaunas Rotary Club and sent them to Rotary International headquarters. On the 6th of
October the Club is formed and on May 5th, at Kaunas City Hall, the vice-president
of Rotary International Paul Thorwall from Helsinki handed Kaunas Rotary Club its
charter – a document certifying international recognition – and the symbolic Rotary
wooden hammer with a bell. The silhouette of Kaunas City Hall therefore still adorns
the emblem of Kaunas Rotary Club.
KAROLIS ŽALKAUSKAS PAUL THORWALL
 OTHER INTERWAR ROTARY CLUBS
• Another establishing of a Rotary Club
in Klaipėda was on 15 July 1938.
After 11 month when Germany
occupied the Klaipėda's region, the
Club was closed.
• Before 1940, there were two more
Rotary Clubs in Lithuania, in Šiauliai
and Vilnius, but as the Red Army
occupied the country in June 1940, the
Soviets suppressed Rotary activities
and many Rotarians were deported to
Siberia.
INDEPENDENCE

• As Lithuania regained independence

in 1990, Rotary reappeared. However,
Kaunas Rotary Club alone could claim
to be a legitimate heir of a pre-war
club, since it had preserved enough
documents. Moreover, one pre-war
Rotarian, Vytautas Landsbergis-
Žemkalnis, was still alive to tell the
story – he was named a honorary
member of the reconstituted Kaunas
Rotary Club.
 OUR OWN DISTRICT

• Till 2014 Lithuanian Rotary clubs

were under the jurisdiction of
Denmark's District 1460. On 1st of
May 2001, the LRO Committee was
registered at the Lithuanian Ministry
of Justice, to coordinate the activities
of Lithuanian clubs. Now Lithuania is
a separate district- 1462. It
was officially declared on 1st of July
2014.
CURRENT SITUATION
• There are now 56 recognized Rotary
clubs in Lithuania. The first Rotaract
club – with membership open to
young people between 18 and 29 –
was founded in Kaunas on 9
December 1995. There are now 11
Lithuanian Rotaract and 14 Interact
Clubs.