Tumelis Juozas Eugenijus

Tumelis Juozas Eugenijus (1938-2022) was born in Marijampolė, in the family of Petras and Juzefa Tumelis. In 1939, he moved with his family to Žagariškės village. In 1945-1949, he attended Žagariškės Primary School. Later he attended Sangrūda Secondary School, and for the last academic year 1955-1956 he attended Kalvarija Secondary School and graduated from it. In 1956, he applied to study at the Department of Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Faculty of History and Philology of Vilnius University and was accepted. In February 1958, he was reprimanded for absenteeism and “breach of academic discipline”. His scholarship was terminated. In April of the same year, the agency file “Unrepentant”, kept in the Lithuanian Special Archives (LSA), records that Juozas had contacts with Viktoras Petkus (a political activist, political prisoner, member of the Helsinki Group), who had returned from prison. In June 1958, Juozas applied for a postponement of the exam session due to a health problem, and in December of the same year, he was granted an academic leave due to health problems. In January 1959, he was again reprimanded for violation of dormitory rules and discipline. According to a report kept by the LSA, in 1958 Juozas Tumelis, although on leave, was one of the organisers of the “decadent group” and encouraged the university’s writers to include in the almanac poems that were “decadent and ideologically harmful”. In February 1960, by an order of the Dean, Juozas was ordered to repeat the second year of studies because of the exams failed. On 4 November 1960, an order was put in place to remove Juozas Tumelis from the list of students because he did not attend lectures. In December 1961, a KGB certificate kept at the LSA records that “prophylactic measures” were applied to young university literary men, including Juozas, “for decadent views”. In 1964, Juozas applied to be reinstated to the Department of History of the Faculty of History and Philology as a part-time student. He was suggested to apply under the general procedure. A year later, Juozas repeated his request to be readmitted to the Department of Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Faculty of History and Philology. However, he was again told that he should apply under the general procedure. In 1966, he applied to get his maturity certificate back. Finally, in 1972, he graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in history. From 1963 to 1979, he worked as a bibliographer at the Book Chamber, and from 1979 to 2003, he was the chief bibliographer and head of the Department of Old and Rare Printed Materials at Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. In 1990-1992, he was leading the Seimas Council of the Reform Movement of Lithuania. In 1992-1999, he was in charge of the Editorial Board of the Lithuanian National Bibliography. In 2001-2007, he was the leader of the Scientific Editorial Board of the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopaedia, volumes 1-11. In 1999, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, in 2002 – the Commemorative Medal of January 13 and in 2006 – the Cross of Officer.

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