Felicija Bortkevičienė

Felicija Bortkevičienė née Povickaitė (1 September 1873 – 21 October 1945) was a Lithuanian politician and publisher of Lietuvos ūkininkas and Lietuvos žinios. She became active in social life after she moved to Vilnius in 1900 and became known as an energetic and prolific organizer, manager, and treasurer. She joined and was one of the leaders of various political parties, including Lithuanian Democratic Party, Peasant Union, and Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union. She was a delegate to the Great Seimas of Vilnius (1905) and was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania (1920) and was considered for the position of Minister of Provision and Public Work (1918) and President of Lithuania (1926). Bortkevičienė organized and ran several charitable organizations, including those supporting gifted students, political prisoners of the Tsarist regime, and deported Prussian Lithuanians. She was also a member of women's movement in Lithuania, being an active member of the Lithuanian Women's Association and the chair of the Lithuanian Women's Union. For her various activities Bortkevičienė was arrested and imprisoned numerous times by different regimes, including Tsarist Russia, independent Lithuania, and Soviet Lithuania.

She was born in the Manor of Linkaučiai near Krekenava, then Russian Empire, to the family of Juozas Povickas and Antanina Ona Liutkevičiūtė, petty Lithuanian nobles. The family's manor was confiscated for the participation in the Uprising of 1863 and the family moved to Antakalnis village southeast of Ukmergė. Several of her relatives on her mother's side died in the uprising or were deported to Siberia. As a child she visited her deported grandfather and two uncles in Insar. As such, Bortkevičienė grew up surrounded by anti-Tsarist attitudes. She spoke little Lithuanian that she learned from her mother. Her father spoke Polish, but considered himself to be Lithuanian (see Polish-Lithuanian identity). By her own admission, she knew nothing of the Lithuanian National Revival before 1889.

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