Stasys Bačkis

Stasys Antanas Bačkis (February 10, 1906 – November 10, 1999) was a Lithuanian diplomat. A graduate of the University of Paris, he became an employee of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1930. In 1938, he was stationed at the Lithuanian embassy in Paris. After the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in June 1940, Lithuanian diplomats did not recognize the new Soviet government and established the Lithuanian diplomatic service that functioned in conditions of exile, continued to represent independent Lithuania, and preserved legal continuity of the state. After the arrest of ambassador Petras Klimas, Bačkis actively headed the unofficial Lithuanian embassy in Paris until 1960 when he relocated to Washington, D.C.. After the death of Stasys Lozoraitis, Bačkis was the chief of the Lithuanian diplomatic service from 1983 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in August 1991. Bačkis was the father of Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis.

Bačkis was in born in Pantakoniai near Joniškėlis. After graduation from the Panevėžys Gymnasium, he received a stipend form the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended the University of Paris where he studied law and political science. After graduation in 1930, he joined the Lithuanian diplomatic service where he worked as a secretary. He mainly translated and edited various diplomatic documents to French. He also published various articles in Lithuanian press. From 1934 to 1938, he was a personal secretary of Stasys Lozoraitis, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, Bačkis participated in the assemblies of the Baltic Entente and League of Nations as well as the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He received the Swedish Order of the Polar Star in 1935 and Italian Order of the Crown of Italy in 1937. He was also rector of Valančius People's University (a folk high school).

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