Justinas Staugaitis

Justinas Staugaitis (14 November 1866 near Šakiai – 8 July 1943, Telšiai) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishop, politician, educator, and author.

At that time, the use of the written Lithuanian language was prohibited, and his cousin Antanas Saugaitis participated in the underground movements that smuggled in such books and periodicals (see Knygnešiai).

At the Vilnius Conference in 1917, he was elected to the Council of Lithuania, and signed the Act of Independence in 1918.

He established a theological seminary in Telšiai and contributed numerous articles to periodicals, as well as writing several books.

Appeals by Jews to bishop Staugaitis to stop their persecution by the Lithuanian Activist Front during the Holocaust in Telšiai were rebuffed by the bishop who told the Jews that "This is what you deserve for bringing the Bolsheviks to Lithuania", this despite the persecution of religious Jews during Soviet rule.