Born: 31 May 1845, Lithuania
Died: 7 December 1921
Country most active: Lithuania
Also known as: Žemaitė, Julia z Beniuszewiczów Żymontowa
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Julija Zimantas was born in Lithuania on May 31, 1845, in the parish of Plunge, where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Antanas Beniusevicius, were of the nobility and were landlords on the estate of Bukantiske, belonging to Baron Ploteris. The language spoken in her home was not Lithuanian, but Polish, and Julija’s early days were filled with the Polish atmosphere of her home.
When she was ten years old her parents sent her to stay with an aunt where, with the other children Julija learned to read. She soon began to form her own opinions, so that at the uprising in 1863, this young girl of eighteen years secretly carried food and clothing to the men in the woods.
Even more, she tried to get information regarding the Russian army and then related the news to the revolting party with which she sympathized. Quiet reigning once again, Julija went to work as a servant girl on the estate of Dziuginenai, near the city of Telsiai. Here she met and married Laurynas Zimantas. The two moved to the village of Uzventys, where Julija became acquainted with Povilas Visinskas, a student who told her about Lithuanian literature and how it was forbidden in Lithuania but was being smuggled in from Prussia. This caused Julija to think more of Lithuania’s suppression and she longed to be of help. Finally, she began to write in this language that she had grown to love.
Her first composition, Pirslybos (Matchmaking), was written when she was about fifty years of age. Upon being published, the title was changed to Rude ns Vaaru (During an Autumn Evening) and the author’s pen name became “Zemaite,” meaning The Samogitian. Since 1894, she not only wrote extensively, but became an active worker on behalf of the Lithuanian nation.
She mingled with the student bodies and the more intelligent classes and, of course, met more of those who were anxious about Lithuania’s destiny. Her energy and great enthusiasm actually threw her into prison for one month in the year of 1913. During the World War, “Zemaite” was exiled to Voronezh, Russia. In 1916, accompanied by a friend, Mrs. Bulotas, she came to the United States with the hope of collecting funds for the benefit of Lithuanian fugitives. In 1921, “Zemaite” returned to Lithuania inasmuch as it had gained freedom and the fugitives were now coming back to their country; and The Samogitian returned just in time to pass her last days, for in this same year, 1921, she passed away on December 17, in the city of Mariampole, at the home of her friends, the Bulotas family. Realism is a strong characteristic in all The Samogitian’s writings, and knowing well the hard lot of the poor Lithuanian peasants, she describes vividly their life, their suffering, their worries and their hopes.