Religion

Gaigalaitis was ordained priest in June 1900. He accepted a position as an assistant priest (Hilfsprediger [de]) in Eidaičiai [lt], but it was a small and remote village with no church.^[10] When a small church was built in nearby Ramučiai [lt], Gaigalaitis relocated there (a Lutheran parish in Ramučiai was established in 1902).^[11] In April 1902, he became the second priest of the much larger and more established parish in Priekulė.^[11] In 1904, Endrikis Endrulaitis became the first priest of the parish. He was active in the Lithuanian press and collaborated with Gaigalaitis, but was skeptical of the Lithuanian National Revival.^[12] In October 1915, Gaigalaitis became priest in Katyčiai. Due to increased social and political involvement, he left active pastoral work in March 1919.^[13] He then moved to Memel (Klaipėda) where he lived until 1940.^[14]

In June 1925, Gaigalaitis was elected by the synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania to the church's consistory.^[4] Despite protests from the German and Latvian members of the congregation, President of Lithuania appointed Gaigalaitis as president of the consistory.^[15] He served in this position until 1933 and took measures against pro-German priests.^[4][15] For such policies, Gaigalaitis was frequently attacked by German priests. In 1928, Kurt Ballerstedt published a brochure Die evangelisch-lutherische Kirche in Litauen im Kampf um ihre Freiheit (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania in the Fight for its Freedom) with a foreword by Gustav Adolf Deissmann. Gaigalaitis responded by publishing his own brochure the following year which highlighted struggles of the church in 1925–1929.^[16]

In 1937, he attended the World Conference on Church, Community and State in Oxford (the second conference of the Life and Work movement) and delivered a presentation arguing that priests should not get involved in national conflicts.^[13]

Politics

In 1903, Gaigalaitis as a representative of the Lithuanian Conservative Election Societies, was elected to the Prussian House of Representatives of the Landtag of Prussia. He was reelected in 1908 and 1913 serving until 1918.^[4] Initially, he joined the fraction of the German Conservative Party but later identified as an independent. According to his memoirs, during his years at the Landtag, he delivered 14 more notable speeches, particularly on the issues of the Lithuanian language in schools and churches.^[17] While in Berlin, he promoted Lithuanian culture. For example, he organized an exhibition of Lithuanian folk art in 1910 and lectures about Lithuania.^[18]

During World War I, when Germany occupied most of present-day Lithuania, Gaigalaitis published a political brochure The Lithuanian–Baltic Question (Die litauisch-baltische Frage) in which he argued that Germany should create a German-controlled buffer state from the Governorates of Vilna, Kovno, and Suwałki. At the time, he did not want to incorporate Prussian Lithuanians into this polity.^[17] In 1917, he published a more comprehensive treatise Lithuania: the Occupied Land (Litauen das besetzte Gebiet) in support of Lithuania's independence. The book included a map of ethnographic Lithuania that encompassed both Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Proper.^[19] He was also a member of the German–Lithuanian Society that published newspaper Das neue Litauen which supported Lithuania's independence, but only if Lithuania was dependent on Germany.^[20]

On 16 November 1918, Gaigalaitis was elected chairman of the National Council of Lithuania Minor which adopted the Act of Tilsit that called for the unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Proper into a single independent Lithuanian state. However, due to political backlash, Gaigalaitis refused to take the post and did not sign the act though he generally was supportive of the idea.^[21] Few weeks later, he became chairman of the National Council. Gaigalaitis faced pressure from the German police and fled to Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania, in July 1919. There, he worked as an editor of the government's official newspaper Lietuva.^[22]

He returned to Klaipėda Region when it was taken over by the French administration as a mandate of the League of Nations in early 1920.^[22] He more eagerly joined the Lithuanian efforts of uniting Klaipėda Region with Lithuania,^[23] though he wanted to preserve autonomy for the region.^[22] On 20 March 1920, Gaigalaitis and three other members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor were coopted by the Council of Lithuania. It was a symbolic measure to show political support for the idea of unification.^[22] Gaigalaitis went on two diplomatic missions regarding the Klaipėda Region: for consultations to the United Kingdom in 1921 and as a leader of a delegation of Prussian Lithuanians to the Conference of Ambassadors in November 1922.^[23]

After Lithuania gained control of the Klaipėda Region in January 1923, Gaigalaitis became a member of the Directorate of the Klaipėda Region. He was its member from February to December 1923 and primarily worked on religious and educational matters. He drafted the law on the use of the Lithuanian language in schools.^[4] Lithuanians wanted to impose stricter Lithuanian language requirements, while Gaigalaitis supported region's autonomy and more moderate approach. Political disagreements led to his resignation from the directorate in December 1923 and withdrawal from further political activities.^[24]

Gaigalaitis' political activities attracted criticism. Germans accused him of chauvinism and being a traitor.^[25] Lithuanians criticized him for not being sufficiently Lithuanian and for supporting autonomy of the Klaipėda Region.^[26] In particular, Gaigalaitis quarreled with Martynas Jankus and Jonas Vanagaitis [lt], two other pro-Lithuanian Prussian Lithuanians.^[26]

Societies

In 1904, together with others, Gaigalaitis established charitable, cultural, and educational Sandora Society. He was its chairman (until 1940) and editor of its newspaper Pagalba.^[4] The society maintained shelters for the disabled, Sunday schools, supported impoverished students, organized church choirs, etc.^[7] One of the shelters, established in 1934, now bears his name and continues to operate in Gargždai.^[4] The Sandora Society also published 30 books and brochures.^[27]

He was a member of many other societies, including Birutė Society (supported its library),^[28] Lithuanian Literary Society (became its board member by 1911),^[29] Lithuanian Scientific Society in Vilnius (1907–1914), and Spauda Society in Tilsit (1914–1922).^[5] When the Spauda Society organized the Lithuanian daily Prūsų lietuvių balsas [lt] in 1919, Gaigalaitis donated 21,000 marks for the cause.^[27]

In 1913, in preparation for the 200th birth anniversary of poet Kristijonas Donelaitis, Gaigalaitis published the first biography of Donelaitis and raised money for the construction of his monument on Rambynas. However, the was not built due to World War I.^[18] During the war, he raised funds for the Prussians deported to Siberia.^[5]

He co-founded Aukuras Society to promote Lithuanian culture (1922).^[5] In 1924, he was co-founded the Society of the Museum of the Klaipėda Region. He was its chairman until 1939.^[30] The society supported the Museum of the Klaipėda Region which opened in 1931 and displayed mainly archaeological artifacts.^[31] Gaigalaitis was a representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Lithuania (1924–1937).^[5] He was also a member and for a time chairman of the Society of Lithuanian–Latvian Unity.^[14] Gaigalaitis was one of the leaders of the Klaipėda chapter of the Lithuanian Red Cross established in 1935.^[14]

Education

In 1922, Gaigalaitis initiated the first Lithuanian gymnasium in Memel (now Klaipėda Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium [lt]) and was its first principal (until 1924).^[5] He was co-founder and long-term chairman of the Society of Schools in Klaipėda Region established in 1926. When Klaipėda Region was attached to Lithuania, it had 241 primary schools but only one of them taught in Lithuanian.^[23] Lack of Lithuanian teachers and resistance from German parents made it difficult to change the language of instruction. Therefore, the society established and maintained private primary schools in the region.^[32] In 1938, the society had 60 schools with 2,520 students.^[30] In 1934, he established courses for preachers and choirmasters in Klaipėda.^[4]

Gaigalaitis and others worked to establish the Faculty of the Evangelical Theology at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. The faculty was established in April 1925. The first three lecturers (including Gaigalaitis) were hired in September 1925.^[33] Povilas Jakubėnas (member of the Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church) was dean of the faculty, except for the 1927/1928 school year when Gaigalaitis took over the post. Gaigalaitis did not live in Kaunas, and instead commuted from Klaipėda.^[33] He worked at the faculty until its closure on 15 September 1936.^[4] He taught classes on Christian missions, sociology, liturgy, ethics, exegesis, apologetics, catechesis, and pastoral theology.^[34][35]