A memorial plaque to Vydūnas (Vilhelm Storost)

On May 4, 1988, in Šilute, on the house 1 Valstiečių Street (now Vydūnas St.), a memorial plaque to the famous Lithuanian writer, philosopher and cultural figure Vydūnas (Vilhelm Storost) was unveiled. The author of the Vydūnas memorial plaque is a Klaipėda sculptor Arūnas Sakalauskas. Vydūnas was born on March 22, 1868, in Jonaičiai village (Šilutė district). After graduating from the Ragainė Teachers’ Seminary, he worked as a teacher in Kintai and Tilse till 1912, but due to poor health (inherited tuberculosis) he retired early and got engaged in creative activities: published books, magazines, and gave public lectures. Vydūnas was well acquainted with various fields of science; he studied as a listener at the universities of Halle, Leipzig and Berlin.

In 1895, he founded the Tilse Society of Lithuanian Singers and led it for 40 years. Lithuanian plays, concerts and song festivals were organized in Tilse and many other places in East Prussia. He was an active member of other societies and organizations of East Prussian and Klaipėda region Lithuanians; he became a chairman of the board of the established Prussian Lithuanian Society in 1931. Since 1907, Vydūnas participated in the activities of the Lithuanian Science Society; published magazines “Šaltinis”, “Jaunimas”, “Naujovė”, “Darbymetis”; collaborated in other East Prussian Lithuanian and Lithuanian periodicals. Since 1925, he was a PEN club member and since 1935 – a corresponding member of the Society of Lithuanian Writers. Vydūnas was sent to prison in Hitler’s time. In 1944, together with the residents of Tilse he evacuated to Germany. Since 1946, he lived in Detmold and joined the cultural activities of the evacuated East Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanian refugees, collaborated in their press. He wrote 12 philosophical works, more than 30 dramas of philosophical content, and historiographical works. Vydūnas died on February 20, 1953, in Detmold (Germany). On October 19, 1991, his remains were reburied in Bitėnai cemetery.