The Monument to Hugo Scheu

A monument to the city founder and patron, landlord Hugo Scheu was erected in Šilute in 2001. The author of the monument is Erikas Daugulis from Kaunas. The place for the monument was chosen next to the former manor of H. Scheu, near the old market square at 4 Lietuvininkų St. There is an inscription on the facade of the pedestal: ‘Dr. Hugo Scheu, the Patron of Šilute Town’. H. Scheu was born in the family of a merchant and sailor Arnold Karl Scheu (1811–1886) and Rosette Ziegler (1825–1848), a daughter of a Klaipėda miller. He graduated from the higher town school in Klaipėda in 1862 and till 1869, practiced in various estates of Klaipėda and Šilutė counties. In 1869-1870, H. Scheu studied for two semesters at the Agricultural Institute in Berlin. In 1873, he bought the Lėbartai estate on his father-in-law’s money at auction, became a landlord and actively joined the public life of the town and Klaipėda county. He became an administrator of Dovilai village in 1881, and in 1884, was elected to the Klaipėda County Board, where he worked for almost 35 years.

In 1889, H. Scheu bought the Šilute estate. In 1892, he was elected to the board of Šilute County and later became the founder and president of the Chamber of Agriculture. H. Scheu donated many of his plots of land to the city. On the land that belonged to him now stands Salute’s first high school (then Herder’s high school, founded in 1918), the Šilute Evangelical Lutheran Church (in 1926, H. Scheu was immortalized in its altar fresco holding a model of the church), the Šilute fire station (established in 1897) and others buildings.

During his internship in Lapynai, he learned the Lithuanian language, and became interested in Lithuanian customs and folklore. In 1913, he published the book ‘Samogitian fairy tales. Tales about birds’ together with Aleksandras Kuršaitis in German and Lithuanian languages.  Another passion of H. Scheu was museology. He had accumulated a collection of various ethnographic items, on the basis of which the Hugo Scheu Museum of Šilute was founded. H. Scheu actively promoted Lithuanian handwork, took them to various exhibitions, and gave them as gifts to friends and distinguished guests.