{{Short description|Director of Lithuanian postal services (1889–1941)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Adolfas Sruoga | image = File:Adolfas Sruoga, 1921.png | caption = Adolfas Sruoga in the ''Lithuanian Album'' (1921) | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1886|03|12}} | birth_place = {{ill|Baibokai (Biržai)|lt|lt=Baibokai}}, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire | death_date = 1941 | death_place = Intalag, Komi ASSR, Soviet Union | alma_mater = Charlottenburg Polytechnic School | spouse = Tatjana Sruogienė | relatives = Balys Sruoga, Juozas Sruoga, Kazys Sruoga | office = Director of Lietuvos paštas | term_start = 1927 | term_end = 1933 }}
'''Adolfas Sruoga''' (19 April 1889 – 1941) was the director of Lithuanian postal services in interwar Lithuania. He was the brother of writer Balys Sruoga.
Educated as an electrical engineer at the Charlottenburg Polytechnic School, Sruoga worked in various electric engineering-related posts in the Russian Empire until moving to Lithuania in 1918 to work at the Lithuanian postal service. He was its director from 1927 until 1933 when he was accused of tampering with litas money stamps, accumulating enormous personal wealth. Found guilty of financial manipulation, Sruoga was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in 1935, eventually dying in 1941 as a deportee in the Intalag forced labor camp of the Soviet Union.
==Biography== ===Early life and career=== Sruoga was born on 12 March 1886 in the village of {{ill|Baibokai (Biržai)|lt|lt=Baibokai}} near Vabalninkas, then part of the Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire. Like his brother Balys Sruoga, Adolfas Sruoga went to a private secret Lithuanian-language school.{{sfn|Samulionis|1986|p=21}} Sruoga participated in organizing Lithuanian-language theater evenings in 1905.{{sfn|Samulionis|1986|p=35}} Graduating from a gymnasium in 1906, Sruoga studied electrical engineering at a polytechnic school in Charlottenburg, graduating in 1911.
Sruoga then worked as a telegraph mechanic in Transcaucasia, and also was assigned to head the technical school of the Caucasian Railway Battalion. From 1913 Sruoga worked as a telephone network engineer at the St. Petersburg telephone exchange. Sruoga's brother Balys Sruoga lived with him while the latter studied in St. Petersburg.<ref name="sruogavu">{{cite web |title=Balio Sruogos archyvas (1911–1947). Adolfas Sruoga (1887–1941) |trans-title=Archive of Balys Sruoga (1911-1947). Adolfas Sruoga (1887–1941) |url=https://www.sruoga.flf.vu.lt/2-balys-sruoga/115-laisko-aprasymas.html |website=sruoga.flf.vu.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> In 1918, Sruoga returned to Lithuania, Vilnius, where he worked at various technical commissions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Markevičaitė |first1=Janina |last2=Gira |first2=Gira |last3=Kliučinskis |first3=Adomas |title=Lietuvos albumas |trans-title=Lithuanian Album |year=1921 |publisher=Otto Elsner |location=Kaunas / Berlin |page=394 |language=lt}}</ref> Sruoga was married twice.<ref name="LKMA" />
===Director of postal service=== In interwar Lithuania, Sruoga was one of the directors of the Lithuanian postal service.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pašto valdyba |trans-title=Postal Board |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/pasto-valdyba/ |website=vle.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> At first, he worked as a co-director, and then as director since 1927. He also led a telegraph and telephone school.{{sfn|Samulionis|1986|p=192}} Described as a wealthy salon-visiting aphorist,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gailius |first1=Bernardas |title=Nusikaltimai „prie Smetonos“ |trans-title=Crimes "Near Smetona" |date=2008 |publisher=Aidai |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-9955-656-54-8 |page=62 |language=lt}}</ref> Sruoga owned Justas Paleckis's newspaper ''Naujas žodis'', the ''Tulpė'' bookstore in Kaunas, a printing house of the same name, and had shares in other companies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Skučaitė |first1=Virginija |title=Milijoninė pašto ženklų afera |trans-title=Million dollar stamp scam |url=https://kauno.diena.lt/dienrastis/miestas/milijonine-pasto-zenklu-afera-197948 |website=kauno.diena.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Skučaitė |first1=Virginija |title=Rezonansinės tarpukario bylos |trans-title=Resonant interwar cases |url=https://kauno.diena.lt/dienrastis/kita/rezonansines-tarpukario-bylos-32942 |website=kauno.diena.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref>
===Corruption=== Sruoga became infamous in 1931 when speculation arose about an illegal business using small, rhombus-shaped stamps. After checking the stamp warehouse and the expeditions department of the postal services, counterfeit stamps worth almost 3 million litas were found. It was established that Sruoga took used stamps from the warehouse and sold them, and instead he placed fake stamps of 3 and 5 litas denominations. Painter Adomas Varnas participated in determining the authenticity of the stamps. In 1933, Sruoga was formally accused of financial manipulation and arrested. Sruoga asserted his innocence by claiming that the stamps were product defects, and that which he had was part of a personal collection.<ref name="byla">{{cite web |title=Adolfo Sruogos byla |trans-title=The Case of Adolfas Sruoga |url=http://stamps.adie.lt/adolfosruogosbyla.html |website=stamps.adie.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref>
In 1935, Sruoga was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor, and his wealth was confiscated.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Skučaitė |first1=Virginija |title=Tarpukario Kauno milijonieriai garsėjo ne tik turtais |trans-title=The interwar Kaunas millionaires were not only famous for their wealth |url=https://kauno.diena.lt/dienrastis/kita/tarpukario-kauno-milijonieriai-garsejo-ne-tik-turtais-24888 |website=kauno.diena.lt |access-date=22 September 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> His wife Tatjana Sruogienė, along with their children, fled to Paraguay. Letters of his brother Balys Sruoga reveal the case's negative psychological effect on Balys<ref name="LKMA">{{cite journal |last1=Markevičienė |first1=Neringa |title=Balio Sruogos laiškai Juozapui Sruogai: pareigingoji bičiulystė |trans-title=Bali Sruoga's letters to Joozap Sruoga: dutiful friendship |journal=Lietuvos katalikų mokslo akademijos metraštis |date=2018 |volume=41 |pages=254–257 |url=https://www.lkma.lt/site/archive/metrastis/XLI/lkma-metrastis_t41_p235-266_Markeviciene.pdf |language=lt}}</ref> and the shame it brought the family name.{{sfn|Samulionis|1986|p=192}}
Sruoga was deported to Intalag in 1941 by Soviet authorities, where he died.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Samulionis |first=Algis |language=lt |title=Balys Sruoga |location=Vilnius |publisher={{ill|Vaga (publisher)|lt=Vaga Publishers|lt|Vaga (leidykla)}} |date=1986}}
{{Authority control|qid=Q12647014}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sruoga, Adolfas}} Category:1889 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Biržai District Municipality Category:People from Ponevezhsky Uyezd Category:Postal officials Category:People convicted of corruption Category:Prisoners and detainees of Lithuania Category:Technische Universität Berlin alumni Category:People who died in the Gulag Category:Lithuanian people who died in Soviet detention