In 1939 he began teaching at Vilnius University. From 1930 he began writing dramas, first Milžino paunksmė, later Radvila Perkūnas, Baisioji naktis and Aitvaras teisėjas. He also wrote various articles on literature. After returning to Lithuania, Sruoga taught at the University of Lithuania, and established a theater seminar that eventually became a course of study. In 1921 he enrolled in the University of Munich, where in 1924 he received his Doctor of Philosophy for a doctoral thesis on Lithuanian folklore. Petersburg, Russia, and later in Moscow, due to World War I and the Russian Revolution. In 1914 he began studying literature in Saint St. He contributed to cultural journals from his early youth. The 2005 film Forest of the Gods was based on the bookīalys Sruoga was a Lithuanian poet, playwright, critic, and literary theorist. The authorities' refusal to publish The Forest of Gods and weak health resulting from his time in concentration camps led to his death in October 16, 1947. However, in 1945, he returned to Vilnius and continued teaching at Vilnius University, where he wrote the dramas Pajūrio kurortas and Barbora Radvilaitė. Lieutenant was ultimately published in 1957, ten years after the author's death.Īfter the Soviets recaptured the Nazi camps, Sruoga continued to be held in the same camp. Originally the novel was suppressed by the Soviet officials. Gets tired.', referring to the guards beating prisoners. In the book, Sruoga revealed life in a concentration camp through the eyes of a man whose only way to save his life and maintain his dignity was to view everything through a veil of irony and humor, where torturers and their victims are exposed as imperfect human beings, being far removed from the false ideals of their political leaders.įoreign example, he wrote 'Human - is not a machine. Sruoga's best known work is the novel (Dievų miškas), based on his own life experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, where he was sent in March 1943 together with forty-seven other Lithuanian intellectuals, after the Nazis started a campaign against possible anti-Nazi agitation in occupied Lithuania.

In 1921 he enrolled in the University of Munich, where in 1924 he received his Doctor of Philosophy for a doctoral thesis on Lithuanian folklore.Īfter returning to Lithuania, Sruoga taught at the University of Lithuania, and established a theater seminar that eventually became a course of study. (age 51) Biržai, Biržai District Municipality, Lithuania

Dievų miškas by Balys Sruoga