Fragment of a poster dedicated to the anniversary of Aloiza Pashkevich-Kairiene (Ciotka) © Vilnius Franciscan Skorina Gymnasium Museum
Aloiza Pashkevich-Kairiene (1876-1916) – Belarusian poetess (Ciotka, lit. aunt), activist of Belarusian national revival. Dvarininkaitė began her studies in a private girls’ gymnasium in Vilnius, later studied pedagogy in St. Petersburg, studied literature at the University of Krakow and philosophy at Lviv. He wrote his first poems under the pseudonym Ciotka in the very 20th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, he collaborated with the Vilnius Belarusian Press. Her poems and short stories, declaring her social justice and her national Belarusian feelings, were published in Nashe Slovo and Nasha Niva. The writer was in close contact not only with Belarusians but also with Lithuanian and Russian local intellectuals and artists. Among her friends were Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the poet Janka Kupala and the family of Jonas Biliūnas. It is believed that the latter helped Aloiza to settle down and find work in Vilnius. Her social and cultural activities, her cooperation with Lithuanians were furthered by her love for her husband, an engineer, a politician, a public figure and a signatory to the Act of February 16, Stephen Kairis (1879-1964). She died of a typhoid infection in the care of patients during World War I.
