Colleagues remember Aurelijus Katkevičius: you couldn’t want to be like him

A. Katauskas: I have not seen another person like this

Public relations expert Arijus Katauskas says that he met A. Katkevičius many years ago, just beginning his career in the communication market: “He really decided where he was going and who he was. It was the attitude of the man who, in my opinion, created that communication market, but he was always himself, he was never lost. The other thing is his intelligence, knowledge, knowledge, everything … You couldn’t help giving in, you couldn’t want to be like him. “

“He was a man who was not afraid to know and was not afraid to know. I don’t know how clear that explanation is, but A. Katkevičius always knew where he knew and when he didn’t, and he was not afraid of him; now it is truly unique. In the last of our joint shows at KATukai, we talked a lot about the fact that there comes a time when you don’t have to be afraid to say that you don’t have a green understanding of what’s going on. Then you simply stay with you as you are to make a decision on how to evaluate it, ”recalls A. Katauskas.

According to A. Katauskas, it is very difficult to talk about A. Katkevičius, because he was always very broad: “Only what you see from the outside: his translation work, his knowledge, his language learning, his everything … I have not seen another person like that in Lithuania. He was a Lithuanian employee. “

D. Radzevičius – He was rewarded for being interesting in everything

When asked to share memories, Dainius Radzevičius, president of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, admits that he now regrets the conversation: “Everyone remembers what happened the last time with the person who left, and now I remember what did not happen. We had to have an event with Aurelius in May with the Bar Council where I had to moderate while he attended, but the event didn’t happen. I don’t think there was another interesting conversation. “

“I always remember Aurelia as a person who knew how to tell incredibly interesting things, always differently about other things. She had many colors in life, more than what people are used to in life. We all want to have comfortable colors, beloved : When you ask a person what color he loves, he chooses one, and with Aurelia – everyone has seen who read or asked – that there are more colors in life. The same was the case, with a lot of color: what I will remember with the magazine “Veidas”, I will remember him as a provocateur who worked in the field of public relations – after all, it is a great provocation to communicate about what others have a preconceived opinion. There are good editors, journalists, communicators, but Aurelijus was probably lucky in life to have been rewarded for being interesting in everything: editor, lecturer, commentator, writer and many things, not everyone is so lucky in life ”, says D. Radzevi čius.

“It is a legend that came out of the closet: just as everyone in the world of music remembers Stasys Povilaitis or Vytautas Kernagis, who managed to draw attention to themselves by reaching any public, so Aurelijus was one of those people who knew how to really attract attention when now we see that many only Travel Arkansas temporary. At He sat Everyone: Whether I wrote on Facebook, Business Class, or Business News radio conversations, where they were last this summer. After all, not all people podcast listen, ”says the president of LUJ.

Furthermore, another distinctive feature of A. Katkevičius was that he was never afraid to go against the grain. “Like when social media became popular and Google Plus, many in Lithuania probably thought why someone had to be there, and they did,” laughs D. Radzevičius.

“In many cases, we have an opinion before what is doomed or doomed, and Aurelius has repeatedly shown that whoever seems doomed can be very successful: that Roland Paksas can become president when many say he cannot, that there can. “Business class” magazine existed, although many people said there is no class or business in Lithuania, some thought that the business symbol in Lithuania was just Gariūnai, and he edited “Business class”, a great magazine, “he says.

“Aurelia’s memories are very bright, although she was often dressed in darkness. He, like that theater, on a dark stage, with dark clothes, helps us to focus on the most important things and not pay attention to external stimuli, he can simply listen ”, says D. Radzevičius.

J. Špakauskas: Aurelijus will always be great

Communication expert Jaunius Špakauskas says he vividly remembers, almost like today, his first meeting with Aurelius in one of the “Business Triangle” restaurants some 15 years ago.

“When I found his email address, I wrote Aurelia a letter and told her that I wanted to write for a magazine he was editing. To my greatest surprise, he met me, demanded that ‘you’ address me, and we chatted during a few hours, although now seems like a moment. Something about the first Ukrainian revolution, the media, scientific achievements and Lithuanian politics. Aurelius’s scholarship was astonishing, his eternally youthful curiosity impressed me, but his closeness to a completely young man. Foreigner turned out to be very close to me. For that I will be eternally grateful to Aurelia. She says that we measure life by the number of people who measure theirs for you. Aurelijus will always be great in this regard, “says J. Špakauskas.

Less than a year ago, J. Špakauskas spoke with A. Katkevičius on the Delfi television program “Public Opinion”, which we invite you to remember.

M. Katkus: Even Aurelius’s departure was an example

Mykolas Katkus, a public relations expert, shared his memories of Aurelijus Katkevičius on Facebook.

“For me, he is the Editor and the first employer to accept, teach and patiently endure the chaotic nineteen years. Then there was a colleague whom I admired. After that, a competitor who made me better. Even later, a referent, intellectual sparingo great teacher, friend, landmark. And I am very, very sad today, as if I had lost an older brother and it is not easy to write because I still do not believe.

And Lithuania? For Lithuania, Aurelijus is an employee; a representative of the brilliant generation of VU philology – a great poet, translator and critic, who from the beginning was attracted to broader contexts, greater opportunities. Leader of intellectual curiosity, he worked and wrote (and as he wrote!) Before the Renaissance in the cultural press, then he went to political school (and also contributed) to Vytautas Landsbergis as an assistant in the January Seimas. Later he worked in business, then in Verslo žinios.

Curiosities curator Aurelijus also did “Veidas” – apparently, no publication has ever taken such a big step in investigative journalism, in a number maybe 9 topics were investigative. The temptations and dangers of investigative journalism were the same then: Advertisers don’t like it, and investigators sometimes feel the temptations of scandals too deeply and forget they are serving the truth rather than the headlines. . However, journalism has always been a great calling for Aurelia, and her contribution there is enormous, to broaden her horizons, encourage experimentation, and most importantly, to educate and nurture new generations of insightful writers. His editor’s letters – a genre classic, his interviews – remain standard, respectful, insightful, but always sharp and not boring.

The curator of curiosity, Aurelijus, also came to us: a gang of young people from VRP, embraced by mythological public relations, and then assembled a team that was better suited to him. With that team, he triumphed for the first time in Lithuania to assemble and our young profession: the leader of his ideas, Paksas, took over and won those ill-fated 2002 elections.

I often wondered: why was that work of his so demonized for Paks then? After all, before that another intellectual – Gintaras Chomentauskas – created the legend of Paulauskas, and then a lot of cunning people took Uspaskich or others to the elections? After all, in 2002, Paksas was supported by other intellectuals, Aurelius was not the only one.

Two things were apparently at fault here. First, the Vedin did not erase the deep sense of decency and loyalty that was felt in time, but it was almost to the end, no matter how painful it was. Second, Paksas’s victory over Adamkus’s ineffective and idiotic campaign showed the political scientists and intellectuals of the time that his theories had little to do with reality. To preserve her dignity, many excuses were made up, the common denominator of which was Aurelia’s diabolical personality. Paradoxically, his most brutal critics were also intellectuals, classmates, classmates who also tried to play the gray electoral cardinals but lacked talent.

Although he did not show it, Aurelius lived it very painfully, but did not allow this work to define him. Cursed by bodybuilders and intellectuals, he continued reading, writing, valuing (Calderón and Lorca!), And after retiring from public relations back to journalism, he discovered and deterioration joys. Google he had a reward for him: his texts and those of his community were the only reason to visit the pages of a fundamentally failed project. Aurelijus loved texts and writers, he saw talent in gastronomy, historians, lawyers, entangled journalists. Both the impression and the urgency, and his evaluation of “good text” was like a medal.

And Aurelius’ departure, not death, retreat, was also an example. He learned languages, apparently Jewish. Value. He wrote and edited two magazines. Organized the Business News Show. We found time and leads for our conversations (although sometimes chemotherapy tortured us and asked to talk more). He compiled the bills and, with 2002, gave many interviews, but he did so openly, all the while warning current and future political technologists or simply activists about the options and their consequences.

Gave to the family. He was half an hour late for work once in 2000 and said, “If we can talk to Regina together until the morning after so many years, that’s fine.” I, 22, really did not understand, now I understand better. Spoken so far.

There were those generations of readers who read everything and always: fiction, detectives, memoirs, physics, chemistry, economics, philosophy. He remembered, he quoted, he argued. One of the few people who has never stopped has always been interested in new ideas, always where the fire is just beginning to break out, always supporting young ideas, even if, or especially when they don’t. I never became cynical with realpolitik.

I was. Aurelius, my eternal rest, we will miss you. “

Aurelijus Katkevičius’ farewell will take place on August 14. from 9 am to 4 pm at 22 Olandų Street, Vilnius Funeral Palace, the first weapons room. The urn will be removed at 4 pm, the funeral will take place at the Liepynpy Cemetery.

Jūratė Žuolytė

Culture editor M360 and DELFI