Danielius Alseika

Danielius Alseika
Born	(1881-01-29)29 January 1881 Bružai [lt], Russian Empire
Died	9 May 1936(1936-05-09) (aged 55) Vilnius, Second Polish Republic
Alma mater	University of Warsaw University of Dorpat
Occupation	Physician
Board member of	Lithuanian Sanitary Aid Society Provisional Committee of Vilnius Lithuanians [lt]
Spouse	Veronika Alseikienė
Children	Vytautas Kazimieras Alseika [lt] Marija Gimbutas
Relatives	Brother Albinas Alseika [lt]

Danielius Alseika (Polish: Daniel Olsejko; 1881–1936) was a Lithuanian physician and activist. He was the father of the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas.

Born to a family of Lithuanian peasants, Alseika became actively involved in Lithuanian cultural life as a high school student. He participated in the smuggling of the banned Lithuanian publications, organized protests during the Russian Revolution of 1905, and was one of the co-founders of the Peasant Union.

He graduated as doctor from the University of Dorpat. During World War I, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army and worked as a doctor at various military hospitals. He founded the Lithuanian Sanitary Aid Society which cheaply purchased inventory of a military hospital and transported it to Vilnius where a new Lithuanian hospital was established in 1918. Alseika was director of the hospital until 1933 and chairman of the society until his death. In 1931, Alseika acquired an x-ray machine which did not have proper shielding. He died of the chronic radiation syndrome in 1936.

Alseika lived and worked in Vilnius which was bitterly contested between the interwar Lithuania and the Second Polish Republic. He actively defended Lithuanian rights in Vilnius Region and was chairman of the Provisional Committee of Vilnius Lithuanians [lt] in 1923–1928. He also founded and edited Lithuanian periodicals Vilniaus šviesa and Vilniaus žodis.