The Lithuanian partisans () were
partisans who waged a
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
against the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1944–1953. Similar
anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as
Forest Brothers
The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...
and
cursed soldiers
The "cursed soldiers" (also known as "doomed soldiers", "accursed soldiers" or "damned soldiers"; pl, żołnierze wyklęci) or "indomitable soldiers" ( pl, żołnierze niezłomni) is a term applied to a variety of anti-Soviet and anti-communist ...
, fought against Soviet rule in
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. It is estimated that a total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed.
The Lithuanian partisan war lasted almost for a decade, thus being one of the longest partisan wars in Europe.
At the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
pushed the
Eastern Front towards Lithuania. The
Soviets invaded and occupied Lithuania by the end of 1944. As forced
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
into Red Army and
Stalinist
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
repressions intensified, thousands of Lithuanians used forests in the countryside as a natural refuge. These spontaneous groups became more organized and centralized culminating in the establishment of the
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters or Movement for the Struggle for Lithuanian Freedom ( lt, Lietuvos laisvės kovos sąjūdis or LLKS) was a resistance organization of the Lithuanian partisans, waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union in ...
in February 1948. In their documents, the partisans emphasized that their ultimate goal is recreation of independent Lithuania. As the partisan war continued, it became clear that the West would not interfere in Eastern Europe (see
Western betrayal
Western betrayal is the view that the United Kingdom, France, and sometimes the United States failed to meet their legal, diplomatic, military, and moral obligations with respect to the Czechoslovak and Polish states during the prelude to and ...
) and that the partisans had no chance of success against the far stronger opponent. Eventually, the partisans made an explicit and conscious decision not to accept any new members. The leadership of the partisans was destroyed in 1953 thus effectively ending the partisan war, though individual fighters held out until the 1960s.
Background
Lithuania had
regained its independence in 1918 after the collapse of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. As pre-war tensions rose in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
, long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
, image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg
, image_width = 200
, caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
and divided Eastern Europe into
spheres of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity.
While there may be a formal al ...
. Subsequently, Lithuania was
occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940. The Soviets instituted
Sovietization policies and repressions. In June 1941, the Soviets
deported over 17,000 Lithuanians to
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, with most of the deportees dying during the harsh winters. When a few days later
Germany launched an invasion of Russia, Lithuanians organized a
popular anti-Soviet uprising. Initially, the Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule and made plans to
reestablish independent Lithuania. However, the attitudes soon changed as the
occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany
The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were widely welcomed as liberators from the re ...
continued.
Unlike Estonia and Latvia where the Germans conscripted the local population into military formations within ''
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'', Lithuania boycotted German recruitment calls and never had its own ''Waffen-SS'' division. In 1944, the Nazi authorities authorized the
Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force The Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force or LTDF ( lt, Lietuvos vietinė rinktinė, LVR, german: Litauische Sonderverbände) was a short-lived, Lithuanian, volunteer armed force created and disbanded in 1944 during the German occupation of Lithuani ...
(LTDF) under General
Povilas Plechavičius
Povilas Plechavičius (1 February 1890 – 19 December 1973) was an Imperial Russian and then Lithuanian military officer and statesman. In the service of Lithuania he rose to the rank of General of the army in the interwar period. He is best kn ...
to combat
Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...
led by
Antanas Sniečkus
Antanas Sniečkus ( – 22 January 1974) was a Lithuanian communist politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania from 15 August 1940 to 22 January 1974.
Biography
Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of ...
and Polish partisans (
Leśni
(, "forest people") is an informal name applied to some anti-German partisan groups that operated in occupied Poland during World War II, being a part of Polish resistance movement.
The "forest people" groups comprised mostly people who for v ...
). The LTDF soon reached the strength of 19,500 men. The Germans, however, quickly came to see this force as a nationalist threat to their occupation regime. The senior staff were arrested on May 15, 1944, and General Plechavičius was deported to the
Salaspils concentration camp
Salaspils camp was established at the end of 1941 at a point southeast of Riga (Latvia), in Salaspils. The Nazi bureaucracy drew distinctions between different types of camps. Officially, it was the Salaspils Police Prison and Re-Education Throu ...
in Latvia. However, a large proportion of the LTDF succeeded in escaping deportation to Germany and formed guerrilla units and dissolved into the countryside in preparation for partisan operations against the Soviet Army as the
Eastern Front approached.
[Kaszeta, Daniel J]
''Lithuanian Resistance to Foreign Occupation 1940–1952''
Lituanus, Volume 34, No. 3, Fall 1988. ISSN 0024-5089[Mackevicičius, Mečislovas]
Lituanus Vol. 32, No. 4, Winter 1986. ISSN 0024-5089
On July 1, 1944, the
Lithuanian Freedom Army
The Lithuanian Liberation Army (sometimes also named as Lithuanian Freedom Army) ( lt, Lietuvos laisvės armija or LLA) was a Lithuanian underground organization established by Kazys Veverskis (codename Senis), a student at Vilnius University, on ...
( lt, Lietuvos laisvės armija, LLA) declared the state of war against the Soviet Union and ordered all its able members to mobilize into platoons, stationed in forests and to not leave Lithuania. The departments were replaced by two sectors – operational, called ''Vanagai'' (Hawks or Falcons; abbreviated VS), and organizational (abbreviated OS). ''Vanagai'', commanded by Albinas Karalius (codename Varenis), were the armed fighters while the organizational sector was tasked with
passive resistance
Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, const ...
, including supply of food, information, and transport to ''Vanagai''. In the middle of 1944, the Lithuanian Freedom Army had 10 000 members. The Soviets killed 659 and arrested 753 members of the Lithuanian Freedom Army by January 26, 1945. Founder
Kazys Veverskis was killed in December 1944, the headquarters were liquidated in December 1945. This represented the failure of highly centralized resistance, as the organization was too dependent on Veverskis and other top commanders. In 1946 remaining leaders and fighters of the LLA started to merge with Lithuanian partisans. In 1949 all members of the presidium of the
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters or Movement for the Struggle for Lithuanian Freedom ( lt, Lietuvos laisvės kovos sąjūdis or LLKS) was a resistance organization of the Lithuanian partisans, waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union in ...
– captain Jonas Žemaitis-Tylius, Petras Bartkus-Žadgaila, and Bronius Liesys-Naktis ir Juozas Šibaila-Merainis – came from LLA.
The
Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania or VLIK ( lt, Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas) was an organization seeking independence of Lithuania. It was established on November 25, 1943, during the Nazi occupation. After Wor ...
( lt, Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas, VLIK) was created on November 25, 1943. VLIK published underground newspapers and agitated for resistance against the Nazis. The Gestapo arrested most influential members in 1944. After the reoccupation of Lithuania by the Soviets, VLIK moved to the West and set as its goal to maintain the non-recognition of Lithuania's occupation and dissemination of information from behind the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
– including the information provided by the Lithuanian partisans.
Former members of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, Lithuanian Freedom Army,
Lithuanian Armed Forces
The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service ( ...
,
Lithuanian Riflemen's Union
The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union (LRU, lt, Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga), also referred to as Šauliai ( lt, šaulys for ''rifleman''), is a paramilitary non-profit organisation supported by the State. The activities are in three main areas: milita ...
formed the basis of Lithuanian partisans. Farmers, Lithuanian officials, students, teachers, even pupils joined the partisan movement. The movement was actively supported by the society and the Catholic church. It is estimated that by the end of 1945, 30 000 armed people stayed in forests in Lithuania.
Organization
The resistance in Lithuania was well organized, and the
uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
ed with
chain of command
A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part.
Milit ...
guerrilla units were effectively able to control whole regions of the countryside until 1949. Their armaments included
Czech Škoda guns,
Russian Maxim heavy machine guns, assorted
mortars
Mortar may refer to:
* Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon
* Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together
* Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind
* Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...
and a wide variety of mainly German and Soviet
light machine guns
A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...
and
submachine guns
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automati ...
.
When not in direct battles with the Soviet Army or special
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
units, they significantly delayed the consolidation of Soviet rule through ambush, sabotage, assassination of local
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
activists and officials, freeing imprisoned guerillas, and printing underground newspapers.
[Dundovich, E., Gori, F. and Guercett, E. ''Reflections on the gulag. With a documentary appendix on the Italian victims of repression in the USSR'', Feltrinelli Editore IT, 2003. ] Captured Lithuanian ''Forest Brothers'' themselves often faced
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and
summary execution
A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...
while their relatives faced
deportation
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
to Siberia (cf.
quotation
A quotation is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by ...
). Reprisals against pro-Soviet farms and villages were harsh. The NKVD units,
Destruction battalions
Destruction battalions,, uk, Винищувальні батальйони, be, Zniszczalnyja batalëny, , et, hävituspataljonid, lt, Naikintojų batalionai, lv, Iznīcinātāju bataljoni, group=nb colloquially istrebitels (истреби ...
(known by the Lithuanians as
pl. ''stribai'', from the russian: istrebiteli – ''destroyers'') used cruel repression to discourage further resistance, e.g. displaying executed partisans' corpses in village courtyards.
[Unknown author]
excerpt from ''Lithuania's Struggle For Freedom''
unknown year.
The partisans were well-armed. During the 1945–1951 Soviet repressive structures seized from partisans 31 mortars, 2,921 machine guns, 6,304 assault rifles, 22,962 rifles, 8,155 pistols, 15,264 grenades, 2,596 mines, and 3,779,133 cartridges. The partisans usually replenished their arsenal by killing ''istrebiteli'', members of Soviet secret-police forces or by purchasing ammunition from Red Army soldiers. Every partisan had binoculars and few grenades. One grenade was usually saved to blow themselves and their faces to avoid being taken as prisoner, since the physical tortures of Soviet MGB/NKVD were very brutal and cruel, and be recognised, to prevent their relatives from suffering.
Armed resistance
Rise: summer 1944 – summer 1946
In the first year of the partisan warfare, during World War II, about 10,000 Lithuanians were killed – about half of the total deaths. Men avoided conscription to the Red Army and hid in the forests, spontaneously joining the Lithuanian partisans. Not all groups were armed or intended to actively fight the Soviets. Partisan groups were relatively large, 100 men and more. There were several larger open engagements between the partisans and
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
, like in Kalniškė, Paliepiai,
Seda
Seda or SEDA may refer to:
Acronyms
* Safe and Effective Drug Act, a bill proposed in the United States House of Representatives in 2004
* Seeing Eye Dogs Australia, an Australian organisation
* Staff and Educational Development Association, a p ...
, Virtukai, Kiauneliškis, Ažagai-Eimuliškis and the battle at the village of Panara. Since the Soviets had not established their control, the partisans controlled entire villages and towns.
In July 1945, after the end of World War II, the Soviets announced "amnesty" and "legalization" campaign for those hiding in the forests to avoid conscription. According to a Soviet report from 1957, in total 38,838 people came forward under the campaign (8,350 of them were classified as "armed nationalist bandits" and 30,488 as deserters avoiding conscription).
Maturity: summer 1946–1948
In the second stage of partisan warfare, the partisan groups became smaller but better organized. They organized themselves into units and military districts and sought better centralization. The territory of Lithuania was divided into three regions and nine military districts ( lt, apygarda):
* Southern Lithuanian or
Nemunas
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...
:
''Tauras'' and
''Dainava'' districts,
* North – Eastern Lithuanian or ''Kalnų'' (Mountains):
''Algimantas'',
''Didžioji Kova'',
''Vytis'' and
''Vytautas'' districts,
* Western Lithuanian or ''Jūros'' (Sea):
''Kęstutis'',
''Prisikėlimas'' and
''Žemaičiai'' districts.
Open engagements with NKVD/MGB were replaced by more clandestine activities. It was important to keep people's spirits. Therefore, the partisans hid in bunkers and engaged in more political and propaganda activities. In particular they protested and disrupted elections to the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...
in February 1946 and to the
Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR
The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR ( lt, Lietuvos TSR Aukščiausioji Taryba; russian: Верховный Совет Литовской ССР, ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the ...
in February 1947. They published various bulletins, leaflets, newspapers. In total, there were almost 80 different periodicals published by the partisans. MGB also changed its tactics. It began to recruit agents and organize
destruction battalions
Destruction battalions,, uk, Винищувальні батальйони, be, Zniszczalnyja batalëny, , et, hävituspataljonid, lt, Naikintojų batalionai, lv, Iznīcinātāju bataljoni, group=nb colloquially istrebitels (истреби ...
. The partisans responded by organizing reprisal actions against the collaborators with the Soviets.
To combat the guerilla, in May 1948 the Soviets carried out the largest deportation from Lithuania,
Operation Spring
Operation Spring (July 25–27, 1944) was an offensive operation of the Second World War conducted by II Canadian Corps during the Normandy campaign in 1944. The plan was intended to create pressure on the German forces operating on the British ...
, when some 40 to 50 thousand people associated with "forest brothers" were deported to Siberia.
Decline: 1949–1953
![Lithuanian partisan areas of operation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Lithuanian_partisan_areas_of_operation.jpg)
In February 1949, partisan leaders met in the village of
Minaičiai
Minaičiai or Mėnaičiai is a village in Lithuania, located on the Šušvė River. It has a primary school. According to the 2011 census, it had 179 residents.
History
After World War II, the homestead of Stanislovas Miknius hid a bunker of Le ...
and established the centralized command, the
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters or Movement for the Struggle for Lithuanian Freedom ( lt, Lietuvos laisvės kovos sąjūdis or LLKS) was a resistance organization of the Lithuanian partisans, waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union in ...
.
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
Jonas Žemaitis
Jonas Žemaitis (also known under his '' nom de guerre'' ''Vytautas''; March 15, 1909 in Palanga – November 26, 1954 in Moscow) was one of the leaders of the Lithuanian partisans, armed resistance against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, and ...
was elected as its chairman. On February 16, 1949, the 31st anniversary of the
Act of Independence of Lithuania
The Act of Independence of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or the Act of February 16, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence ( lt, Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Nutarimas), The signed document is actually titled simply '' ...
, the Joint Staff of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters signed a declaration on the future of Lithuania. The declaration stated that reinstated Lithuania should be a democratic state, that would grant equal rights for every citizen, based on freedom and democratic values. It did declare that
Communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
is a criminal organization. The document of the declaration has survived and was preserved by the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
. In 1999, the Lithuanian
Seimas
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...
(parliament) formally recognized this declaration as Declaration of Independence.
Juozas Lukša
Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other pseudonyms as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russia ...
was among those who managed to escape to Western countries; he wrote his memoirs –
''Forest Brothers: The Account of an Anti-Soviet Lithuanian Freedom Fighter, 1944–1948'' – while in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and was killed after returning to occupied Lithuania in 1951. By the early 1950s, the Soviet forces had eradicated most of the Lithuanian nationalist resistance. Intelligence gathered by the Soviet spies in the West and KGB infiltrators within the resistance movement, in combination with large-scale Soviet operations in 1952 managed to end the campaigns against them.
Adolfas Ramanauskas (code name ''Vanagas''), the last official commander of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters, was arrested in October 1956 and executed in November 1957. The last Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance fighters killed in action were
Pranas Končius (code name ''Adomas'') and Kostas Liuberskis (code name ''Žvainys''). Končius was killed on July 6, 1965 (some sources indicate he shot himself on July 13 in order to avoid capture) and awarded the
Cross of Vytis
The Order of the Cross of Vytis ( lt, Vyčio Kryžiaus ordinas) is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. Hist ...
in 2000. Liuberskis was killed on October 2, 1969; his fate was unknown until the late 2000s. Stasys Guiga (code name ''Tarzanas'') died in hiding in 1986.
Structure
Aftermath, memorials and remembrances
![Former KGB HQ, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Former_KGB_HQ%2C_Vilnius%2C_Lithuania%2C_2008.jpg)
Many nationalist partisans persisted in the hope that
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
hostilities between the West,
which never formally recognized the Soviet occupation, and the Soviet Union might escalate to an armed conflict in which Lithuania would be liberated. This never materialized, many of the surviving former partisans remained bitter that the West did not take on the Soviets militarily.
[ Laar, Mart. War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944–1956, translated by Tiina Ets, Compass Press, November 1992. ]
As the conflict was relatively undocumented by the Soviet Union (the Lithuanian fighters were never formally acknowledged as anything but "bandits and illegals"), some consider it and the Soviet-Lithuanian conflict as a whole to be an unknown or
forgotten war.
[Kuodytė, Dalia and Tracevskis, Rokas. ''The Unknown War: Armed Anti-Soviet Resistance in Lithuania in 1944–1953'', 2004. ][Tarm, Michael]
''The Forgotten War''
, City Paper's The Baltic States Worldwide, 1996. Discussion of resistance was suppressed under the Soviet regime. Writings on the subject by the Lithuanian emigrants were often labelled by Soviet propaganda as examples of "ethnic sympathy" and disregarded.
[Huang, Mel]
. Central Europe Review, Vol. 1, No. 12, September 13, 1999. ISSN 1212-8732
In Lithuania, freedom fighter veterans receive a state pension. The third Sunday in May is commemorated as
Partisan's Day. As of 2005, there were about 350 surviving partisans in Lithuania.
''Žaliukas'' (''"Green man"'') is the Lithuanian partisans inspired qualification patch in the
Lithuanian Special Operations Force
, image = Insignia of the Lithuanian Special Operations Force.svg
, image_size = 180px
, caption = SOF insignia
, dates = 1997–present
, country ...
s given for the very best. ''Žaliukas'' is the word for the state of alert of the unyielding part of the nation in the face of danger.
Legal assessment
Lithuanian courts view the Soviet repressions against the Lithuanian partisans as the
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
. In 2016, the
Supreme Court of Lithuania
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Aukščiausiasis Teismas) is the only court of cassation in the Republic of Lithuania for reviewing effective judgements and rulings passed by the courts hearing criminal cas ...
ruled that the systematic extermination of the partisans by the Soviet regime constituted a
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
. In 2019, the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
upheld the view of the national courts that these Soviet repressions can be deemed as a genocide.
Dramatizations
The 1966 film ''
Nobody Wanted to Die'' ( lt, Niekas nenorėjo mirti) by Soviet-Lithuanian film director
Vytautas Žalakevičius shows the tragedy of the conflict in which "a brother goes against the brother". Despite being shot from a Soviet perspective and propaganda, the film gives some hints that allude to the possibility of alternative points of view. The film brought acclaim to Žalakevičius, and to a number of young Lithuanian actors starring in the film.
The 2004 film ''
Utterly Alone
''Utterly Alone'' ( lt, Vienui Vieni) is a 2004 Lithuanian film directed by Jonas Vaitkus, based on real events, about Juozas Lukša (code name Daumantas), a Lithuanian partisan who fought against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in the year ...
'' ( lt, Vienui Vieni) portrays the travails of Lithuanian partisan leader
Juozas Lukša
Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other pseudonyms as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russia ...
who traveled twice to
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
in attempts to gain support for the armed resistance.
The 2005 documentary film ''
Stirna'' tells the story of
Izabelė Vilimaitė (codenames ''Stirna'' and ''Sparnuota''), an American-born Lithuanian who moved to Lithuania with her family in 1932. A medical student and pharmacist, she was an underground medic and source of medical supplies for the partisans, eventually becoming a district liaison. She infiltrated the local
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
(Communist Youth), was discovered, captured, and escaped twice. After going underground full-time, she was suspected of having been turned by the KGB as an informant and was nearly executed by the partisans. Her bunker was eventually discovered by the KGB and she was captured a third time, interrogated and killed.
[Krokys, Bronius. "The Winged One". ''Bridges'', April 2006.]
In 2008, an American documentary film, ''
Red Terror on the Amber Coast'' was released, documenting the Lithuanian resistance to the Soviet occupation from the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In 2014, ''
The Invisible Front
''The Invisible Front'' (german: Die unsichtbare Front) is a 1932 German spy thriller film directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Trude von Molo, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Veit Harlan and Paul Hörbiger. The story was written by Robert A. Stemmle, ...
'', a documentary focusing on Juozas Lukša, was released in the US.
In 2021,
Icelandic composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds released a track ''Partisans'', thus honoring the Lithuanian partisans resistance.
See also
*
Anti-Soviet partisans
Anti-Soviet partisans may refer to various resistance movements that opposed the Soviet Union and its satellite states at various periods during the 20th century.
During Russian Civil War and Interwar Period
* Basmachi movement
*Green armies
*A ...
*
Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...
*
Estonian partisans
Estonian Partisans or the Forest Brothers in Estonia ( et, Metsavennad) were partisan (military), partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against the Government of the Soviet Union, Soviet forces in Estonia from 1940 to 1941 and 1944–1978.
As so ...
*
Latvian partisans
Latvian national partisans were Latvian pro-independence partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule during and after the Second World War.
Aftermath of World War I
The decisions of the 1917 congresses and the declaration of ind ...
Notes and references
Further reading
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*Razgaitis, Darius
''Forest Brothers from the West'' research thesis, 2002.
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External links
Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of LithuaniaActivities of Lithuanian Partisans in the West, p. 16– Chronicle of Lithuanian partisans, June 1944 – May 1949, prepared by Algis Rupainis
{{Authority control
Eastern European World War II resistance movements
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
Military history of the Soviet Union
Cold War military history of the Soviet Union
Guerrilla organizations
Cold War rebellions