Aleksandras Gudaitis-Guzevičius (7 April 1908 – 18 February 1969) was a Lithuanian

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

writer, statesman and

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

officer.

Biography

Gudaitis was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

into a working-class family. In 1921 he graduated from high school and moved with his family to Lithuania, where he studied at a gymnasium until 1925. From 1925 to 1931 he worked in the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, trade union organizations, and in the editorial office of the magazine ''Balsas'' (Voice) which was an organ of the illegal

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

. In October 1931, he was arrested for clandestine activities and remained in prison until 1938. From 1938 to 1939, he studied French language and literature at

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but ...

. In October 1939 he was arrested and exiled. In June 1940, after the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic st ...

, Gudaitis was appointed vice minister of the interior. In August 1940, he become the people's commissar of the interior (cf.

) of the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

. After the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

, Gudaitis retreated to Moscow and worked for the Soviet NKVD. After the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

re-took Lithuania in summer 1944, Gudaitis returned as chief of NKVD and worked to suppress

anti-Soviet resistance Anti-Sovietism or anti-Soviet sentiment are activities that were actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union. Three common uses of the term include the following: * Anti-Sovietism in inter ...

. He was promoted to Major General of the NKVD in July 1945, but was judged not effective in his duties and dismissed from NKVD in August 1945. From 1945 to 1947, he was the chairman of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the

Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR The Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR () or Council of People's Commissars in 1940–46 () was the cabinet (executive branch) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Its structure and functions were modeled after t ...

. From 1947 to 1950 he worked as the director of the State Publishing House of Fiction and from 1945 to 1950 he was the director of the State Institute of Art and Culture of the Lithuanian SSR. He served as Minister of Culture of the Lithuanian SSR from 1953 to 1955. He was a member of the Lithuanian Writers' Union from 1955. In 1956 he graduated from the third year of the

Maxim Gorky Literary Institute The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. History The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...

by correspondence. Gudaitis was a member of the Central Committee of the

Lithuanian Communist Party The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

in 1940–1949 and 1952–1956. He was elected to the

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR (; , ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics constituting the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was established ...

in 1940–1947 and 1951–1955 as well as to the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...

in 1941–1946 and 1954–1958. Gudaitis-Guzevičius died on 18 April 1969. He was buried in Vilnius at the

Antakalnis Cemetery Antakalnis Cemetery (, , ), sometimes referred as Antakalnis Military Cemetery, is an active cemetery in the Antakalnis district of Vilnius, Lithuania. It was established in 1809. Soldier burials 12 of the 14 victims of the Soviet attacks duri ...

Awards

* Two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(1954, 1964) *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

(1945) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labor The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

(1943) *

People's Writer of the Lithuanian SSR The People's Writer of the Lithuanian SSR () was a state award and an honorary title of the Lithuanian SSR to distinguished Lithuanian writers. It was established in 1957 and awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet ...

(1968) * Stalin Prize of the third degree (1951) - for the novel ''Kalvio Ignoto teisybė'' (1948-1949)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gudaitis-Guzevicius, Aleksandras 1908 births 1969 deaths Lithuanian communists NKVD officers Lithuanian writers Lithuanian novelists Lithuanian dramatists and playwrights Communist Party of Lithuania politicians Interior ministers of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic 20th-century Lithuanian journalists Lithuanian newspaper editors Soviet dramatists and playwrights Soviet novelists Socialist realism writers Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery Recipients of the USSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Star