Benjaminas Jakševičius (March 31, 1895 – August 13, 1979) was a Lithuanian sculptor and

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

. Together with his brother Vincentas and nephews Silvanas and Adomas, he contributed to religious art by building sacred statues and altars, mainly in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

Švėkšna Švėkšna is a town in the Šilutė District municipality, 21 km northeast of Šilutė, Lithuania. It is the administrative center of Švėkšna Eldership. There are 29 streets in the town. In the western part of the town flows the river . ...

and various other parts of Lithuania. He also built several sculptures, predominantly religious ones, in Troškūnai,

Kavarskas Kavarskas (), with a population of only 700, is the fourth smallest city in Lithuania. The Šventoji River flows through the town. In 1956 near Kavarskas a water lifting station was built and part of the Šventoji River's water was channeled to ...

, Burbiškis,

Upytė Upytė is a small village in Panevėžys district municipality in northern Lithuania. It is situated some 12 km southwest of Panevėžys on the banks of Vešeta Creek. It is now the capital of an elderate. In 1987 it had 580 residents. In ...

Raguva Raguva () is a small town in Panevėžys County, in northeastern Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the ...

and

Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a city in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. History In 1557, the Treaty of Pasvalys was signed in the town, which provoked Ivan IV of Russia to start the Livonian War. Pasvalys has mineral ...

Biography

Jakševičius was the youngest among his brothers, born to a peasant family. His father Aleksandras was a carpenter and sculptor. In 1915 he worked for his oldest brother, Vincentas. At the same year he was summoned to the civil service in the Tsarist army. He was released from the service later due to his illness and lived in Yekaterinburg Governorate for a while. In 1918 he came back to Lithuania, where he lived mostly in

and

from 1922 to 1925 while engaging in creating religious art. Later he moved to

and married Elžbieta Striogaitė on November 28, 1925, with whom he had four children. However, he was soon left a widower, as his wife died in 1932, leaving four small children. Benjaminas Jakševičius lived in

until 1945, at the same time traveling to other places where he worked as a sculptor and church decorator. In July 1945, he joined anti-Soviet resistance movement and was a member of "Liūtas" and "Žaibas" squads (parts of Vytis district, codename ''Dzedunia'' and ''Šaltekšnis''. He was caught in 1948 in Miknevičius' forest, not far away from

and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment in

GULAG The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. He spent most of his prison term as a deportee in the

Mordovian ASSR The Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (, ''Mordovskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika''; , ''Mordovskjaj Avtonomnaj Sovetskjaj Socialističeskjaj Respublikaś''; , ''Mordovskoj Avtonomnoj Sovetskoj Socialisti� ...

. In 1960s he was allowed to move to any

Soviet republic A soviet republic (from ), also called council republic, is a republic in which the government is formed of soviets (workers' councils) and politics are based on soviet democracy. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, various revolutionary ...

, except

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 ...

, but he came back to Lithuania nevertheless and was under surveillance by

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

until his death. Jakševičius died on August 13, 1979, in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

and was buried in

Kavarskas Cemetery Kavarskas (), with a population of only 700, is the fourth smallest city in Lithuania. The Šventoji River flows through the town. In 1956 near Kavarskas a water lifting station was built and part of the Šventoji River's water was channeled to ...

in the family grave with the white concrete sculpture of St. Mary created by him. Two of his sons, Vytautas and Algimantas, were folk artists. His oldest daughter Irena Jakševičiūtė-Sabūnienė, a former active helper of Lithuanian partisans during the postwar years, was posthumously recognized as a Lithuanian freedom fighter (''laisvės kovų dalyvis'').

Legacy

The wooden chess carved by Jakševičius and some of his photos are on exhibition in the

Ninth Fort The Ninth Fort () is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, built in the late 19th century. During the Soviet occupation, the fort was used as a prison and way-statio ...

, as well as one family photo in

Antanas Baranauskas and Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas memorial museum Antanas is a Lithuanian masculine given name derived from Antonius that is equivalent to Anthony in Lithuania. It may refer to: * Antanas Andrijauskas (born 1948), Lithuanian philosopher * Antanas Bagdonavičius (born 1938), Lithuanian rower and O ...

. Many sculptures and gravestones made by Jakševičius are a part of Lithuanian National heritage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaksevicius, Benjaminas 1895 births 1979 deaths Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian prisoners and detainees People from Panevėžys 20th-century Lithuanian sculptors Lithuanian male sculptors 20th-century Lithuanian male artists Lithuanian Gulag detainees