Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
s as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the
anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisan armed resistance movement.
Life
Lukša was born on 10 August 1921 to a family of farmers in the village of Juodbūdis, near
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 ...
. He attended , where he joined the catholic youth organization
Ateitis and the far-right,
anti-semitic and anti-Soviet
Lithuanian Activist Front
The Lithuanian Activist Front or LAF () was a Lithuanian underground resistance organization established in 1940 after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940), Soviets occupied Lithuania. Its goal was to free Lithuanian Soviet Socialist ...
(LAF). He graduated high school in 1940 and began studying architecture at Vytautas Magnus University.
Due to being a member of the LAF, Lukša was imprisoned by the
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 ...
in Kaunas during the 1940–41
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 ...
occupation of the Baltic states. He was released by the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
following the
invasion of Lithuania by Nazi Germany, and went on to continue his architecture studies.
After the return of the
Red Army in 1944, Lukša engaged in the underground movement. At first he participated as a student, helping out with clandestine matters and unarmed resistance in Kaunas. In 1946, after the arrests of many activists, he left the city and joined
the armed resistance. Within a year he commanded the Birutė brigade of the
Tauras military district.
At the end of 1947, along with fellow partisans Jurgis Krikščiūnas-Rimvydas and Kazimieras Pyplys-Mažytis, Lukša crossed through the
Iron Curtain with the goal of attracting support for the fighters and establishing contacts with Lithuanians in exile. They carried information collected by partisans about Soviet repressions, killings and deportations, and a letter asking for support from
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
. He arrived in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and moved from there to
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, where he was trained by French intelligence agents and the
CIA.
While in Paris, he met doctor , whom he married on 23 July 1950.
During his stay in the West, Lukša wrote ''
Fighters for Freedom'' (), a firsthand account of partisan activities in 1944–47. He was parachuted back into Lithuania by the CIA sometime between 1949 and 1950. That year, he was granted the honorary title of "Hero of the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters" (''Laisvės kovos karžygio garbės vardas'') and awarded with the Cross of the Freedom Struggle (1st class) by the
Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. In 1951 he was granted a rank of "Major of Partisans" (''Partizanų majoro laipsnis'').
Lukša was intensively searched for by the Soviet counterintelligence, before being killed near Pabartupis by the
MGB in the fall of 1951.
Legacy
In 1997 Juozas Lukša was posthumously awarded the
Order of the Cross of Vytis (first class).
In 2003, director
Jonas Vaitkus released a movie based on Lukša's life entitled ''
Utterly Alone''. In 2014, co-directors Jonas Ohman and Vincas Sruoginis released a documentary entitled ''The Invisible Front'' on Lukša and his fellow "
Forest Brothers".
In June 2020, the
Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Education and Science submitted a proposal to designate 2021 as the "Year of Juozas Lukša-Daumantas."
The Central European University Press published a fresh English translation of Lukša's book in 2009 under the title ''Forest Brothers: The Account of an Anti-Soviet Lithuanian Freedom Fighter, 1944-1948'', ISBN 978-9639776371.
Alleged participation in the Kaunas pogrom
Controversy exists regarding Lukša's role during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. According to multiple witnesses, Lukša was a participant in the 1941
Lietukis garage massacres in Kaunas, and allegedly took part in the murder and decapitation of Rabbi Zalman Osovsky. The Lithuanian government denies these claims.
See also
*
Lithuanian partisans
Further reading
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luksa, Juozas
1921 births
1951 deaths
Lithuanian Activist Front members
Lithuanian partisans killed in action
People from Prienai District Municipality
Soviet dissidents
People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Lithuania
The Holocaust in Lithuania
Restoration of the independence of the Baltic states