Minaičiai or Mėnaičiai is a village in

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 Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, located on the

Šušvė River Šušvė () is a river in central Lithuania, a right (the longest) tributary of the Nevėžis river. It begins in Kelmė district municipality, 6 km (4 mi) southeast from Tytuvėnai. The 134.6 km (83.6 mi) long river passes through Tytuv� ...

. It has a primary school. According to the 2011 census, it had 179 residents.

History

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the homestead of Stanislovas Miknius hid a bunker of Leonardas Grigonis (codename Užpalis), commander of the

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

of the Resurrection District (Prisikėlimo apygarda). In February 1949, the village was a meeting place of the commanders of the Lithuanian partisans, who established the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. In spring 1949, the partisans left the village and the bunker was destroyed by Miknius. In 2004, during a construction work, Miknius family found a hidden milk can with more than 2000 pages of various partisan documents. In November 2010, the partisan bunker was reconstructed; it displays a small exhibit of partisan documents and other items. The opening ceremony was attended by

President of Lithuania The president of the Republic of Lithuania () is the head of state of the Republic of Lithuania. The president directs and appoints the executive branch of the Government of Lithuania, represents the nation internationally and is the commande ...

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth president of Lithuania from 2009 to 2019. She is the first and so far only woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Li ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minaiciai Villages in Šiauliai County