Žuvusiųjų prezidentas

LT[...] Ši knyga nėra Lietuvos laisvės kovos sąjūdžio studija. Ji labiau laikytina kukliu mėginimu šių dienų skaitytojams atskleisti dvasinį partizanų pasaulį, brutaliai pamintą vienos kartos gyvenimą ir to laikotarpio atmosferą. J. Žemaitis, kuriam partizaninio karo istorijoje teko išskirtinis vaidmuo, tarsi niekuo neišsiskyrė iš daugelio. Tiesiog taip yra, kad vykstant istorinei dramai tam tikru metu ir tam tikroje vietoje visuomet atsiranda reikiamas veikėjas. J. Žemaitis vienas ar su bendraautoriais sukūrė nemažai programinių norminių LLKS dokumentų. [...]. [Iš Įvado]Reikšminiai žodžiai: 20 amžius; Partizanai; Biografijos; Okupacija; The Lithuanian XX c. history; Partisans; Biographies; Occupation.

ENThe guerrilla war of 1944-1953 was one of the most tragic periods for Lithuania in the last century. A total of 20,000 partisans perished in struggles with the occupying government, and about 200,000 civilians were persecuted on political grounds. The armed resistance was led by army officers, teachers, students and policemen. One of the most outstanding commanders in the guerrilla war was Jonas Žemaitis, a captain in the army. Žemaitis was bom on 15 March 1909 in Palanga, into the family of a dairy expert. In 1926 he entered the Kaunas Military School. After graduating, he served in various artillery regiments. From 1936 to 1938 he underwent advanced training in the French Artillery School at Fontainebleau. On returning to Lithuania, he became commander of a training battery in the artillery regiment, and was promoted to the rank of captain. As a result of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in 1940 Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. Its troops were incorporated into the Red Army, and many senior officers were persecuted. At the start of hostilities between Germany and the Soviet Union, Lithuanian troops were ordered to go far into the Soviet Union. On instructions from the secret organisation the Lithuanian Activist Front, army officers did not obey the order, and, deserting the Red Army, stayed in Lithuania. As a result of the uprising against the occupying Soviet government which took place on 22 and 23 June 1941, and the formation of a Provisional Government, it was expected that Germany would allow the Lithuanian army to reform. However, fascist Germany did not recognise the Provisional Government and ordered all Lithuanian troops to disarm. After six weeks, the Provisional Government was disbanded.Žemaitis demobilised and spent the years of the German occupation at his home. Here, in the Šiluva rural district near Raseiniai, he worked as the head of a cooperative society, and made contact with participants in the anti-Nazi resistance movement. Nazi Germany failed in Lithuania to recruit men into an SS legion. The underground press declared a boycott of such legions. However, it cherished the hope of restoring the armed forces. In February 1944, with the situation at the front getting worse, the Germans agreed to establish a Lithuanian Local Division to struggle against banditry in Lithuania. Over 30,000 men, recruited by General Povilas Plechavičius, joined the Local Corps, in the hope that it would be used for defending the independence of the state. Žemaitis raised more than a hundred troops from his area, and was appointed battalion commander. The Germans demanded the total mobilisation of men and tens of thousands of workers for work in Germany. Failing to obey the orders, General Plechavičius and several officers were arrested and sent to a concentration camp, while the majority of soldiers in the Local Corps succeeded in fleeing. Žemaitis escaped to his home, where he waited while the front line passed over. Immediately after entering Lithuania, the other occupiers, the Soviet Union, declared the mobilisation of men into the Red Army. It was the start of the terror, the round-up of men, the burning of farmsteads. Thousands of men in hiding gathered in the forests. Various secret organisations hatched plans to restore independence. It was expected that after the end of the Second World War a peace conference would be called which would implement the principles of the Atlantic Charter: the borders of the prewar independent states would be restored. Later, the expectations of liberation were related to the possible military conflict between the East and the West.Therefore, it seemed important to preserve the inhabitants, to organise a strong underground which would take over the civilian government, protect the borders of the state, and represent the interests of the country in international organisations. One of the strongest underground organisations, which had been formed during the German occupation, the Lithuanian Liberation Army (LLA), planned to divide the country into areas to be managed by separate units. LLA divisions existed in the districts. In April of 1945, Žemaitis joined the LLA. In the summer he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Žebenkštis Division, which operated in the Raseiniai district. In 1944 and 1945 the partisans put up an active resistance against the repressive policies of the occupying government. There were clashes with subunits of the NKVD army, partisans raided smaller towns, rescued arrested people, and destroyed mobilisation lists, paysheets of taxes and grain deliveries to the state. In July 1945, the NKVD army in Virtukai forest surrounded the camp of the Žebenkštis Division. The line-up of forces was unequal, 15 partisans perished. The occupiers displayed their corpses in the centre of Raseiniai. A year later, in Pyragiai forest, the occupying army attacked the well-fortified Rinktinė partisan camp. Due to the ingenious leadership of Žemaitis, the partisans succeeded in escaping after putting up a hard struggle. These failures caused changes in the tactics of the war, with the formation of smaller groups, greater secrecy, and the avoidance of open combat with the occupying army. Military action went hand in hand with political actions: the boycott of elections to the puppet government, resistance to the collectivisation of agriculture, the distribution of underground publications, the boycott of propaganda such as writing letters of thanks to Stalin and the celebration of Soviet holidays, etc. [...]. [From the publication]