News

Many Baltic patriots upbraided themselves and the national politicians for not resisting the Soviet invasion forces, not least in the case of the Soviet invasion of Lithuania in 1940. Finland's heroic defense against : the Soviet invasion in 1939-1940 had impressed everyone. But because of the Soviet-German pact, the Baltic States could not count on outside help. Rumors that the Molotov- Ribbentropp agreement had placed the Baltic States in the Soviet sphere of influence proved to be correct. In a secret addition to this agreement on 23 August 1939, the Baltic States were in principle defined as the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

The unknown war

Following the German military defeat in 1944, the Lithuanians decided to resist the Soviet forces that were sent  to occupy their country for a second time. The Lithuanians had learnt what a Soviet occupation involved from 1940-1941: Summary execution and liquidation of the country's elite, as well as mass deportation to the Soviet gulag archipelago. By 1945, the Lithuanian partisan force numbered around 30,000 men, and this later grew to around 50,000. They were well organized and fought wearing uniforms to avoid further backlash against the civilian population that supported them.

One of the military actions conducted in 1945 has legendary status in Lithuanian history. At Klaniskes Forest a well-armed group of 80 partisans managed to destroy a larger Soviet force belonging to the feared secret police, the NKVD. Recently released Soviet files have confirmed - that more than 400 NKVD soldiers fell during this battle. This local military defeat sent shockwaves through the Soviet leadership. The reprisals were extensive and impacted on the civilian population with the usual

Soviet terror techniques: Torture, executions and deportations. The Soviet propaganda machine was put into top gear and consistently referred to the Lithuanian patriots as fascists as long as the resistance lasted.   It is saddening for us in the West to : think back to how sympathetic and accommodating our politicians and media were towards the Soviet propaganda. Stalin and the Red Army were regarded as heroes by the victorious Western Leadership. It took a communist coup in Prague in 1948 for the western world to wake up and realize what ambitions the Soviet Union had in Europe.

When (in 1955) it became general knowledge what rights the western powers had granted the Soviet Union at the conferences in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945, all enlightened people immediately realized that it would be tantamount to a violation of the Treaty for the western powers to sup- port the democratic and patriotic forces in the Baltic States, Central Europe and Eastern Europe.

It is tragic, therefore, to see how blindly the Lithuanian partisans believed that the West would come to their assistance. While ignorant of the contents of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, they could often recite the text of the Atlantic Charter signed in 1941 by US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The third paragraph in this declaration was of particular significance. Here the western leaders assured all nations “the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live". Moreover, the two statesmen wanted to see “sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them".

The freedom fighters thought that Roosevelt and Churchill had issued a general declaration of human rights. What they could not know was that this was nothing more than a propaganda declaration formulated for the countries and nations under German occupation - not Soviet occupation!

The Soviets declared that partisans taken alive would not be treated as prisoners of war. The majority, even the wounded, were generally tortured to death. The Soviet barbarism also: took the form of publicly posting images of their victims as a warning to other would-be resistance fighters.  It was for this reason that the partisans always kept one last bullet in their weapons - for themselves in case of capture.

Independent studies at the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania show (2004) that around 22,000 Lithuanian partisans lost their lives fighting against the Soviet occupation force and Lithuanian traitors between 1944 and 1953. The death toll among the Soviet and traitors forces was even higher. . There was also military resistance against the Soviet dictate in Estonia and Latvia, too, but these were not as long-lasting or extensive as in Lithuania. Considering the Soviet Union's military superiority it is difficult to understand how the Lithuanian patriots could put up a resistance for nine years. Although they successfully plundered the Red Army's weapon depots, they gradually ran out of man- power, arms, ammunition and food.

Nevertheless, their resistance was vital for Lithuania as an independent nation. The fact that there came far fewer immigrants from other parts of the Soviet Union to Lithuania than to Estonia and Latvia is attributes to the armed struggle put up by the partisans. Russian émigrés heard that it was far more dangerous in Lithuania – than in the other Baltic States.

One of the most high-profile partisan leaders was Jonas Zemaitis, who since 1949 had been political leader of  "The Council of the Movement of the : Struggle for Freedom of Lithuania."  Zemaitas was sentenced to death and executed in Moscow in 1954. His last words in court were: "I still believe that the struggle I have led for nine years will bring its result".

Following lengthy and systematic torture, the partisans' chief commander, Adolfas Ramanauskas, was sentenced to death and executed on 29 November 1957. Under torture he lost an eye, but never gave the Soviets what they wanted - an admission of guilt. He died as a true patriot in the struggle for Lithuania's independence.

As with many of his partisan comrades, the Soviet executers ensured that his grave was never identified.