Monument to the Defenders of Lithuanian Freedom (Plateliai)
Memorial site

The monument to the Lithuanian Freedom Army (LLA) stands near the square of the town of Plateliai. It commemorates the resistance of the Lithuanian people, which began in July 1944, when the Soviet army entered Lithuania for the second time. During the active resistance, LLA soldiers gathered in the Plateliai forests in Samogitia on August 15 and established the Hawks organization.

The LLA was founded in December 1941 in Vilnius by Kazys Veverskis. It was a secret Lithuanian national-political organization whose goal was to fight for the independence of Lithuania, using not only diplomatic and political, but also military means. The ranks of the LLA included soldiers, riflemen, students, and ordinary Lithuanians who actively resisted the occupation.

In August 2004, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Vanagai military training camp in the Plateliai forests, the first monument to the Lithuanian Freedom Army in Lithuania was unveiled in the town at the initiative of Vytautas Urbikas and Albinas Klimas. Its author, the Samogitian sculptor Antanas Vaškys, created a monument made of field stone, 2.25 m high and 1.1 m wide, and carved the image of the warrior and the inscription: “Lithuanian Freedom Army 1941–1944–1953. Lithuanians’ fight for freedom is eternal.” The sculptor ensured that this monument would stand for as long as 500 years.