A fateful meeting in a bunker: the 1949 Congress of Lithuanian Partisan Commanders
On February 10-20, 1949, the only congress of partisan commanders in occupied Lithuania took place in the Mikniai farmstead bunker in the Minaičiai village of Radviliškis district, during which the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement (LLKS) was founded and the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed.
"This is a great, long-desired victory, achieved through blood sacrifice and hardship," - these are the words with which the partisan leaders announced this historic event to their comrades. In a six-square-meter bunker, the height of which was no more than 1.50 cm, eight freedom fighters deliberated for ten days about the future of Lithuania.
The journey to the congress was particularly difficult. As A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas testifies in his interrogation protocol: "I agreed with Faustus that we would go to Samogitia together: he as a representative of the Tauras district, I as a representative of the Dainava district. [...] With great difficulty we walked from one partisan formation to another..." Due to the winter and the heavy snowfall, the partisans had to walk "one after the other like geese, so that it would seem that one person was walking."
The congress adopted the Declaration of the Lithuanian Communist Party, which can be considered a temporary Constitution of occupied Lithuania. As partisan Bronė Morkūnienė-Žilvitė recalls: "There was a strong guard. Maybe two hundred men or more - the forest was full. If there had been fighting there, a real front would have opened."
The scale of the partisan struggle and sacrifice is reflected in the diary entry of partisan Lionginas Baliukevičius-Dzūkas: "Lithuanian Freedom Movement in Lithuania! At any cost!... I feel scared when I remember that long, long line of those who died..."
Of the eight signatories to the declaration, half were teachers, two were students, one was an officer, and one was an accountant. Three of them died that same year, three more a year or two later, and two were shot. The document they left behind became part of the chain of three major acts of Lithuanian independence (1918, 1949, and 1990).
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Sąjūdis Memorial to Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in Minaičiai (Minaičiai Bunker-Museum)
In the fall of 1948, the headquarters of the Resurrection District was looking for a place to spend the winter, and for this they chose the homestead of partisan supporters A. and S. Mikniu in the village of Minaičiai (Radviliškio district). Guerrillas dug a small bunker under the granary, where members of the district headquarters settled.
On February 16, 1949, the partisan leaders in Minaičiai concluded and announced the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle, the main goal of which was the restoration of the Lithuanian parliamentary republic in 1920-1926. 8 persons officially participated in the meetings: Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas, Juozas Šibaila-Merainis, Petras Bartkus-Žadgaila, Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, Aleksandras Grybinas-Faustas, Vytautas Gužas-Kardas, Leonardas Grigonis-Užpalis and Bronius Liesys-Naktis.
The bunker was also used later, in which the partisan pharmacist Izabelė Vilimaitė-Stirna treated the partisan Laurynas Mingilas-Džiugas, who was seriously injured in the battles of Užpelkii. In 1953, the uninhabited bunker collapsed and was closed by the owners.
In 2010, the reconstruction of the partisan bunker, the farmhouse granary, and the construction of the monument began. The names of all eight partisans who signed the declaration are immortalized in the monument created by the sculptor Jonas Jagėlas. The granary has an authentic, glass-covered, partisan bunker, which visitors can view from above, and the granary has an exposition.
Partisan liaison officer's homestead in Saiai
The homestead of the partisan supporters of the Sajės in Balandiškis, Grinkiškis eldership, Radviliškis district, is connected with the struggles for freedom in Lithuania. Its history is usually presented together with the Mikniai homestead, located in nearby Minaičiai (Lithuanian Freedom Movement Memorial).
This secluded and modest homestead, according to the recollections of Viktoras Šniuolis-Vitvytis, an eyewitness to the events, and confirmed by some research, was the place where the founding documents of the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement (LLKS) were probably prepared. The LLKS became the most important organization of resistance to the Soviet occupation, covering the entire territory of Lithuania. It is reported that since 1946, freedom fighters had been visiting this homestead to rest and get some strength. After the partisan liaisons held a congress of partisan commanders at the Mikniai homestead in February 1949, the headquarters of the LLKS Public Division operated in the Sajai homestead (in a bunker installed in a barn), and the LLKS periodical, the newspaper "Prie rymancių rūpintojėlio", was published.
Partisans visited the bunker of the Sajai homestead many times, wintered there, or were treated for injuries. The hearth of freedom existed in the Sajai homestead until 1952. In the autumn of that year, the bunker was discovered, and the owners of the homestead were arrested.
Currently, the homestead is almost completely dilapidated, but it contains a monument, an information stand, and a chapel pillar to commemorate important historical events that took place at this location.
Monument to the partisans of the Resurrection District in Šeduva
On October 14, a monument to the partisans of the Resurrection District was unveiled in Šeduva Laisvės Square. The authors of the monument: sculptor Romanas Kazlauskas, architects Arūnas Eduardas Paslaitis and Viktorija Paslaitytė. It is a joint work of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Center (LGGRTC) and the Radviliškis District Municipality.
Monument to the Partisans of the Resurrection District, commemorating all Lithuanian partisans who fought and died in this district in 1944-1953.
This is another monument dedicated to the memory of the Lithuanian partisan districts. The following districts have already been immortalized: Algimantas – Troškūnai, Anykščiai district, Didžioji Kova – Gelvonai, Širvintos district, Tauras – Marijampolė, Žemaičiai – Telšiai and Vytis – Vadokliai, Panevėžys district.