Congress of Lithuanian Partisan Commanders
III National Partizans

Lithuania began to resist the Soviet occupation with weapons in 1944 and the organized struggle lasted until 1953, when the Lithuanian partisan structures were destroyed. The first partisan units began to form in the late summer of 1944, and later they grouped into larger organizational units: teams, districts, and areas were formed. The aim was to unite the military territorial partisan structures operating in occupied Lithuania, to establish an organization that would fight for the liberation of the country by political and military means, and to form a joint political and military leadership of the armed resistance.

Lithuanian Partisan Leaders' Congress, a meeting of representatives of the Lithuanian resistance to the Soviet occupation regime, mostly partisan leaders. Held on 02/22/1949 in the village of Minaičiai (Radviliškis rural municipality); meetings were held on 02/10/20. The meetings and discussions were held in the Prisikėlimų district headquarters bunker located in the Antanina and Stanislovas Mikniai homestead. 8 people officially participated in the meetings. The congress announced the establishment of a unified resistance organization - the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement, adopted a political declaration (Declaration of the Council of the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement), and considered more than 20 issues of the restoration of Lithuanian statehood, the organization and tactics of resistance to the Soviet occupation regime. It was decided to declare the slogan of the Movement: Give to the Homeland what you must! After the congress of partisan commanders, the armed resistance became a well-organized military structure, carrying out the self-defense of the Lithuanian state against the aggressor - the USSR. Later (around 1950) due to intensive attacks against the partisans, the resistance movement was almost suppressed. In 2003, a monumental composition was unveiled in the village of Mėnaičiai, at the homestead of J. Mikniūtė-Petrėnienė, in memory of the congress and the Lithuanian freedom struggle movement.