Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas – Chairman of the Presidium of the Council of the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement, partisan general

Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas was born on March 15, 1919 in Palanga, to Jonas and Petronėlė Žemaičiai. His father was a freethinker and was friends with Jonas Šliūpas. In 1910, the Žemaičiai family moved to Łomža, where his uncle A. Daukša had a large dairy farm. His parents worked at a company, and Jonas attended primary school in the city. In 1917, the family returned to Lithuania and settled in Raseiniai, where J. Žemaitis graduated from junior high school.

In 1926, after completing six classes at the Raseiniai Gymnasium, he entered the Kaunas Military School. In 1929, he graduated, was awarded the rank of lieutenant, and began serving in the 2nd Artillery Regiment. In 1936–1938, he studied at the Fontainebleau Artillery School (École d'Artillerie de Fontainebleau) in France. After his studies in France, he received the rank of captain and commanded the training battery of the 1st and later the 4th Artillery Regiment of the Lithuanian Army.

In 1940, after the USSR occupied Lithuania, he continued his military service in the 617th Artillery Regiment of the 184th Rifle Division, and was the chief of the regimental school. The beginning of World War II caught Jonas Žemaitis at the Varėna training ground, where, having received an order to retreat to the East, he deliberately lagged behind with a group of officers and surrendered to the Germans. Not wanting to serve the Germans, he went into reserve and settled in Kaunas, where he got a job at the Energy Board as a peat extraction technician. In December 1941, after the birth of his son Laimučis, in June 1942 he moved with his family to the village of Kiaulininkai and until March 1944 worked as the head of the Šiluva agricultural cooperative.

J. Žemaitis joined the resistance during the German occupation: he distributed anti-Nazi literature, in 1944 he organized about 150 men into the Local Squad of Gen. Povilas Plechavičius. In March 1944 he was appointed commander of the 310th battalion of the Local Squad in Seredžius. After the Germans destroyed the squad's headquarters, he resigned from service, returned to Kiaulininki and went into hiding for some time.

As the second Soviet occupation approached, he went into hiding. In March 1945, he contacted representatives of the Lithuanian Freedom Army and, after taking the oath, in June he joined the partisan unit of Žebenkšties in the Raseiniai district. J. Žemaitis became the chief of staff of this unit on July 22, 1945. J. Žemaitis received his first baptism of fire in the Battle of Virtukų. In the same year, he became the chief of staff of the Žebenkšties unit, and in 1946, the commander of the same unit, renamed the Šernos unit. In May 1947, he was elected commander of the Kęstutis district. In May 1948, he founded the Jūra partisan area and became its commander.

At the Congress of Lithuanian Partisan Commanders held in February 1949, J. Žemaitis was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Council of the Lithuanian Freedom Struggle Movement. He also temporarily held the position of Commander of the Defence Forces. In December 1951, after suffering a stroke, he was forced to resign and lay paralyzed in a bunker in the Šimkaičiai Forest, where on May 30, 1953, he was betrayed and arrested alive. On November 26, 1954, he was shot in the Butyrka prison in Moscow.