Juozas Lukša

Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other pseudonyms as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisan armed resistance movement.

Juozas Lukša
Born	(1921-08-10)10 August 1921 Juodbūdis [lt], Prienai District, Republic of Lithuania
Died	4 September 1951(1951-09-04) (aged 30) Pabartupis [lt], Kaunas District, Lithuanian SSR
Nationality	Lithuanian
Other names	Daumantas, Skirmantas
Alma mater	Vytautas Magnus University

Life

 

Memorial cross in the place where Juozas Lukša died

Lukša was born on 10 August 1921 to a family of farmers in the village of Juodbūdis, near Kaunas. He attended Kaunas "Aušros" high school [lt], where he joined the catholic youth organization Ateitis and the far-right, anti-semitic and anti-Soviet Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF). He graduated high school in 1940 and began studying architecture at Vytautas Magnus University.^[1]

Due to being a member of the LAF, Lukša was imprisoned by the NKVD in Kaunas during the 1940–41 Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. He was released by the Wehrmacht following the invasion of Lithuania by Nazi Germany, and went on to continue his architecture studies.

After the return of the Red Army in 1944, Lukša engaged in the underground movement. At first he participated as a student, helping out with clandestine matters and unarmed resistance in Kaunas. In 1946, after the arrests of many activists, he left the city and joined the armed resistance. Within a year he commanded the Birutė brigade of the Tauras military district.^[2]

At the end of 1947, along with fellow partisans Jurgis Krikščiūnas-Rimvydas and Kazimieras Pyplys-Mažytis, Lukša crossed through the Iron Curtain with the goal of attracting support for the fighters and establishing contacts with Lithuanians in exile. They carried information collected by partisans about Soviet repressions, killings and deportations, and a letter asking for support from Pope Pius XII. He arrived in Sweden and moved from there to France and West Germany, where he was trained by French intelligence agents and the CIA.^[3] While in Paris, he met doctor Nijolė Virginija Bražėnaitė [lt], whom he married on 23 July 1950.

During his stay in the West, Lukša wrote Fighters for Freedom (Lithuanian: Partizanai už geležinės uždangos), a firsthand account of partisan activities in 1944–47.^[4][5] He was parachuted back into Lithuania by the CIA sometime between 1949 and 1950.^[6] That year, he was granted the honorary title of "Hero of the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters" (Laisvės kovos karžygio garbės vardas) and awarded with the Cross of the Freedom Struggle (1st class) by the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. In 1951 he was granted a rank of "Major of Partisans" (Partizanų majoro laipsnis).

Lukša was intensively searched for by the Soviet counterintelligence, before being killed near Pabartupis by the MGB in the fall of 1951.^[7]

Legacy

In 1997 Juozas Lukša was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis (first class).

In 2003, director Jonas Vaitkus released a movie based on Lukša's life entitled Utterly Alone. In 2014, co-directors Jonas Ohman and Vincas Sruoginis released a documentary entitled The Invisible Front on Lukša and his fellow "Forest Brothers".^[8]

In June 2020, the Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Education and Science submitted a proposal to designate 2021 as the "Year of Juozas Lukša-Daumantas."^[9][10]

The Central European University Press published a fresh English translation of Lukša's book in 2009 under the title Forest Brothers: The Account of an Anti-Soviet Lithuanian Freedom Fighter, 1944-1948, ISBN 978-9639776371.

Alleged participation in the Kaunas pogrom

Main article: Kaunas pogrom

Controversy exists regarding Lukša's role during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. According to multiple witnesses, Lukša was a participant in the 1941 Lietukis garage massacres in Kaunas, and allegedly took part in the murder and decapitation of Rabbi Zalman Osovsky.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][9]} The Lithuanian government denies these claims.^[15][17][18]

See also

• Lithuanian partisans

Further reading

• Lukša-Daumantas, Juozas (1975). Fighters for Freedom: Lithuanian Partisans Versus the U.S.S.R. New York: Manyland Books. ISBN 0-87141-049-4.
• Lukša, Juozas (2009). Forest Brothers: The Account of an Anti-Soviet Lithuanian Freedom Fighter, 1944–1948. Translated by Vincė, Laima. Budapest: Central European University Press. ISBN 978-963-9776-37-1.

References

1. Merkytė, Eglė. "Keturi sūnūs išėjo į mišką…". aklas.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 4 July 2022.
2. Sajauskas, Justinas; Trimonienė, Rūta. "Juozas Lukša". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 4 July 2022.
3. "Activities of Lithuanian Partisans in the West" (PDF). Lithuanian Military Digest. Lithuanian Armed Forces. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
4. Kvietkauskas, Mindaugas (2011). Transitions of Lithuanian Postmodernism: Lithuanian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period. Brill. p. 207. ISBN 978-94-012-0728-7.
5. Šileika, Antanas (Fall 2009). "New Notes from the Underground: The Partisan War". Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences. 55 (3). ISSN 0024-5089.
6. Misiunas, Romuald J.; Taagepera, Rein (1993). The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940–1990. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-520-08227-4. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
7. Kuprys, Vida (15 November 2014). "The Making of the Invisible Front". Draugas News: Lithuanian World Wide News in English. Chicago: Lithuanian Catholic Press Society.
8. "Nematomas frontas" [The Invisible Front]. IMDb. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
9. Liphshiz, Cnaan (29 June 2020). "In Lithuania, lawmakers want to dedicate 2021 to honoring an alleged perpetrator of Holocaust pogrom". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
10. Kukliansky, Faina; Baker, Andrew (2 July 2020). "Co-Chairs of Goodwill Foundation Send Letter to Parliamentary Speaker on Naming 2021 Year of Lukša-Daumantas". Lithuanian Jewish Community. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
11. Faitelson, Aleks (2006). The Truth and Nothing But the Truth: Jewish Resistance in Lithuania. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-965-229-364-0.
12. Katz, Dovid (29 June 2020). "Will Lithuania's Parliament Really Name 2021 for Alleged Participant in LAF's Kaunas Atrocities of June 1941?". Defending History. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
13. Mann, John; Russell, Bob; Bottomley, Peter (8 September 2011). EDM 2161: Lithuania and Holocaust Survivors (Motion). UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
14. Melamed, Joseph A., ed. (January 1999). Lithuania: Crime & Punishment (PDF) (Report). Vol. 6. Tel Aviv: Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel.
15. Lev, David (March 2012). (PDF). Martyrdom & Resistance. Vol. 38, no. 4. Yad Vashem. p. 11. ISSN 0892-1571. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2014.
16. Weinbaum, Laurence (10 July 2020). "Lithuania picks the wrong man to honour". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
17. Plikūnė, Dalia (22 July 2020). "Zingeris kreipėsi į tarptautinę žydų agentūrą dėl informacijos apie partizaną: tai yra smūgis Lietuvos prestižuiSkaitykite daugiau". Delfi (in Lithuanian).
18. Degutis, Darius. "Lithuania committed to Holocaust memorial". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 October 2020.