President Gitanas Nausėda emphasized that Lithuania has lost a prominent and indomitable personality, to whom the state will always be grateful for active participation in the Sąjūdis movement and contribution to independence.
“Having found himself at the very beginning of life in the Soviet machine of oppression and exiled to Siberia, P. Varanauskas not only found his way back, successfully engaged in scientific work, but also took responsibility with comrades-in-arms to stand at the forefront of Lithuania’s Revival in crucial years,” reads the president’s condolence released on Sunday evening.
According to Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas, P. Varanauskas’s life reflects the painful but strength-filled history of Lithuania, the Seimas Chancellery reported.
“The trials of exile did not break his faith in his country and his determination to work for its freedom,” the condolence from J. Olekas states.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius expressed condolences, stating that P. Varanauskas bravely pursued Lithuania’s independence and valued freedom.
“Marked by the fate of an exile, Povilas Varanauskas deeply understood the value of personal and national freedom, actively participated in the community of political prisoners and exiles, and was one of its most heard voices. I express my condolences to the family, relatives, and the entire community of Lithuania’s political prisoners and exiles,” the prime minister’s condolence reads.
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P. Varanauskas passed away at the age of 86 after a serious illness.
On February 24, 1990, he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas, and on March 11, 1990, he voted for the restoration of Lithuania’s independence.
“His signature placed on March 11 will remain forever in the history of our statehood,” said J. Olekas.
According to him, Lithuania also values his scientific work and activity in the exile community.
In the Seimas, P. Varanauskas worked in the fields of education, science and culture, citizens’ rights, nationalities, and the rights of resistance participants, and was a member of the Council of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Exiles.
In 2000, he was awarded the Independence Medal for merits in restoring and consolidating the independent Lithuanian state.
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The country’s leaders expressed condolences to P. Varanauskas’s family, relatives, and comrades.
