Arūnas Bubnys, the interim head of the Center, and Dalius Žygelis, the chief historian, visited France in July, met with representatives of the Fontainebleau municipality, and discussed the issue of commemorating J. Žemaitis-Vytautas.
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It is planned to install a memorial plaque on the building where the Artillery School officers’ dormitory operated and J. Žemaitis lived from 1936 to 1938.
According to the report, this has been agreed upon with both the municipality and the building owners.
From 1936 to 1938, J. Žemaitis studied at the then Fontainebleau Artillery School.
According to LGGRTC, the young Lithuanian army lieutenant was one of many foreign officers who improved their military education in France.
J. Žemaitis-Vytautas was an officer of independent Lithuania; in 1944, he became involved in the activities of the Local Detachment, was the chief of staff of the “Žebenkštis” partisan detachment, commanded the Kęstutis district, and from 1948 – the entire Western Lithuanian partisan region.
On February 16, 1949, J. Žemaitis, along with seven other partisan commanders, signed the Declaration of the Council of the Lithuanian Freedom Fight Movement. It declared that the highest legitimate organ of power in Lithuania was the partisan leadership, and their goal was a restored independent parliamentary Republic of Lithuania.
The Declaration, together with other documents adopted at the congress of Lithuanian partisan commanders, formed the legal and political basis of the Lithuanian armed resistance, legalized the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters as an organization of universal organized armed resistance against Soviet occupation, and its Council as the sole legitimate authority in the occupied territory of Lithuania.
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This declaration, alongside the acts of February 16, 1918, and March 11, 1990, is one of the three foundational documents of the modern Lithuanian state.
J. Žemaitis-Vytautas was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Council of the Freedom Fight Movement, with the powers of the highest political and military authority in the country. He was also granted the rank of Freedom Fighter Partisan General.
J. Žemaitis-Vytautas held the position of head of state until his death on November 26, 1954.
On May 30, 1953, after a betrayal, he was arrested and taken to Moscow’s Butyrka prison, where he was killed on November 26, 1954.
After Lithuania regained independence, J. Žemaitis-Vytautas was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Vytis.
In 2009, the Seimas recognized him as the head of the Lithuanian state fighting against occupation, who effectively performed the duties of president.
The partisan war against the Soviet occupation in Lithuania took place from 1944 to 1953.
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