Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas, President of Lithuania Fighting for Freedom
2024 we marked the 115th birth anniversary of the chief commander of Lithuanian partisans, Jonas Žemaitis, and the 70th anniversary of his death.
The exhibition "Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas, President of Lithuania Fighting for Freedom"is displayed on the facade of the former KGB building in Vilnius (Gedimino ave. 40), and the virtual exhibition is available on the website of the Lithuanian Archives’ Virtual Exhibitions (https://virtualios-parodos.archyvai.lt/). The exhibition texts are in Lithuanian and English.
Jonas Žemaitis was born in Palanga on 15 March 1909 into the family of Jonas and Petronėlė Žemaitis. The father of the future partisan commander, Jonas Žemaitis, worked as a milkman. The family, the parents and their children Kotryna and Jonas, often changed their place of residence. In 1910 they moved from Palanga to Łomża (Poland), in 1917 they settled in Raseiniai County. Jonas Žemaitis attended a primary school in Łomża and finished a gymnasium in Raseiniai in 1926.
He studied at the Military School from 1926 to 1929, and upon graduation, was assigned to the Second Artillery Regiment of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. His interwar military service was unremarkable, consisting mainly of courses, manoeuvres, and routine duties. In 1933, Žemaitis graduated from the Artillery Department of the Vytautas the Great Officers’ Course. He then received a scholarship to study at the School of Applied Artillery in Fontainebleau, France, from 1936 to 1938. These studies broadened his horizons, allowing him to visit Paris and travel throughout France, Italy, and other countries. Upon his return to Lithuania in 1938, he was appointed to the First Artillery Regiment, and in 1939, he was transferred to the Fourth Artillery Regiment. However, subsequent historical events not only derailed his plans for further military education and advancement, but also profoundly altered his personal life.
In 1940 the soviet government gradually but quickly destroyed the Lithuanian army by incorporating it into the 29th Rifle Territorial Corps of the Red Army. In October 1940, Jonas Žemaitis was assigned to the 617th Artillery (Howitzer) Regiment of the 184th Rifle Division of the Corps and later became the head of the Regiment School.
The first wave of soviet repressions did not directly affect Jonas Žemaitis as a military officer, likely because he did not arouse much suspicion from soviet security at the time, but his relatives were not spared from tragedy. During the mass deportations of June 1941, the family of Jonas Žemaitis’ sister, Rapolas and Kotryna Juškas, along with their three children, were deported. However, there were some nice moments in Jonas’ personal life during the first soviet occupation: in 1940 he married Elena Valionytė, who worked for the Book Palace in Vilnius, and in 1941 his son Laimutis was born.
Jonas Žemaitis was on the Varėna training ground when the German-Soviet war broke out on 22 June 1941. While retreating with the 29th Rifle Territorial Corps, Žemaitis and a group of soldiers fell behind the others at Valkininkai and surrendered to the German army. They were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Vilnius, where the Lithuanians were separated from the Red Army soldiers. Released from the camp in July, Žemaitis did not return to military structures, he had various other jobs. In 1941 he got the job of a peat extraction technician with the Energy Board in Kaunas; in 1942-1944 he worked as the head of the Šiluva Agricultural Cooperative. While working in Šiluva, Žemaitis joined the anti-Nazi (which was in fact also anti-soviet) resistance. In 1943 he became part of the underground group of the Šiluva Rural District founded by priest Antanas Kazlauskas. That autumn General Stasys Zaskevičius invited the Lithuanian army officers living in Raseiniai County, including Jonas Žemaitis, to join the underground organisation, the Freedom Riflemen. Žemaitis was tasked with organising underground rifle squads.
On 15 March 1944 Jonas Žemaitis was appointed Commander of the 310th Battalion of the Lithuanian Territorial Defence Force. As the Nazi occupation authorities attempted to use it for their own purposes and the Battalion refused to comply with their demands, it was disbanded, and its leadership was arrested. Žemaitis, who was on leave at the time, avoided arrest and possible Nazi reprisals, but remained in hiding until the end of the Nazi occupation.
Later, as the Red Army entered Lithuania, Žemaitis was forced into hiding again, fearing persecution. In January 1945, three partisans, including his distant relative and future close comrade, Petras Bartkus, visited him in Šiluva parish, Raseiniai County. They encouraged him to join the Lithuanian Freedom Army, but he did not immediately commit. Shortly after, the NKVD arrested his wife Elena, who managed to escape from the clutches of the security services and flee to Kaunas with their son.
In March 1945, Jonas Žemaitis took the oath and joined the Lithuanian Freedom Army. On 2 June 1945, he joined the Vėgėla (from July on it was called Žebenkštis) Unit and was appointed Chief of Staff of the Unit. From the very beginning, Žemaitis devoted his efforts to mobilising partisans, as he understood the importance of united struggle. After joining the partisans, he often changed his pseudonyms. There are over ten spoken and nearly ten written pseudonyms that Jonas Žemaitis used. In 1948 he chose the pseudonym of Vytautas, which he always used when signing documents, although the spoken ones still varied. As a partisan, Žemaitis took part in seven battles (the largest ones were in Virtukai Forest in 1945 and in Palapišiai Forest in 1946) and six skirmishes of a defensive nature.
During his time as a partisan, Žemaitis endured a personal drama. His parents, Jonas and Petronėlė, were expelled from their home and forced to live in a shelter for the rest of their lives. In 1946 Žemaitis’ wife passed away. Reliable partisan liaisons found a guardian to take care of his son. The partisan commander was able to meet his son only a few times.
In September 1946, Jonas Žemaitis took over as Commander of the Šernas Unit. After several name changes, the Unit was finally incorporated into the Kęstutis Joint District. On 16 February 1947, District Commander Juozas Kasperavičius-Visvydas awarded Jonas Žemaitis-Ilgūnas, along with other partisans, the Badge of Distinction for his merits in the field of organisation and leadership. After Juozas Kasperavičius-Visvydas’ death, Jonas Žemaitis was elected District Commander at the meeting of the District leaders held on 20-25 May 1947.
As District Commander, he corresponded with the Tauras District on the issue of unification and discussed the creation of a joint command. On 5 May 1948 Jonas Žemaitis assumed the role of Commander of the newly established Western Lithuania Region, but soon resigned from all his posts focusing instead on unification efforts, encouraged by the appeals he received from other regions and districts. In February 1949, thanks to his efforts and those of his comrades, a meeting of partisans was held where the Movement of Struggle for Freedom of Lithuania was established as an organisation unifying Lithuanian partisans. Žemaitis-Vytautas was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Council and was awarded the rank of Partisan General.
Despite the challenging situation, Žemaitis continued to meet with other partisan commanders to coordinate strategies and plan for the future. In December 1951, after enduring prolonged tension, he suffered a stroke, which left him paralyzed and confined to a bunker unsuitable for recovery. In 1952, he resigned from his post, though he continued to receive letters from fellow commanders and was occasionally visited by his comrades. By the spring of 1953, his health had improved, and he resumed his activities. However, on 30 May 1953, he was arrested by soviet security forces, interrogated in Vilnius and Moscow, and sentenced to death in 1954. Jonas Žemaitis was executed in Moscow on 26 November 1954.
In 1997, by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. In 2009 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania recognised that Žemaitis-Vytautas had effectively carried out the duties of the President of the Republic of Lithuania from 1949 to 1953. Memorial monuments honouring him have been erected in Vilnius, Kaunas, Palanga and other locations.
The project is financed by
Lithuanian Council of Culture
Partners:
Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania
Lithuanian Central State Archives
Lithuanian State Historical Archives
Lithuanian Literature and Art Archives
Kaunas Regional State Archives
National Museum of Lithuania
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
Vytautas the Great War Museum
Kelmė Regional Museum
Kėdainiai Regional Museum
Raseiniai Regional Museum
Panevėžys County Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library
Lithuanian Photographers Association
President Jonas Žemaitis Gymnasium in Raseiniai
Šimkaičių Jonas Žemaitis Basic School in Jurbarkas District
We are grateful for permission to publish photographs and documents from personal archives to:
Aušra Juškaitė-Vilkienė and Ana Luisa Monse
Eglė Garrick, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in the Northern Territory of Australia
Inga Stašiūnienė
Arijus Ivaškevičius
Valentinas Kemėšius
Exhibition team
Curators and authors of the texts
Nijolė Maslauskienė, Dr Darius Juodis
Graphics and architecture
Darius Baliukevičius
Communication
Dovilė Baliukevičienė
Editor
Indrė Arbačiauskienė
Translator
Kristina Kačkuvienė
Photos by
Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Project Manager
Kęstutis Remeika
Last updated: 07-05-2025