Jonas Žemaitis

Jonas Žemaitis (also known under his codename Vytautas; March 15, 1909 in Palanga – November 26, 1954 in Moscow) was one of the leaders of armed resistance against the Soviet occupation in Lithuania and acknowledged as the Head of State of contemporary occupied Lithuania.

Biography
Žemaitis was born in Jonas Žemaitis and Petronėlė Daukšaitė's family. Despite the fact that his father was non-religious, Žemaitis was christened in Palanga's church. From 1910 to 1917 he lived with his parents in Poland, Lomža, where his uncle A. Daukša owned a big dairy. In Lomža Žemaitis attented a primary school while his parents were working. In 1917, Žemaitis returned to Lithuania and settled down in Šiluva's region, Kiaulininkų village, where the grandparents of Žemaitis lived. In 1921, he finished Raseiniai Gymnasium First Class. In 1926, started studying in Kaunas War School. In 1929 he finished this school and became a lieutenant. Žemaitis started soldiering in The Second Flock Of Artillery as a commander.

In 1944 he joined the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, organized by Povilas Plechavičius. After the force was disbanded by the Nazis, Žemaitis went into hiding. When the Red Army returned to Lithuania, Žemaitis joined the Lithuanian Freedom Army and the Lithuanian partisans, steadily rising to a position of leadership. In February 1949 he established the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters and became its chairman; he worked to continue partisan resistance to Soviet occupation and legitimize the actions of the partisans. In December 1951 he was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage and became paralyzed. In May 1953 his place of hiding was discovered by Soviet agents and he was arrested. After being transported to Moscow, he was interrogated by Lavrentiy Beria and was executed in the Butyrka prison in 1954.

Jonas Žemaitis is the namesake of the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. In 1995 a documentary Ketvirtasis Prezidentas (The Fourth President) was released about his life.

Posthumously Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas was awarded the rank of Brigadier General and was officially named as the fourth President of Lithuania in March 2009.