Funeral for 15 Lithuanian partisans and relatives killed by Soviets held in Rokiškis district
Sunday 26th July 2026 on 05:45 in
Lithuania
Fifteen Lithuanian partisans and their relatives, killed by Soviet repressive forces, will be buried in Jūžintai, Rokiškis district, on Sunday, reports LRT, citing the local municipality.
This marks the first time in Lithuania that so many freedom fighters will be laid to rest simultaneously. The remains will be interred in Jūžintai cemetery.
According to the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Centre, 12 sets of remains were discovered last year near the old Jūžintai cemetery, close to the former NKVD (KGB) headquarters, in pits originally used for potato storage. Three more were found this year.
Nine of last year’s remains have been identified. The identification of this year’s remains is ongoing.
In one pit, the remains of four partisans from the Trano unit were found. They died on August 23, 1945, in Dauliūnai forest: 35-year-old unit commander Edvardas Trano, his 22-year-old brother-in-law Vytautas Dičius, and two as-yet unidentified partisans, one of whom may be Jonas Tijūnėlis, though this could not be confirmed due to the lack of closer relatives.
Another pit contained five sets of remains: four partisans who hid in a bunker on the shore of Lake Vazajus—16-year-old Leonas Pajedas, his 23-year-old brother Bronius Pajedas, 19-year-old Napalis Kušlys, and 23-year-old Albinas Kilas—as well as 19-year-old Stanislovas Vanagas from Pūškoniai village. All five were killed on the morning of June 26, 1945.
A third pit held the remains of two students from Norkūnai village, 18-year-old Jonas Matuzonis and 21-year-old Pranas Staškevičius, executed on July 10, 1945, for hiding from forced conscription into the occupying army.
The identities of four other remains found in separate pits remain unconfirmed; their data is preserved in the Genocide Centre’s database.
The partisan war against Soviet occupation in Lithuania lasted from 1944 to 1953, involving at least 50,000 people in armed resistance and around 100,000 in underground organisations or as supporters. Over 20,000 partisans and their supporters were killed.