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Provisional Government of Lithuania

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Session of the Provisional Government of Lithuania under the chairmanship by Juozas Ambrazevičius in Kaunas, Lithuania, 1941

The Provisional Government of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Laikinoji Vyriausybė) was a temporary government aiming for independent Lithuania during the last days of the Soviet occupation and the first weeks of German Nazi occupation in 1941.

It was secretly formed on 22 April 1941, announced on 23 June 1941, and dissolved on 5 August 1941.[1] It was formed from the members of the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) in Kaunas and Vilnius.

History

Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis, prime minister of the Provisional Government
Front page of the first issue of the Į laisvę (To Liberty) newspaper with the Independence Restoration Declaration of Lithuania by the Provisional Government of Lithuania in 1941 after the successful June Uprising
Memorial board on the wall of the former Kaunas radiophone

The Provisional Government was confirmed on 22 June, at the start of the June uprising. However, the leader of the LAF, Kazys Škirpa, who was supposed to become the Prime Minister, was in Germany at the time, hoping to obtain recognition for Lithuania (he was also former Lithuanian envoy to Germany and therefore continued to reside there). Since the Nazi regime saw Lithuania as a future part of Greater Germany, it was not interested in Lithuanian independence. Kazys Škirpa was not allowed to leave Germany and return to Lithuania to join the government; instead, he was put under house arrest. Rapolas Skipitis, another minister to be who also had been in Berlin at the time was prevented from leaving as well.[2]

The Provisional Government strongly opposed the Holocaust carried out by the Nazis, it also tried to rescue the situation and protest.[2][3]

The planned government had other losses as well: Vytautas Bulvičius, who was Minister of Defence, was arrested by the Soviet forces on 2 June. His place was therefore taken by General Stasys Raštikis. On 21 June 1941 (just one day before Germany declared war on the Soviet Union), four members of the planned government were arrested by the Soviets: (Vladas Nasevičius, Vytautas Statkus, Jonas Masiliūnas, and Jonas Vainauskas); they were imprisoned in Gorky prison in Moscow. The tribunal started on 26 November 1941 (after the uprising had ended, and while Lithuania was still occupied by Germany). Sentences were pronounced on 28 November: Bulvičius was executed, while Masiliūnas, Nasevičius, and Statkus were exiled to Siberia, along with other people arrested at the same time.

The government, however, still came to power after the June uprising, and ruled during the June Uprising in Lithuania, until dissolving itself upon the Nazi occupation of the country.[4]

In 1973, the Committee of the United States Congress made unambiguous conclusions that Juozas Ambrazevičius and Jonas Šlepetys had no part in the Holocaust in Lithuania.[5][6][7]

The cabinet

The people who were meant to be in the government:[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jegelevičius, Sigitas (11 June 2004). "1941 m. Lietuvos laikinosios vyriausybės atsiradimo aplinkybės". Voruta (in Lithuanian). 11 (557). ISSN 1392-0677. Archived from the original on May 7, 2006.
  2. ^ a b "Kuo reikšmingas 1941 m. birželio 22-28 d. sukilimas?". LLKS.lt. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. ^ Balčiūnas, J. V. "LAIKINOJI VYRIAUSYBĖ IR ŽYDAI - Sovietinė propaganda tebesinaudoja nacių talka". www.aidai.eu (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  4. ^ Valiušaitis, Vidmantas. "Kodėl J. Brazaičio perlaidojimo ceremonija sukėlė tiek aistrų?". DELFI. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  5. ^ Sinica, Vytautas. "Istorijos perrašymas: būtina skubiai pasmerkti Vincą Kudirką". LZinios.lt. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  6. ^ Lukšas, Aras (2009). J. Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis—Vienų Vienas (J. Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis—Purely alone).
  7. ^ Meidutė, Aistė. "Vanagaitė įkvėpė Kremlių: aukština NKVD smogikus ir vėl šmeižia partizanų vadus". DELFI.lt. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. ^ Zemlickas, Gediminas (February 11, 1998). "Pasaulyje — kaip savo namuose". Mokslo Lietuva (in Lithuanian). 3 (161). ISSN 1392-7191. Archived from the original on December 12, 2006.
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