Lithuanian govt vows to fund search for legendary partisan Luksa's remains

VILNIUS – Lithuania's government has decided to fund a search of the remains of legendary partisan Juozas Luksa-Daumantas in Kaunas, the country's second-largest city.

Deputy Government Chancellor Deividas Matulionis says the exact amount will be known following the assessment of the application from the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania, which is now being produced.

"A decision has been made to fund it from the next year budget as part of the historic memory program," Matulionis said in an interview with BNS Lithuania.

The initiative to resume the search for the partisan's remains was announced by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in September when he met with Luksa's widow Nijole Brazenaite-Luksiene-Paronetto in New York.

SEARCH IN MARVELE

The presumed place of Luksa's burial in the Marvele area on the outskirts of Kaunas was explored more than a decade ago in response to claims that he could have been buried there. But archeologists warn there's a lack of substantial evidence, and any search could be undermined by the territory's urbanization.

After World War Two, Luksa became one of Lithuanian partisans' leaders and took active effort to mobilize freedom fighters and help them unite in their fight against the Soviet rule.  

Luksa managed to break through the Iron Curtain into the West several times to rally support for his homeland's cause.

Luksa married Brazenaite in Paris in 1950 when he received intelligence training in France. A couple of months later, he returned to the occupied Lithuania to continue his freedom fight.

The partisan was killed in an ambush in Garliava near Kaunas in September, 1951.

A MONUMENT FOR RAMANAUSKAS-VANAGAS

The guerrilla war against the Soviet occupation in Lithuania took place in 1944-1953.

The Lithuanian government has also allocated funds for other projects to commemorate partisans. Matulionis also called on sculptors to more actively submit proposals for a monument to partisan leader Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, buried in Vilnius last year, and his tombstone at Antakalnis Cemetery, with 50,000 euros allocated for the purpose.

"Sculptors' participation is very important as it's a matter of honor. If everything turns out fine, we should have the monument in July," the government representative said.

The government also plans to allocate funds for further construction of a monument for partisans in Kryzkalnis, with 250,000 euros set to be allocated next year, just as it was done this year.