In the quiet village cemetery of Ančiškiai, located in the Biržai district of northern Lithuania, several unassuming graves have long held secrets that the Soviet regime once tried to erase. For decades, these burial sites were maintained by families in hushed reverence, often lacking names or proper markers to protect the living from repercussions. This week, the Lithuanian Department of Cultural Heritage officially granted these sites national protection, ensuring the stories of the men buried there are preserved for future generations.
The decision by the Assessment Council for Immovable Cultural Heritage elevates these graves to the status of national significance. It marks a formal recognition of the “Forest Brothers”—the partisan resistance fighters who waged a desperate guerrilla war against Soviet occupation following the end of the Second World War. For UK readers, this resistance is often compared to the French Maquis, though the Baltic struggle lasted much longer, continuing well into the 1950s under far more isolated conditions.
The Hidden Heroes of Ančiškiai
Among the newly protected sites is the final resting place of Feliksas Budriūnas and Stasys Tarvydas. Both men were killed in February 1945 during a fierce battle with NKVD (Soviet secret police) forces in the Leliškiai forest. At the time, their bodies were secretly transported by relatives and fellow fighters to the Ančiškiai cemetery, where they were buried in the Mikėnai family plot. For years, their names did not appear on the family monument—a necessary precaution to prevent the Soviet authorities from desecrating the graves or arresting the surviving family members.
Similarly protected are the graves of brothers Bronius and Povilas Račinskas, members of the Juozas Aukštikalnis-Sukilėlis unit. They fell in December 1944, just as the second Soviet occupation was tightening its grip on the Baltic states. While Bronius’s name was eventually added to a family headstone, Povilas remained officially unrecorded for decades.
Resistance and Sacrifice
The archives revealed through this heritage designation paint a grim picture of the risks taken by those who resisted. One of the most harrowing stories is that of Juozas Tarvydas. A member of the Kazys Morkūnas partisan unit, Tarvydas was wounded and captured in April 1946 after a surprise raid by the “stribai”—local Soviet paramilitary collaborators. He died under interrogation and torture in the town of Vabalninkas. His body was eventually smuggled away and buried secretly in the Aukštikalnis family grave to ensure he received a Christian burial, even if it had to remain anonymous.
The leader of one such unit, Juozas Aukštikalnis (codenamed Sukilėlis, or “The Rebel”), represents the intellectual backbone of the resistance. A graduate of the Dotnuva Agricultural Academy and a former agronomist, he turned to the woods after escaping Soviet imprisonment in 1944. His story ended in June 1945 following a confrontation with the NKVD. His comrade, Valentinas Navakas, was captured during the same period and, according to local records, was tortured and killed alongside the farmer who had been secretly treating his wounds.
A Legacy Beyond Borders
This move by the Lithuanian government is part of a broader national effort to document the anti-Soviet resistance, which remains a cornerstone of modern Lithuanian identity. By granting these graves national heritage status, the state provides legal safeguards against any future development or neglect, while also funding the maintenance of the sites.
For the international community, these designations serve as a reminder of the complex aftermath of WWII in Eastern Europe. While Western Europe celebrated peace in 1945, the Baltic states entered a dark period of deportations, guerrilla warfare, and forced collectivization. The protection of these graves in a small village like Ančiškiai ensures that the individual human cost of that era is never forgotten, transforming secret burial spots into permanent landmarks of national memory.
Source: Biržų rajono savivaldybė
/linkComments