Kabeliai border post: the border between Kazimieraitis’s headquarters

What happened here

Kazimieraitis lived in Kabeliai from December 1944 to mid-1945. He worked as bookkeeper of the forestry office, united the partisans, founded the Dzūkai Group staff and drafted its first documents. His first headquarters was on the Astravas upland among the bogs, to the right of today’s border post. Land drainage has changed the landscape so much that the exact site can no longer be established.

Border guards take part in commemorations of Kazimieraitis. On 6 July 2019, at the State Day commemoration in Kabeliai, the post commander Andrius Beloručkinas said that Kazimieraitis, as an officer, already understood then that Lithuania’s borders would have to be defended. Today this is the external border not only of Lithuania but also of the European Union, the Schengen Area and NATO.

In May 2025 the 80th anniversary of the Dzūkai Group staff was marked. The march began at Kabeliai church and led to the border post, where participants were welcomed by its commander Donatas Urbelionis. Augustas Valentukevičius, a cadet of the Border Guard School, said that Kazimieraitis’s personality and his own family history had inspired his choice of profession. The marchers then visited the place where Bijūnas was killed and Kazimieraitis’s headquarters.

“It is a great honour for us to follow in the footsteps of Kazimieraitis.”

Kabeliai border post commander A. Beloručkinas, 2019 (15min)

What you will see

• An active unit of the State Border Guard Service. It can be visited during commemorations or by arrangement.
• Nearby is the presumed site of Kazimieraitis’s first headquarters on the Astravas upland (~53.9443, 24.3100).
• The pit of Bijūnas’s bunker and the place of his death near Grūda (see the route “In Kazimieraitis’s footsteps in Kabeliai”).

Sources (in Lithuanian)

• R. Averkienė. The legendary partisan commander Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis honoured in Kabeliai. 15min, 8 July 2019 (LT)
• SBGS Border Guard School. A choice inspired by the partisans: the start of a border guard’s path, 23 May 2025 (LT)
• Partizanų Lietuva. Walking route “Kazimieraitis” (LT)