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About us
The Colonel J. Vitkus-Kazimieraitis Memorial Society –
a community of the Vitkus family and like-minded people.
A family that would not let him be forgotten
The Society was founded on 9 April 2015 by Kazimieraitis’s children and grandchildren. Our aim is to commemorate and cherish the memory of a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Colonel Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis, and with him of all the partisans and freedom fighters of Southern Lithuania.
Today the Society brings together several generations of the Vitkus family and their friends: historians, teachers, soldiers, hikers. Together we organise commemorations and marches, publish books, make films and tell Kazimieraitis’s story to the younger generation.
The kazimieraitis.lt website is one of the Society’s projects: here we collect and publish verified information about the founder of the resistance struggle and his comrades-in-arms.
Remembrance means action
Winter march
Every January the family and friends walk about 18 km from Marcinkonys along Kazimieraitis’s path to the Skroblus headquarters. The march is open to everyone who values freedom.
Commemorations
We organise commemorations of his birth and death anniversaries. On 4 July 2026 we marked the 80th anniversary of his death, and on 10 December we will mark the 125th anniversary of his birth.
Films and book
In July 2017 we presented the documentary “The Ultimate Sacrifice” and republished Vytautas Vitkus’s book “Pulkininkas Kazimieraitis” (Colonel Kazimieraitis). We supported the film “Kisses, Juozas” (2023).
Search for his remains
The family searched for Kazimieraitis’s remains from 1991. In 2022 they were found in Leipalingis, and on 21 October 2023 the colonel was given a state funeral at Antakalnis Cemetery.
Museum in Leipalingis
In 2026 we launched an initiative to preserve the former “stribynas” in Leipalingis, in whose yard the remains were found. The Vitkus family bought the building, and here we are creating the Kazimieraitis Museum. The Society is one of its founding members.
Lessons and sources
We prepare materials for schools and make the archive public: letters, documents, photographs. For schools · Archive
We go where he went
The march always begins in Marcinkonys and ends at the Skroblus headquarters, where Kazimieraitis’s staff had its headquarters in winter 1945–1946. Along the way there is a campfire, prayer and stories about the partisans.
Kazimieraitis’s placesEvery donation is an act of remembrance
The Society is a registered charity. Your support helps us organise marches and commemorations, publish books, make films and create educational materials for schools.
Would you like to support the creation of the museum in Leipalingis? There is a separate museum donation.
The Society is not VAT-registered. Lithuanian taxpayers can also allocate up to 1.2% of their personal income tax to a charity.
Do you have photographs, letters or memories?
In the villages of Dzūkija and in émigré families, photographs and stories about Kazimieraitis and his comrades are still kept. Write to us – we will scan them and return the originals. Write to us too if you would like to join the Society, a march or a commemoration.