President of the Fallen

President of the Fallen is an English translation of Žuvusiųjų Prezidentas by Nijolė Gaškaitė-Žemaitienė. It tells the true story of Jonas Žemaitis (1902-1954), the chairman of the Presidium of the Council of the Lithuanian Freedom Fight Movement (LLKS). Žemaitis grew up in independent interwar Lithuania, became an officer in the army, and joined the resistance against the Soviet occupation after the Second World War. He rose to become leader of the organised armed resistance, and therefore acted as the country’s underground president. After being captured in 1953, he was tried, and executed in Moscow in 1954. The book is supplemented with several appendices, including reminiscences of Žemaitis by some of his contemporaries, and archive documents relating to the LLKS.