Pranas Končius code name ''Adomas'' (born in 1911 in Bargaliai,

Kretinga district Kretinga District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. Locations in Kretinga District Municipality * Erškėtynas Stream and Chapel * Gargždelė * Kretinga * Salantai Salantai () is a small town in Lithuania. It is located ...

) was the last anti-Soviet

Lithuanian partisan Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in Est ...

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

. He was shot by

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; , ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enforcement in Russia through its agencies the Police of Russia, Migration ...

forces on July 6, 1965 (or according to other sources shot himself in order not to be captured on July 13). There still were remaining anti-Soviet partisans, who legalised themselves later or lived illegally for decades to come. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Končius served in the

Lithuanian Army The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Navy, the Lithuanian Air Force and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. In wartime, the Lithuan ...

. He also participated in the anti-Soviet June Uprising in 1941. In 2000, Končius was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

awarded the

Cross of Vytis The Order of the Cross of Vytis () is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. History Interwar period Rejec ...

. In September 2015, President of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth president of Lithuania from 2009 to 2019. She is the first and so far only woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Li ...

signed a decree which took away the award due to him being involved in the Holocaust. Končius was implicated in the massacre of about 100 Jewish men at the

Salantai Salantai () is a small town in Lithuania. It is located in the Klaipėda County, Kretinga district. Etymology Salantai is named after the Salantas River, which runs through the town. History Salantai area was known to be inhabited since the B ...

Jewish cemetery and the shootings of 11 Jews at the Šalynas Manor while he served in the Salantai Auxiliary Police. He and other police officers led 70 Jewish women from Salantai to the site of their mass murder in the Šateikiai Forest, beat them with rifle butts, kicked them and participated in shooting them. He was also implicated in the massacre of 150 Jewish women and children in the Šateikiai Forest, and the seizure of their property. Končius was also accused of looting from civilians and Soviet activists in the post-war period.

References

External links

Short biography with further reference

1911 births 1965 deaths People from Kretinga District Municipality People from Kovno Governorate Lithuanian Auxiliary Police officers Lithuanian mass murderers Lithuanian partisans killed in action Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Vytis Soviet dissidents Deaths by firearm in the Soviet Union {{Lithuania-mil-bio-stub Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Lithuania Restoration of the independence of the Baltic states