Lithuanian Way of Freedom

Virgin Eyes is a small swampy lake situated in an area surrounded by pine forests. The lake consists of two water bodies that are connected by a strait. Virgin Eyes can be reached by walking along a relaxing path, and on its eastern coast there is a pier from which you can enjoy the tranquillity of nature. Next to the lake, there is a memorial to commemorate the Merkys and Kazimieraitis partisans from Dainava District. Their remains were thrown into the Virgin Eyes Lake during the 1944–1953 period.

The Druskininkai Resistance and Exile Museum is regarded as one of the best museums in Lithuania built to commemorate the period of Soviet occupation. The museum has about two thousand exhibits including: photographs, documents, handiwork created in exile and other relics from the period of exile and resistance.

In Bestraigiškė Forest, an authentic partisan bunker has been reconstructed – it is a relic built to commemorate the history of our country’s struggle for freedom. In 1951, six partisans from the Mindaugas and Juozapavičius areas of the Šarūnas territorial resistance unit were killed in Bestraigiškė Forest.

General Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas was a commander of the Southern Partisan District of Lithuania and a renowned fighter for independence. In 1936, Ramanauskas graduated from the Žiburys Gymnasium in Lazdijai, and in 1945 he joined the partisan ranks. In Lazdijai, his commemoration monument was built in the square named after Adolfas Ramanauskas, created by the sculptor Jonas Jagėla.

Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas was an important personality in the Lithuanian Freedom Fight Movement and a signatory to the Declaration of 16th February 1949. Ramanauskas-Vanagas was born in 1918 in the US, and he came to Lithuania with his parents in 1921. He lived in the village of Bielėnai, in Lazdijai District, a where large, stone foundation has been preserved at the place of Ramanauskas’ home to this day.

On 16 May 1945, one of the biggest battles between the Lithuanian partisans and the Soviet army took place in Kalniškė Forest. There was a fierce battle in which 44 partisans and a few hundred of their enemies were killed. Today, there is a monument commemorating the dead partisans in the battlefield of Kalniškė, where annual events honouring the fighters are held. You can also learn about the course of the battle and its history by walking along the Kalniškė Battlefield Trail.

Šeštokai Railway Station was built under the reign of the Russian tsar. From here, the deportations of the brightest people of Lithuania to Siberia began on 14 June 1941. To commemorate these Lithuanian exiles, a cross and a monument were built in the square next to the railway station. After the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, Šeštokai became the Lithuanian gateway to Europe.