Vladas Petronaitis (2 November 1888 - 25 June 1941), was a Lithuanian patriot, soldier and martyr. He was tortured to death in the notorious Rainiai massacre by the NKVD and the Red Army. Rainiai massacre was a mass murder of 78-79 Lithuanian political prisoners by the Red Army in a forest near Telšiai, Lithuania during the night from June 24th to June 25th of 1941. ... The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (help· info))(Russian: НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ...

Vladas was born on 2 November 1888, the son of a successful farmer, Petras Petronaitis, in Plauciskiai, Rozalimo vls., Kaunas County (Lithuanian: Kauno apskritis), Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. Kaunas County is one of ten counties in Lithuania. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start...

The family's circumstances were good and, after attending the prestigious Mintaujos High School (Mintaujos gimnazija), he went to Saint-Petersburg University taking degrees in Mathematics and Science and sharing a house with his cousin Ignas Končius. In those days, many prominent Lithuanians studied at St Petersburg including the later President, Antanas Smetona. Antanas Smetona (August 10, 1874 - January 9, 1944) was the first president of Lithuania from April 4, 1919 to June 19, 1920. ...

After graduating in 1913, he remained in [[St Petersburg and at the outbreak of World War 1, was teaching mathematics. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Like many young Lithuanians, in 1915 he was mobilised into the Russian Army and stationed in Jaroslavle near Moscow. Heavy Russian casulaties in the war forced the Russian Army to set aside long-standing discrimination against Catholic Lithuanian soldiers. In 1916, Vladas was promoted to officer rank and became a teaching fellow at a Moscow military officers' school . At the same time he studied law at Moscow University. In russian, word army means armed forces in general. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: (help· info)) is the capital of Russia and the countrys principal political, economic, financial, educational and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. ... Moscow State University campus M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Московский Государственный Университет имени М.В.Ломоносова, often abbreviated МГУ, MSU, MGU) is considered the oldest university in Russia, founded in 1755. ...

Following the Russian Revolution, he made his way back to Lithuania which regained its independencein 1918. In 1919 became an officer in the Lithuanian Army. At first he was with an infantry battalion and then an electricity technical battalion in Vilnius. Location Ethnographic region Dzūkija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights...

In 1920, he was promoted to commandant in Vilnius and had a significant role in securing Vilnius against the Bolsheviks and then later against the Poles. Location Ethnographic region Dzūkija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights... Location Ethnographic region Dzūkija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights...

For his military and organisational service, in 1920, the President of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, conferred on him the medal of the Order of the Cross of Vytis for the "establishment of Vilnius City and County Commandant Institution". Antanas Smetona (August 10, 1874 - January 9, 1944) was the first president of Lithuania from April 4, 1919 to June 19, 1920. ...

In 1921, he was sent to Kretinga as a commandant. He married Bronislava Kentraite in ceremony at Palanga in 1922. Bronislava's Father, Jonas Kentra, was the public notary in Palanga and very passionate about Lithuanian language and culture. Kretinga is a town in Klaipėda County, Lithuania. ... Feliks Tyszkiewicz palace in Palanga. ... Jonas Kentra (1869 - 27 December 1942) was a Lithuanian patriot who died in a Siberian prison. ...

In 1923, Vladas was discharged to the army reserve and settled down in Kretinga working as a lawyer and advocate and supporting various Lithuanian patriotic movements. Like many other Lithuanians, he received the The Independence Medal Kretinga is a town in Klaipėda County, Lithuania. ...

Pursuant to the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, on September 19, 1939 Vilnius was seized and annexed by Soviet Union. On October 10, 1939, under a Soviet ultimatum, the Lithuanian government accepted the presence of Soviet military bases in the country in exchange for restoring the city to Lithuania. The whole of Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June of 1940 and a puppet Communist government was installed over the newly created Lithuanian SSR. Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. ... State motto: Visų šalių proletarai, vienykitės! (Workers of all countries, unite) Official language Lithuanian, Russian (de facto). ...

Within days, Vladas was arrested by the NKVD and held in the cellar of Telšiai prison. Under long interrogation over many months, he protested his innocence. The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (help· info))(Russian: НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ... Location Ethnographic region Samogitia County TelÅ¡iai County Municipality TelÅ¡iai district municipality Elderate TelÅ¡iai town elderate Number of elderates Coordinates {{{coordinates}}} General information Capital of Samogitia (unofficial) TelÅ¡iai County TelÅ¡iai district municipality TelÅ¡iai town elderate TelÅ¡iai rural elderate Population (rank) 31,460 in 2001...

On June 22. 1941 Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, commenced. With the Soviet troops easily pushed aside, the NKVD decided to execute its Lithuanian prisoners before retreating. Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3,200,000 ~ 2,600,000 Casualties 830,903 (174,000 dead, 36,000 missing, 604,000 injured) unknown Operation Barbarossa (Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the German codename for Nazi Germanys invasion of the Soviet... The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (help· info))(Russian: НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ...

On the night of 24/25 June 1941, Vladas was taken to a forest at Rainiai and, together with 77 other political prisoners, tortured to death and buried in a mass grave. On exhumation three days later, his body was unrecognisable due to the tortures applied. A chapel now marks the site of this horrific incident. The chapel designed by Algirdas Žebrauskas was built in the Telšiai cemetary. Funded by donations, it was built in 1991 and became one of the first memorials for the people killed by the Soviet authorities during the Soviet occupation(1940-1941; 1944-1991. Location Ethnographic region Samogitia County TelÅ¡iai County Municipality TelÅ¡iai district municipality Elderate TelÅ¡iai town elderate Number of elderates Coordinates {{{coordinates}}} General information Capital of Samogitia (unofficial) TelÅ¡iai County TelÅ¡iai district municipality TelÅ¡iai town elderate TelÅ¡iai rural elderate Population (rank) 31,460 in 2001... Soviet redirects here. ...

In 1946, during the second Soviet occupation, his widow Bronislave Petronaitiene was arrested and held in prison near Moscow. After 15 months she was released but in 1948 she and their daughter, Grazina Petronaityte, were exiled to a [[prison camp] near Irkutsk in Siberia. Irkutsks location Irkutsk (Иркутск), the chief town of the Irkutsk Oblast, is one of the most important places in Siberia, being not only the principal commercial depot north of Tashkent, but also a fortified military post, an archbishopric of the Russian Orthodox Church and the seat of several learned societies. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ...

A son, Jonas Petronaitis, narrowly avoided capture and, fled Lithuania with his cousin Liudas Koncius. Jonas eventually migrated to Australia.