Juozas Jakavonis, nicknamed Tigras, a member of the anti-Soviet resistance and one of the winners of the Freedom Prize, passed away at the age of 96, his daughter Angelė Jakavonytė confirmed on Tuesday.
“Yes, my dad died. He was staying at my home and contracted Covid,” she told BNS. “I thought it was just a cold, but the test result was positive.”
Jakavonis had been hospitalised for Covid-19 and passed away at Santaros Clinics in Vilnius.
Jakavonis joined the anti-Soviet resistance movement at the age of 20. In 1945, he and other anti-Soviet partisans set up the headquarters of the Merkys territorial unit in his parents’ farm.
In 1945–1946, Jakavonis was hiding there with Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis, the commander of the partisans of southern Lithuania, and the commander of the Merkys unit, Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas. The partisan newspaper Laisvės Varpas (Bell of Freedom) was published here.
Jakavonis was exiled to Siberia in 1946 and returned to Lithuania 13 years later.
Active anti-Soviet resistance continued in Lithuania in 1944-1953, involving around 50,000 guerilla fighters. Over 20,000 partisans and their supporters were killed during the period.
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