The Lithuanian Front (Lithuanian: Lietuvių frontas; abbreviated LF) was an underground anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet Lithuanian resistance organisation active from September 1941, led by Juozas Ambrazevičius.[1][2] It was one of the main anti-Nazi resistance movements in Lithuania, alongside the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters' Union (LLKS).[3] Ambrazevičius was the most important and influential leader of the national Lithuanian resistance to Nazi German occupation.[4]
The LF engaged in nonviolent resistance to Nazi Germany's occupation of Lithuania by sabotaging German exploitation of forced labour, suppression of Lithuanian education and the creation of a Lithuanian Waffen-SS Legion.[3] For example, the LF issued a edict on 10 October 1941 against the registration of Lithuanian men by the occupying German administration.[1] The Lithuanian resistance avoided combat because it wanted to avoid helping the Soviet Union, to re-occupy it.[3] The resistance wanted Germany to be defeated by the Western Allies.[3] Regardless, the resistance prepared for military resistance in case it was necessary.[1][3]
The goals of the LF were to preserve the population of Lithuania and strengthen the country's unity, cultural institutions, enterprises, and farms.[1] Its slogan was "Lithuanian for Lithuanian" (lietuvis už lietuvį), emphasizing Lithuanian unity in the face of the foreign occupations of Lithuania.[1] Because the organisation was illegal, paperwork was avoided and most of its functions mainly carried out by verbal agreements.[1]
- ^ a b c d e f Bubnys 2018.
- ^ Jegelevičius 2004, p. 56.
- ^ a b c d e Sužiedėlis 2011, p. 252.
- ^ Bubnys 2005, p. 547.
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