Greta Paskočiumaitė

Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore

The Memoirs of Juozas Albinas Lukša: Shaping the Image of Anti-Soviet Resistance in Lithuania and the World

This paper analyzes the memoirs of the partisan (i.e., a guerilla fighter of the esistance movement) Juozas Albinas Lukša, titled “Partisans Behind the Iron Curtain”, first published in Chicago in 1950. Written in Paris between 1948 and 1949, these memoirs have become an inseparable part of the Lithuanian resistance war narrative. In his writing, Lukša offers a distinct portrayal of the partisan struggle, reflecting on his experiences in the resistance and conveying the goals of the fighters. These memoirs have been published six times in total – three times in Chicago, IL, USA, and three times in post-independence Lithuania. Notably, while the memoirs are often cited as a significant part of Lukša’s biography, their impact on shaping the image of the Lithuanian resistance fighters in the West and in reestablished Lithuania has yet to be fully explored. This presentation raises questions about how Lukša’s memoirs contributed to constructing the identity and image of the fighters in the Western eyes and what distinguishes these memoirs within the memory of the partisan war in Lithuania.