Lukiškes Prison
Encyclopedia
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, near the Lukiškės Square
Lukiškes Square
Lukiškės Square is the largest square in Vilnius, Lithuania, located in the center of the city. A major street in Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue, passes by the southern border of the square...
. As of 2007, it houses approximately 1,000 prisoners and employs around 250 prison guards. Most prisoners are there under temporary arrest awaiting court decisions or transfers to other detention facilities, but there is also a permanent prison with about 180 inmates; about 80 of whom are serving for life. After more than a century of continuous service, the prison suffers from overcrowding and is in need of investment in thorough improvements. The prison is located in a prestigious area, next to the Seimas Palace
Seimas Palace
Seimas Palace is the Lithuanian parliament named Seimas seat in Lithuania's capital Vilnius. Works on the construction of the first wing of palace were carried out in 1976. The Construction was supervised by architects Algimantas Nasvytis and Vytautas Nasvytis. In 1980 9717,37 square meters palace...
. Discussions about relocating it have continued for several years, but the process is slow and is estimated to be completed by 2014.
The prison was built in 1904, when Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. At the time it was one of the most technologically-advanced prisons in the empire. It had central heating and water supply, modern plumbing and ventilation. The complex also includes Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
Orthodox Church. In June 1941, during the German invasion
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
shot prisoners at Lukiškės Prison (see NKVD prisoner massacres).
The prison became more notorious during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania
Occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany refers to the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany from the start of the German invasion of Soviet Union to the end of the Battle of Memel . At first the Germans were welcomed as "liberators" from the repressive Soviet regime which occupied Lithuania...
, when it was used by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Lithuanian Saugumas
Lithuanian Security Police
The Lithuanian Security Police, also referred to as Saugumas , was a Lithuanian Nazi collaborationist police force that operated from 1941 to 1944. It had a staff of approximately 400 people, 250 of them in Kaunas and around another 130 in Vilnius....
as a holding cell for thousands of Jews from the Vilna Ghetto
Vilna Ghetto
The Vilna Ghetto or Vilnius Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto established by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the occupied Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , during the Holocaust in World War II...
and Poles, picked up in Łapankas in reprisals for actions by the Polish resistance. The majority were taken to the outskirts of Vilnius and executed at Ponary
Ponary massacre
The Ponary massacre was the mass-murder of 100,000 people, mostly Polish Jews, by German SD and SS and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators Sonderkommando collaborators...
(Paneriai). When Soviets reoccupied the territory in 1944, the prison was returned to the NKVD who detained thousands of Polish activists and partisans of Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
.
Notable prisoners
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, Lithuanian politician - Bertrand CantatBertrand CantatBertrand Lucien Bruno Cantat is a French singer and songwriter. He was the frontman for the rock band Noir Désir.-Career:Cantat was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The son of a Navy officer, he spent his childhood in Le Havre...
, French singer - Kazimierz PietkiewiczKazimierz PietkiewiczKazimierz Pietkiewicz was a Polish socialist and independence activist. Member of the Polish Socialist Party, arrested several times by the Russian Empire's and exiled to Siberia. During the Russian Revolution, he was active in socialist organizations in Ukraine...
, Polish socialist and independence activist - Jonas VileišisJonas VileišisJonas Vileišis was a Lithuanian lawyer, politician, and diplomat.-Early life and career:Vileišis was born in Mediniai, near Pasvalys. In 1892 he graduated from the Šiauliai gymnasium. During 1892-1894, he studied physics and mathematics at Saint Petersburg University. Later he transferred to the...
, Lithuanian publisher and diplomat - Jacob Wygodzki, Polish-Lithuanian Jewish politician
- Francišak AlachnovičFrancišak AlachnovičFrancišak Alachnovič was a Belarusian writer, journalist and Gulag survivor.Alachnovič was a well-known theatrical writer, director and journalist in West Belarus...
, Belarusian dramatist