Antanas Merkys
Antanas Merkys (,
1888 in
Bajorai, near
Skapiškis,
Lithuania â€"
March 5,
1955 in
Vladimir Oblast,
Russia) was
President of
Lithuania (
1940). He was also
Prime Minister of Lithuania from 1939 to 1940. During the 1940
Soviet invasion of Lithuania he was captured and deported to
Russia.
Educated in the law, Merkys served in the Russian Army during the
World War I (1914â€"18). In 1919 he entered the army of the newly independent Lithuania. From March to August 1919 he was Minister of Defence. From 1919 to 1922 he served in army. In 1922 he was decommissioned and engaged in lawyer career. From 1923 he was secretary of commissioner of the government in the
KlaipÄ—da Region,
Antanas Smetona. After coup d'état of 1926 until 1927 he was Minister of Defence. From 1927 to 1932 he was gubernator for Klaipėda Region. He was removed from this position by demand of Germans and engaded in law practice. In 1933 we became Mayor of
Kaunas. In 1936 he was elected to Parliament. On November 17, 1939 he became Prime Minister.
When on 12 June 1940
USSR presented an
ultimatum to Lithuania, President Antanas Smetona proposed armed resistance against the USSR. Merkys suggested to accept ultimatum and wanted to resign but because of disagreements with USSR on the next Prime Minister he was forced to be head Cabinet of Ministers for few more days. With no approval of the major part of the government and the commander of the army, Smetona temporarily turned duties of President over to Prime Minister Antanas Merkys and on June 15 he and his family retreated secretly to
Germany and then to
Switzerland. Merkys followed demands of Soviet occupants and tried to capture President Antanas Smetona. Next day Antanas Merkys announced on national radio that he removes Antanas Smetona from position of President and takes over presidency himself. Declaring himself to be president was in contradiction to the existing laws and was never recognised as president by Lithuanian diplomats. On 17 June 1940 Merkys accepted demands of USSR, assigned
Justas Paleckis as new Prime Minister and resigned. Merkys with family tried to leave Lithuania but on 17 June 1940 was arrested. On 17 July 1940 Antanas Merkys and his family were deported to
Saratov, Russia. In 1954 he was released from prison without a right to return to Lithuania. He lived in
Vladimir until 1955 where he died on 5 March.
Antanas Merkys *
List of Presidents of Lithuania
