Vilnius is the capital of and largest city in Lithuania and the second-most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated July 2024 population was 605,270, and the Vilnius urban area has an estimated population of 708,627.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. By 1440 the grand duchy had become the largest European state, controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
The June Uprising was a brief period of the history of Lithuania in late June 1941 between the first Soviet and the Nazi occupations.
Lithuanian National Radio and Television is a non-profit news network that has been providing regular radio services since 1926 and television broadcasts since 1957. LRT joined the European Broadcasting Union in 1993. LRT operates three national television channels, radio stations and an internet website.
Ypatingasis būrys or Special Squad of the German Security Police and SD was a killing squad operating in the Vilnius Region in 1941–1944. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers, was formed by the German occupation government and was subordinate to Einsatzkommando 9 and later to Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo).p.15 The unit was subordinated to German police, and had no official autonomy. In Polish they were colloquially called strzelcy ponarscy.
Alfredas Bumblauskas is a professor at Vilnius University and one of the best known Lithuanian historians, specializing in the research of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The first known record of the name of Lithuania recorded in the Quedlinburg Chronicle in a 9 March 1009 story of Saint Bruno. The Chronicle recorded in the form Litua. Although it is clear the name originated from a Baltic language, scholars still debate the meaning of the word.
The Voivode of Vilnius was a high-ranking officer in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who governed the Vilnius Voivodeship from 1413. He was considered as the most influential member of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Voivodes of Vilnius were ranked as the fourth highest, while the Castellans of Vilnius were ranked as the sixth highest officers among the Voivodeships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the Third Partition of the Commonwealth, the Vilnius Voivodeship was annexed by the Russian Empire and this position was annulled.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania is charged with the oversight of public safety, border protection, migration control, emergency response, public administration and governance, the civil service, and local and regional development initiatives. Its operations are authorized by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, decrees issued by the President and Prime Minister, and laws passed by the Seimas (Parliament). The current head of the ministry is Agnė Bilotaitė.
The Lithuanian Auxiliary Police was a Schutzmannschaft formation formed during the German occupation of Lithuania between 1941 and 1944, with the first battalions originating from the most reliable freedom fighters, disbanded following the 1941 anti-Soviet Lithuanian June Uprising in 1941. Lithuanian activists hoped that these units would be the basis of a reestablished Lithuanian Army commanded by the Lithuanian Provisional Government. Instead, they were put under the orders of the SS- und Polizeiführer in Lithuania.
Saulius Skvernelis is a Lithuanian politician who served as prime minister of Lithuania between 2016 and 2020. He had previously served as police commissioner, and was Minister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016. Though he was an independent politician, he was backed by the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and was a member of its parliamentary group until 2022, as a result of which he became the first head of government in European history primarily backed by a green party.
The Political Party "Lithuanian List" is an anti-establishment, anti-corruption political party in Lithuania. It was represented in the Lithuanian unicameral legislature, Seimas, from 2016 to 2019.
Lithuania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Happy You" written and performed by Aivaras. The Lithuanian participating broadcaster, Lietuvos radijas ir televizija (LRT), organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select its entry for the contest. The national final involved 15 competing entries and "We All" performed by B'Avarija was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel, votes from the venue audience and a public vote, however the entry was later disqualified due to a Lithuanian version of the song being released on CD at the end of 2001 and replaced by runner-up "Happy You" performed by Aivaras.
258th Lithuanian Police Battalion was a Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion formed on 27 April 1944. The unit was disbanded in Tilsit at the end of July that same year.
259th Lithuanian Police Battalion was a Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion formed in April 1944 in Prienai. It was soon disbanded in July of that same year in Tilsit. The battalion was formed from the soldiers sent by the Training Unit and the 3rd Lithuanian Construction Battalion. The 259th Battalion was the last Lithuanian Police Battalion to be formed.
Antanas Kandrotas, also known by the nickname Celofanas and often written as Antanas Kandrotas-Celofanas, is a Lithuanian businessman, convicted fraudster, activist and politician. He was a planned candidate in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election and chairman of the unregistered Party "We Are Lithuania".
Jonas Žilinskas (1888–1956) was a military officer and the first head of the interwar Lithuanian intelligence service, the Unit of Intelligence, a predecessor of the State Security Department of Lithuania.
Petras Kirlys was a Lithuanian military officer and head of the Lithuanian intelligence services, periodically serving from 1923 to 1930.
Vytautas Radžvilas is a Lithuanian philosopher, activist and politician. He was a member of the initiative group of Sąjūdis in 1988 and established the Liberal Union of Lithuania as an alternative to the Sąjūdis in 1990. In 2020, he founded the far-right National Alliance and was elected its chairman.
