Interior commissar of Soviet Lithuania, a Lithuanian communist leader killed in the Great Terror
Zigmas Aleksa-Angarietis, a Social Democrat trained at the Warsaw veterinary institute, was arrested in 1909, served Siberian exile and in 1917 organized the Lithuanian section of the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. In December 1918 he became commissar for internal affairs in Kapsukas's Soviet government of Lithuania and in 1919 joined the Litbel government. After the defeat he led the Lithuanian party's leadership abroad from Soviet Russia, sat on the Comintern executive and its International Control Commission and wrote several volumes on the history of the Lithuanian labour movement. Sidelined in the party after a line dispute with Kapsukas, he was arrested in 1938 and shot in Moscow in May 1940.
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionInterior commissar of Soviet LithuaniaA Lithuanian Communist Party leader, he participated in Soviet state-building in 1918–1919. He worked in the Comintern after exile and was arrested during Stalinist repression and executed in 1940.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsInterior commissar of Soviet LithuaniaCommissar for internal affairs in the Soviet Lithuanian and Litbel governments, taking part in Soviet state-building in 1918 and 1919.
Revolution and independence wars
A Lithuanian Communist Party leader, he participated in Soviet state-building in 1918–1919. He worked in the Comintern after exile and was arrested during Stalinist repression and executed in 1940.