BISHOP VINCENTAS BORISEVIČIUS

Photo property of the Lithuanian Central Archives.
All rights reserved.
Telšiai Theological Seminary Rector Vincentas Borisevičius. Telšiai

He was born 23 November 1887 in Vilkaviškis County, Paežeriai Rural District, Bebrininkai Village. In 1909, he graduated from Seinai Seminary. He studied at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) from 1909 to 1913. In 1910, Borisevičius was ordained a priest, did pastoral work, and actively participated in public activities. Between 1922 and 1926 he taught at Gižai Seminary (Seinai Diocese). Between 1927 and 1940 he was a professor and rector at Telšiai Seminary. In 1940, he was ordained titular bishop of Lysia by Pope Pius XII and appointed auxiliary bishop to Telšiai Bishop Justinas Staugaitis. After the death of Bishop Staugaitis in 1944, Borisevičius became the diocesan bishop of Telšiai.

Photo property of the Lithuanian Central Archives. All rights reserved.
Group Seinai seminary students: The future bishop Vincas Borisevicius
(third row, second from left). About 1908.
Priest Juozas Montvila (second row, second from right) was a passenger on the Titanic.
He died in 1912 when the ship sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940, Borisevičius protested against the restrictions of the rights of the Church and the persecution of priests and believers. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, the Bishop helped Jews hiding in the villages and parishes of Telšiai County. After the liquidation of the Telšiai Ghetto, he himself gave refuge and hid Jews who managed to escape from the ghetto. After the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania, on 18 December 1945, Borisevičius was arrested and detained in the internal prison of the NKGB–MGB. He was charged with anti-Soviet activities and contact with partisans. Attempts were made to recruit him to serve the Soviets.

Photo property of the Lithuanian Central Archives.
All rights reserved.
Theological Seminary Rector Monsignor Borisevičius (left)
and seminary professor of Canon George Galdikas (right). Telšiai.

After unsuccessful efforts to break him, he was released and given time to make up his mind. In the end the Bishop refused to cooperate with the Russians and on 3 January 1946 wrote the following letter to the leadership of the NKGB–MGB:

“I declare that to be an informer is incompatible with me as a person and as a bishop, it is incompatible with my conscience, so I categorically refuse to be the one,”

With this letter Borisevičius signed his own death sentence.

Photo Property of the Lithuanian Central            Photos property of the Lithuanian Special Archives. All rights reserved.
Archives. All rights reserved 

On 5 February 1946, he was arrested and on 28 August charged by the Military Tribunal of the Lithuanian SSR MVD Troops under Article 58-1a of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) with supporting participants of the armed resistance against the Soviets, preaching anti-Soviet sermons and being in possession of prohibited literature. His sentence was death by execution. The sentence was carried out on 18 November 1946 in the internal prison of the NKGB–MGB. The Bishop was shot in the head. The repressive structures of the Soviet occupational government kept the circumstances, place, and time of death of the Bishop hidden.

Photo property of the Lithuanian Central Archives. All rights reserved.
Theological Seminary Rector Vincas Borisevicius (center), seminary professors
Simaitis Anthony (left) and Peter Lygnugaris (right). Telšiai

In 1990, the re-establishment of independence in Lithuania provided an opportunity to investigate the documents of the former KGB archive. In 1994, the State Security Department of the Republic of Lithuania identified a mass grave of people that had been within the grounds of the former Tuskulėnai Manor. That same year, archaeological excavations and exhumation of the bodies began. The body of Bishop Borisevičius was found and identified in mass grave No. 26. On 27 September 1999, a formal reburial ceremony took place and the body was laid to rest in the crypt of Telšiai Cathedral.

Photo property of the Lithuanian Central Archives. All rights reserved.
Bishop Vincas Borisevicius with parishioners after a First Communion ceremony.
Telšiai in the twentieth century. 3-4 decade.

In 1991, the cause for the canonisation of the Bishop was initiated. By decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Borisevičius was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of Commander of the Order of the Cross of Vytis in 1999, and in 2003, with the Life Saving Cross.

 
Order of the Cross of Vytis

Life Saving Cross

KGB – rus. Комитет Государственной Безопасности – Lith. Valstybės saugumo komitetas – Committee for State Security [of the USSR]

MGB – rus. МГБ, Министерство государственной безопасности – Lith. Valstybės saugumo ministerija – Ministry of State Security [of the USSR]

MVD – rus. МВД, Министерство внутренних дел – Lith. Vidaus reikalų ministerija – Ministry of Internal Affairs [of the USSR]

NKGB – rus. НКГБ, Народный Комиссариат Государственной Безопасности – Lith. Valstybės saugumo liaudies komisariatas – People’s Commissariat for State Security [of the USSR]

NKVD – rus. НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел – Lith. Vidaus reikalų liaudies komisariatas – People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs [of the USSR]

PRIBVO – rus. ПРИБВО, Прибалтийский военный округ – Lith. Pabaltijo karinė apygarda – Baltic Military District

Look for the next article
Part 4 of 6
THE EXECUTIONERS 

Dear readers

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Dear VilNews readers, we need your help. As we have said, the victims that were executed in the NKGB–MGB internal prison in between 28 September 1944 and 16 April 1947 were buried in secret mass graves in the territory of the Tuskulėnai Manor. These victims have been found, their bodies recovered, given the dignified burial they never received and their souls have been blessed by a Holy person of the religion the worshipped. 

26 May 1947, following the order of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR, the death penalty was abolished.

On 12 January 1950, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR passed a decree re-instating the death penalty. Between October 1950 and July 1952, 182 people sentenced to death were executed at Vilnius NKGB–MGB internal prison.
Their place of burial is still not known. 

After July 1952 to 1961 executions continued pursuant to the 1926 Criminal Code Article 58 of RSFSR.
The burial place of these victims is still unknown. 

The 1926 Criminal Code Article 58 of RSFSR was terminated in 1961 but executions continued.
The burial place of these victims is still unknown

Dear readers we would like to find where these people are buried, recover their bodies, give them the dignified burial they never received and have them blessed by a Holy person of the Religion they worshipped.

This is where we need your help. The NKVD and NKGB–MGB officers that oversaw these executions are now all dead. What ever records and documents which still exist are most likely locked away in a vault somewhere in the Russian Federation and it would seem highly unlikely that anyone in the Russian Federation would be kind enough allow access to these documents and records so that we could find out the location of the burial sites or simply tell us where these people are buried.

We know that there are people out there that know the location of some of these burial sites. Maybe it is a person that processed the documents, maybe it is some one that was just a rank and file soldier that was ordered to drive the truck that transported the bodies or was ordered to dig the trenches for the graves, maybe it is a colleague of one of these people or maybe it is the bartender that heard some of these people talk of it one night. The possibilities are endless.

Maybe none of these people with first hand knowledge of the burial sites are still alive. In that case we are sure that there are people out there with second hand or even third hand information. To have first hand knowledge of these executions would weigh very heavily on any civilized person’s heart and it is very possible that after carrying this weight inside them for many years they finally felt the need to free themselves from this burden they carried inside and told some one.

If you have any information at all, any information of any kind – Please tell us.

It is not important to us how you know, who it was, what they did or who told you.
None of this is important.
The only thing that is important is that we find where the executed people are buried.
This is all we care about.

What we want to do is best explained in the words from Bronius Eiva’s farewell letter he wrote to his wife while waiting his execution while in the prison of Ukmergės Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs.

“Please find out when I was shot or hanged and where they bury me.
Dig me up and take me to Šeta cemetary.”

This is all we want to do – Find where they are buried, dig them up and then give them a proper burial but we can only do this with your help.

All information will be kept strictly confidential
We are not concerned with who or what
We are only concerned with where these people are buried

If you have any information of any kind please contact:

The Memorial Complex of Tuskulenai Peace Park
Žirmūnų Gatvė 1F,
LT-09239, Vilnius
Lithuania

Telephone: +370 5 275 1223
E-mail. tuskulenai@genocid.lt

You can also contact me at vkvilnius-tuskulenai@yahoo.com

We sincerely thank you for your help.

Su pagarbe
Vincas Karnila