VLIK in the Liberation Mission of Lithuania in 1966-1978: The Contribution of Its Chairman Dr. Kęstutis Juozas Valiūnas

Abstract

For twelve years, from 1966 to 1978, the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Lith. Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas, or VLIK), which expressed the political will of the free Lithuanian nation, was Dr. Kęstutis Juozas Valiūnas (1923-1992), a personality who has not yet received the due attention of scholars. The aim of this article is to discuss the contribution of Valiūnas (and of the VLIK) to the mission of the liberation of Lithuania during his tenure, highlighting the organizational innovations (tactics and strategy) introduced by this historical personality. The research has shown that Valiūnas, while maintaining the unalterable goal of the VLIK’s mission, i.e., the restoration of an independent Lithuania, strengthened the organization’s political position within the movement of Lithuanian liberation in the West and involved the youth of the diaspora in it. The Chairman, concerned with the mobilization of the political forces of the Balts in exile, made efforts to unite them in the World Baltic Conference. His commitment to a more global dissemination of the liberation of Lithuania expanded the political contacts of the Lithuanians throughout the democratic world. With the beginning of the preparation of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and later the implementation of its Helsinki Accords, the representation and defense of Lithuania’s cause became one of the most pressing issues in all of the activities of the VLIK in its international direction.