Karolis Požela, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Karolis Požela

Lithuanian politician

Date of Birth: 29-Feb-1896

Place of Birth: Bardiškiai, Šiauliai County, Lithuania

Date of Death: 27-Dec-1926

Profession: politician, journalist

Nationality: Lithuania

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Karolis Požela (29 February 1896 – 27 December 1926) was one of the early Lithuanian communist leaders.
As a medical student at the University of Tartu, he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) in 1916.
In the short-lived Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic he organized communists in Šiauliai.
After the collapse of the Soviet regime, Požela joined the underground Communist Party of Lithuania (CPL) becoming a member of its Central Committee in 1921.
When party leadership was arrested in Königsberg in 1921, he remained essentially the only party leader in Lithuania.
He continued political work and became a member of CPL Orgburo in 1923 and Politburo in 1926.
At various times, he edited and published various communist newspapers and publications, including Tiesa (Truth), Kareiviu tiesa (Soldiers' Truth), and Darbininku gyvenimas (Life of Workers).
For his communist activities, he was imprisoned a total of six times.
When Lithuanian military organized the coup d'état of 17 December 1926, the official rationale was to protect Lithuania from an imminent Bolshevik revolt (historians found no credible evidence of such revolt).
In the aftermath, many communists were arrested.
Požela and three others, who became known as the four communards, were executed on 27 December in the Sixth Fort of the Kaunas Fortress.