Vladas Niunka

Vladas Niunka was a Lithuanian communist politician and publicist. He joined then-illegal Communist Party of Lithuania (CPL) in 1928. For his communist activities, he was arrested seven times by the Lithuanian police and spent about five years in prisons. He edited and published several communist newspapers, including Tiesa, Propagandistas, Komunistas. He was a long-term member of the Central Committee of CPL (1938-1983) as well as deputy (1947-1983) and chairman (1955-1963) of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR. During World War II and in 1948-1961, Niunka was secretary of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of CPL. He dedicated the last two decades of his life to academic work researching anti-communist policies and activities of the Catholic Church. He became a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and a Candidate of Sciences.