Born in the northern Lithuanian town of Biržai at the end of the 19th century, the Lithuanian writer, poet, playwright and critic Balys Sruoga (1896-1947) is celebrated with this small likeness of the man. Intellectual, different and patriotic, the author was sent to the Stutthof concentration camp by the Nazis in 1943 among fears that he and others might be involved in anti-Nazi activities, an event that inspired his most famous work, The Forest of the Gods (Dievų Miškas), written in Birštonas where he was treated on his release from the camp in 1945. The monument is the work of the sculptor G. Plechavičius, and was unveiled on October 16, 1997, the 50th anniversary of Sruoga’s death.
