Petras Griškevičius was a high-level communist party official in the Lithuanian SSR

Lithuanian SSR

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...

. He was the First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party (de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

leader of Lithuania) from 1974 to his death.

At the beginning of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Griškevičius retreated into the Russian SFSR. During the war, he was a member of the 16th Rifle Division

16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 16th Rifle Division , was a formation in the Red Army created during the Second World War. The division was formed twice, and was given the title 'Lithuanian' during its second formation. It was originally established at Novgorod in October 1939. It was wiped out at Mga in 1941...

 (1942–1943) and a Soviet partisan (1943–1944) in Rokiškis district. After joining the communist party in 1945, he slowly rose through the ranks. He worked in press censorship (1950–1955) before moving to the Vilnius committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party. There he worked at the secretariat (1955–1964) and central committee (1964–1971), becoming the first secretary in 1971. After the death of Antanas Sniečkus

Antanas Snieckus

Antanas Sniečkus was First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from August 1940 to January 22, 1974.- Biography :Antanas Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of Būbleliai, near Šakiai. During the First World War, his family fled to Russia where he observed the Russian revolution of 1917...

 in 1974, Griškevičius succeeded him as the First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party. He was also a delegate of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR

The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR was the supreme soviet of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics comprising the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was established in August 1940 when the People's Seimas declared itself the provisional Supreme Soviet...

 (since 1965), delegate of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (since 1974), and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...

 (since 1976). Griškevičius was described as a Brezhnevite

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...

, conservative and "mediocre apparatchik

Apparatchik

Apparatchik is a Russian colloquial term for a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party or government; i.e., an agent of the governmental or party "apparat" that held any position of bureaucratic or political responsibility, with the exception of the higher ranks of management...

", who opposed perestroika

Perestroika

Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...

and especially glasnost

Glasnost

Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...

. He supported suppression of Lithuanian history and cultural heritage, replacing them with Soviet propaganda.

He wrote 13 books in which he propagated Communist Party of the USSR and the soviet regime.