MERKYS, ANTANAS

born 1887, Bajorai, near Skapiskis, Lithuania, Russian Empire died 1955, U.S.S.R. Lithuanian politician who was the last prime minister of Lithuania before its 1940 incorporation into the Soviet Union. Educated in the law, Merkys served in the Russian Army during World War I (191418). In 1919 he entered the army of the newly independent Lithuania. A member of the right-wing Nationalist League, he served as Lithuanian defense minister on four occasions in the 1920s, and in 192732 he was governor of Klaipeda (Memel). Merkys became prime minister of an authoritarian Nationalist League government, formed in November 1939, but he was deported to the U.S.S.R. soon after the Soviets occupied Lithuania in June 1940.