Lithuania's public figures condemn state reburial of controversial 1941 political leader Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis

The letter was singed by more than 40 people.

"The state-funded reburial ceremony of Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis has taken place recently. The ceremony and accompanying solemn commemoration of the person's life and activities was a huge moral mistake. The man, who failed a key leadership test as he was not just and did not defend innocent fellow citizens, was glorified and considered a leader," the letter reads.

"A government that allowed discrimination and persecution of some of its citizens and later failed to defend them from massive killings carried out by the invaders and collaborators cannot say it fought for freedom," the letter says.

The Lithuanian government allocated LTL 30,000 (EUR 8,700) for the reburial ceremony.

The Provisional Government was formed during the June Uprising by the Lithuanian Activist Front which cooperated with Germany. The uprising started after a war between Germany and the Soviet Union broke out.

The newly-formed Provisional Government welcomed Germany's fight against Bolshevism and said that it was ready to join the building of a new Europe. But the massacre of thousands of Jews started in Lithuanian during the first weeks after the German invasion.