Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania recognition. The signatories succeeded in their mission and independent Lithuania survived until the Soviet Union occupied the state on June 15, 1940. Their political, professional, and social backgrounds were diverse. Several rose to political prominence; Antanas Smetona and Aleksandras Stulginskis were later elected Presidents of Lithuania and Jonas Vileišis went on to become mayor of Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. After Lithuania lost its independence during World War II, six of the surviving signatories were sent to prison or executed by the Soviet government and six others emigrated to Western countries. The signatories came from a variety of social
Jerusalem: The Biography Jerusalem: The Biography Jerusalem: The Biography is a 2011 bestselling non-fiction book by British popular historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore. Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime's study, Montefiore illustrates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a historical chronicle of the city of Jerusalem. Montefiore chose to organize "Jerusalem" chronologically, stretching it from King David's establishment of the city as his capital to the 1967 Six-Day War, with an epilogue pondering on more recent events. In the introduction, the author explains that ""it is only by chronological narrative that