Žukas, Stepas Adolfo

Born Nov. 5 (18), 1904, in the village of Dubeliu, in present-day Anikshchiai Raion, Lithuanian SSR; died May 6, 1946, in Kaunas. Soviet graphic artist and caricaturist.

Žukas studied in the Kaunas School of Art from 1923 to 1929. He became involved in the Lithuanian underground revolutionary movement during the late 1920’s. He was an organizer of the illegal Lithuanian satirical magazine Šluota (The Broom) in 1933, working as editor in chief in 1940 and 1941. He worked actively for the establishment of Soviet power in Lithuania, particularly during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. His works included the album of cartoons Faces and Masks (1933–36, published in 1939) and the caricatures Forward, for the Homeland and My Purse! Destroy! (india ink, 1940), The Accomplice of the Invaders-Executioner of the Lithuanian People (india ink and water-color, 1943), and Hitlerism Unmasked (india ink and water-color, 1945). These works are all in the Art Museum of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius.