Author. He was a Lithuanian novelist, playwright, literary critic, and educator. His best-known work is the novel "The Forest of the Gods", which was based on his own life experiences as a prisoner in Stutthof Concentration Camp in Germany. He was sent in March of 1943 together with forty-seven other Lithuanian intellectuals after the Nazis started a campaign against possible anti-Nazi agitation in occupied Lithuania. More than 85,000 people died in this camp. During the war crime trials, it was learned that this was the camp where bars of soap were made from human fat. The book is a viewpoint of the camp's barbaric treatments through the eyes of a well-educated man whose main goal was to stay alive. On May 13, 1945 when Russian soldiers liberated the camp, the man learned that Soviet "liberation" was not freedom but more barbaric treatment by a different hand. He continued to be held at the camp by the Soviets. Sadly, Sruoga's well-received book was Soviet censored, thus not released until 1957, which was ten years after the author's death. The movie by the same name was released in 2005 with monetary success. Starting early in his life, his political writings were being published in newspapers before World War I. He came from a well-to-do home receiving private education in Catholic schools. He studied literature at St. Petersburg State University in Russia before going to Moscow. Without graduating, he returned to Lithuania, as World War I, the Russian Revolution, and chaos of a war-torn country that followed prevented him from finishing classes. He taught school and continued to write newspaper articles, some being published in the American Lithuanian newspaper, "Rainbow". In 1921, he enrolled in the University of Munich in Germany, and in 1924, received his PhD in philosophy with doctoral thesis on "Lithuanian Folklore". He returned to Lithuania to start teaching at the University of Lithuanian from 1924 to 1940; he became a full professor in 1935. He taught Russian literature, world theater history, led the Slavonic and theater workshops, and started an academic drama studio. One of his workshops evolved into a course that is still offered. During this time, he published 14 fiction and science fiction books along with several dramas. In 1932, he published the drama "Giant Paunksme: Trilogiska Historical Chronicle". The latest edition was published in 1999 and other editions in 1954, 1960, 1996, 1995. His 1941 drama, "Dawn", was pro-Soviet, which angered the German military, hence by 1943, he was sent to a German concentration camp. While he was in the camp, he worked in the main office, which gave him a chance to change orders to save many of his countrymen's lives, yet members of his family, including a brother were sent to Russian camps and died there. In 1945, he returned to Vilnius and continued teaching at Vilnius University and wrote more dramas. There are many commemorations to honor him including a national postage stamp, schools and streets bearing his name throughout the country, several plaques, busts and statues including the one on his grave which was done by Peter Aleksandravicius and last, his name is one of the 100 names on the Lithuanian "Tree of Unity". His best-known work, "The Forest of the Gods," was translated into English in 1996 by his granddaughter, Aush Bylà.