Gediminas Ilgūnas was born into a peasant’s family in 1936, in Kantališkės village, Marijampolė region. He studied at Sasnava pro-gymnasium, at a Marijampolė secondary school, and in 1953, he was arrested and sentenced to a 25-year imprisonment for establishing an anti-Soviet youth organization, and having relations with guerrillas. He was imprisoned in the Russian north, in Viatlag. In 1957, when political prisoners were given amnesty, G. Ilgūnas returned to Lithuania. He worked, studied and graduated from the Kaunas College of Economics and the History faculty of Vilnius University.

After returning from imprisonment, G. Ilgūnas worked as a technician and engineer at various enterprises and construction companies. He also continued participating in dissident activity and was chased by the KGB. In 1988, in Jonava, (where then was living), G. Ilgūnas, together with his friends, established the first organization of the “Sąjūdis” Reform Movement of Lithuania. In the founding conference of Sąjūdis, G. Ilgūnas was elected as a member of the Sąjūdis Seimas. (Parliament) From 1988 to 1990, he was the chairman of the Jonava region’s council of Sąjūdis. On March 7, 1990, G. Ilgūnas was elected as member of the Supreme Council of Lithuania. He is a signatory to the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence of March 11th. From 1990 to 1992, in the Lithuanian Reconstituted Seimas’ Supreme Council, he was the Commission’s chairman of Culture, Education and Science. From 1993 to 1997, he was the Director-General of the Lithuanian Archives department and in 1997, an adviser to the President of the Republic of Lithuania. In 1998, he was the Chancellery of the Directorate’s Director for commemoration of Lithuania’s millennium under the auspices of the Republic of Lithuania’s Office of the President.

In the Lithuanian and foreign press, G. Ilgūnas has published about five hundred articles on the questions of history, culture, politics and social life. He has published the books, Jonas Čerskis (1983), Vincas Pietaris (1987), Prie Sasnos ir Šešupės (Near Sasna and Šešupė, 1995), Kazys Grinius (2000), Šaknys (The roots, 2000), Steponas Kairys (2003), Česlovas Kudaba (2003), Sąjūdis Jonavoje: 1988-1990 (“Sąjūdis in Jonava: from 1988 to 1990, 2004), Lietuvos Respublikos XII Vyriausybė (The 11th Government of the Republic of Lithuania, 2004), Knygnešių keliais (Th