Soviet
Rule in Lithuania, 1940-41. [Vilna incorporated -
sovietization]
The U.S.S.R.-German Pact of Aug. 23, 1939, brought Soviet
dominance to the Baltic area. On Oct. 10, 1939, the U.S.S.R.
and Lithuania concluded an agreement in Moscow for "the
transfer of Vilna and the Vilna province to the Lithuanian
Republic and mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and
Lithuania", which came into effect on the following day.
With the incorporation of Vilna, the Jewish community of
Lithuania grew by about 100,000. Previously the 160,000
Lithuanian Jews constituted 7% of the population, but with
the annexed portions they totaled over a quarter of a
million, about 10% of the total population of the enlarged
country.
The number of Jewish refugees from Poland grew considerably
(to 14,000-15,000) in the following months. About 10,000
stayed in Vilna and the rest in Kovno (Kaunas) and other
places. About 5,000 refugees managed to emigrate from
Lithuania. The Lithuanian Jews made every effort to assist
refugees. On June 15, 1940, Soviet troops crossed the
Lithuanian border and a "people's government" was
established on June 17, which included two Jews,
-- L. Kogan, minister of health,
-- and H. Alperovitch, minister of commerce.
On July 14, "elections" to the People's Sejm ("parliament")
took place. Five Jews were among the deputies elected. On
August 3 the Supreme Soviet acceded to the Sejjm's "request"
to become the 16th Soviet Republic. Shortly afterward, the
provisional Lithuanian government was replaced by a soviet
of people's commissars.
All industrial and commercial enterprises, private capital,
and larger dwelling houses were nationalized, and a new
agrarian reform carried out. All social groups and
organizations, general as well as Jewish, had to cease their
activities, with the exception of those belonging to the
Communists (who had been illegal until the Russian
invasion), and the press (again excepting the Communist
newspapers) was closed down.
[Measures
against Jews under the Soviet regime 1940-1941:
deprivations - Stalin deportations to Siberia]
A wave of arrests swept over the country. At the same time a
considerable number of Soviet officials entered Lithuania.
Many of the former owners of the nationalized houses, firms,
and factories were forced to settle in the provinces. The
effect of the introduction of Soviet rule upon the Jewish
population was particularly strong. The new Communist regime
was in urgent need of experience and abilities possessed by
the Jewish intelligentsia, so that Jews were given prominent
positions in the economic, legal, and administrative
apparatus. At the same time, although nationalization of all
important branches of the economy applied equally to all
citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origin, large
segments of the Jewish population were affected with special
harshness. A total of 986 industrial enterprises were
nationalized,of which about 560 (57%) belonged to Jews; of
1,593 commercial firms nationalized, no less than 1,320
(83%) were owned by Jews. Jews were also strongly hit by the
nationalization of houses and bank accounts.
The phase before the German attack on Lithuania was marked
by deportations to Siberia. In the spring of 1941 the Soviet
security services compiled lists of "counter-revolutionary
elements" and submitted secret reports on those listed,
which also included Jews in the following categories:
-- leaders and journalists of various [[racist]] Zionist
political groups
-- leaders of the Bund and Bundist journalists
-- leaders of Jewish military and "fascist" formations,
e.g., of the Jewish veterans of Lithuania's war of
independence, of the Jewish war veterans, of *Betar, the
*Revisionists, and their affiliated bodies.
[More
Stalin deportations 1-21 June 1941 to labor camps (Gulag)]
In mid-June 1941, one week before the German-Soviet war,
many people, including Jews, were hastily deported as
politically unreliable to Siberia and other parts of Soviet
(col. 385)
Asia. They were interned in forced labor camps and set to
work in coal mines, wood cutting, and other heavy labor.
Some of those deported were tried for "crimes" committed
prior to the Soviet occupation. Although large numbers of
Jews were also among the deportees, Lithuanian anti-Semites
alleged that the deportations were the result of Jewish
revenge on the local non-Jewish majority, carried out by
"Jewish" security officers in charge of the deportations.
(col. 386)
German
Occupation, 1941-44.
[Generalbezirk Litauen under NS German administration
within new borderlines]
The entire country was occupied by the Germans within one
week, so that only a handful of Jews managed to escape into
the Soviet interior.
[[The Red Army withdraw to central Russia. Within this
withdrawal it was possible to organize the flight to central
Russia for many Jews and "strong" communists. Then a big
part of the population of Lithuania welcomed the German NS
occupation against communism and were collaborators in the
Holocaust against the Jews who had had no opportunity to
fly. There were some mass shootings of Jews within the first
days of the occupation already, see below: Einsatzgruppen]].
Lithuania, called Generalbezirk Litauen, was included in the
administrative province of the Reichs Kommissariat Ostland
which also included the other Baltic republics, Estonia,
Latvia, and also Belorussia [[Belorussia was a little
"Weissruthenien", big parts of Belorussia were added to
Ukraine]].
Hinrich Lohse was appointed Reich Commissar of Ostland, with
headquarters in Riga. The Generalbezirk consisted of three
districts:
-- the Siauliai (©iauliai, Shavli) district
-- the Kaunas (Kovno) district,
-- and the Vilna district.
Adrian von Renteln, the commissioner general for Lithuania,
had his seat in Kaunas (called Kauen by the Nazis). The
Germans also established a local administration, composed of
[[Lithuanian]] pro-Hitler elements [[which were in the big
majority because the communist elements had gone with the
Red Army]].
Lithuanian "councilors general" (a sort of minister) were
appointed, headed by Petras Kubiliunas (Kubiliūnas, a former
general in the Lithuanian army.
[The
organization of the Holocaust: yellow badges and
anti-Jewish regulations]
On Aug. 13, 1941, Lohse issued secret "provisional
regulations" to the general commissioners of Ostland
specifying how to deal with Jews pending the application of
the "final solution" of the "Jewish question" in Ostland.
These orders applied to all the Jews in Ostland former
citizens of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Baltic
states, and other parts of the Soviet Union. There were
special instructions for the treatment of foreign Jews and
persons of mixed parentage. The commissioners general were
required to register all the Jews under their regional
jurisdiction and to issue compulsory orders to them to
wear two yellow badges (one on the chest and one on the
back).
Jews were prohibited from
-- moving from their house or place of residence without
permission from the district or city commissioner
-- using the sidewalks
-- using public transportation
-- residing in spas
-- visiting parks and playgrounds, theaters, cinemas,
libraries, museums, or schools
-- owning cars or radios.
Ritual slaughter was also prohibited. Jewish doctors were
permitted to treat only Jewish patients; pharmacies owned by
Jews were turned over to Aryan pharmacists; Jews were not
permitted to function as veterinarians, lawyers, notaries,
bank officials, or commercial agents, nor could they deal in
real estate or freight forwarding [[transportation
business]].
All Jewish property was confiscated. Persons holding Jewish
property had to report to the German administration which
dealt with its confiscation. Only the bare necessities of
furniture, clothing, and linen were left in Jewish
possession, and an allowance of no more than 20 pfennig
(about $0.05) per day per person was permitted to the Jews.
[Ghettos
sealed off from the outside world with "autonomy" and own
police force]
Finally, the regulations provided for the concentration of
the Jews in ghettos, where food and other necessities were
supplied to them only insofar as no shortage resulted for
supplying the general population. Inside the ghettos, the
Jews were permitted "autonomy" in their affairs, subject to
the supervision of the regional commissioner, and had their
own Ordnungsdienst
("police force"). The ghettos were sealed off from the
outside world and put under the guard of [[local NS]]
auxiliary police recruited from among the local population.
Able-bodied Jews were put on forced labor, inside or outside
the ghetto. Private persons or enterprises utilizing Jews in
forced labor paid the regional commissioner directly. The
commissars general were authorized to issue orders based on
these regulations.
EINSATZGRUPPEN.
[Einsatzgruppen in Lithuania - SS-Brigadefuehrer
Stahlecker]
The Einsatzgruppen
(Action Units) (col. 386)
played a major role in the destruction of the Jews in the
occupied eastern territories, including Lithuania. Einsatzgruppe A was
attached to the Northern German army and operated in the
Baltic states and Leningrad area. Details of the murder of
the Jews in Lithuania are contained in some of the 195 Einsatzgruppen reports
regularly submitted to the *R.S.H.A.
(Reichssicherheitshauptamt) in Berlin from the end of June
1941 to April 24, 1942. The following is an extract from
these reports:
... a
detachment of Einsatzkommando 3, assisted by a Lithuanian
Kommando, has
carried out actions in the following towns: Raseintai,
Rokiskis, Zarasai, Birzai, and Prienat. These executions
bring the total number to date of persons liquidated by
Einsatzkommando 3 (with the assistance of Lithuanian
partisans), to 46,692 ... (Report No. 88, Sept. 19, 1941).
Important data on the extermination of Lithuanian Jewry is
contained in a report by SS-Brigadefuehrer
Stahlecker, commander of Einsatzgruppe
A. The report, covering the activities of his group
on the northern Russian Front and in the occupied Baltic
states, dates from the beginning of the war against Russia
until Oct. 15, 1941. On June 23, 1941, Einsatzgruppe A joined
the German forces on the northern Russian front. By June 25
Stahlecker, with a detachment of the Einsatzgruppe, reached
Kovno, which was taken by the Germans the previous day. The
following is an extract from his report:
... In the
very first hours after the entry of German troops, local
anti-Semitic forces were organized, despite the
considerable difficulties involved, to carry out pogroms
against the Jews. The security police received appropriate
orders and were in fact prepared to solve the Jewish
problem by all available means and with utmost severity.
It seemed desirable, however, that at least in the
beginning, the extraordinarily harsh means [to be
employed] should not be recognized for what they were, for
that would have caused concern even in German circles. On
the surface the impression had to be created that it was
the local population which had initiated the anti-Jewish
measures as a spontaneous reaction to their oppression by
the Jews for many years and to the Communist terror to
which they had been exposed in the recent past. (col. 387)
... Partisan groups formed in Lithuania and established
immediate contact with the German troops taking over the
city. Unreliable elements among the partisans were weeded
out, and an auxiliary unit of 300 men was formed under the
command of Klimaitis, a Lithuanian journalist. As the
pacification program progressed, this partisan group
extended its activities from Kovno to other parts of
Lithuania. The group very meticulously fulfilled its
tasks, especially in the preparation and carrying out of
large-scale liquidations.
... As the Baltic population had suffered from the Jews
and the Communists during the Bolshevik occupation, it was
to be expected that they would take their own measures
against those of their [Jewish and Communist] enemies
remaining in their midst. It was the task of the German
security police to ensure the speedy completion of this
goal.
Furthermore, evidence had to be created in order to prove,
at a later stage, that it was the local population which
had squared [[fulfilled]] their own accounts with the Jews
and the Communists. The orders given by the German sources
had to be concealed...
[Stahlecker:
Anti-Jewish Lithuanian partisans - synagogues burnt down
- pogroms and mass shootings]
In Lithuania the initiative was taken by the Lithuanian
partisans. On the night of June 25-26, the partisans in
Kovno, under the command of Klimaitis, staged a pogrom in
which 1,500 Jews were killed. Several synagogues were
burned down or otherwise destroyed and a Jewish
neighborhood of 60 houses went up in flames. The next
night, an additional 2,300 Jews were rendered harmless in
the same manner. Kovno has served as a model for similar
actions in other parts of Lithuania.
... Pogroms, however, could not provide a complete
solution to the Jewish problem in Ostland. Large-scale
executions have therefore been carried out all over the
country, in which the local auxiliary police was also
used; they cooperated without a hitch... [[without any
hesitation]].
[[The NS system had a racist ranking: The Baltes were
first, then the Ukrainians, and then the Belorussians...]]
... Simultaneously with the executions ghettos had to be
established. There were 30,000 Jews in Kovno. After the
first pogroms and killings, a Jewish committee was formed,
mainly to organize the transfer to the ghetto... in the
establishment of the ghettos the security police were in
charge of police matters, while the newly established
ghetto administration [the Judenrat] was responsible for
the provision of forced labor, food supplies, etc. (col.
388)
Appendix No. 8 of Stahlecker's report is contained in Table
2, giving the number killed by Einsatzgruppe A in Lithuania (up to the
end of October 1941).
Table 2 [killed Jews June-October 1941 in
Lithuanian towns]
|
Place
|
Jews
|
Communists
|
Total
|
Kaunas
(Kovno) (and vicinity)
|
31,914
|
80xxxxxxxxxx
|
31,994
|
Siauliai
(and vicinity)
|
41,382
|
763xxxxxxxxxx |
42,145
|
Vilna
(and vicinity)
|
80,311
|
860xxxxxxxxxx |
81,171
|
from: Lithuania; In:
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 11, col. 388
|
A map drawn up by Einsatzgruppe
A to show the number of Jews killed in the Baltic
states up to the end of December 1941, indicates that
136,421 Jews were murdered by that date in Lithuania
(excluding Vilna), with 16,000 Jews remaining in the Kovno
ghetto and 4,500 in the Siauliai ghetto. A comparison of
these figures with the Stahlecker report reveals that in
this area alone, 56,110 Jews were killed in the last two
months of 1941.
[[There has to be considered that the German counting
includes also "half-Jews", "quarter-Jews" and
"three-quarter-Jews" as "Jews"]].
DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE PROVINCES
Most of the Jewish communities in the provinces were totally
destroyed in the period from August to September 1941. Many
communities were wiped out by sudden attack, not a single
person surviving to tell the story of their martyrdom. The
sparse material available conspicuously points to the active
participation of Lithuanians from all walks of life, side by
side with the Germans in the (col. 388)
slaughter.
HELP
FROM NON-JEWS.
There were among the Lithuanians a few individuals who in
the face of the Nazis extended a helping hand to the Jews,
despite the mortal danger to which they thus exposed
themselves. In Kovno, those who helped the Jews included E.
Kutorgiene, P. Mazylis, the writer Sofija Ciurlioniene
(Èiurlioniene), the priest Paukstys, the nun Ona Brokaityte,
and the opera singer Kipras Petrauskas. In Vilna, Ona
Simaite was of the greatest help, while in Siauliai the
daughter of the lawyer Venclauskas, the poet Jankus, the
priest Lapis, and former mayor Saneckis were among those who
distinguished themselves in aiding the Jews. (col. 389)
