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previous: Chapter 28 This webpage reproduces a chapter of The Story of Lithuania By Thomas G. Chase printed by Stratford House, Inc. New York, 1946 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know!

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 p295  Chapter XXIX
Lithuania and World War II

(The numbers link directly to the sections.)

Just as during the war of 1914‑1918, Lithuania had been exposed to the armies of two foreign states, so also during the Second World War she was subjected to three successive foreign armies, in spite of the fact that she had officially proclaimed her neutrality. The tragic events sweeping over the European continent completely halted the program of reconstruction, which she had been bringing to a success­ful and happy conclusion; they decimated her population, destroyed her towns, cities and cultural centers. Although overwhelmed by tremendous odds and deprived of their possessions, the people of the Lithuanian Republic continued to manifest a most stubborn resistance to the aims of each invading foe, the Russian and the German.

1. Mutual Assistance Pact with Russia

After the absorption by the Axis powers of the three independent states of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Albania, the general unrest, which had been gradually growing in Europe since Adolf Hitler's accession to the government of the German Reich, finally culminated in an outbreak of hostilities between Germany and Poland. The war was destined to attain world-wide proportions. In spite of heroic resistance, Poland quickly fell before the onslaught of German arms. On September 17th, Russia, who had concluded a Pact of Non-aggression with Berlin on August 23rd,  p296 invaded Poland from the east. Eleven days later, the two allies signed another Russo-German treaty determining the exact division of the spoils in Poland and their respective spheres of influence on the Baltic shores. Meanwhile, some sixty thousand Polish refugees, in dire need of medicine and food, had poured into Lithuania.

While taking possession of more than one-half of the territories of the pre-war Polish Republic, Russia also proceeded to issue a series of demands to each of the Baltic states. On September 28th and October 3rd, Estonia and Latvia, under threat of war, were forced to accept so‑called Mutual Assistance Pacts proffered by the Soviets, and permit the installation of Russian military bases, aerodromes and naval facilities on Latvian and Estonian soil. On October 3rd, Joseph Urbsys, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, journeyed to Moscow to confer with Molotov on matters of common interest to the two countries, as specially requested by Soviet authorities. Similar demands were then made upon the Lithuanians. And after continued negotiations carried on under severe pressure, and after two trips to Kaunas for discussions with its government, the Lithuanian delegation agreed to a Soviet-Lithuanian Pact on October 10, 1939.

This pact, which was to endure for a period of fifteen years, provided for the restoration of the city and district of Vilnius (one‑third of the territory seized by the Poles in 1920) to Lithuania. And allegedly for the defense of the Lithuanian frontiers, it arranged for the establishment of Soviet land and air bases in Lithuania, where Russian troops of "strictly limited numbers" were to be quartered for the duration of the European war.

On October 28th, Lithuanian forces entered the designated areas of the Vilnius province and assumed the administration of this territory. And on November 16th, the first Russian troops arrived at Alytus, Prienai, Gaizunai, and Nauja Vilnija.

Some 60,000 Polish refugees in Lithuania, as well as many inhabitants in the Vilnius area (due to the total collapse of the economic structure in that district) required immediate assistance at this time. The Lithuanian Red Cross was hard pressed to supply the necessary relief, especially since avenues of trade were seriously  p297 hindered by the conditions of war and by the appearance of various food and commodity shortages. Unfortunately, even in these dire circumstances the Polish elements, a large portion of whom had emigrated from Poland to the Vilnius region during the decade of Polish occupation, strenuously opposed the use of the Lithuanian language by the Lithuanian residents.

2. The Russian Invasion of 1940

After gaining military outposts in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the U. S. S. R. proceeded to demand that Finland consent to a Mutual Assistance Pact, which required the cession of certain Finnish territories. Finnish refusal to accede to some extreme requirements, as dangerous to national independence, led to the Russian attack, which in March, 1940, ended with the Finnish acceptance of Soviet terms and the Russian acquisition of the Viipuri district. With German attention turned to the West in preparation for the Battle of France which began on June 5th, Soviet Russia advanced its first open and public pretexts for the total occupation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

On May 25, 1940, Russian authorities accused the Lithuanian government of permitting the kidnapping and the torturing of some Soviet soldiers garrisoned at the bases obtained in October of the previous year. This indictment was followed a few days later by a decree creating a forbidden zone along the Estonian border.

In reply to the Soviet protests, the Lithuanian government suggested that a Lithuanian Commission or a mixed Lithuanian-Soviet Commission be delegated to investigate and clarify the entire matter. But Moscow refused these proposals and denied the Lithuanian request for further information.

On June 7th, Prime Minister Anthony Merkys, General Reklaitis, and Dr. Maciulis (Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) arrived at Moscow upon Molotov's invitation. On June 10th, Joseph Urbsys was also sent from Kaunas to the parleys. And then the naive claims of the Soviet government were soon altered  p298 into a violent accusation that the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had formed a secret military alliance directed against the welfare of the U. S. S. R. As a matter of fact, a defensive military agreement had been entered into on November 1, 1923, by Latvia and Estonia, but had been a public fact, duly registered with the Secretariat of the League of Nations. Lithuania had not been accepted as a signatory because of her unsettled Vilnius and Klaipeda problems. The only pact involving the three Baltic republics was the treaty of Good Will and Collaboration signed in 1934, which provided for mutual cooperation on all questions of common interest and matters of foreign policy. This also was a known fact to which the three Baltic states drew the special attention of Moscow in 1939, when, upon Russian insistence, they accepted the Mutual Assistance Pacts.

While the Soviet-Lithuanian parleys were still continuing and Anthony Merkys had returned to Kaunas for consultation with his government, the Soviet Foreign Commissar, Molotov, presented the Lithuanian Minister, Urbsys, with an ultimatum on June 14th, a few minutes before midnight; this ultimatum was due to expire within nine hours, that is, at nine o'clock. It required that General Casimir Skucas, Minister of the Interior, and Augustus Povilaitis, Director of State Security, be immediately prosecuted as guilty of provoking a conflict between Lithuania and the U. S. S. R.; demanded the immediate formation of a new government acceptable to the Soviets; and ordered the immediate granting of free passage into Lithuania of unlimited numbers of Soviet troops.

Seeking to conciliate the extensive demands made by Russia, President Anthony Smetona and the Cabinet of Ministers met in an extraordinary session in an effort to dissolve the crisis and preserve the independence of Lithuanian state. They proposed that General Rastikis, former Commander-in‑Chief of the Lithuanian Army, assume the leader­ship of the new government, while Smetona and the Cabinet resign. Thes suggestion of course, was unacceptable to the Soviets who in October, 1939, had promised not to interfere with the internal affairs of Lithuania. Consequently, since under such circumstances it was impossible to retain even  p299 the slightest semblance of Lithuanian independence, Smetona and other government officials, in protest, fled across the Lithuanian-German border, as fresh Soviet troops began to pour into Lithuania at noon on June 15th, and proceeded to occupy Kaunas, Vilnius, Raseiniai, Panevezys, and Siauliai. According to the dictates of the Constitution, Prime Minister, Anthony Merkys, automatically became the Acting President of the invaded Republic at this moment. Armed resistance would inevitably have resulted in making common cause with Nazi Germany. That same day, Vice-Commissar Dekanozov, accompanied by Pozdniakov, U. S. S. R. envoy to Lithuania, arrived at Kaunas to arrange for the formation of a new and a pro-Soviet government. On June 16th, similar ultimatums were issued to and similar events occurred in Latvia and Estonia. By June 17th, when Justin Paleckis, a leftist journalist, was named by the Soviet authorities Prime Minister of the Lithuanian Republic, the three Baltic republics had been completely overrun by the Red army of occupation.

Events followed in rapid succession. All organizations and political parties existing in Lithuania were outlawed. A Communist party was created and provided with necessary means for action.⁠1 It consisted chiefly of released prisoners and other subversive elements as well as arrivals from the Russian interior. The Lithuanian Seimas or Diet was dissolved. Elections for a new parliament were ordered.

While Communist agitators spread their propaganda, and while mass arrests of all individuals, who were suspected of sympathizing in any way with the legally adopted Constitution and program of the independent Republic of Lithuania, were taking place, one list of candidates for the Diet Elections was drawn up by the Communists. The only persons eligible for candidacy were those appointed and nominated by the Communist operated "Working Peoples' Union." As a result, the voters were to be given no opportunity whatsoever of selecting a deputy other than one approved by Moscow.

The so‑called elections took place on July 14‑15th. Voting was compulsory. Inhabitants were threatened that failure to obtain the  p300 balloting stamp on their passports would be considered sabotage and would therefore be punishable by death. Many voters appeared at the polls, only to deposit an empty ballot as a sign of their protest. In general, the "elections" were disorderly, since no proper registration of eligible voters had been arranged. Instances have been recorded where even foreign citizens had been admitted to the polls, where members of the Communist party had voted more than once, and where no counting of the ballots was even attempted. Subsequently, the Soviet authorities announced that the vote in Lithuania had been 99.19% pro-Soviet, thereby giving the Working Peoples' Union a 100% victory. Similar results were proclaimed in Latvia and Estonia. Seventy-nine persons were in this manner made deputies of the new Seimas of Lithuania. The Russian Minister, Nicolai Pozdniakov, was also "elected" to the Diet, although he had never been a Lithuanian citizen. It is interesting to note that the results of the "elections" had been announced in London by the Russian Telegraph Agency twenty-four hours before the actual closing of the polls. This lack of coordination in the Soviet machinery was due to the fact that local Soviet authorities in Lithuania, without contacting Moscow, had decided on the evening of July 14th to prolong the "elections" for another day.

This new assembly met at Kaunas on July 21st. The place of honor was reserved for Commissar Dekanozov. Although some of the deputies opposed the incorporation of Lithuania into the U. S. S. R., nevertheless, it was announced (no balloting having taken place) that the Diet unanimously decreed to petition for the acceptance of its country into the ranks of the U. S. S. R. Republics. Furthermore, nationalization of private property and the amalgamation of the Lithuanian army with the Soviet troops were among the measures approved for the future rule of Lithuania. In fine the puppet government of Justin Paleckis, guided by Dekanozov, attempted to give a semblance of legality to the entire Soviet invasion.

On July 31st, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian delegations, each consisting of twenty deputies drawn from the new parliaments, arrived at Moscow to present their petitions for incorporation.  p301 On August 3rd, Lithuania was officially "accepted" as the 14th Republic of the Soviet Union by the Soviet Supreme Council. On August 5th and 6th, Latvia and Estonia were assimilated in the same manner as the 15th and 16th Republics. And thus the work of aggression begun against the Baltic states in September, 1939, was brought to formal completion.

On August 24th, the "Lithuanian Diet" met again. A new constitution was adopted as a necessary feature of incorporation. The Diet proclaimed itself the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Republic and Justin Paleckis was appointed as chairman of the Soviet Praesidium. Two days later, Mecys Gedvila, with the approval of Dekanozov, assigned commissars for the various commissariats, which replaced the former ministries of the independent Republic.

A reign of terror then swept over the three Baltic states. Intense "sovietization" at the hands of the secret police, workers' militia and commissars, was inaugurated. Thousands were exiled and deported to the Russian interior in crowded cattle cars.⁠2 Thousands were executed. Former government officials, leaders of the people, prominent individuals, and all who had ever manifested any sign of disapproval for the Communist system, were apprehended. As a matter of fact, detailed plans were drawn up by the spring of 1941 for the mass transplantation of the three Baltic nations to various  p302 parts of Russia. All economic and cultural developments achieved during the twenty-two years of independence were quickly frustrated. All free association was forbidden. Escape was rendered impossible, since Soviet troops had established a frontier zone •some three miles in width along the Lithuanian-German border, which no one could enter without special permission.⁠3 All land, banks, industrial enterprises, means of transit, gold and silver were nationalized.⁠4 Grammar schools and high schools were placed under the direction of Russian-speaking authorities. Church marriages were denied recognition. Whereas 140 publications had flourished in Lithuania, the number was reduced to 26, issued in the Lithuanian language but under the most severe censor­ship. In fine, the mode of Lithuanian life was completely disrupted and subjected to another siege of violent Russianization.

3. The Lithuanian Revolt

The numerous arrests, executions, exiles, and refugees during the one year of Soviet domination in Lithuania testify to the resistance  p303 offered by the Lithuanian nation to the Communist rule. Lithuanian farmers and townsfolk simply avoided the various rallies of the Communist party. An anti-Soviet under­ground organization, known as the Activist Front, was soon formed by the Lithuanian people. It issued its own secretly published news­paper. Furthermore, in spite of Soviet publications and severe reprisals, the Lithuanians attempted to celebrate publicly the twenty-third anniversary of the Declaration of Lithuanian Independence (February 16, 1941). On numerous occasions they replaced the red flag with the Lithuanian national banner and sang the Lithuanian national anthem, both of which had been proscribed. And the height of Lithuanian resistance was reached on June 22‑23, one year and one week after the Soviet invasion.

During the five days of June 14‑18th, some thirty thousand Lithuanians had been arrested and deported by the Soviet authorities. It was rumored among the Lithuanian people that the process of transplantation of the nation and of the neighboring Baltic peoples into the Russian interior had already been inaugurated. On June 22nd, the two allies, Germany and Russia finally ruptured their relations and were at war. That same day in the vicinities of Siauliai, Kaunas and Vilnius a Lithuanian revolt broke out, sponsored by the under­ground Activist Front.

In the evening of June 22nd, small groups of unarmed Lithuanians attacked and overwhelmed the Russian soldiers stationed near the arsenals at Panemune and Viliampole, in the suburbs of Kaunas. By noon of the next day, the Kaunas radio station and all government buildings were occupied by the insurgents; the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence had been proclaimed; and the existence of a Provisional Government headed by Joseph Ambrazevicius had been announced. All former officials were ordered to return to the posts they filled before the Soviet invasion. Some two thousand political prisoners were released from the prison at Kaunas. The revolt spread through various parts of Lithuania as the partisans established themselves at Kaunas, Vilnius, Siauliai, Panevezys. In the afternoon of the next day, June 24th, German forces entered Kaunas and Vilnius. By the end of the week, June 27th, the Bolsheviks had been driven out of Lithuania.  p304 Some four thousand Lithuanians had been killed in the uprising, and some ten thousand wounded.

Lithuania was a picture of ruin. Severe battles had taken place at Kalvarija (in the Suvalkai area), Siauliai, Vilnius, Asmena, Varena involving Russian, German and to some extent, Lithuanian arms. The Kaunas aerodrome had been blasted by German planes on June 22nd. Towns and bridges, which had not been seized by the Lithuanian partisans, had been destroyed by the routed and retreating Soviet troops. Some 35,000 Lithuanians, organized in groups, and some 90,000 unorganized individuals, had taken part in the revolt against the Communists. In addition, 10,000 Lithuanian soldiers, previously incorporated into the Red army, also succeeded in allying themselves with the insurgents.

The Provisional Lithuanian Government of Joseph Ambrazevicius quickly reestablished the administrative organs of the country and sought, as far as possible, to restore the statutes that had existed before the Soviet invasion. General Rastikis acted as intermediary between the Lithuanian government and the German military authorities, attempting to obtain their recognition of Lithuanian independence. However, the hopes of retaining a free Lithuanian government were soon crushed.

On July 17, 1941, Heinrich Lohse was appointed head of the civilian administration, for the territories of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and White Ruthenia, which were thereby constituted into the German province of Ostland. Adrian von Renteln was assigned to the post of Commissioner General of Lithuania. The country was divided into six administrative districts, each under the direction of a German official. Native Lithuanians were employed in the lower administrative capacities. Furthermore, von Renteln sought to form a staff of Lithuanian Counsellor Generals, who were to be entrusted with the execution of the various German decrees.

The protests of the Lithuanian Provisional Government were unheeded. Joseph Ambrazevicius and numbers of his staff, refusing to become German puppets, on August 3rd, resigned from the offices to which they had been chosen by the Lithuanian insurgents. Von Renteln selected Kubiliunas, Jurgutis, Germantas, Brunius,  p305 Puodzius as the first Lithuanian Counsellors. And thus, the leaders of the Lithuanian revolt of June 22‑24, who had overthrown the Soviet occupants of the country, were compelled after six weeks of fruitful labor to yield to a new invader, the Nazis from Germany.

4. German Occupation of 1941‑44

Just as during the German occupation of World War I in 1915‑1918, so during the German occupation of World War II, Lithuania was exposed to a series of repressive measures. The German policy to annex and assimilate the Lithuanian nation was once again zealously renewed. And for this purpose a campaign to suppress totally the Lithuanian national sentiment and to exploit the country's wealth was gradually and systematically launched.

During the last six months of 1941 and during the entire year of 1942, the Germans seized complete control of Lithuanian economic life. They took possession of the Lithuanian cooperatives, corporations, banks, estates and homes. They refused to restore private owner­ship in instances where property had been nationalized during the Soviet occupation. They introduced a severe program of re­quisitioning among the Lithuanian farmers, who were regarded as the administrators rather than the actual owners of their farms. They imposed severe penalties for violations of the Nazi law. For the death of every German sentry, the German authorities proceeded to kill 200 Lithuanian hostages. The condition of the Jewish population, subjected to a process of complete extermination, was also pathetic; three main Jewish ghettos were formed at Kaunas, Siauliai and Vilnius. The country was stripped of all available metal, including window frames, doors, machine parts, knives, in the drive for metal articles (May, 1942). Lithuanian towns were simply overcrowded, due to the fact that large numbers of the German population from the bombed cities of Germany were transported to Lithuania and that many homes were converted into hospitals for German soldiers and into offices for the German leaders. Lithuanians, who had fled from the Soviet terror in 1941 as German repatriates, were permitted to return  p306 only after they agreed to renounce their rights of owner­ship. Meanwhile, the true German repatriates were sent back to Lithuania, although in limited numbers, and were once again immediately installed on their former properties under the protection of an organization known as the Ansiedlungstab. Lithuanian men and women were methodically enrolled in the forced labor and the police battalions for service in Germany and Lithuania, as well as near the eastern front.

From the very beginning Lithuanian resistance to the Nazi regime was manifest. The Germans found few real quislings at their beck and call. Executions and imprisonments suffered for non-cooperation with the German policy were numerous. Although the celebration of the Lithuanian Independence Day on February 16th had been strictly forbidden, nevertheless, each year (1942‑44) on that day the Lithuanians organized various meetings, celebrations, church services, and publicly throughout the land raised the Lithuanian flag. Secret patriotic writings continued to appear. The under­ground press was active. Lithuanian teachers remained at their posts, in spite of the fact that registration of new students at the Kaunas and Vilnius Universities was prohibited, the sole exception being made for courses dealing with agriculture and forestry. On October 13, 1942, the Catholic Bishops of Lithuania presented a memorandum to von Renteln containing an official protest against the German refusal to restore properties nationalized by the Russians, against the deportation of Lithuanian citizens to Germany for forced labor, and the constant interference with the Lithuanian educational institutions. Likewise when the Nazis, towards the end of 1942, attempted to exact an oath of loyalty to Hitler from the officers and soldiers of the former Lithuanian army, they were flatly refused and the application of further pressure merely resulted in armed clashes between the Germans and the Lithuanian under­ground.

In 1943, the German authorities of occupation intensified their campaign to completely enslave the Lithuanian peoples. They attempted to mobilize men for combat duties and increase the number of recruits destined for forced labor in Germany; they closed down all enterprises considered non-essential to the German  p307 policy, intending in that manner to multiply the quota of available men and women draftees.

On February 24, 1943, after the first serious German setbacks on the Eastern front, Reichskommissar Heinrich Lohse issued a formal appeal for volunteers for the Lithuanian SS Legion,⁠5 which the Nazis decided to create. Two days later, von Renteln reiterated that appeal. Various means were employed to induce the registration of Lithuanians in this Legion. It was portrayed as an excellent opportunity to protect the country from a second Bolshevik invasion. Volunteers were promised an immediate restoration of their private properties. Lack of cooperation was threatened with the loss of ration books. Notice was served on the leading Lithuanian personalities as General Rastikis, Archbishop Skvireckas, and even Kubiliunas, chairman of the Lithuanian Counsellor Generals, to support and advocate this mobilization of Lithuanian man­power.

The nation showed itself thoroughly unresponsive to the German call to arms. Neither the Lithuanian leaders nor the Lithuanian Counsellor Generals were willing to aid this Nazi plan. The under­ground paper, Nepriklausoma Lietuva (Independent Lithuania), denounced the organization of the SS Legion as contrary to the principles of international law. So few were the registrants that the Nazi police proceeded to arrest those who refused to enlist. And on March 17th, the German authorities were forced to announce the absolute failure of the attempted mobilization. Immediately, they resorted to a series of reprisals, closing the Universities of Kaunas and Vilnius and practically all other Lithuanian educational institutions that still existed; they revoked the decree for the restoration of private property (which at the time had not even begun to function); and they ordered registration of men for Construction Battalions (Baubataillonen) and a little later, of women between the ages of 22 and 30 for work in Germany. A wave of rebellion spread throughout the country. Swedish news­papers issued the following reports on the state of affairs in Lithuania:

In an effort to overcome the general disorder rampant in the country, the Germans summoned a Lithuanian Congress at Kaunas on April 5, 1943, for the alleged purpose of allowing the election  p309 of a Lithuanian National Council to direct the affairs of the nation and to establish suitable relations with Germany. Some 93 deputies attended. All the more influential Lithuanian leaders refused to participate. At the conference the Nazi authorities simply offered Lithuania national autonomy with representation at Berlin, in return for active Lithuanian cooperation with the German war effort against Soviet Russia.

The results of this Nazi-controlled Congress were absolutely negative. Consequently, Nazi terror and violence were simply intensified. Lithuanian intellectuals, considered guilty of creating and fostering the uncooperative attitude of the nation, were arrested and, in many instances, executed. Six of the Lithuanian Counsellor Generals were imprisoned. A wholesale decimation and suppression of the Lithuanian intelligentsia was initiated. All libraries were plundered and closed. The apparatus belonging to Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius was destroyed. The Lithuanian Academy of Science at Vilnius was ransacked. The manuscripts for a Lithuanian dictionary, which had taken forty years to complete, were burned; these manuscripts weighed approximately 1,500 pounds; one volume, consisting of a thousand pages and containing the first two letters of the alphabet, had already been published. The entire dictionary would have consisted of some eleven similar volumes. This attack on all the cultural treasures of the Lithuanian nation also demolished the archives of the Academy of Arts, Academy of Music, the School of Law at Kaunas, more than two thousand recordings of Lithuanian folksongs and collections of Lithuanian folklore. Relatives and families of the draft evaders were punished by death, imprisonment and deportation. Raids on towns and villages, house-to‑house searches, in quest of Lithuanian "volunteers" were methodically inaugurated. Girls and women were sent to work in the Reich. Meanwhile, colonization of Lithuanian territories continued unabated, particularly in the areas bordering on Klaipeda (Memel). Mass transfers of Lithuanian farmers in favor of German, Danish and Dutch settlers became every day occurrences.

In spite of this total oppression of the Lithuanian people, resistance to the German occupants appeared quite consistently. The  p310 Swedish paper, Goeteborgs Handels och Sjoefarts-Tidning, reported as follows on September 12, 1943:

The Lithuanian under­ground movement, directed by the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausias Lietuvos Islaisvinimo Komitetas), composed of representatives from all political parties in the country with the exception of the Communists, remained quite active during the entire period of Nazi occupation. Its members succeeded in establishing contacts with Lithuanians in Great Britain and Sweden. Its official organ, the news­paper, Nepriklausoma Lietuva (Independent Lithuania), repeatedly sounded the demands for Lithuanian independence from Nazi occupation and opposed Russian claims to Lithuania on the basis of the 1940 invasion. Six other publications served a similar purpose and were the manifestation of the will and the organization of the Lithuanian people. They were: I Laisve (Towards Freedom); Lietuva (Lithuania); Atzalynas (Offspring); Laisves Kovotojas (Fighter for Freedom); Vieninga Kova (United Struggle); and Lietuvos Laisves Trimitas (Announcer of Lithuanian Independence), issued by the revived semi-military association, known as the Siauliu Sajunga (Sharpshooters Alliance).

On October 14, 1943, the representatives of all Lithuanian political parties, under­ground organizations and combat units issued the  p311 following concise, urgent appeal⁠9 to the world at large in behalf of Lithuanian independence:

On February 16, 1944, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, directing all under­ground activities in the country, presented the following declaration⁠10 to the Lithuanian nation:

In February of 1944 the Nazis resorted to another and a rather clever plan of the mobilize Lithuanian man­power; they approached General Paul Plechavicius, former Commander-in‑Chief of the Lithuanian army, and requested him to form a number of Lithuanian  p317 battalions to maintain order in the country. They promised that these battalions would remain under Plechavicius' direct command at all times; they promised that these volunteers were to serve Lithuania only and were not to be taken out of the country under any conditions; furthermore, they agreed to give up all attempts to recruit Lithuanian men for other purposes. This seemed to be an excellent opportunity to begin the reorganization of the Lithuanian army and to gain a measure of relief from German oppression. Consequently, Plechavicius accepted the proposal and quickly obtained twice the number of volunteers originally desired. Pleased with Plechavicius' success, the Nazis promptly forgot their pledges and, on April 28, 1944, made public a new mobilization order⁠11 affecting:

The very next day, April 29th, clandestine Lithuanian news­papers expressed the Lithuanian attitude towards this German mobilization order. Nepriklausoma Lietuva (Independent Lithuania) wrote as follows:⁠12

General Plechavicius protested violently against this open violation of promises previously given. In reply, on May 15th, the Nazis ordered that the fourteen Lithuanian battalions be incorporated with the Waffen SS (German Police) formations. When he threatened to disband his battalions, Plechavicius and his Chief of Staff, Colonel Urbonas, were invited to call on Hintze, the Chief of the German Police in Lithuania (May 14th); both were then arrested and sent to Germany. In the meantime, German troops surrounded the headquarters of the Lithuanian Home Army in Kaunas to arrest the officers; a battle ensued during which many of the Lithuanian officers were killed and the rest imprisoned. That same night  p319 German SS formations attacked the Lithuanian military school at Marijampole; another battle took place, but due to lack of supplies the Lithuanians were overcome after suffering heavy losses. More fortunate were the Lithuanian battalions located in eastern and northern Lithuania (Vilnius and Panevezys districts); they frustrated German attempts to disarm them by fleeing to forests. The Nazis, as a result, proceeded to arrest politically prominent Lithuanians, to march the captured soldiers through the streets of Kaunas and then to deport them for slave-labor in Germany.

5. The Russian Invasion of 1944

Sweeping westward during the summer of 1944, the Russian army occupied Vilnius on July 13th, Siauliai on July 27th, Kaunas on August 1st; and shortly afterwards, all of Lithuania found itself under the control of Soviet Russia for the second time since the beginning of World War II.

Aware of the fact that Moscow had announced its intention to pursue the same annexationist policies it had inaugurated in 1940‑41, some 200,000 panic-stricken Lithuanians⁠13 fled from the country before the invading Red troops. The Germans, however, did not relax their oppressive measures. On July 8th, after destroying their archives, the German civilian authorities left Kaunas. On July 9th, the Nazis, while releasing all criminals from the city's prisons, executed the last 3,000‑4,000 Jews⁠14 in Kaunas and 800 Lithuanian patriots⁠15 who had participated in under­ground movements. On July 10th, the Germans closed the East Prussian- p320 Lithuanian frontier,⁠16 refusing to admit even those who "volunteered" for work in Germany; as a result, in order to avoid Russian domination, thousands of refugees resorted to the last available avenue of escape — the Baltic Sea — only to be bombed and machine-gunned both by Nazi and Russian planes.⁠17

Lithuanian under­ground activities continued.⁠18 Yet, in spite of all the efforts of the Lithuanian partisans, the Germans succeeded in destroying and blowing up some of Lithuania's most modern and most important buildings in Vilnius, Kaunas, Marijampole, Telsiai, Panevezys, Ukmerge, Siauliai, Birzai.⁠19

 p321  In the meanwhile, the invading Soviets proclaimed the "liberation" of the Soviet Lithuanian Republic of 1940‑41. The NKGB (former OGPU — Russian Secret Police), who followed hard on the heels of the Red army, proceeded to massacre the residents of Svyriai, Kaunas, Vilnius, Birzai, Ukmerge; they murdered all individuals suspected of fostering anti-Soviet sentiments as well as those individuals who had openly resisted the Nazis. The following annotated text of radiogram SDE2‑LS SWW 7386 received in New York on September 28, 1944, from Stockholm⁠20 clearly depicted the situation in Lithuania at the time:

The radiogram⁠21 received in London by the Latvian Minister Zarins, on August 20, 1944, from the Latvian Minister Salnais in Stockholm, further illustrated the policy adopted by Soviet Russia towards the Baltic states:

Other reports painted a similar dismal picture in Lithuania:

 p325  The Russian Secret Police also issued the following questionnaire to all inhabitants of Lithuania:

Having answered these questions no Lithuanian could possibly be certain of any reasonable degree of safety. Answer to question one automatically condemned every Lithuanian, who survived the tragic events of 1940‑41. Answer to question two automatically condemned every Lithuanian farmer and every Lithuanian factory hand as a Nazi sympathizer, even though he only attempted to provide for his family during the three years of German occupation. Questions three and four required every Lithuanian to betray his fellow patriot; Moscow regarded all acts of the under­ground other than those directed by Russian agents parachuted into Lithuania, as attempts "to secede" from the U. S. S. R. Question five sought to induce every Lithuanian to wreak personal vengeance on some fellow countryman.

Again, men were presented with one of three kinds of summons; namely, red, calling them to military service; green, committing them to labor service; white, sentencing them to deportation. So‑called People's Courts, authorized to punish any and every individual who did not approve of the Communist regime, were established; these courts accepted even anonymous denunciations.

On September 30, 1944, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (VLIK), issued the following appeal⁠24 to the United States and to Great Britain to intercede with the Reds for the future of the Lithuanian people:

Another appeal,⁠25 issued by the Liberation Committee of the Baltic States — composed of representatives of the National Councils of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — was addressed to Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and was published in the Swedish press on October 11, 1944:

In the meanwhile, Lithuanian fugitives found themselves in dire need of food, clothing, shelter and medicine. The Germans offered them no aid. The Swedes did what they could to provide for the 31,000 refugees who had reached Sweden from Russian-occupied Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Moscow, however, claimed these people as the citizens of the U. S. S. R. Pressed by the Soviets, the Swedes subsequently posted notices in the various internment camps where the Balts were located, stating that those desirous of returning home could make the necessary arrangements through the Russian Legation; furthermore, Russian representatives, accompanied by an official of the Swedish Foreign Office, were permitted  p331 to tour the various camps in order to urge the Balts to go back to their former countries. The latter protested. "All the refugees in one Stockholm camp have signed a letter to the Swedish Foreign Office, in which they stated in very strong terms that they do not want to meet the representatives of the Soviet Union. The letter said: 'We protest against all endeavors to turn us into Soviet nationals. We are political refugees and we wish to refrain from all political activity in the country which has granted us asylum. For that reason we repudiate all political propaganda activity among us. We have sufficient personal experience of the Soviet regime, and we do not require the assistance of the Soviet representatives, nor do we wish to be inspected by them!' "⁠26 Similar events occurred in other camps. Finally, the Swedish authorities announced that the right of the Balts to remain or to return would be respected. Sooner or later, other countries — Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland as well as the American and British staffs in occupied Germany — declared that the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians in these areas would not be compelled to go back to the territories which had fallen under Soviet domination since 1939.

The Lithuanians, however, who were found in Germany by the victorious Russian army, were immediately sent back to Lithuania or exiled to Siberia. So‑called repatriation centers were created at Kaunas, Siauliai, Panevezys, Telsiai and Alytus. The following letter,⁠27 written by an American soldier to his father in Chicago, vividly described the mental and physical condition of the Lithuanian refugees:

Occupied by the Russians, Lithuania was completely and effectively isolated from the rest of the world — and to such an extent, that even foreign correspondents were not permitted to enter the country. Consequently, since the late summer of 1944, sources of  p333 information have been strictly controlled by Red censor­ship, except in the case of those individuals who succeeded in fleeing despite the vigilance of the NKGB. Yet, at all times, it has been evident that Moscow did not relax its efforts to Russify and Sovietize the Lithuanians; and that the Lithuanians did not cease to resist their Communist conquerors vigorously.

Tiesa (Truth), one of the official Red party organs in occupied-Lithuania, complained bitterly (during the last months of 1944 and during the entire year of 1945) that the Lithuanians had refused to join the various unions, which were intimately linked with the Communist headquarters and which had been quickly established in every district. Again, Izvestia, Pravda, Tarybu Lietuva (Soviet Lithuania), and the rebuilt Vilnius radio station frequently admitted that the Lithuanians were constantly committing acts of sabotage; that opposition to Soviet plans in commercial, economic, educational and cultural fields prevented the new regime from stabilizing itself properly. Furthermore, they censured Lithuanian writers for their slowness in produ­cing literature about Stalin, the Red army, the future of the sixteen Soviet republics.

The sorry state of the Lithuanian farmers (already outraged by the Nazis) grew progressively worse. They faced a tremendous shortage of man­power (mobilization for the Red army continued unabated) and equipment. They were exposed to the criminal acts of armed Russian soldiers and roving groups of bandits. They were regarded as mere administrators of the farms they owned. Communist authorities sought to re­quisition a heavy share of their products; failure or inability to meet such demands often resulted in imprisonment and confiscation of property. Confiscated lands were either incorporated with the nearest collective state farms (the organization of which had been undertaken shortly after the invasion) or placed temporarily under the jurisdiction of so‑called Commissions for the Distribution of Land. The latter had practically no clients. On November 2, 1945, Tiesa still accused the Lithuanian farmers of an uncooperative attitude. Meanwhile, the farmers themselves, in search of better living conditions, attempted to migrate to towns and cities.

 p334  The situation in the towns and the cities was no better. Industries, of course, still bore the scars of war and were hampered by a lack of help. Wages were entirely insufficient to meet even the basic needs of daily life. Thus, a railroad worker received eight roubles a day (approximately $1.50) and the right to purchase a pound of bread for fifty kopeks; yet, this same individual was required to pay five hundred roubles for two-and‑a‑half pounds of bacon, ten roubles for a similar quantity of potatoes, and thirty roubles for an additional two-and-a‑half pounds of bread. Disease and illness were rampant; doctors were few.

More than five hundred so‑called Cultural Committees worked feverishly during 1945 to form Red Centers in every community. The country was flooded with pamphlets and books on Russian history and on the benefits of Communism. A Russian language daily, Sovietskaja Litva, with editions reaching fifty and sixty thousand copies, made its appearance; in pre-war days five thousand copies of any foreign publication satisfied all needs. Study of the Russian language was made obligatory in all schools; a practical knowledge of the same was required for entrance into the universities. Names of streets were Russianized, some being named after the different Soviet idols. Museum pieces and library books were transferred to the Russian interior. Evening classes on Marxism and Leninism were inaugurated. The Red flag replaced the Lithuanian tri-color. Forty-eight percent of the country's budget was appropriated for these "social and cultural" movements. Radios were re­quisitioned; controlled radio programs could be heard only in certain designated assembly places. Thousands of peasants, soldiers, and officials from Russia were settled in the cities and the towns. After the traditional Communist custom, numerous individuals were decorated at frequent intervals for their zealous work in behalf of the state; each list of names released was almost exclusively Russian.

During the summer of 1945, 60,000 Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian children were sent to the Russian interior for "vacations," while Russian boys and girls were brought to the Baltic coasts. In September, the compulsory mobilization of boys (14‑17) and girls (15‑18) for training in factory work was begun. In the  p335 meantime, some 100,000 men and women had already been exiled; their offenses were lack of sympathy towards the Communist system.

Partisans heroically attempted to disrupt all Soviet programs. Due to their activities, the puppet government found it possible to gain complete control only over the cities and the towns. Communist agitators were very hesitant about venturing into the suburban areas and the rural sections. In the tiny village of Karmelava (near Kaunas), for example, no Soviet official, who had assumed charge of the community, was able to remain in office for any appreciable length of time without forfeiting his life. In an effort to suppress these Lithuanian patriots, the Russian secret police, assisted by airplanes and army detachments, repeatedly made systematic and thorough hunts of the forests; these expeditions resulted in many armed clashes. Finally, NKGB groups were settled in various towns and villages; communication facilities were almost completely halted; transfer of residence, without special permission, was forbidden; Lithuanian leaders, still living, were ordered to make public pleas, urging the partisans to abandon their struggle; immediate execution of the men and the deportation of their families was announced as the penalty for cooperation with these patriots. Lithuania, however, continued to seethe with guerilla warfare.

On July 10, 1945, almost one year after the second Russian invasion, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania made the following appeal⁠28 to the Western Democracies and the conscience of the world:

On February 10, 1946, the U. S. S. R. held so‑called elections for the Supreme Soviet (Council of the Union and Council of Nationalities) and local offices. Only one ticket — the Communist — was permitted. Voters were offered the "choice" of one previously nominated candidate for each position; their sole means of registering a protest was to turn in a blank ballot, which, however, could not possibly defeat the proposed candidate. Lithuania was compelled to participate in these "elections" because Moscow still regarded her as the 14th Soviet Republic by reason of the annexation of 1940. This annexation was never considered valid by the Lithuanian people. Neither has it ever been recognized by the Government of the United States, whose Acting Secretary of State, Sumner Welles, on July 23, 1940, made the following formal statement:

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The Author's Notes:

1 The member­ship of the Communist party in Lithuania had never exceeded 2,500.

2 "During the twelve months of Soviet occupation (June 15, 1940 to June 22, 1941), about fifty thousand Lithuanians, both civilians and members of the military . . . were deprived of their citizen­ship and deported by the Soviets to remote parts of the Soviet Union, for the most part to Siberia. The majority of the deportees were taken at night directly from their homes, placed in overcrowded freight cars, and hurriedly and secretly sent eastward. Only a limited quantity of food and clothing was permitted these unfortunate martyrs, who were labeled 'enemies of the people.' Owing to the circumstances, the exact number and names of all the exiles are still unknown; nevertheless, partial lists, containing nearly fifteen thousand names, have been published in Lithuanian-American news­papers. The number of deported Lithuanian Jews is estimated to be about five thousand. . . .

"Lithuanian deportees are scattered throughout the Siberian wastelands from Ural to Vladivostok, and from Tashkent to Naryan Mar in the North Pole regions. Their condition is deplorable. . . . Only a few parcels of food and clothing from America are known to have reached Lithuanian deportees. The Soviet custom tariff rates and other charges for such parcels amount to, and often exceed, 200 percent value of the parcel. No used clothing is permitted to be sent. Deported families, according to instructions, are broken up. The majority of men are sentenced to hard labor camps, where they are held incommunicado and do not even know the whereabouts of their wives and children. All women work on primitive government farms, and live in ground holes under appalling circumstances. The mortality rate among the deportees is high, especially among the children. Several thousand children were deported, and many of them died on the way to Siberia. . . ." (Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, May, 1943, p5.)

3 To escape from the Bolshevik terror, some 35,000 Lithuanians by means of false pretenses took advantage of the so‑called repatriation treaty signed between the Soviet and Nazi governments on January 10, 1941. This pact provided for the transfer of the Volksdeutsche or the German minority from Lithuania to Germany. Of the 55,000 individuals "repatriated" in this manner, scarcely 30% could honestly claim German origin. In exchange, the Nazi authorities sent some 20,000 Lithuanians and Russians to Russian-occupied Lithuania. These Lithuanians were chiefly rooted out of the Klaipeda area, the Lithuanian sections of East Prussia, and the Suvalkai district (towns of Punskas and Seinai), which had been wrested from Poland in 1939 and incorporated into East Prussia. This transfer was completed by March, 1941.

4 ". . . Under the Soviets all land was nationalized, the farmers being considered only administrators of what was formerly their property. All farmsteads of over thirty hectares, comprising a total of 586,000 hectares, or about 15 percent of all the land, were immediately confiscated by the State from 27,000 land­owners. Only 284,000 hectares were redistributed to 71,000 landless and small farmers, which constituted an average of four hectares to a family, whereas a farmer in Lithuania who owned less than ten hectares was not able to produce for the market. The Soviets did not care about the economic results of such a land reform; their first and most important aim was to create conditions like those existing in Soviet Russia. The policy of collectivization (collective farms received 56,000 hectares), together with general political and social conditions created by the Soviets, contributed to the decrease of Lithuania's agricultural production. It was further decreased by the "repatriation" to Germany toward the end of March, 1941, of about 53,000 inhabitants, most of whom were farmers. The result was that in the spring of 1941, 466,300 hectares remained idle, and in consequence the crop yield for that year was from 225,000 to 270,000 tons below normal. . . ." (Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, November 25, 1942, p1.)

5 SS meant Schutzstaffel, a purely German formation.

6 Nya Dagligt Allenhanda, April 1, 1943, apud The Lithuanian Bulletin, June 23, 1943, p4.

7 Aftontidningen, April 10, 1943, apud The Lithuanian Bulletin, June 23, 1943, p6.

8 Apud The Lithuanian Bulletin, January 25, 1944, p4.

9 Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, May, 1944, p1‑3.

10 Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, compiled by the Lithuanian Legation, Washington, D. C., June, 1944, p2‑3.

11 Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, August, 1944, p5.

12 Apud Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, August, 1944, p5.

13 According to the report issued by the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania almost 350,000 Lithuanians had either fled to or had been deported to Germany by the first quarter of the year 1945.

14 "The massacre by the Germans of the last Jews in Kaunas on July 9th terminated three years of their ghastly sufferings. Of some 170,000 Lithuanian Jews, only a few hundred remain and they are hiding in woods and elsewhere. At the beginning of 1944, the Kaunas Ghetto numbered 9,000 inmates, who were allowed to exist since they were used as labour by the Germans. In March, the Germans discovered a secret tunnel toward the river Neris which had been made by the Jews. For this, half of the prisoners were shot. The last 3,000 Jews of the Vilna Ghetto were likewise exterminated in March. . . ." — Baltiska Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden, August 15, 1944 apud Supplement to the Appeal, November 1944, p12.

15 cf. Supplement to the Appeal, p13.

16 "The crowds of Lithuanian fugitives on the Lithuanian-German frontier were so vast that drinking water was not sufficient for all. For instance, in Taurage, a glass of water cost about 2 RM and in Virbalis, water was 5 RM per litre." — Baltiska Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden, August 28, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 20, October 9, 1944, p3.

17 "On the morning of August 10, 1944, three small boats filled with about two hundred Lithuanians, who were escaping from both the Nazi and the Soviet occupation, embarked with the hope of reaching Sweden. At the time of their departure they were discovered and fired on by two members of the Gestapo who, however, were not able to halt them. Half an hour later, two German planes bombed the boats at sea, and soon thereafter two U‑boats pursued and torpedoed them. As a result, none of the refugees reached Sweden. Floating debris and parts of the boats with the inscriptions 'Perkunas' and 'Viltis' were later found off the Lithuanian shores. . . ." — Current News on the Lithuanian Situation, January, 1945, p5.

"In the middle of October, the Gestapo transported 700 prisoners from the prisons of Liepaja to Germany. They included 70 Lithuanians who were caught on the Baltic Sea during their attempt to escape to Sweden." — Baltiska Nyheter, November 26, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 30, January 9, 1945, p1.

"A Russian aircraft machine-gunned an Estonian refugee boat with 17 persons on its way to Sweden. . . ." — Swedish Press, October 2, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 22, October 23, 1944, p2.

18 "It is reported that the Lithuanian forests are teeming with Lithuanian nationalist guerillas whose task, in German-occupied areas of Lithuania, is to prevent the demolition of buildings, factories, railway lines; to protect the inhabitants against plundering by the Germans and to combat the German raiding parties, which are chasing Lithuanians to transport them to Germany. In late August, some guerillas attacked and forced an SA unit, numbering 100 Germans, to withdraw in the township of Plateliai. The unit had 're­quisitioned' horses and cattle. Another large SA unit was attacked in the township of Darbenai by guerillas who frustrated German hopes of getting Lithuanian workers for Germany." — Baltiska Nyheter, September 26, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 22, October 23, 1944, p2.

19 "The German retreat in Lithuania is causing such panic that farms are being left practically untouched. The Germans have not enough transport to remove foodstuffs. No machinery from factories, with the exception of a few modern plants, have been removed, but all raw materials were speedily sent to Germany before the fall of Vilna. At the same time, the Germans stripped the country bare of all metal objects, including damaged railway wagons, rails and all kind of scrap, which were sent to Germany. As they retreat, the buildings in the towns are set on fire and bridges are blown up." — Baltiska Nyheter, August 15, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 17, September 25, 1944, p4.

"In the wake of their withdrawal from Lithuania, the Germans are leaving demolished behind them some of the outstanding monuments in Kaunas, the Church of the Resurrection, a large hospital, a block of buildings belonging to the University, the Lithuanian National Bank, the Foreign Ministry, the General Post Office, the Pienocentras, the Maistas and other buildings, all of which have been blown up. In other towns also, large buildings and factories, which were built during the Lithuanian independence, have been demolished. In only a few cases have Lithuanian patriots been able to prevent this destruction and for this reason — the Germans place time-bombs in the buildings, which blow up in good time, as when the Russians marched into Siauliai, which is 80 km from Telsiai." — Baltiska Nyheter, September 26, 1944 apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 22, October 23, 1944, p2.

20 cf. Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p19‑20.

21 cf. Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p10‑11.

22 Annotated text of radiogram SDE3SZ SWW7348 received in New York on September 11, 1944, from Stockholm by way of London apud Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p7.

23 Annotated text of radiogram NLSDE2 SWW7056 received in New York on September 26, 1944, from Stockholm by way of London apud Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p14.

24 Apud Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p21‑23.

25 Apud Supplement to the Appeal, November, 1944, p24‑25.

26 Stockholms-Tidningen, December 12, 1944, apud Lithuanian American Information Center Bulletin No. 35, February 24, 1945, p3‑4.

27 Contained in the Congressional Record, 79th Congress of the United States, among the remarks of Hon. Alvin E. O'Konski on November 12, 1945.

28 Contained in the Congressional Record, 79th Congress of the United States, among the remarks of Hon. Alvin E. O'Konski on November 12, 1945.

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Thayer's Notes:

a According to CatholicHierarchy.Org, all three survived the war, each in his pre-war see: Mečislovas Reinys, auxiliary bishop of Vilnius, † Nov. 8, 1953; Anton Karaś (Karosas), bishop of Vilkaviškis, † Jul. 7, 1947; Kazimieras Paltarokas, bishop of Panevėžys, † Jan. 3, 1958.

b Although this same exact quotation appears in the Lithuanian Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 2, p21, in an article titled "Eclipse of Baltic Freedom" by Watson Kirkconnell, neither the author nor the journal editor provide any further elucidation. I've been unable to find any place in Lithuania by the name of Laudone, certainly not large enough to have had 630 inhabitants; nor have I found any record of a specific massacre of that size in 1944. One might suspect an error — easy to make in a radiogram dealing with matters in a foreign country, translated at least twice (and the English translation is not good) — for Raudonė, but nothing of the sort turns up there, and the mystery, to me at any rate, remains entire.

If you have good information, please drop me a line, of course.

c Sic. Should be Salaspils.

d Three weeks before the presidential election, Roosevelt's statement served its purpose no doubt. Lithuania regained her independence, on her own and with no serious involvement of the United States, more than 50 years later.

My father, a Foreign Service officer, thus working in turns as a diplomatic or a consular official for the United States State Department, considered the official American diplomatic relations with the governments of the Baltic countries as something between a curiosity and a joke; and every evidence suggests that it has been the American policy for decades that Russia must not be "dismembered": in plain English, that submerged nationalities in the Russian empire should essentially be ignored, if with an occasional pronouncement to the contrary.

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