LITHUANIA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

by E. J. HARRISON Fonnerly British V ice-Consu l in Kaunas and Vilnius Author 0/ " Li thuania Past and Present", " Lithuania 1928," etc.

Or igin ally pub lished by THE FEDERATION OF LITHUANIAN SOCIETIES IN GREAT BRITAIN November 1944 Reprinted with Au thor's Permission by Till'; LITHUANIAN AMERICAN I N FOI~oM A TI ON CENTEH New York, Februa ry 194:> Reprodu ced, by permi s­ sion of the Columbia Uni­ versity Press, from Th e Economic Reconstruction oi Lithuania alter 1918, by Anicetas Simutis, New York, 1942. The total area of Lithu­ ania, including the Klai­ peda-Memel Distri ct, and the Vilnius region as spec­ ified in th e P eace Tr eaty with Russia of July 12, 1920, accounts for approx. 34.000 square miles with a popu lation a little over 4,000,000. The Klaipeda district it­ self comprises 1,100 sq. miles with 154,000 inhabit­ ant s. Th e Vilnius region embrace"s 12,448 sq. miles with a population of 1.600,000. Due to th e Po­ lish aggression of 1920, Lithu ania was left with ap prox. 21,500 sq. miles of territory and 2,500,000 in­ habitants,- an area larger _lW,WAT$ than Belgium, Holland, AlOTT 0 TIMI'OlAI'YCAl'lTM Den mark or Estonia. • DII'WCT YOWMI • emu TOWHS teAU' 1. 1000.000 INTRODUCTORY REM ARK S To THE A M ERI CAN EDITIO N

Lithuania is the largest and most populated of the three Baltic States, the other two bein g Latvia an d Estonia. It is situated on the eastern sho re of the Baltic Sea and, roughl y, comprises the basin of the Nemunas (N iemen, Memel ) River and its tributari es. Recorded history of an independent Lithuanian State dates back to the El eventh Century A.D. Foll owing a period of expansion and grad­ ual decline, Lithuania was deprived of its independence in 1795 through partitions between Muscovite Russia and Prussia . After a struggle of 120 'years, marked by armed insurrections of eac h succeeding generation (1794-5, 1812 , 1831, 1863-4, 1905 and the inde­ pendence wars of 1918-1920), Lithuania was reborn in 1918 as a d emo crati ~ and independent Republic. In 1920 the young republic fell victim to Polish aggression, which resulted in the loss of its capital city, Vilnius, and of Southern and Eastern provinces. Even in this mutilated shape and despite economic hardships follow­ ing World Wa r I, Lithuania showed remarkable vita lity, great ability in self-govern ment and economic development. In 1939 Lithuania again became a victim of renewed Russo-German aggression. In March, 1939, Nazi Germany seized the port and district of Klaipeda-Memel, and in the fall of th e same year, by a Russo­ German arrangement, Lithuani a was assigned to a Ru ssian "sphere of influence" which for the secon d tim e in history, tr ansformed Lithuania into a Russo-German battleground. Lithuania again revolted in Ju ne 194 1 and restored its in dependence for a few days. However, as soo n as the country was overrun and held firmly by the German armies, Lithu ania's provisional government was suppressed and the country's political leadership went into the under­ gro und. In the summer offensive of 1944 Soviet Ru ssian troops ha ve again overrun the country . Lithuanian hopes, as well as those of all small nations, are based on the application of the principles of the Atl antic Charter and restor a­ tion of law and morality in international relations, rather than a con­ tinuation of resurgent pow er politics and " spheres of influence."

LITHUANIAN AMERICAN INFORMATION C ENTER

-~- "For though usurper s sway the rul e awhile, Yet heavens ar e just, and tim e sup ­ pr esseth wrongs."

SHAKESPEARE, King Henry VI.

"How many little States that serve th e god s ar e subject to th e godless but more stro ng, made slaves by might of superi or army." E URIPIDES.

"The y desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with th e freely expressed wishes of th e people conce rned.. .. "They wish to see sovere ign rights and self-gover nme nt restored to tho se who ha ve been forcibly deprived of th em. ATLANTICC H AIITE II. · 1. BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETC H

LITHUANiA is not a " new state" of Europe eithe r po litica lly or cultur­ ally. She is as old as most of the other Europe an nati ons, and possesses a striking histor y repl ete with dr amatic viciss itudes.

Race, Religion and Language .- Th e present-day Lithuanian s are a surviva l of a separa te and distinct bran ch of the Aryan fam ily and do not bel ong to the Slavo nic or Ger­ manic race. Their lan gu age differs as widely fr om those ne ighbo ur ing tong ues as, for instan ce, Englis h differs from the Greek. Lo ng before the Christian era , the Lithuanians already lived on the Baltic shores and in the dawn of history atta ined a level of civilization as hi gh as th at of many other Europ ean nati ons of those days. The Rom an hi stori an Tacitus, who lived in the first century A. D., mentions the Lithuanian s as good cult ivators of th e soil. Such eminent Germa n scientists as Profes­ sors Ti schler , Bezzenber g and others, admire the exce llent workman ship revealed in br on ze articles found in early tombs of various bran ches of the Lithuanian family of nati ons. Ano ther German archeeolog ist, Lis­ sa uer, affirms that already in the first three cen turies of th e Christia n era, Lithuani an s used domesti c implements of hi gh technical devel op­ ment and bea utifu l bron ze and si lver ornaments. The Lithuanian s of those days were paga ns. Th e chief characteristic of the ancient Lithuanian reli giou s belief was a spec ia l veneration for nature and all her manifestations. Judgin g from a p lentitude of histori­ ca l evidence and archreolog ica l legacies, to th e Lithuani ans of that age all nature seemed full of a mysteriou s power mightier th an man, whi ch expressed its relation s with human beings either benign antly or malig­ nantly. Christ ian chro niclers were amazed that the "supe rstitious Lith­ uanian s" sho uld, instead of a God, revere the sun, the moon; the stars, the earth itself, wind, thunder, fire, forests, ri vers, lakes, hills, plants, an imals, even insec ts. In their apo theosis of nat ural phenomena it may be supposed that the Lithuanians ins tinc tively conformed to the prin­ ciples of human devel op ment which have been operative in the case of virtually all primitive peoples, i.e., ani mism and anthropo morphis m. But in th e reli gion of the Lithuanian s we see a more immediate and di rect re lationship with nature devoid of an y clear anthropomorphic delin eation. Regarding all nature as sacred, the Lithuanian offere d up prayers to her as she appeared to him, without imagining an y other concurrent extern al creative forces. Most significa nt fact perhap s of all, the Lithuanian s were pagan s but not idolaters, for , unlike th e Gree ks and Romans, the Lithuanian s of that day possessed no graven images of gods: Th ei r cult may be descr ibed as the first distincti ve pantheism 5 o ~ people who, feelin g themselves to be weaklings in the power of the clements, sought their concrete indulgence, but made no attempt to em­ body those elements in a myth ological system. Belief in th e intimate parti cip ati on of nature in the fat e of mankind is found in the entire Welta nschau ung of the ancient Lithuani ans. . Among few peopl es of the world, lar ge or small, has the link with the past been preserved to such an extent as am ong the Lithuanians. In . this respect they exemplify th e truth of Schopenhauer's aphorism. "A people which does not kn ow its past is livin g merely for th e tim e bein g in the present of the existing generation, and only through knowledge of its history does a nation become truly self-conscious." That is doubt­ less one reason why in Lithuania the acceptance of Christi anity ha s fail ed more th an elsewhere to oblitera te the s ~ r v i va ls of many a pic­ turesque pagan ritual. This intimate association with th e past is further demonstrated in the Lithuanian lan guage which, of all living European speec h to-day, is most closely akin to Sanskrit. As far back as the eighteenth century the att ention of German philologists such as P. Ruhig, J. Vat er , von Bohl en, W. Humboldt and others was drawn to the unusual an tiquity of Lithuanian. Th eodore Benfey says of it: "The Lithuanian lan guage, even in its present-d ay shape, has to a large extent preserved such an ancient character that for knowledge of the fundamental forms of the Indo-German ic tongues it possesses an importance which is scarcely less than that of, inter alia, -Sanskrit and B'actrian ." Again, 1. Ka rlowicz thu s characterizes the antiquity of Lithuanian: ' " Its resonance an d endings ever remind us of the ancient sounds of th e Indians, Persians, Gree ks, Romans, Goth s, Celts, and the ancient Sl avs. Many of the Lithuani an sen tences ar e almost .indistinguishable fr om Sanskrit and thi s ma kes an even more vivid impression when one h ears a simple peasant using forms which to-day, on account of their antiquity, 'we are accustome d to regard as pre-histori c, somehow timidly revered, , beca use formerly they were whispered to the for efathers of our ancestor s by the Gre at Moth er of all Aryans." In other words, what in the Ian­ guages of other nations has cru mbled away during the intervening cen­ tu ries has survived in the speec h of the Lithuanian people, amazing the philologist with its richness and variety. Thus August Schl eicher, one of the most distinguished of German Lithuanian scholars, after reading the poems of the Lithuanian wri ter Duonelaitis, declar ed that he was "con­ scious therein of a tongue which in the perfecti on of its forms could ~ ie with the works of the Greeks, Romans and Indians." Professor Benj amin D. Dwight, in his " Modern Philology," ha s written : " Lithuanian is a lan guage of great value to the philologist. It is the most antique in its forms of all living languages of the world, and most akin in its substance and spirit to the primeval Sanskrit. It is at the same time so much like the Latin and the Gree k as to occupy the ear of 6 the etymologist in the place of the interpreter , with .its face fixed on Latin and its hand pointing backwards to the Sanskrit." No less an ' authority than Elise Reclus, in his "Ceographie Univer­ selle," states : " If the value of a nation in the total sum of humanity were to be measured by the beauty of its lan gu age, then Lithuania ought to have a hi gh place am ong the nations of Europe." . Finally, the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant, in the preface to his Lithuanian Grammar, writes: "She (Lithuania) must be preserved, for her tongue possesses the key which opens the enigmas not only of philology but of histor y." Th ese features of Lithuanian carry with them a lesson not only for th e philologist, but also for the historian. The fa ct that during so man y centuries of bitter struggle with external foes th e Lithuanians have, nevertheless, succee ded in preserving almost int act until th e present day the disti ncti veness of their speec h should surely be acce pted as evidence of their tenacity and innate nati onal vitality .

Earl y Struggles with Teutonic Knights Man y centuries passed in pastoral and other occupations. Save for occasional raids by Vikings on their coast, and the task of keeping at ba y the Slavs in the East, the Lithuanians were 'hidden and protected from foreign incu rsions by great forests in that par t of Europe, whi ch also helped to preserve the ethnical character istics and th e purity of th e language. In due course, however, the Crusa des to .the Holy Land came to 'an end, and multitudes of Knights found themselves without employ­ men t, when a tragicall y difficult period began in Lithuanian histo ry. At the beginning of the th irteenth centur y in Livoni a, th e present-day Latvia an d Estonia, the so-called Germa n Order of Swordbearers came into bein g, whilst the Order of German Crusaders, later known as Teutoni c Knights, wer e invi ted by the Masovian Poles to what to-day is known as Ea st Prussia, in th ose da ys peopl ed by tribes of the same racial origin as the Lithuanians, ostensibly for the purpose of converting the heathens to Christianity, but actually bent upon enslaving th em by force of arms and seizing their lands. In acco rda nce with thi s policy both Orders began ruthless ly t o wage warfare against these Aesti an tribes. After a long and obst ina te 'struggle th e ab original Prussians or Borussians, as they are sometimes called, were largel y extermina ted, the remnant sub, dued and in course of time Germa nized. The Latvians and Kurshians fared no better against the Order of Swordbearers . Then th e two Orders, suppo rted by adventurous Knights fr om Western Europ e du ring two and a half centuries, carried out a savage offensive aga inst the Lithuanians. Lithuania Minor,otherwise th e north-eastern part of East Prussia and the Klaipeda region, succumbed to th e German onslaught, but even th e manifold resources of German propaganda pri or to Hitler failed to obliterate the ra cial consciousness of the inhabitants, a majority of whom 7 continue until to-day to speak Lithuanian. On the other han d, the Germans did not succeed in con quering Greater Lithuania. Fortunately for her prospects of successful resistance, Lithuania enjoyed from the thirteenth to the fou rteenth century a succession of fairly capable ru lers, notably Mindau gas, Gediminas (who esta blished a per man ent ca pita l at Vilnius), Algirdas, .Kestutis and Vytau tas the Gre at, the last named of whom , in alliance with the P oles, in 1410, infli cted a crushing defeat upon th e German Knights at Tannenber g. By the beginning of th e fifteenth century Lithuania had grown to be a for mida ble East-Europ ean power with territories stretching from the Baltic to the Bla ck Sea, em­ bracing White Ru ssia, the Ukraine with Ki ev, etc. Seldo m has hi stor y known three successive generations in whic h the high attributes of rulership and generalship were so consistently repro­ du ced. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that to the martial prowess of Lithuan ian princes the West is ind ebted for its escape from the Tartar thraldom which had already been imposed up on Ru ssia. It was the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algir das who, in 1362, checked the western advance of the Tartars at the Yellow Waters (Melne Vod y) . The Polish historian Balinski, in hi s " History of Vilna," comp la ins that Eu rope still knows very little abo ut the political abil ity and chivalrous enterprises of Mindau gas, Gedi min as, Vyta utas an d others "who man­ aged with their own forces to repulse terrible Mongol invasions, to con­ qu er a large p art of Hussia, and who withstood the rapacious Ord er of Crossbearers." The French histor ians Lavisse an d Rambaud, in " Histoire Ceneral e," state th at it was of consi derable importance in the history of Eu rop ean civi lizatio n that these Lithuani an princes sho uld have suc­ ceeded in stemming the wave of the Tartar invasion of Europe; th at th ey sho uld ha ve protected the shores of th e Black Sea against Asiatic invasions and stopped th e further ad van ce of the Teutonic Knights. These achi evements greatly contributed to the subsequent aggrandize­ ment of the Muscovite Tsars, who later engaged in a relentless po licy of perpetual aggression and enslavement of Lithuani a. Ru ssian hi stori an s bear witness to the tolerant att itude of the Lithu­ anian s in preser vin g the religion, langu age an d customs of the acquired lands. A remarka ble featu re of that rule was th at administration of those lands was en trusted for the most par t to princes , of the ruling Lithuani an dynasty who had embraced the religion of the con quere d p opulati on .

Union with Poland In 1386, when the territori es under Lithuania were three ' times as large as th ose of P oland, the Lithuani an Grand Duk e Jogaila ma rried th e P olish Queen Hedvige d'Anjou, and the Lithuanian dynasty of Jogaila for about 200 years occupied the P oli sh 'throne. Sim ulta neo usly with th is personal union, Lithuani a adopted Roman Catholicism which 8 to-day is professed by over 30 per cent. of the population of the country. Then in 1569, at Lublin, a treaty of confederation was concl uded between Poland and Lithuania. Both Sta tes retained their separate govern ments, arms, tr easury and law courts. Th e Poles, under the clauses of the fundamental law, the Lithuanian Statute, could hold no office in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and could acquire no land for many decades to come. Nevertheless, affairs in the dual state differing in ra ce, lang. uage and temp erament, began steadily to deteriorate. External pressure, internal dissentions, and espec ially the claims of the nobility, both Polish and Lithuanian , who made th e 'monarchy elective, for privileges and con­ cessions undermined the strength of the State. Ter ritorial expansion brought with it grea t resp onsibilities, with responsibilities came priv­ ileges, but privil eges grew until responsibilities were forgotten. Several attempts were made to break awa y from the union. In 1700 a conference of Lithuanian nobl es in Valkininkai .denounced the Polish forms of administration and relegation of Lithuania into a secondary place within the Poli sh-Lithuani an Com monwealth.

Loss of Independence Certain lands had alread y been lost to the Teut ~ni c Order . The grow. ing power of Muscovy, wars with Sweden, and intern al feuds weak ened the dual State and affor ded Russia, Prussia and Austria an opportunity to partition it (1772-1795). The greater part of Lithuania came under Russia, andthe sma lle r part was appropriated by Pru ssia. Th e Vienna Congress of 1815 conferred on the Russian Tsars the title of Grand Dukes of Lithuania, which passed from Tsar to Tsar down to Nicholas II. Th e main incentive to partition was the prospect of plunder and an oppo rt unity to share it. This shameful transaction in modern history bears the ta int of anti-social guilt. It should be remembered, as Joseph Conrad says, that in the second half of the seventeenth century there were two centers of progr essive ideas on th e Continent of Europe: One was France; the other Poland and Lithuania. Th e educa ted classes of Poland and Lithuania were permeated with the humanitarian ideas of French and En glish lit erature. There was a Diet and an electi ve Mon­ archy; th e universities of Vilnius and Warsaw were impo rtant centers of culture. The liber al complexion of Polish and Lithuanian institutions was naturally, therefor e, distasteful to autocrati c Russia, Prussia and Austria, who decided to eliminate the outpos ts of liberal and democratic ideas by partitioning the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth amongst themselves. Lithuania's subjection to Russia lasted 120 years, i.e., from 1795 to 1915, when the German ar mies occupied the country . This interval co­ incid es with perhaps the darkest peri od in earl ier Lithuanian history. Yet Lithuania never lost hope of regaining her freedom and independ­ ence. Such hopes were rev ived when Na poleon crossed Lithuania in 9 1812 on hi s wa y to Ru ssia. With the defeat of Napoleon the grip of Tsari st Ru ssia grew ,tighter. In 1831 and 1863 open rebellions took place and were ruthlessly suppressed. ' In 1832 the university of Vilnius was dosed. In 1840 the Lithuan ian Statute (an elaborate system of laws first codified in 1529 ) was ab oli shed and Ru ssian law substituted. The Lithu­ anian lan gu age was bani shed fr om the schools; officials were sent fr om Ru ssia, and by a special decree it was forbidden even to use the name " Lithuania"; in its stead Ru ssia imposed th e style of the " North-Wes t Provin ces." In 1864 th e infamou s edict prohibiting the ' printing of Lithuanian books and newspape rs in Latin characters was put into force and lasted for fort y years. It failed, however, to prevent the smugg ling into the country of Lithuanian literature printed abroad, especially in Pru ssian Lithuania and the United States of Am erica. An interesting phase of the national renaissan ce movement, un iver sally kn own as "The Auszra (Dawn) ,Period," takes its name from the publi­ cation so sty led, for which the great Lithuanian patriot, the late Dr. Jonas Basanaviciu s, was chiefly res po nsible. During the Husso-Iapanese war fresh hop es arose of regaining independence, and in 1905, a Lithu­ anian Conve ntion held in Vilnius and atte nded by 2,000 delegates of all classes demanded the Home Rule. ,The combined ine ffi ciency and hrutality of the Muscovite regime naturall y retarded econo mic an d cultural devel opment. Many emigrated to the New Worl d (there are to-day nearly a million Lithuanians in the United Sta tes of America), but the inna te desire of th e people for edu­ cation and memo ries of a glo rious past fostered and kept ali ve the na­ tion al spirit. The war of 1914-1918 furnished th e Lithuanian leaders with an oppo rtunity of whi ch they were not slow to take ad vantage. On the other hand, hostilities hit the country very hard. It was devastated and imp overi shed ; ma ny towns and farms wer e burned ; about 50 per cent. of Lithuanian livestock was destroyed . The contending armies carried away dismantled ma chiner y, timber, agricultural produce, even such articles as brass handles of doors and windows, church bell s and roofs. The country was bl ed white, as it is being bled white to-day by th e sa me mercil ess antagonists. An d th e leaders of th ose da ys had to tackle ' problems whi ch might well have daunted statesmen ' and administrators of more mature expe rience. While th e Germans wer e still in occupation, the indep endence of Lithuan ia was proclaimed on February 16th, 1918, at Vilnius, the hi storic capital, by a Lithuanian Council (Taryba) of twenty. But there lay ah ead an interval of arduo us struggle before all obstacles to realizati on of suc h aspirati on s could be overco me. Wh eil . the wa r en ded, the Lithuani an s had to contend with the Poles, th e armies of Gen. von del' Goltz who wanted to restore th e rule of the Baltic barons, and the Bolshevik Ru ssians. The English writer , E. W. Polson Newman, in his book on th e Baltic, observes: "It is remarkable how they man aged to extrica te themsel ves fr om this threefold mess. . . 10 Looking ba ck on these cr itical da ys, one wonders how the Lithuanians managed to raise an army capable of defending the country against so many enem ies. It was a mos t rema rka ble achievement and reflects the highest credit on the military qualities of thi s fighting race." In 1920 the Poles occupied Viln ius, the ancient capi ta l of Lithuania, an d the Lithu­ anian Govern ment had to withdraw to Kaunas, whi ch continued to be the sea t of independent gove rn men t until in the summer of 1940 Lithu­ ania, together with Latvia and Eston ia, was forcibly incorporated into the Sov iet Union. A fuller acco unt of this particular manifestation of " power politics" is given elsewhere in these pages.

II. . RESURRECTION AN D NEW PERIOD OF INDEPENDENCE

Th e Peace Treaty of July 12th, 1920, concluded between Lithuania and Soviet Russia, established the former's ethnographic boundaries, which embraced about 32,767 square mil es. Moreover, in conformity with the Convention of Ma y 8th, 1924, between Lithuania on the one hand and Great Britain, Fran ce, Italy and Japan on the other, the Kl aip eda-Memel territory with an area of 1,100 square miles, previously detached fr om Germany by the Treat y of Versailles, was ceded to the Lithuani an Republic. This step represe nte d the fulfilment of the under­ taking embodied in Article 99 of the Versailles Peace Treaty which, on the ground of the predominantly Lithuanian race of the inhabitants of the Kl aipeda-Memel territor y, re quire d Germany to renounce her ri ght s thereto an d to acce pt the settlemen t ma de by the Princip al Allied and Associated P owers in regard to the region in qu esti on, " particularly in so far as concerns the nationality of the inhabitants." All Lithuanian territories then totall ed about 33,867 square miles with some 4,000,000 inha bitants. But, as alrea dy briefly mentioned above, in October, 1920, the P oles seized Vilnius and the Vilnius region, comprising ab out 12,448 squa re miles with a populati on of over 1,000,000. This loss r eo duced the area of independ ent Lithuani a to 21,419 square miles and her population to 2,500,000 in round figures. Lithuania is essentia lly an agricultural country , nearly 80 per cent. of the inhabitants bein g engaged in cultiva tion of the soil. Since 1387, Lithuania has always been predominantly Roman Catholic in her reo ligion, with more than 80 per cent. of ,the people professin g that faith. Non-Christian beliefs ha ve hithert o been re presented by 7.3 per cent. Jews a nd 0.1 per cent. of other cree ds; in other words, more than 92 per cent. of the population are Christi ans. The State of Lithuania is formally described as an independent democr ati c Republic. Sovereign authority was vested in the nati on 11 which exe rc ised it thro ugh P arliam ent (Sc imas), the Government and the Cour ts. Th e exec utive comprised the President of the Republic an d the Cabinet. Th e Na tiona l F lag is yello w, green and red ; the State emblem is the Vytis or Knight in white on a red field. '

Lithuania's Achievements It may be asserted without fear of instructed contra dictio n that dur­ ing little more than two decad es of indep endent life the resuscitated Lithuani an State mad e ' great progress in almos t every sphe re of con­ structive acti vit y, and in doin g so overcame difficulties whi ch at first sight might have appeared well ni gh insuperable. The wr iter of these lines enjoyed exce p tio na l oppor tunities of witnessin g on the spot mu ch of this astonis hi ng progress, the congenial ta sk of symp athetic obse rva­ tion an d inquir y havin g been facilitated by hi s profession al position, and his kn owled ge of the Lithuanian lan gu age, which fr om the first gave hi m access to origina l so urces of information and ena bled him to dis­ pense with intermediaries. It ma y ther efore be emphatica lly sta ted that this record of achie vement all along th e line affor ds the most conclusive proof of wise sta tesma nship in key positions which, despite occasional 'domestic dissension s, succee ded in la rgely eradicating the surviva ls of del iberate Muscovite obscurantism bent on retarding national adv ance­ ment. Th anks to these indefatigable efforts, almost indep endently of external aid, Lithuania speedi ly emerged fr om the slo ugh into whi ch earl ier Ru ssian misr ule had plunged her , and was already beginning to garner the fr uits of enlightene d policy in the cultur al and economic spheres when the second Wo rl d Wa r again in volved her in universal ca tastrophe. Lack of space wiII not permit exhaustive enumeration of the suc­ cess ive steps and measures resp onsible for what was thus accomplished . It sho uld, however, be mention ed that the intro duction of agrarian reform soo n after the recovery of indep endence conve rted Lithuania fro m a co untry of great landowners into one of smallholders, hard­ working farmers directl y interested in th e national well-be ing. The Government prom oted th e transition fr om gra in culture to stockbree ding and dai ry-farming, based up on large-scale co-ope ratives whose initiative and enterprise stimula ted th e expansio n of for eign trade. Thus produc­ tion was stea dily incre asing; a stable currency had been introduced and maintain ed with a central Emission Bank (the Bank of Lithuania); the Sta te Budgets were uniforml y balanced. Hand in hand wit h these ba sic changes in the country's national econo my signa l adva nces were also made in the sphe re of social services which were vir tua lly non-existent under former Ru ssian rule. Measures concerning the care ' of children, th e sick, accidental injury, unemploy­ ment and destitution, nati on al health and sanita tio n were rapidly de- 12 vclope d. The progress of th e country was such th at the general standa rd of well-being steadily rose. In short, during twenty years of fr ee and indep endent life the coun try succeeded, no t only in clearing away the deb ris of the 191 4-1920 wars, but also in elevating itself to an incom­ parably hi gh er level in every respect th an when it was under al ien domination.

Cultural Progress Ver y mu ch the same progressive sp irit and enthusiasm were mani­ fested in the sphere of culture, sedulo usly fostered and enc ourage d by successive govern ments. The spread of educa tio n, deliber ately impeded by the form er rea ction ary Ru ssian regime, was rapi d. El ementary educa­ tion , with classes in ag r icultural science, becam e comp ulso ry. Ther e were approximately 2,560 ele mentary schools annua lly attended by about 292,000 pupils. Ther e wer e also fort y special agricultural schoo ls, private and Gove rn ment. The first uni versity in Lithuania was founded in Vilnius as far back as 1578. The Kaunas University, establishe d after the World War I, was atte nded by over four th ousand students. There wer e a flou rishing St ate Op era and Drama, an art school an d a conse rvatory of mu sic at Kaunas, and annual song festivals up on an imm ense scale attracted a vas t conco urse of listeners, not a few beyond the national boundaries. And witha l the na ti onal lead ers never lost sight of the wisdom of the adage, m ens sana in corpo re sana. The central administration included a Chamber of Physical Culture, and some years before the present war a sumptuo us institute of physical cu lture, afford- - ing facilities for mos t mo dern sports and ga mes , was erec ted up on a pi cturesque site in th e Kaunas subur bs. Ambitio us schemes of recon­ struction design ed to eradicate the vestiges of havoc wrought by the war of 1914-1918 had already accomplish ed wonders in th e re alm of soc ial amenities. Thus the provisional cap ital Kaunas, which under earl ier Ru ssian rule had been little better th an a drab and colo rless garriso n town , was tran sformed in to an attractive admin istrative centre boasting nu mer ous modern bu ildings which would have done credi t to a city many tirnesIargcr.

A nglo-Lithuanian Economic R elations A few striking figures should suffice to show that th e interest of the world in the fate of Lithuania and the other Baltic States oug ht to be rather more than negligibl e. They sho uld also serve very effectively to refute the cha rge of economic backwardness th at has been ra ised in uninformed qu arters in references to th ose States. No thing, indeed, could very well be wider of the mark than such a charge.Dr. V. Raud, in a recent booklet entitled '.'The Baltic States as a British Market in the Past and Future," remark s : " It is not genera lly real ized that before th e second ' Vorld ' V,lr these three coun tr ies, with a U population of hardly six millions, imported British manufactured goo ds to exactly the same value as th eir Eastern neighbor-Soviet Russia­ with a population of 170 millions. At the same time the value of Bri tish goods imported by the Baltic States, calculated per capita, was five times as gre at as the value of British goo ds impo rted by the Central and South-Eas tern States of Europe, calculated on the same basis." The po int is more full y elaborated in another part of the same bookl et, where the writer states : " Per capita the Baltic States purchased five times mor e British goo ds th an P oland, six times more th an th e Central European countries, and four tim es more than th e Balkan States. These disparities in purchasing power dem onstrate very clearly the imp ort­ ance of the Baltic States for British industry. It should, how ever, be emphas ized that the mar kets of the Baltic States were far from bein g fully explo ited by British expo rters, and in this respec t there remained a considerable scope for expansion . In th e course, of th eir rapid all­ round economic development these countries required industrial goo ds in ever-incre asing qu antities. Given time, th ey would eventually have attained parity with the Scandinavian States which, in their turn, were the biggest potential buyer s of British goods among for eign countries." Pursuing th e contrast between the purchasing power of th e Baltic States an d Soviet Ru ssia .respectively, it is sure ly illuminati ng to note that, whereas the former, per capita of po pulation during the last pre­ war yea rs from 1936 to 1938, spe nt from 15s. 2d. to I Ss. 2d . on British goo ds, the latter spent precisely sixpence ! Lithuania's imports from the United Kingdom included coal and coke, textiles, various kinds of machinery, motor vehicles, herrings and sugar, and her exports to England-bacon, eggs, dairy produ ce, timber and timber materi al s, cell ulose and flax. Vindication of the for esight instrument al in largel y substituting stock-raising and dairy farming for grain culture is seen in the fact that up to the eve of the war Lithuanian qu al ity p rodu cts had been swiftly ga ining favor on the Bri tish market, and on their merits could confi­ dently cha lle nge compariso n' with corresponding Dani sh staples. For the truly surprising results achieved in thi s particul ar economic domai n, thanks ar e in no sma ll measure du e to the energy and up-to-date meth ods of the Sta te-aided co-operatives, such as the Central Union of Dairy Farming Co-operatives kn own as P IENO CENTRAS; th e Union of Lithu­ anian Agricultural Co-operatives kn own as LIETUKIS, and th e great meat­ packing combine known as MAISTAS. Th e factories built and operated by the last nam ed or ganization hav e been pronounced by for eign expe rts to be among the most modern, best-planned and equip ped meat-exp ort factories in Europe. Mention has alread y been mad e of th e loss of Vilnius in October, 1920, throu gh Polish aggression. The effects of that bl ow were in a sense miligated by the acquisition, in 1924., of the.port and territory of 14 Kl aipeda-Memel which, under efficient Lithuanian administration and at no small cost to the centr al exchequer, made signal progress. The port itself was consisten tly exten ded and modern ized, and was bein g increas­ ingly utilized for th e pu rp ose of export and import between Lithuania and Western Europe until a fresh, albei t hardly an unforeseen, calamity overtook the nation. Nazi Germa ny, after un checked aggression against Austria and Czechos lov akia in March, 1939, confro nted Lithuania with an ultimatum, and under the threat of armed invasion wrested fr om her the Kl aipeda-Memel Territory, thus simultaneo usly depriving her of the only port she possessed .

Baltic States role in international trade. Th e economic bal ance of the four Baltic States (Finland, Estoni a, Latvia and Lithuania ) for 1938 shows the impressive amount of $293,756,000 for combined im.ports and $292,738,000 for combined exports. It is noteworthy that the economic statistical figures of Soviet Ru ssia for the same yea r were, resp ectiv ely, $261,757,000 and $250,751,000. While wor-ld imports per capita in 1938 amo unted to $48.35 in Fin ­ land, $25.15 in Estonia, $22.65 in Latvia and $11.00 in Lithuania, the Soviet Union accounted for only $1.00 per capita. Per capita figures for the expo rts show an index of $47.05 for Fin­ land, $24.35 for Estonia, $22.55 for Latvia, and $13.30 for Lithuania. Sov iet Russia acco unts for $1.20.·" Due to various circumstances, the pre-war sha re of th e United States of Ame rica in the trade of the Baltic States was rather limited, although stea dily gro wing in volume and importan ce. The share of such countries as Gre at Britain an d Germany was by far more important. The United States share in the for eign trade of Finland for the period 1936·1938 accounted for 8.5 percent in imports and 8.7 percent in ex ports ; the figures for .Estonia were 8 and 3.6 percent; for Latvia 6.8 and 2.4 ·percent ; and for Lithuania 3.3 and 3.1 percent, res pec tively. It mu st also be taken int o considera tio n that not all of th e purchases made in the United Sta tes by the Baltic countries were cre dited to them by the U. S.Department of Commerce, since not all the goo ds imported by these countries from th e United States went di rectl y to th e Baltic ports. For exa mple, Lithuania used to acquire American automobiles, motorcycles, agricultural machinery and other merchaI;dise through th e medium of Denmark , Sweden, Belgium and Germany. Ill.such instances the United States credited the purchases to the ab ove·mentioned coun­ tries, while th e import statistical indexes prepared by th e Lithuanian govern ment age ncies entered th e imports according to the origin and credited th ese tr ansactions to the United States.

" f oreign Comm erce Y earbook, I93Y. ];, This difference in acco unting systems explains the discrep ancies between th e statistics prepared by th e U. S. Dep artment of Commerce and tho se comp iled by the statis tic al bureau s of the Baltic oountries. For examp le, according to th e Central Statistical Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania, her import s from th e United States in 1937 amounted to $1, 230,5 00-while th e sta tistics prep ared by th e U. S. Department of Commerce credit exports to Lithuania at a sum of only $51O,75l. This means th at sho uld the figures compiled by the Baltic States be accepted as th e final word on th e subject, th e result would indicate a gre ater share of th e Baltic countr ies in th e foreign tr ade of the United States. Still, even when dealing with minimized figures, in th e peri od of 1926-1929 the sales by th e United States to th e Balt ic countries am ount­ ed to $4.4 per capita in Finland, $0.70 in Estonia, $0.60 in Latvia ' and $0.09 in Lithuania annually. .As for th e per capita sales by the Baltic countries to th e United States, th e same statistics indicate $2.70 for Finland, $0.80 for Estonia, $2.40 for Latvia and $0.20 for Lithuania. On th e who le, th er e is sca rce ly an y room for doubting th at , given a reasonable time for th e recovery from th e ravages of this war, the trade relations between the United States and th e Baltic countries would better than resume their old trend, and this on a mutually profit able basis of give ami take.

III. BEFORE THE STORM

General Background Subsequent events followed each other iri quick succession. Ang lo ­ French attempts in the summer of 1939 to negotiate some und erstanding with Soviet Ru ssia, in an effort to curb further obviously aggressive Ger­ man ambitions, ca me to a sudden an d spectacular end. While th e Ang lo ­ French mi ssion s' were still in Moscow, th e conclusion of the No n-Ag­ gression Pact between Germany and Sovie t Ru ssia was sudden ly an­ nounced and signed on August 23rd. One week later, Sept ember I st, Germany attacked P oland .and by so doing raised th e curtain on th e first act of th e world drama we are still witnessing. On September 3rd, Great Britain and Fran ce entered th e stage b y declaring war on Ger­ many. On September 17th th e So viet tr oop s marched int o Poland, and on September 27th Ger many and Soviet Ru ssia agr eed on a definite partition of Poland between them . . Thepartition of Poland, as it appeared, was the first but not th e sole fruit of th e understanding reached between German y and Soviet Ru ssia. It involved, apart fr om pa rt ition of P ol and , also disp osal of all tcrri- . 16 tories and countries lying between Germany and Russia, i.e., Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and the province of Bessarabia. For her benevolent attitude towards Germany, Soviet Russia was granted a free h~nd in all of them. There appears to have been some haggling over Lithuania, Germany desiring to obtain possession of that country in addition to half of Poland, but the Soviet demands finally prevailed. Lithuania, along with the rest , was to fall to the share of Soviet Russia. Eviden ce of this Soviet-German conspiracy against the small States lying between them is overwhelming and indisputable. It is known, for instance, that Stalin himself told th e Lithuanian Delegation invited to Moscow at th e beginning of October, 1939, for the purpose of conclud­ ing the Mutual Assi stance Pact, how Germany insisted on having all or at least half of Lithuania and how, by not giving in, he had "saved" Lithuania. It is also known how during these negotiations Germany, through her Foreign Secretary von Ribbentrop, made strenuous but un­ av ailing efforts to induce Lithuania to line up with Germany. Finally, a hurried mass rem oval of about 100,000 German settlers (or BaIts as they are called) from the Baltic States wh ere they had been living for centuries, was th e final and, as it wer e, public seal to the Hitler-Stalin agreement on th e fate of the Baltic States.". Having thus obtain ed from Germany a guarantee of a free hand in the Baltic-a guarantee which, incidentally, was sought from and re­ fused by the Western Democracies during the Anglo-French negotiations in Moscowt-Soviet Russia lost no time in carrying out her part of the

* In this connection th er e appeared in Th e Times a letter dated October 10th, 1939, ,describing a ma ss re moval from Estonia. It is applicable al so to Latvia and Lithuania. H er e 'are some extracts from it:- " Yeste rday wa s a day of panic am on g th e Balts, After eig ht hundred years of prosperous life in this part 'of th e world th ey ar e given forty-eight hours to decid e wh ether th ey stay and brave the possibility of Bolshevik rule or take German nation ality, and, with a couple of handbags, sail a t on ce in shi ps already her e. .. . And yet the y ar e pract ically all goin g. Su ch is th e fear of their near neighbours by intelligent people with' experience of th em .. .. The ignorance of such matters ,in England is coloss al. The Estonian s, who in twenty years of th eir indep enden ce have done so mu ch to raise th e cult ure and prosperity of th is country, are fac ed with a horrible predi cam ent. It is like living among people who are all conde mne d to death... . " t Lord Halifax , Secr et ary of S ta te for Foreign Affairs, declared in th e House of Lords, on December 5th, 1939, as follows: - " We hav e tried to improve our relations with Ru ssia, but in doing so we had always maintained th e position that rights of third parties mu st remain intact 'and be unaffect ed by ou r negotiation s. Event s ha ve shown that th e judgment and th e in stinct of H is Majesty's Government in refusing agreem ent with th e Soviet Govern­ ment in th e terms of formula: covering cases of indirect aggression on the Baltic S tates wer e right. For it is now plain th at th ese formulie mi ght have been th e cloak of ulterior design s. I hav e little doubt that th e people of th is country would prefer to face difficulties and embarrass me n t rather than feel that we had compromise d th e honour of thi s ,coun try and th e Commonwealth on such issu es." (Speec hes on Foreign Policy by Vi scount Halifax.) 17 bargain designed to obtain contro l of the Baltic countries. Th e Govern ­ ments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estoni a were in quick succession " in­ vited" to-send their represent atives to Moscow ostensibly to negoti ate the Mutual Assistance treaties. In fact, the Soviet Govern ment for ced them to gra nt military bases and to admit Sov iet garrisons to ma n those bases. In this manner a ver ita ble Tro jan horse was pl anted in the Baltic S ta t~s. . Similar demands were presented to Finl and. Finland , however, re ­ fused to com p ly with th el ~l and soo n landed herself in war with Sov iet Hussia, By the decision 0/ the League 0/Nations i December 14th, 1939 ) Soviet Russia was declared to be an aggressor against Finland, and the two Western Democr acies, Great Britain and France, were ready to send an expeditiona ry force in suppor t of Finl and. Sweden and Norway, havin g _assumed the status of neutrality in the Soviet-Finnish conflict, refused to grant the right of passage to the An glo-French contingents and Finland, after a heroic fight lasting three months, was for ced to come to terms with Soviet Ru ssia. She lost som e valuable territory in the process and was obliged to agree to the establishment of a Soviet base at Hango. Soviet Ru ssia had had her own way in the Baltic. Such was the political background of the stage on which the fat e of Lithuania, as al so of Latvia and Estoni a, was soon to b ~ decid ed, and of the probable character of that fate Baltic statesmen had already for some time harb ored an uneasy presentiment. Those who, like the Lithu­ anians, had had an oppo rtunity to witness the tr ends of the Nazi regime at close qu arters harbored very few, if any, doubts as to Germany's aggress ive intentions. The rape of Czechoslovakia aft er Mu nich and the grabbing of Kl aipeda-Memel fr om Lithuan ia a few days after wards were clear warn ings as early as March, ] 939, tha-t the Nazi volcano was already in process of er uption . Trad itional channels for overflowing war-lava have seldom avo ided the neighboring Baltic Sta tes. Hence, deep uneasiness of approaching danger fr om that quarter. Soo n it was to be heightened by gatheri ng clo uds fro m the other side. In the summer of 1939 the first r umor s reached Baltic sta tesmen to the effect that the Sov iet Govern ment, in its negotiations with Great Britain and France, had demanded for itself what am ounted to a free hand in the Baltic Sta tes. To th eir everl asting credit, Great Britain and Fran ce had refu sed to be parties to these " ulte rior designs." It appeared, however , that Sovi et Ru ssia had two irons in the fire at the same tim c: what had not been gra nted her by the Western Demo cracies had been readily conceded by German y as the price of the Non-Aggres­ sia n Pact signed on August 23rd, 1939. Thus the Baltic States-found themselves between the upper and the neth er millstone set and primed for the process of gr inding. It needed no imagination to realize how tra9ic and hopeless their situation had become. Yet human nature is 18 such that it is not easily daunted : it stubbornly clings to the beli ef tha t " while there is life there is hop e." We shall now review some of Lithuania's last efforts to save her freedom before she was finally crushed by the Ge r ~ an -So vie t nut­ cracker.

German Attempts to In veigle Lithuania It has already been mentio ned that in the course of the conspiracy between Germany and Soviet Ru ssia for the divi sion of the lands lyin g between them there was some haggling over Lithuania. This fact was revealed by Stalin himself to the Lithuanian Delegation which was " invited" to Moscow early in October, 1939, to conclude the Mutual Assistance Pact. On that occasion he stated that the Germans had been insisten t on re ta ining Lithuania within their own orbit, but, he said, " My vas otstoy ali" ("We ha ve save d you") . As transpired later on, wha t Stalin said was true. The Soviets did save Lithuania from Germany. He was, however, discr eet enough not to add that thi s "saving" had been effected for the sole ben efit of Rus sia. The story of this game characteri zed by almost incredible bluff and duplicity, intrigue and double-cr ossing, must wait to be told in detail by the futu re historian. Nevertheless, some idea of how the 'cards were stacked may be for med byglan cing at the hand of one of the partners­ Germany. The stake was Lithuani a-a State sma ll in ar ea' and popula­ tion, but of considerable importance by virtue of its central geog raph­ ical positi on at the crossro ads between Germany and Ru ssia on the one hand, and between Latvia, Est onia and Finland to the north and Poland and Rumania to th ~ south, on the other. In other words, Lithuani a occupied what may be calle d a pivotal point in the territories for con­ trol of which the game was being played. Here in bri ef is the story of how Germany played her hand for mastery of Lithuania:- Havin g invad ed P oland on September 1st, 1939, Germany ma de stre nuous efforts to draw al so Lithuania into conflict with that country . Germany, of course, knew quite well that Lithuania was still smarting fr om the old and unhealed wound which was inflicted on her by Po ­ land's treacherous seizure of her capita l Vilnius in 1920, whic h she still held and refusedto return to the lawful owner. Here was the cha nce for Lithuania to get her own ba ck. Pol and, reeling under the blows of mighty German panzer divisi ons, was in no position to defend Vilnius. All that Lithuania had to do was simply to march in and take it over. That was the bait for which Lithuania was expected to fall. If she did , "and attacked Poland, she would automatically become partner in the war of "victorious Germany." Soviet Ru ssia's claim to Lithuani a, in view of the Non-Aggre ssion P act just signed between Germany an d Soviet Russia, would be out of the question. Lithuania would be blind not to sec the double ad vantage of such a prop osition: she would get back 19 her long-coveted ' capital Vilnius and at the same tim e would insure herself against an y po ssible aggr ession from the Soviet Union. On these pl ausible ass umpti ons Germany proceeded to act. Th e first open sugge stion to Lithuania to join Germany in common action against Poland was made to the Lithuanian Minister in Berlin, by Dr. Kleist of the so-called " Bureau von Ribbentrop," which at that time was a Nazi Party department controll ing for eign affairs. Dr. Kl eist paid three visits to the Lithuanian Legation between September 8th and 14th, 1939. During th ese visits Dr. Kleist let the Lithuanian envoy know that he was actin g on instructions from Herr von Ribb entrop, the ,Ger­ man Foreign Min ister. His mess age was that Lithuania should immed i­ ately att ack P oland by mar ching into Vilnius, which Poland , now fully engage d with Germany, was in no position to defend. Simultaneously, Dr. Kleist declared that should the situation demand it, the Reich would be prep ared to rend er the Lithuanian Govern ment all necessary aid, both in men and arms. At the same time, Dr. Kl eist was ready to give a significant ass ur ance, in the na me of his govern ment, that should Lithuania act as suggested no difficulties or complications of any kind need be feared from the Sov iet Union. During theIast of these visits Dr. Kleist informed the Lithuanian envoy that von Ribbentrop had directed him to ad vise Lithuania to act very qui ckl y, and rep eated what he said were the actual word s of the Reich Foreign Minister : " Litauen muss rasch handeln, ra sch marschi eren-ra sch, rasch, rasch !" (Lithuania must act promptly, march qui ckl y-quick, quick, qui ck! ) Replyin g to these proposals, the Lithuanian Government on Septem­ ber 11th instru cted their Mini ster in Berlin to inform the German Govern ment that Lithuania was determined to preserve absolute neutral­ ity in the conflict between Germany and Poland. This was repeated on Septemb er 16th. On September 17th the Soviet Union attacked Poland and the Red Ar my occupied Vilnius and began to approach the Lithu­ anian frontier. This event caused the Lithuanian Government to declare, as a precautionary measure for safeguarding neutrality, general mobili­ zation. Meanwhile, German pressure upon Lithuania became even stronge r. This time Herr von Ribbentrop, the German' Foreign Minister, took the matt er into his own hands, and on September 19th the Lithu­ anian envoy was invited to see him personally. Herr von Ribbentrop confirmed to the Lithuanian Minister the earlier proposal made by Dr. Kleist and insisted on spee dy acti on. On September 21st the Lithuanian envoy received an urgent ca ll inviting him to come imm edi atel y to the headquarters of the German Ar my, at that time at Zoppot, near Danzi g, where he was again received by Herr VO II Ribbentrop. During this visit Herr von Ribbentrop declared to the Lithuanian Minister that the military operations (of Germany and the Soviet Union against Poland) had created a new situation arid had " brought ab out readjustm ent of the balance of p ower in th at pa rt of Europe.t' .which, in plain lan guage, 20 meant that there was some plunder to be divided. And , ind eed, von Ribbentrop abruptly declared that Lithuani a was now in Germany's " zone of influence." Wouldn't Mr. Ur bsys, the Lithuanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, be good enough, therefore, to come to Berlin to discuss thi s newly-created situation? He also added that further negoti ati ons between German y and the Soviet Union were shortly to be opened and volunteered a promise that German y would induce the Soviet Govern­ ment to withdraw her troops from Vilnius territory, which would then pass to Lithuania.* Th e Lithuanian Cabinet, .faced with thi s new situation, had one aim in view- to safeguard the ind ependence of the country aga inst th e now pl ainly evident designs of Germany as well as against those of the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the Lithuanian Government was determined on its own part to avoid any action which might have served as a convenient pretext for German-Soviet bar gaining at the expense of Lithuania. Havin g thu s found itself placed, as it were, between the Sov iet hammer and the German anvil, the Lithuan ian Govern men t felt that the onl y hope, however slender, of safeguarding the country's inde­ pendence, lay in the maintenance of loyal and scru pulous neutrality. Th erefore the decision in favor of continuation of strict neut rality was reaffirmed and Mr. Urbsys, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, personally notifi ed to th at effect the German Minister in Kaunas. . Shortly afterw ard s and just before Herr von Ribbentrop 's journey to Moscow, the German Minister in Kaunas delivered his Government's answer. It was to the effect that since the Lithuanian Govern ment did not choose to falfin with th e German suggestion, the visit of Mr. Urbsys, as proposed earl ier by Herr von Ribbentrop , would no longer be of any practical value. On September 27th Herr von Ribbent rop left for Moscow wher e a final agree ment on the partitioning of the "zones of influence" between German y and th·e Sov iet Union was reached and the declaration cha rg ing Great Brit ain and France with respo nsibility for continuing th e war was signed. One week later , as ha s already been menti oned, Mr. Stalin, in his turn, was telling the Lithuanian Delega­ tion in Mos c ~w about the Soviet-German negotiati ons and about the "saving" of Lithuania fr om German designs . Rel yin g upon th e agr ee­ merit with Germany, Soviet Russia by an ultimatum forced the Red Army garrisons upon Lithuania . Th e way to subsequent invasion and . occupation of Lithuania by the Red Army was thu s opened. In thi s manner, because she refus ed to accept the invitation to join Germany, Lithuania was handed over to the tender mercies of Soviet Ru ssia. In the light of th e circumstances described above was Lithuanian

* For further inf ormation on th e politico-military situatio n prevailing at tha t , time on th e Eastern front see an article by Col. Kazys V. Grinius, " Eventful days of 1939," published by . the Lithuanian Bulletin , No.6,August 25, 194.'\, available . at th e Lithuanian Bulletin, 233 Broadway, New York 7, N. Y. 21 poli cy of stubborn adh erence to neutrality right or wrong ? Neutrality is never popular among nati ons engage d in conflict-after they have become so eng aged. Some people hav e th erefore thought that Lithuania was wrong in attempting to "sit on the fence." The Lithuanian Govern­ ment th ought otherwise. Th ey considered the y were justified in declin­ ing to be drawn into a scrap between bi g boys ; a small boy who ventures to butt in rar ely gets an ything out of such intervention except 'a black , eye-metaphorica lly speaking. For that reason Lithuania did not hesi­ tat e to claim for hers elf the status of neutrality under International Law . But neutrality is possibl e only in a system governed by law and backed by a strong armed force or geographic inaccessibility, or both. These conditions lacking, neutrality is reduced to a mere scrap of paper. It ma y therefore be argued that if the Lithuanian Govern ment cherished an y hop es of finding safety by clingin g to neutrality they were hardly right. But wheth er ri ght or wrong in a purely academi c sense, the point that really matters is that no other course was open to themto get out of a tight corn er. If Lithuania was to be crushed, she still preferred to fall together with the crumbling fabric of law, for Lithuania, like most of the sma ll nati ons, has always been guided by respect for Interna­ tional Law and the scru pulous discharge of her internati onal ob­ ligati ons.

Lithuanian Chivalry In passin g, it ma y be fitting th at some concrete 'instances should be adduced here to substantiate the above contention. Lithuania has always heartily supported measures demanded by internati onal solidarity, and whenever humanitarian considera tions re quired her co-operation, she was ever read y to take upon herself even mor e than her just share. Thus when the Nazi persecuti on of Jews began inCerman y, and many Jews were looking for refuge, Lithuania, in resp onse to an international ap­ peal , admitted almost double th e number of her l egitimate quota. Then again, in the darkest hour of recent Polish history, when the German and Soviet armies were tearing Poland to pi eces, Lithuania, albeit deeply , wronged by Polish occupation of her capital Vilnius which Poland . riever returned to Lithuania, un grudgingly and wholeheartedly offered 'asylum to thousands of her 'ad versaries, the Polish refugees fleein g now before the German and Soviet invaders. This she did, in spi te of her own ver y difficult economic position at the tim e, and she gladly shouldered this heavy burden without any ext ernal assistance-e-thus performing her humane duty until th e last day when her own freedom was' ex­ tin gui shed and her own independence, let us hope tempor arily, was buried under the debris of the present war. ' Lest the reader should be tempted to b elieve that ,the for egoing claims are exaggerated, I cannot do better than qu ote the objective and impartial testimony of an outsider, a witn ess on the spot of the events 22 mentioned above. This witn ess is the Swedish writer Sven Auren who, in his recently published book entitled " Signatur e Tune" (Hammond, Hammond & Co., Ltd) says :- " "Endless seemed th e stream of Poli sh vehicles which wound toward Lithu­ ania over the darkling plain.... Th e Lithuanian military received th em and divided the sold iers and the civilians into two gro ups, sho wing th em wh ere to park th eir veh icles and wh ere to proceed themselves. A little fur th er on lay a large heap of weap on s on the roadside, ju st as if a lorry had upset its load. It was th ere that the Polish officers and soldiers had to lay down th eir arms before th ey could continue into Lithuanian territory. This wa s not a sa distic plan to humble th em, but an arrangement in conformity with th e rules of international law.• .. " •. . The Lithuanians beh aved splend idly . They were kind and under stand­ ing. They were helpful and still found tim e for conso ling words. They behaved like gentlemen in th eir hour of testin g, for th ey hat ed th e P oles. They ha ted them becau se th ey conside re d that Poland had stolen th eir ca pital fr om th em. In 1920 the Soviet Union and P oland had both acknowledged Lithuania's right to Vilna. Two da ys after th e Poli sh-Lithuanian P act had been signed th e Polish Gene ra l Zeli gow ski march ed into Vilna and occ upied th e town. This action cre ate d something like a sta te of war betw een th e two countries, which had lasted until th e present war. The Lithuanians had to content th emselves with Kaunas as th eir capital. They th emselves calle d thi s arrangement 'provisional', but it re mained permanently pr ovision al. Wh en the P oli sh catastro phe occurre d th e little country of Lithuania experience d her greates t national temptation. For twenty years th e Lithuanian Govern ment had retained the peopl e's loyalt y by say ing that Vilna wou ld again become th e ca pital. Now, owing to "th e Poli sh collapse, Vilna was open and undefended for two days--the two da ys which fell be twee n th e cessation of th e German attacks on th e town and th e arrival of th e Ru ssian s. The Lithuanian Army would only ha ve had to walk ab out two an d a ha lf Swedish mil es in orde r to occ upy the town , and as Russo-Lit huanian rela­ tions were not only good, but very good, it was not fea r of th e Red Army th at kept the Lithua nian Govern ment fro m giving suc h an order. It was ju st th at they thought suc h an action savo ured of hitt ing a man when he was down. Furt hermore, it woul d not have bee n surp rising if th e Lithuani ans had closed their borders to th e flood of despairing Poles wh ich rolled on towards them, fleeing from both Germa ns and Ru ssian s, Bu t th e Lithuanian s received th em as brot hers. The zloty was in those days the lowest-rated currency in Europe, but th e Government made arrangements for the P oli sh r efu gees to cha nge th eir zlotys at the Lithuanian Sta te Bank. Excellent internment camps wer e inaugur­ ated in th e spa town of Kalautuva, where th e officers' camp alone accommodate d 2,000 officers. Qu ar-ters wer e arran ged in Kaunas for th e civili an r efu gees, and cre dit was given in restaurants and shops. In Septe mber, 1939, Lithuania pr oved herself to be one of Europ e's most civilized nations. It wa s already quite clear th at th e more war developed th e more the existence of th e Baltic Stat es would be threaten ed , so that any Baltic State had every reason to conse rve it s ene rgy for it s own use and it s own interests. Nevertheless Lithuania found time to help her her editary ene my; Poland. ... "

23 IV. LITHUANIA UNDER SOVIET OCCUPATION

Lithuanian-Soviet Relations Speaking generally, until 1939 Lithuanian relations with Soviet Russia remained friendly. By the Treaty of Moscow of July 12th, 1920, Soviet Russia recognized Lithuania as a sovere ign and independent State, and renounced forever all her claims to Lithuanian territory. Article 1 of this treaty reads as follows:- "In conformity with the ri ght declared by the Ru ssian Socia list Fe dera ted Soviet Republic of all peopl es to a free self-dete rmination, including the ri ght of full secession from th e State of whi ch th ey wer e a part , Ru ssia recogni zes l"ithout any reserve th e sovereignty and indep end ence of th e State of Lithuania with all juridical con sequ ences resulting from such recognition, and voluntaril y and for ever renounces all sovereign ri ghts possessed by Ru ssia over th e Lithuanian peopl e and territory. "The fact that Lithuania was ever under Russian sovereignty does not pla ce the Lithuanian peopl e and th eir territory under any obliga tion to Ru ssia. Six years later a Non-Aggression Pact betw een Lithuania and the Soviet Union was signed at Mosc ow on September 28th, 1926, whereb y the Soviet Union again reaffirmed its guarantee of the Lithuanian fron­ tiers. It was renewed in 1931 for five years, with an additional clause . providing that it shall remain automatically in force unless six months' previous notice be giv en by eithe r party of its intention to terminate it. Neither party ha s ever invoked this clause. The Non-Agg ression Pact thus remains in for ce. In 1933 it was strengthened by the conclusion of a Convention defining aggression whi ch , inter alia, provided that " no considerations of a political, military, economic or an y other nature shall serve as an excuse or justification for aggr ession. " Then soon after th e outbreak of the present war Lithuania was forced by Soviet Ru ssia to sign, on October 10th, 1939, th e so-called Mutual Assistance Pact, in accordance with which she was compe lle d to admit Soviet garriso ns and to grant air bases on Lithuanian territory. Even on this occasion the Soviet Government again solemnly reit erated its promise to respect Lithuania's sovereignty and not to interfere in Lithuanian internal affairs. Article VII of this tr eaty reads:- "Fulfilment or this tr eaty shall not in any way affect th e sovereign rights of th e contracting parties, in particular th eir State organization, economic and social systems, militar y measures, and generally the principle of non -int ervention in int ernal affairs." Furthermore, on October 31st, 1939, Foreign Commissar Molotov, in his speech to the Supreme Council of the U.S .S.R., sp eaking about thi s Mutual Assistance Pact, declared:- "The Pacts 'with th e Baltic States in no way imply th e int ru sion of th e Soviet Union in th e int ernal affairs of Estonia, Lat via or Lithuania as some for eign interests are tryin g to hav e it believed... . Th ese Pact s ar e inspired by 24 mutual resp ect for . th e gove rnme ntal, soc ia l and eco no mic sys tem of eac h of th e contrac ting parties. .. . We stand for an exac t and hon est fulfilment of agree­ ments sig ne d by us on a ba sis of mutuality and declare that fooli sh prattle of .sovietiza tio n of th e Baltic. Sta tes is of use merely to our common ene mies and to all kinds. of anti-Soviet provocat eurs." In spite of all these treaty obligations and friendly assurances, seven months later the Soviet armies were pouring into Lithuania. Having in loyal execution of the Pact of Mutual Assistance admitted previously large garrisons of Soviet troops in th e newl y-cr eated bases, Lithuania found her self no longer in a p osition to put up an y defense against th e invader. Moreover , an y armed resistance against the invading Ru ssians would have forced the small Lithuanian .Arrny into th e arms of Nazi Germany for an in evitabfe internment- a per sp ecti ve whi ch th e Lithu­ anian Government wanted to avoid at any price. In th e iniddle of JUne, 1940, the whole country was occupied. The Prime Minister Merkys was arres ted and deported 'to a remote part of Soviet Ru ssia. The same fate ' befell a large number of other Lithuanian leader s. Together with th e" occ upying army, specia l Soviet em issary V. G. Dekan ozov, . Vice-Co mm issar of Foreign Affairs, arrived in Kaunas. Op en inter vention in th e internal affairs of Lithuania now began. Demon strations, with th e participation of th e Red Army, wer e organized and a puppet government, cons isting of men chosen by th e Soviet Lega­ ti on in Lithuania, was put in power. Soon other measures were taken with a view to legalizati on of the Soviet 'occupation. Upon orders re­ ceived from Moscow, and under supe rvision of th e Moscow emissaries, who were activel y supported by th e Red Army, new "elections" were org anized. They were proclaimed on July 5th and th e polling took place on 14th and 15th of July. (Exactly th e same dates were fixed for Est onia and Latvia, and the whole process of " elections" was identical in all three Baltic States. ) The entire organizatio n of these elections was ca rried through with comp lete disregard for th e electoral laws of Lithuania. All parties were suppressed and a new party, the so-called "Working P eople' s Union," was specially formed by the emissaries of Moscow. All candidates put up indep endently of that Union were 'arbitrarily di squalified before th e "elec tio ns ." Thus only one list of cand idates-that of the " Union"­ was submitte d to th e voters, and it contained the exact number of candidates to be elected. The "elec tions" took place under cl ose super­ vision of Moscow emissaries and Red Army units and in an atmospher e of terror and intimidation . Ever yon e was to " vote" and have hi s or her passp ort stampe d under th e th reat of becoming "an enemy of the people" for failure to do so. lt was announced that 95 .51 p er cent. of th e "electorate voted in favor of the " Working People's Union" candidates. It appears, however, t hat th e votes wer e not actually counted and wer e destroyed immediately thereafter. This is supported b y the fact that th e results of the "voting" 25 were announced in one of the London papers twenty-four hours before the polls were closed! Nor does the claim of 95.51 per cent. of the electorate appear to be true. As became kn own later, only some . 16-13 per cent. of the electorate actually "voted." . One further feature of importance sho uld be noted in connex ion with these "elections." During the sh ort "electoral campaign" no question of joining Soviet Russia was raised or even mentioned. On the contrary, the only slogan of the campaign was in favor of ensuring "friendly relations between Lithuania and Soviet Russia." Since Lithuania has always been in favor of such friendly relations and effectively main­ tained th em during th e whole period of independence, it is likel y that even th ose who did "vote" had hardly anticip ated th e surprise with which they were soo n to be faced. .. ' The " elections" over, th e newl y-elected member s of th e " Pe ople's . Sei mas" (Parl iament) were convened on July 21st. The first and only qu estion of bu siness on their agenda was th e passing of a resolution humbly re ques ting that Lithuania sho uld be admitte d into the Soviet .UniPP" Having passed it, the " Peop le's Seimas" di sper sed. The Soviet .Union readily satisfied thi s wish and on Au gust 3rd, 1940, Lithuania ; wa s ~ecl ared to be a part of the Sov iet Union. . S l}ch, in .brief, wer e th e circumstances in whi ch Lithuania had her iri9.ependence sup pressed. It is now attempted to convince the world .that the Lithuanian peopl e have, of th eir own fr ee will, asked to be in­ corporated into the Soviet Union. As already sta ted, the Lithuanian people had, .nothing to do with it. All credit for this performan ce is due to.the Soviet Union and its Red Army. It was annexation pure and simple," It has been so duly certified by a resolution passed by th e very " People's Seimas" asking for in corporation of Lithuania into Soviet Ru ssia. Here are relevant passages of that remarkable document: . -"Now the people, helped by th e mighty R ed Army, have . .. esta blished in th eir own country th e Soviet Government.... If th e peopl e have been abl e to establish in th eir own coun try th e only ju st order-the Soviet order- it is all du e to th e S oviet Union:" Further evidence on these "elections" and th e " People's Seimas" has been supplied" somewh at later, ' by th e former members of th e sa id " People's Seimas" themselves. After the outbreak of the Cerman-Soviet war, when the Red Army hastily departed fr om Lithuania, the former members of the " People's Seimas" still remaining in Lithuania con-

* Vlad imir' Lenin, father of Soviet Ru ssia, ha s thi s to say about what is an annexation: "Any in corporation of a small or weak nation into a large or strong State without th e definite, clear and voluntary desire to that effect of th at nation" and especially "if th is nation is not accord ed th e right to decide th e problem of the form of it s political existence by a fr ee vote-implying th e complete withdrawal of th e troops of th e incorporating or merely stro ng nat ion-s-then th e incorp orati on is an 'annexati on, i.e., an arbitrary appropriation of a foreign country, an act of violence." (Collected W orks of Lenin, Vol. XII, p. 13;) 26 vened a , meeting on August 30th, ' 1942, and supplied some additional interesting evidence regarding the " elections" and the alleged "expres­ sion of the free will" of the Lithuanian people. In a statement signed at this meeting the former members of the " People's Seimas" declared:- "The People's Seimas could not and did not proclaim the will of th e Lithuanian people becau se- (a) The compo siti on .of the People's Seimas was made up in advance by the , ' C o ~mun i st Party, dir ected by Moscow's representative, V. G. Dekanozov, and by the Soviet Mini ster to Lithuania, N. G. Pozdniakov. The candi­ dates could be submitted only by th e 'Working People's Union,' nomi­ nat ed by th e Communist Party, and the number of candidates corres­ ponded to th e number of the members to be elect ed to th e People's Seimas. ( b)' As th e compo siti on of th e members was mad e up in advance, in ord er to enhance th e effect it was declared that 95.51 per cent. of all the electorate had voted, whilst in actual fact , as confirmed by th e People's Seimas election committee and by the statement mad e by the form er People's Commi ssar, M. Gedvila, and by the President of the LSSR Supreme Soviet, J. Paleckis, at the secret meetings, only 16 to 18 per cent. of valid voting cards were submitted at the polls. (c) A number of memb ers of th e Seimas, who were not members of the Communist Party, were compelled by threats to become members of the Seimas and to vote for incorporation into the Soviet Union. (d) When voting on th e incorporation into the Soviet Union took place, the votes of the members were not counted, and together with them voted all stranger s present at th e meeting. Not a single member of the P eople's Seimas might express a protest against the use of force as, in view of the cir cum stances, such protest would have involved danger to his life. Moscow' s representative and th e memb ers of the Soviet Lega­ tion openly threat ened all tho se members of the Seimas and their families who had dared to announce that th ey would not vote for in­ corpo r~ t io n int o th e Soviet Union." If any further evidence is needed to prove that the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union was planned in Moscow and that the resolution passed by the Peopl e's Seimas was drafted in order to justify Soviet aggr ession against Lithuania and thereby to hoodwink the world it was supplied at th e same meeting of the former members of the " Pe op le's Seimas" by th e former Foreign Minister of the puppet gov­ ernment, Professor Kreve-Mickevicius, who reported on his conversa­ tions with the Soviet Foreign Commissar Molotov, in Moscow on June 30th, 1940. According to his report, th e Foreign Commissar Molotov said to him:- "If th e Ru ssian Tsar s, beginning with Ivan the Terrible, were trying to reach th e Balti c Sea, th ey were doing thi s not for their own personal ambitions, but becau se th is was required ' for th e 'development of the Ru ssian State and th e Ru ssian Nation. It would be unpardonable if the Soviet Union did not seize this opportunity which may never recur. Tile leaders of the Soviet Onion have decid ed to incorporate the Baltic States into th e family of the Soviet Republics." We ar e thus called up on to witn ess the cold-blooded absorption of a small and weak State by a largeand powerful one , after the latter had 27 repeatedly given solemn pledges to resp ect the former 's ind ep endence. And the Sov iet declaration of February Ll.th, 1944, ab out the change of the Soviet Constitution, granting a certain measure of auton om y in foreign and military affairs and the ri ght of secess ion to the individual Sov iet Republics will not deceive the Lithuanian people. From bitter past expe rience they are only too well aware that such pledges are not likely to be implemented and that the sup posed ri ghts granted under the So viet Con stitution are almost certa in to prove illusory. As long as the Soviets choose to talk abo ut "Soviet Lithuania" and refuse to recognize her as indep endent now, the latest refurbishing of the Soviet Constitu­ tion by the inclusion of alleged fr esh ri ghts must, fr om the Lithuanian standpoint, be regarded as merely anoth er attempt to confuse world opinion and to divide Euro pe, and at the same time to disguise Soviets' im per ialistic designs. In view of the foregoing considera tions, the incorpo ration of Lithu­ ania into the Sov iet Union mu st be described as an obviou s act of aggression and as such devoid of legal foundati on or moral ju stification. Lithuania's sovereign rights have not lapsed an y mor e than those of, for examp le, Belgium, Holland, No rway or an y othe r country, as the result of German occupation. This estimate of the position was con­ firmed by one of the greatest men of our time, P resid ent Roosevelt of the United States who, on Oct ob er 15th, 1940, soon after the Sov iet occupation of Lithuania, addressin g a Lithuanian-Ameri can delegati on in Washington, among other thi ngs sa id :- "It is stated that Lithuania has lost her ind epend ence. It is a mistake to say so. Li thu ania has not lost her ind ependen ce ; Li th uani a's indepe ndence has only temporarily been put asid e. Tim e will come and Li thu an ia will he free aga in. This will happen mu ch sooner th an you may expec t." Thus President Roosevelt. The attitude of the United States Govern­ ment was put on record by its Acting Secr etary of State who on July 23rd, 194,0 (o nly two da ys after the first sessi on of the " Pe ople's Diet" ) , issued the following statement to the Press:- . " During these past few days th e devious processes where under the polit ical independence and territorial integrity of th e three small Balti c Republics--Estoni a, La tvia and Lithuan ia- were to be deli berately an nihila ted by one of th eir more powerful neighbors, have heen rap idly drawing to th eir conclusion. "From the day when the peopl es of th ese Republics first gained th eir ind e­ pen dent and democratic form of govern men t, th e peopl e of th e United States have watch ed th eir admirable progress in self-govern ment with deep an d sympathetic interest. "The policy of thi s Govern ment is uni versall y kn own. "T he peopl e of the United St at es ar e opposed to pr edatory acti viti es, no matter wheth er they ar c carried on by th e use of force or by th e threat of force. "They are likewise opposed to an y form of intervention on th e part of one state, however powerful, in th e domestic concerns of an y other sovereign state , however" weak. "T hese principles cons titute th e very fou nda tions up on whi ch the existing relati onship between th e twenty-one sovereign Republics of th e New World rests. 28 "The United States will continue to stand by th ese principles, because of th e conviction of th e Am erican peopl e that unless th e .doctrine .in whi ch these. principles ar e inher ent once again governs th e .relation s betw een 'nations, th e rule of rea son, of ju stice and of law- in other words, th e basis ' of modern civilizat ion itself- cannot be pr eserved. " (The Depa r tmen t o f Sta t e Bullet in • .Jul y 27 . 1940. Vol. Ill. N o . 57. pa g e 48.) Soviet. Rule in Lithuania Soviet rule in Lithuania was short-lived. It lasted just over one year - from ] un e 15th, 194.0, to June 22nd, 1941. But th e con sequences of its introduction were truly appalling. In an attemptito force upon the Lithuanian people the Soviet system and th e ten ets of Communism­ both of whi ch were utterly unacceptable to: the people-:-not only was the political and economic life of the country ruthlessl y destroyed, but a veritable storm of terror and violence was let loose upon its helpless victims . Arrests , tortures and executions, the s~dden disappearance of leading personalities of public life without trace became an everyday occurrence. . Finally, ca me the mass deportations of th e people from Lithuania and their dispersal throughout the remote regions of th e Soviet Union from .the Arctic to the borders of th e Mongolian deserts in Siberia. These mass deportations were care fully planned. They were particularly inhuman in that the deported families were deliberatel y, by a sp ecial instruction,* broken up-fathers and mothers with childre il were sent to different destinations, each being keptiri .ignorance ' of where the others were being exiled. Ten s of thousands of people have been thus uprooted- from Lithuania. There is evidenc e to prove that the plan provided for deportation from Lithuania of seven hundred thousand persons in the near future.f . No calamity of such magnitude had been experience d by the Lithu­ anian nation since the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the Teutonic Knights used to put invaded Lithuaniari territories to fire and sword. It is not to be wondered at that in these circ umstances the people, seeing th emselves he' pl ess and doomed, have aciually prayed for a war whi ch , in th eir belief, alone could deliver them from th e threatened annihilation. According to an estimate based on the evidence gather ed by the Lithuanian Red Cross, Lithuania suffered a total man-power loss of 65,000 persons, eithe r exiled or evac uated from Lith~~nia (including th e Vilnius region) during th e on e-year Soviet occupation of the country. The gre atest " catch" of the victims was seized during th e fir st ni ght of the manhunt of titanic proportions, th e 'night of June 14 to 15, 1941,-a total of 30,4.85 persons. This data is s ti 6~ t a ri t i a t e d b y authentic police and railroad do cuments, including "frei ght lists" of human cargoes showing th e car number s, cap acity a lld destinations. After th e

* S ee Appendix. t Statement of the President of LSSR Suprem e So viet, J. Paleck is. . 29 first night of manhunts when the heart-rending wail of defenseless vic­ tims resounded all around the country, menfolk went in to hiding and thi s helped redu ce the total of exiles.

Lithuania's Revolt Their prayers were destined to be answered sooner than .they .had expec ted. On June 22nd, 1941 , German y attacked Soviet Russia and the German forces crossed into Lithuania. Disre garding every thing else, th e Lithuanian people saw but one thing-a chance to overthro w the hated Sov iet yoke and to assert their determination to regain their indepen­ dence. A spo ntaneous and gen eral revolt against" the ali en Soviet rule broke out throughout Lithuania on June 22nd-24th. It is estimated that at least 125,000 men took active part in it. In two days, after bloody fights with the Sovi et garrison troops, the Lithuanian insurgents suc­ ceeded in taking full control of the chief cities of Vilnius and Kaunas as well as most of the provincial towns. A provisional National Gov­ ern ment was immediately organized and re-establishment of the inde­ pendent Republic was proclaimed before the German troops actually reached the capital. The revolt cost Lithuania over 12,000 casualties (more than 4,OqO killed am ong them), but it enabled th e people to reassert, if only for a brief interval, their will to freedom and independence. Hostile propa­ ganda has attempted to represent thi s act of revolt as one " made in Cermany." The insinuation proved to be false. The uprising against the foreign invader was actually a resolute assertion of the people's will to regain their lost freedom. Far from being pro-German, it was, in fact, a desperate attempt to confront the oncoming German incursion with a new 'and already fun ctioning National Government. That it was so was proved by the fact that after a few weeks this Government was suppres­ sed by the Germans, and that some of its members were arrested and dep orted to Germany. We know now that the said uprisin g and the formation of the Lithu­ anian National Government were th e work of a widespread secret organization, representing all political parties and patriotic organiza­ tions of the country. Th e German authorities suppressed the National Government, arrested great many political leaders and deported them to Germany. The Germans attempted to organize a Lithuanian Quisling movement on the pattern of similar movements in other occupied coun­ tri es. A so-call ed "Lithuanian Nationalist Party" was organized, and it was to play the role of the Nazi movement in Lithuania. It was a failure, for it proved to have harbored the same aim as th e under ground move­ ment, i.e., restoration of the independence of Lithuania. It was, th ere­ fore, also for cibly disbanded, its property confiscated and its more active leaders a~rested. After thi s no Lithuanian political or economic or gani­ zati on of an y kind was allowed in the country, and German rule became 30 sup re me . From that moment th e Lithuanian people began. their long struggle against th e new oppressor wh o, needless to say, is no less hard and brutal th an th e previou s one.

V. LITHUANI A UN DER GERMA IS

Af ter supp ressing th e Provisional Nationa l Coverrunc nt.. the Cer­ man s procl aimed Lithuania as part of th e so-calle d Ostland and in st i-' tuted a Germa n civ il administration. The Cerman-created Ostland ac­ co unted, ro ug hly spe aking, for 312,500 square miles with some I S: million people. Its western strip, al on g th e Baltic co ast, wa s called! " Agric ultura l Zon e," in op position to th e eas tern part, lab elled as at " Fores t Zon e." They did not find man y Quislings in Lithuania (none amon g lead­ in g personalities ) , though th e ground th ere might very well have been. more ripe for their germ inatio n (soo n after th e Soviet occupation ): than in som e othe r countr ies . Even those wh o at fir st, believing th e Germans, co -oper ated with th e occ upation authorities soon realized th e: German's true design s and resigne d th eir posts. Some of th em wer e sent to Germa n concentration ca mps, some were murdered. An over­ whelming majority of the people pro ved to be as anti-G erman as th ey were anti- Soviet. It is true, this anti-German feeling was not sponta neous . It grew gradually, th ou gh r ap id ly, as 'soon as German p oli cy towards Lithuania began discl osing its hand. The poli cy was cr afty and cunning. On th e one hand, German troop s were coming to Lithuania as ostentatio us. " liberators from th e Bol shevik yo ke"; they were promising to undo­ what th e Soviet occupation had don e-first of all, to abo lish nationaliza­ tion of private p rop erty intr oduced by the Soviet system and to retu rn the co nfisca ted prop ert y to its ow ners. All this wa s desi gn ed to gain th e: favor of Lithuanian s. On the othe r hand, th e evas ive declarations as to­ the future p olitical sta tus of th e co untry, supp ression of th e Provisi on al Na tiona l Governme nt, arrests of so me leading patriots, refusal to permit return fr om Germany of many Lithuanians who had previou sly sou ght refuge th ere fr om th e Soviet rule of terror-all th ese and similar rest ri cti ve measures did not fail to serve as significant indications of the contemplated German policy in Lithuania: As time went on and th e Germans continued to fail to implem ent their promises, the people became un ea sy and restive. German explana­ tion s that failure was du e to th e exigenc ies of war did not succeed in allaying gro wing susp icions. They were still furthe r stren gthen ed by th e action of th e Germans in assuming full con trol and management of the co untry's entire eco no mic life.. 3! Th ese German enc ro achments wer e met by the people with the only weapo ns available-evasions, sabotage, and .passive' resistance. But when, finall y, the Germans took the next step-s-that of bri nging -fr om Germany new sett lers and pl acing them in the far ms and in bu sin ess esta blishments from whi ch the Lithuanian owners were forcibly re­ mov ed, an exp los ion was inevit able. The Lithuanians passed from pas­ sive to active resistance against German attempts to colonize Lithuania. " Don't lea ve your farms! Don't give up your bu siness !"- was the ca ll of the underground Lithuanian Press. " And if the Germans use force- well, let blood flow! " . ... And bl ood did flow. The centur ies-old struggle between the Teuton bent on conquest of the Lithuanian lands and the tenaciou s Lithuanian s opposing thi s German " Drang na ch Osten " was on again.

Colonization German design s in the East have been kn own to Lithuanians fr om the earl iest historic times. Lithuanian distrust of Germany is neither new nor without foundation. It runs like a red thread throughout the entire history of Lithuania, fr om the early years of her nationhood until the present da y. The famous German " Drang nach Osten " origina ted by the Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century had for its object the co nquest of the territories inhabited by the Lithuanian people. A relent­ less struggle between the Lithuanians and the aggressive Ger ma n Knights continued without interruption for two centur ies until finally, in 1410, as men tioned in an other part of this rev iew, th e joint forces of Lithuania and Poland shatter ed the might of th e Teutonic Knigh ts and weakened the German lust for fr esh conquests. The price paid by the Lithuanian nation in this lon g struggle was hi gh indeed ; an entire bran ch of the Lithuanian nation , the Pru ssians, inhabiting the present day East P ru ssia, was virtua ll y exterminated an d Lithuania lost, for a long time to come, access to the Baltic Sea. Nor, as future events proved, was the " Drang nach Osten " definitel y stopped for a ll time, because it was subsequently rev ived by the successors of the Teutonic Knights-the Kings of Prussia and mod ern Cermany-s­ and finally led to partitions of Lithuania and P ol and (1772, 1793, 1795, and at the Cong ress of Vienna in 1815 ). Ru ssia and Austr ia participat ed with German y in the division of th e spo ils, but it is well remembered that the chief instigator of this crime ioas Germany (Frederick the Great, King of Prussia). Partitioned between German y and Ru ssia, Lithuania suffered under thi s double yoke till the la st World Wa r-the greater (eastern) part of it under Russian , the minor (western) part under Ger ma n domina­ tion. But the old sp ir it of " Drang nach Osten," seeking the as bo rption of a ll Lithuania, was not dead. It revealed itself again ill 1918 after: the Ru ssia of the Tsars had been smashed and victor ious Ger ma n y. 32 imposed upon Russia th e terms of the Peace Treaty of Brest Litovsk. U nder the terms of this treaty all Lithuania was to become a part of Germany. 'The so-called ' Hindenburg Plan provided for colonization of .all Lithuania. Onl y the sudden collapse of Germany in 1918 on the Western Front saved Lithuania and the oth er Baltic States. What Germany ~f the Kaisers failed to accomplish during the last war, the Germany of Hitler set about to achi eve during the present war. Germany was so sure of her conquest in the Ea st that this time she did n ot wait even for the war to end. She started 'a well-planned colonization o f the occupied territory. A central Colonizati on Office was established, a~ld in the Reich itself the question of colonization was sedulously ' boosted. Farmers and young people in particular were prepared for colonization. The impact of this propaganda has already been severely felt in Lithuania. Several districts had alread y been colonized in 1942, and by July l Ith, 1943,' approximately 4,700 families had been settled in Lithuania. This figure represents a tot al of about 18,000 or 20,000 p ersons, It was planned to bring in an oth er 20,000'settlers during 1944: As pioneers of Germanization the new settle rs were exempted from the obligation of deli vering grain quotas for five years, and also from ta xes. Th ey had spec ial shops where they could get an ything, whereas in the shops set asid e for the local population one could get scarcely a nything. Their food rations in the town s wer e twi ce th e ration of the local inhabitants. Th ey were armed and acted according to th e German 'custom, whi ch permitted th em to seize everything on which they could lay their hands. In short, the German settle r in Lithuania was a sp y favor ed by th e German civil administration and was one of the main­ stays of German policy in the country. The pro cess of colonization was conducted in a hi gh-handed and cruel manner. Below is quoted the text of an ' order which was usually serve d on a Lithuanian farmer sho rtly before th e arriva l of a new German settler to whom he was calle d up on to surrender his holding :- "A German sett ler (na me) is ap pointed to take over th e farm whi ch up till now you hav e manage d. Fro m th is day on he ta kes over manage­ ment of th e farm. You will remain with your family on th e farm and will help the Germa n settler to run it until such tim e as you are tr an sferred to a new farm. Y0 11 will be properly comp ensated and you will receive' proper provision accordin g to form er cond itions. Wi lful desert ion of the farm will be tr eated as sabotage and punished accord ingly. In a similar manner any insubordination will be punished . Th ese penalties will be of such a nature that anybody who does 'not obey th e new owner of th e far m will forfeit hi s right to compens ation for th e farm. All judicial cases will be dealt with individually and with due regard to comm on int erests. Th er efore everybody mu st rema in on th e farm to live peacefully, mu st not ra ise any dist,; rbances and mu st help with hi s fam ily in farm work . Onl y in thi s manner can tra ns fer of th e farm be,effected without loss to the former owner of th e far m. For th e same reason all form er owners are enjoined to show German ' sett lers all th eir friendship and support in hi s enterprise." (Sgd.) COMM ISSIONEII.G ENEII AL OF Tin: K AUNAS COLON IZATION HEADQ UART ERS. 33 · In practice the former owner remained on the farm only as a laborer. Only in exceptio nal cases ha s another farm been given in place of the expro priated one. An y other form of compensation for the former owner was out of the questi on. As a rule, the authorities did not even want to hear about it. Th e Lithuanians, .however, were impatiently waiting for the hour of "compensation," but the Lithuanians visualized thi s compensation somewhat differently from the Ger mans-they meant retribution. The outgoin g farmer was sometimes allowed to take away with him his clothes, some furniture and 15 kil os (33 lbs. ) of food . Everything else had to be left for the German settler. German settlers hav e lately been taking over more and more of th e leading positions in the adminis­ tration. The first step in thi s direction took place when a citizen of the German Reich was appointed Deputy Coun sellor-General of the Interior. As is known, his predecessor (a Lithuanian) is in a concentration camp. At th e beginning of July, 1943, every township elder had assigned to him a German who, as political commissa r, superv ised th e entire admin­ istrative procedure. Lithuanian officials were often forced to act aga inst th e interests of their country, so that many ·of them tr ied to be rele ased from their duties. In such cases the Germans did not find it easy to secure substi- . tutes, as no decent Lithuanian was will ing to be a traitor to his own people. For thi s reason alone more and more Germans have appeared in the Lithuanian administrati on in 1942-44.

Failure of German Mobilization Consequent up on German reverses during the winter of 1942-1943, both on the Eastern Front and in North Africa, the various non-German military units-Italian, Hungarian, Rumanian, etc.- hitherto fighting side by side with German tr oops, have now been withdrawn from the acti ve Eastern Front and returned to their homelands. This additional gap in the fighting ranks forced German y to look for new sources from which these losses could be made goo d. In many res pec ts the best source for thi s purpose seemed to be the Baltic States-Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. With a combined popula­ tion of over 6,000,000 people they could provide at least 500 ,000 well­ trained fighting men-a force which of itself would more than offset the disappearance of th e Italian, Hungarian , Rumanian, etc., divisions. In some ways such a for ce would perhaps prove to be even more valu­ able than the withdrawn Italian, Hungarian and Rumanian units : they hav e a better knowledge of Russia and th e Ru ssians; they inveterately hate the Soviet regime of which they had a taste for one year, and they dr ead the possibility of its return . The nearness of the fighting front to their own countr ies and the oft-repe ated intention of Moscow to sub­ ju gate them again serve d only to increase the fears of the Baltic peoples 34 and seemed to create most favorable psychological conditions for ra ising a new fighting force in the Baltic States and extending to them the plan of " total mobilization" already introduced in Cermany proper. Th ere was one hitch, however. Even the Germans re alized that, in spite of otherwi se favo rable conditions, th eir pl ans in the Baltic would be likely to fail unless that hitch were removed. The hitch inquesti on was th e policy hith erto applied and stubborn ly adhered to in the Baltic States, viz., re fusa l to sati sfy the legitimate desire of the Baltic peoples to regain their national independence ; retention of man y features of th e previous Bolshevik regime (chief amo ng which was the failure to restore th e ri ght of pri vate ownership), and, finally, numerous measures disclosin g only too clearly the German plan of systematic colonization of the Baltic States by Germans. If the proj ect to raise new armed for ces in the Baltic States were to have any measure of success, German poli cy would have to assume a different shape. It would ha ve to be radica lly change d or at least an impression to that effect would have to be cre ated. Th at much was recognized by the Germans themselves. Hence a series of fresh measures calculated to produ ce the desired effect upon the Baltic peoples. The right of private ownership, hitherto often prom­ ised but obstinately withheld, was to take effect " immediately"; a de­ cree to that effect was published in Berlin by Dr. Rosenb erg, th e Reich Minister for the occupied territories. The political aspira tions of the Baltic peopl es were to be gener ously met ; assurances were given that th e National Assemblies, in conformity with the wishes of the popula­ tion, would be convened in the near future. Finally, as the cro wning feature of German generosity and goo dwill, Lithuania, Latvia and Estoni a were to be gr anted th e privil ege of forming th eir own national armed forces, to be called "Nationa l Legions," to serve under their own officers and to defend side by side with the German armies their own countries as well as the whole of Eu rope against the deadly dan ger of Bolshevism. It was altogether too naive to expect the people to take seriously an y promises based up on th e authority of Dr. Rosenberg's " decree ." The assurances in regard to National Assemblies were too indefinite, too vague to be given an y cre dence. No wond er, therefore, that th e people took th ese promi ses for what th ey really were-an ingenious artifice designed to ma sk the true German purpose, which was to pro­ vide armed assistance for Germa ny in the guise of National Legions. That is how th e Lithuanian peo ple estimated the situation, and their subsequent attitude was str ictly controlle d and dictated by these con­ siderations. . The Germans'. first step towards General Mobilization was an appeal to some prominent Lithuanians for their support. Their answer was negative. The reason given was that, although Lithuanians would be 35 ready to defend their count ry against a rep etiti on of the Soviet invasion , only a legitimate Government of independent Lithuania could declare mobilization. . After th is the Ger mans turned to the Lithuanian General Counsellors, but even they re fuse d to obey such instructi ons. As a result of this re fusal most recalcitrant Counse llors wer e arrested and some of them dep orted to German y. The Germans then decided to do the job themselv es, altho ugh Inter­ nation al Law forbade such action. They made th ree sep arate attempts at mob ilizat ion of th e Lithuan ian na tion, an d eac h time in a somewha t differ ent man ner. They inv ariably failed and each su ccessive failure exceeded th e previous one. Unfortuna tely eac h abo rtive attempt was fo llowed by reprisals, harsh er and differ ent eac h tim e. Th e first or der of general mobilization was issued for the formation of a Ger ma n-spo nso red Lithuanian Legion to fight with the Germans on the Eastern Fro nt. Guided by the underground Press, the Lithuanians, with few exceptions, stayed away from the registration centers and th e atte mpt had to be abando ned. This recal citrance, however , brought seve re rep ri sals in its wake. Sco res of intellectuals were dep orted, some exec uted; both univer siti es and all hi gh er schools of education as well as other centers of culture wer e closed; lib raries and museums wer e either destroyed or desp oiled. But non e of these measures succeeded in achiev ing the desired res ults. The nation was moved by one principle: " We are fighting for our own interests. No body thr oughout the course of history has ever fou ght to becom e enslaved and depr ived of rights. This is al so true of us, and we are, th erefor e, hu sbanding our resources for the coming struggle for our national freedo m and for a better future for mankind," sa id the under gr ound P ress.

Mobilization for Labor Service After this scathing rebuke the Germans gave up the formation of a Lithuani an Legion an d implemented ano ther plan to mobilize man­ power, thi s time, not for the armed for ces, but ostensibly for th e so­ calle d " Bau Battaillone" (Co nstruction Battalion s) whi ch would have to go outside the co untry to work . The Lithuanians saw clearly what was re ally behind this new German ru se. The Germans do no t want to leave mobilized men in th eir own co untry, not so mu ch becau se ther e is a labor sho rtage in the Reich as becau se th ey want to destroy the unsubdued Lithuanian element. Ther efore all the underground patriotic organizations issued an unani­ mo us or de r in their various publications to the Lithuanian nation­ " Stay put! Nobody must leave his coiuu ry !" And the order was ob eyed. The results of thi s new attempt at mobilization wer e even more disappointin g to the German s th an th e first time, and th ey meant to pay back every penny. P ers ecutions and re prisals were of hitherto un- . 36 heard-of barbarity. Th e police recei ved orders to arrest the rela tives of tho se who failed to register and were in hiding. This move hit most of all th e parents of deserter s. Here is a document by way of illu strati on t-s- "To th e Commissar of the Distri ct of Siauliai 1.6.43. Conce rn ing: Registration for Mo bilization . "It ha s become clear th at in numerous dist ricts only small numbers of th e calle d-up men of 1919-24 class have fulfilled th eir registration duty. In view of this I hereby order all Office Managers, Township El ders and Village El ders to render all th e ass istance in thei r power in seeing to it tha t th e above duty is fulfilled. All these per sons are fully responsibl e in th eir in dividua l distri cts for those who have to register . "Together with the local police th ey mu st see to it th at all th ose wh o have not register ed ar e arrested and put in th e District P rison. "If it is impossibl e to find th e per son wh o . ha s to register or if he has deserted , the n th e memb ers of his fam ily should be arrested. " Your Distri ct P olice Chief will receive from th e 55 and Chief of th e Police detail ed inst ructio n as to how to carry out this ord er. If every effort is mad e you sho uld be successful in detaining every calle d-u p man ." In the majority of cases the property of the arrested fa ~il i es has been confiscated. Almost nothing is known abo ut the fate of th e arrested. It is also difficult to ascertain the number of arrested families. It is, how­ ever, estima ted that approximately ten to fifteen families in every dis­ tri ct have been arrested by way of "setting an examp le." The measure would prob ably affect fro m 250 to 400 families. But it was no mor e successful than earlier efforts. It had to reckon with the resolute opposi­ tion of the Lithua nian nation and the in trepidity of th e arrested parents who were ' re ady for the sake of th eir chi ldren to endure th e worst. This attitude was typical and, with few exce ptions, universal. Baffled by this passive resistan ce, th e German civil administration was forced to ab andon further arrests of family members' and to resort to another expedient, whi ch took th e form of rounding up people for the armed forces and labor serv ice. Through out th e country there wer e organized hundreds of " ro und-up" expeditions for the purpose of detain­ ing everybody th at had notregistered for 'front or labor serv ice. Round· up units created such a situation in the entire country th at nob ody could an y longer be sure whether he would be in hi s old place th e next da y or on the way to an unknown desti nation. A round-up unit usually con­ sisted of a few S.S. men who generally stood at the head of a formation of former Soviet war prisoners- supposed to be "Ukr ainia ns." The so-calle d "Ukrain ians" pi cked out for this duty were usually degenerate types who have proved to be very cr ue l in their treatment of the local population . It,very often happened th at th e "Ukr ainians" shot th e passers-by in the stree t after curfew hour without exa mining their documents and without warn ing, although the victims may have had all th e documents on them. Th ese " Ukrainia ns" demonstrated th eir suitability for the tasks imposed up on them by persecuting in every 37 po ssible way Lithuanian youths of patrioti c views. Her e is a typi cal instance whi ch took place at Kazlu Ruda:- During th e ni ght of June 4th-5th, 1943, sever al hundred German police officers and so-calle d "Ukrainian" soldiers arrived by train at that town. At dawn the town was surrounded by armed men with machine-guns. The plan of action an d its execution were worked out and personally supervised by an 5.5. police general and his ass istant, both of whom watched the spectacle. At dawn the inh abitants wer e awak ened by installed loud- speakers ; they were ordered to get re ady and on demand to show their identity documents. Over thirt y men wer e arrested as th ey had no certificates about th eir lab or service. All of th em were later dep orted to th e Reich. On this occasion the expedition plundered the inhabitants of every thing on whi ch th ey could lay their hands. Even furniture was confisca ted. On th e following day there appeared through out Lithuania an­ nouncements of the civil administration threatening tha t identical measures would be resorted to if Lithuanian young men further shirked registration for labor ser vice. Ver y soon, indeed, th e hunt for men began throughout Lithuania. One ro und-up unit, consisting of eighty armed men, was sent to a small county town of A. ...Here one farmer's son, who was tryin g to desert, was sho t and three others were seriously wounded. Plunder was small, for the local vica r is said to have hidden over sixty persons in the church and refuse d to comply with German demands to op en th e church. On this occasion the Germa ns did not dare to break in . A few days later two officials of th e German civil administration and their driver were mysteriously shot. The local populati on put all the bl ame for this acti on on Soviet parachutists. Round-up parties in well­ protected lorries raged throughou t the country . People assembled in churches, theatres, cinemas, ma rket-p laces, on beaches, etc., were sud­ denl y surro unded and sea rched. Examinati ons of personal docu ments in the streets of Kaunas and Vilnius were an every day occurrence.

Solidarity 0/ the People Such actions have failed to achieve any apprec ia ble res ults. On the contrary, the nation has become hardened in its defian ce. Th e draconic measures adopted by the German civil administration have but strength. ened the solidarity and determination of the people to resist all German oppression. Some unusual meth ods have been emp loyed for thi s pu rp ose, as attested by the foll owing cases:- One morning a round-up unit appeared in th e little town of T. in eastern Lithuania. El ementary school teachers immediately dismissed th eir pupils, telling th em to go home and to spre ad the news of th e German gendarmerie's arriva l. By the time th e Germans had begun th eir battle their quarry was already far away . Onl y four young men, subject 38 to registration, were ca ught and put beh ind the bars. But even tho se four did not stay there long ; the town folk provid ed th em with tools to escape from th e p ri son. WhjJ e th ey wer e bu sy making a hole in the wall a policeman (a Lithuanian) was quietl y watching their work. Onl y after th ey had made goo d their escape and were a long way off did th e Lithuanian policeman raise the alarm. Naturally, th e Ger mans made th e Lithuanian policem an respo nsible for th e prisoners' escape, but later , at th e suggesti on of the head of the local govern me nt, th ey conse nted to release him on condition th at he sho uld round up twelve men in the district. The policeman himself was ab out to desert, but this did not suit the local inhabitants very well; th ey wer e afraid to get in his place a German or a Quisling policeman. It was th erefore agreed among th em that twel~e young men would voluntarily give themselv es up to the policeman and th at he would deliver "them to the Germans. These ar­ rested persons would then declare that they were voluntarily joining a construction battalion. The trick was that everybody signing such a declaration usually received full militar y equip ment and two da ys' leave. So it was in thi s case : th ese twelve young men decided voluntarily to join up so as to be able to use th e two days for a getaway ! Thus th e policeman remai ned at hi s post, and no young man from this district fell into German hands. Her e is an oth er exa mple of solidarity : On th e way from Vilnius to Kaunas passengers in a bus were sea rched by a German and a Lithu­ anian policem an . Not only were identity documents examined, but all the bags were searched. There was one passenger on this bus who felt himself caught in a tight corner. In hi s hop eless situation he turned to the Lithuanian policeman:- " He lp me, brother," he sa id, "or I am done for. . .. " " What's th e matter?" " My attache-case is full of Lithuanian clandestine newsp ap ers." " P ut it next to me," was th e suggestion. At a favorable moment the Lithuanian policeman took the case under his arm. On leavin g the bu s he warned the passenger in qu esti on th at he must come to the police station next day to " re new your passp ort." Wh en the passenger appeared next da y at th e police sta tion in Kaunas the policeman, with a wink, ap ol ogized for th e fact that th e bag was no longer qu ite full ; he had distributed half of its contents among his friends! Such incidents were by no means exceptiona l. In one of his speeches , Dr. von Renteln, Commissa r-Genera l for Lithuania, announce d, inter alia, a new " principle" applicable to labor deserters, i.e., that in future th ey would be treated as an "enemy ele­ ment." This " principle," according to von Renteln, was to be a cer tain criterion of whether the Lithuanian nation supported Bolshevism or th e New European Order. " There is no third alte rn ative for th e Lithu- 39 anian s," he said. " If the Lithuanian s are sa bo teurs of Ger ma n en­ deavors, th en they suppo rt Bolshevism, and must be treated accord­ ingl y." By the announcement of this " principle," it was hop ed not so mu ch to induce th e Lithuanian s to join the fr ont serv ice as to under­ mine the unity of the nat ion al forces in Lithu an ia. The men caug ht in dail y round-ups were usuall y put in conce ntr a­ ti on camps . There have been instan ces where, th rou gh starvatio n, tortures of various kinds an d other means, the arrested men have been forced to sign a statement to the effect that they were ready as civ il workers to work in the Reich for their food only. In one such camp near Kaunas there were over 1,000 students, secondary schoo l pupils, civil serv ants and w~r kers. All of them had been apprehended for failing to register. The ab ove-menti oned offer that they sho uld sign the decl ara­ tion was made to them also. As the arrested men, despite all threats, refu sed to comp ly, fifty were chosen and charged with bein g " ag ita tors" and " corrupting others," and were sho t as " Bolshevi k stooges." In reality the majority were the"most acti ve par ticipants of the Lithuanian uprising against the Bolsheviks on June 23rd, 1941. Notwithstanding all these barbarous measures, the results of "the mobilization wer e ver y disappointing to the German autho rities. The following figures show the res ult of German mobilization in Lithuania; The total number of men of various classes subjec t to the call was rou ghly 250,000. Out of this number the German s succeeded in pressin g into the service only 3,940 men , including in this figure 130 "volun­ teer s" released for the purpose from the pri sons and 1,240 ca ught by the police in rounding-up expedi tions. The number of men sho t during the round-ups had by the beginning of Septem ber, 19't 3, reached 84. If we take into consideration th at for personal or other re aso ns cer tain alien elements responded to the call, then the figures sho wn above are an eloquent testi mon y to the na tiona l unity of the Lithuanian s. They paid th e price for it, for the Germans never fail to wreak venge ­ ance for th eir failure. Yet, so far, they were not succeeding in their attemp ts to cow th e people "into subm ission. On th e contrary, Ger ma n reprisal s usually ser ved , to knit the people int o a stro ng and mo re determined opposition.

German Reprisals After th e latest failure of Germa n attemp ts to mobilize Lithuanian manhood for war purposes, a fr esh series of reprisal s began. This tim e they consisted chiefly of deportation s to the Reich. The first district to be affected by this measure -was that of Svenci on ys in eas tern Lithuania. From the town of Sven cionys and its neighborhood 1,500 Lithuanian s have been deported. This dep ortation, in its cruelty and brutality, sur­ passed even the well-known dep ort ati on s of Lithuanian patriots to Siberia ca rried out by the G.P.V. in June, 1941. The dep orted "Were not 40 allowed to take even food or clothing . 1t was p lanned at first to deport all th e inhabitants fr om the district of Svencion ys without exception. Even the so-called officials of th e Lithuanian local administration wer e arrested, excluding only the Chi ef of the District and his two assistants. All the police, teacher s, doctors, etc., were p acked away into th e prison s. But such a summary action caused chaos in th e local adminis­ tr ation so th at, on the inter vention of the Wehrmacht, railway employees and some other officials had to be released and saved from deportation. Agents of the German Gestapo spread rumors that another 30,000 to 50,000 Lithuanian s from other parts of the country would soon be deported. The dep ortation s from Svencionys have naturally thrown the entire country into a state of alarm. Th e population began arming itself. Undergro und military tr aining and in structi on have begun. ·Acts of sabotage have increased . The derailing of trains in Lithuania has be­ come frequent. .The farmsteads of th e newl y-imported German settlers ha ve gone up in flam es. Th e whole Lithuanian underground Press ha s issued a double warn ing-one to th e Lithuani an nation and an other to the German civil admin istration. In the for mer the people were urged not to lose cour age and not to strike without ad equate prep aration or prematurely. The German autho rities were warned th at " The Lithu­ anians are not going to dig their own graves !"-a hint that reprisals would not be taken lyin g down.

Further Attempts to Use Lithuanian Manpower Although the meagre results of German atte mpts at mobilizati on during 1943 had becom e obvious, the German authorities have not abandoned th eir aim to make some use of th e country's. manpower. Th ey evolved seve ra l oth er schemes with the intention of pressin g, by hook or crook, the Lithuanians into some sort of military service. One such plan was to rev ive the Lithuanian Home Guard, whi ch had been in existence prior to the war an d was known as " Sauliai"- a highl y patri oti c semi-militar y organiza tion for defens e of the country . The Home Guards wer e to ha ve ostensibly only one task-to rid the country of the Sov iet parachutists. The idea was a clever on e: the Lithuanians were anxiou s to form some kind of military organization to meet p ossible eventualities whi ch in du e course ma y offer themselves for getti ng rid, not only of Soviet parachutists, but of the present occupa nts as well. But the Lithuanian s did not conse nt to th is plan mainl y for three reasons: - (n Under prevailing conditions there was no guarantee that the revived Lithuan ian Home Guard would not be used outside the border s of Lithuania ; (2) After the statement made by the German Commissar-Ceneral von Henteln on July 25th, 1943, all the Lithuanian p atriots who, for purely patrioti c reasons , refu sed to obey an y Ger- 41 man or ders in connexion with mobilization, were to be treated as war crim inals and "enemy elements." In view of this fact there was a dan ger that th e Lithuanian Home Guard could be forced to act against th e pe ople of their own country and th ere­ fore against th e interests of th e Lithuanian nation ; (3) The events of June 23rd, 1941 (the uprising against Sov iet . rule) proved that th e Lithuanians, even under th e terror rule of th e G.P.V. , managed to form and maintain a secret p atrioti c military or ganization. The German civil administration wanted to entru st the former military leader of this organization, Colonel Kalmantas, with the task of rev iving the Lithuanian Home Guard. He re jected this prop osal, giv­ ing as his reason the fact th at acco rding to the statute of th e Lithuanian Home Guard, their purpose and task is " to defend and to preserve the sta te indep endence of Lithuania," and this condition was la cking. After this, th e First Counsellor, General Kubiliunas, on the instructi ons ­ of the Commissar-General, appointed a commission to work out a new sta tute for th e Lithuanian Home Guard. No more has since been heard abo ut the Home Guard scheme. It failed . Ti reless Ger ma n effor ts to raise some sort of military force in Lithuania, th e extent of German duplicity in connec tion therewith, and the Lithuanian determination not to-be of an y service to the Germans.are best illustrated by ano ther German scheme, which took shape in the early spring of 1944 under the following circ umstances :- Various previous un successful attempts at mobilization had convince d the Germans that so long as th ey denied to Lithuania recognition and treatment as an independent country and so lon g as th ey tried to mobilize th e Lithuanian forces as a compo nent part of th e Germa n army, there was no hop e of inducing them to form any armed units. On th e other hand, th e Germa ns were no doubt aware of the Lithuan ian desire to form their national force for protecti on of their own count ry . They therefore decided to exploit this desire and, with th is aim in view, they approache d General Plech avicius, one of the outstanding Lithuania n military figures and one-time Chief of Staff. They suggested to him the idea of forming a number of purely Lithuanian battalions under hi s di rect comma nd. General Plechaviciu s agreed, but stip ula ted certa in conditio ns, amon g whi ch were th e following: (1) The newly-formed ba ttalions were to be officere d exclusively by Lithuanian officers and under his, General Plechaviciu s', command ; (2) battali ons so formed would not be taken outside Lithuania and wer e to be used excl us ively fo r keeping order in , and for the defense of, the country; (3) th e Germans sho uld aban don any further attempts at recruiting Lithuanian s for an y other formation whatsoever. After p rotracted negotiations, at the beginning of March, 1944, an ag reement was reached whereby General Plech avius was to form , on th e 42 'foregoing conditions, Iou rteen battali ons, viz., thirteen ba tta lio ns of 750 men each and the fourteenth (a training battalion for non-com­ missioned officers) of 1,800 men. Besid es there was to be a cadet school for officers, with a comp lement of 1,200. It is conjec tured that the two foll owin g principal considera tions may have prompted General Pl echa­ vicius to give his consent to thi s plan, i.e, (1) It was felt that the war was entering a decisive stage frau ght with cer tain eventualities ren dering it highly advisa ble that a dependable Lithuanian armed force should be at hand for the protecti on of the interests of the country ; and (2) the promise exacted from the German author iti es th at th ey would give up further recruiting for any other units would put a stop to the con­ tinuous hunting of Lithuanian young men for th e various Germa n ser­ vices, and would thu s afford them a cha nce to return home from the forests and other hiding places. Genera l Plechaviciu s issued a call to join his battalions; and in a ver y short time, by April 1944, he had form ed fourteen batt alions up to strength. It had been reported that the respo nse to his call produ ced some 30,000 volunteers-double the number required. But here Ger­ man duplicit y once more manifested itself. Seeing the success of Gener al Plechavicius' call, they convenie ntly forgot their promises to desist fr om recruiting "for an y other un it whatsoever," and on Ap ril 28th suddenly took steps to mobilize ten full annual qu otas of privates and all Lithuanian officers and non-com­ missioned officers. General Pl echaviciu s vehemently protested. Th e Ger­ ma n answer was an o rder of May 13th, whereby the fou rteen battalions were to become part of the 5.5. form ati ons. Genera l Plechavicius re­ fused to comply with thi s order. " I am a soldier," he said. " I have never served in the police and I do not intend to serve in it now. Un less this order is cance lled by to-ni ght , I am going to disband the batta lions myse lf." In a few hours he received from the German Commissar-Gen­ era l a statement in wr iting informing hi m th at " the honor conferre d , up on the battali ons to call themselves Wa ffen 5.5 . units is withdrawn." This move proved to be a trick to pacify the General. Th e next da y General Plechaviciu s and his Chief of Sta ff, Colonel Urbonas, rece ived an invitation from the Chief of the German Poli ce in Lithuani a, named Hintze, to visit him. Here both of them were arrested and deported to Germany. At th e same time, Germa n troops sur ro unded the head­ quarters of the Lithuanian battalions in Kaunas for the purpose of arresting the officers who, however , offere d armed resistance. A bl oody clash took place. Resistance was overco me. A number of officers were shot on the spot; the rest were arrested and interned. On the night of May 14th-15th, 5.5. troops surrounded the Lithu­ anian military school in Mariampole. Here the above-mentio ned of­ , ficers' and non-commissioned officers' scho ols were situated. ' The cadets of both schools refused to sur re nder and fought to the last round of 43 ammunition: Heavy cas ualties were suffered on both sides. III the end, however, the survivors were over whelmed. "Some Lithuanian officers committed suicide. The surviving officers and cadets were arrested and removed to an unkown destination. On Ma y i su, the Ger ma n tr oop s began to disarm the Lithuanian battalions stationed in Vilnius an d in the eas tern part of Lithuania. Th ey were on ly partially succe ssful : some batt alion s were di sarm ed , but others man aged to retre at into the wood s, defying Ger man atte mpts to surroun d them. Similar German attempts against seven battalions stationed in Panevezys and northern Lithuania were unsuccessful. Fore­ warned by the events in Vilnius an d Mariampole, the battalions had withdrawn into the forests, taking with them all arms and ammun ition. Some da ys later, according to unconfirmed rep orts, G en ~r al Plechaviciu s managed to escape from German hands and joined hi s battalions in the forests. True to type, the Germans began severe reprisals. Acco rding to th e report appearing in the " Baltiska Nyheter," the new chief of the Gestapo in Lithua nia, Hintze, had issued an order dem anding, under penalty of death, the return of all ar ms, ammunition, uniforms, vehicles and horses belongi ng to the disb anded battalions. The soldiers of the dis arm ed battalions were forced to "parade throu gh the stree ts of Kaunas-half­ naked, barefooted and often wounded-evident ly for the purpose of intimidation. The officers and non-commissioned officers were dep orted to an unknow n destinat ion , while privates were dr essed in "Luftwaffe" uniforms and under an S.S. esco rt were sen t to Germany to be used on airfields as gro und sta ff. Many officers were shot. Twenty officers of the staff of Genera l Plechavicius have been acc used of maintaining "rel a­ tions with the Wes tern P owers (Great Britain an d the Uni ted States) and of taking part in preparing an invasion of Eur op e and the Baltic States. Numerous arres ts were mad e among civilians, including abo ut one hundred intell ectuals who were charged with collaboration with th e Uni ted Na tio ns, particip ati on in the activities of the Committee for Liberation of Lithuania or distributing th e underground Lithuan ian Press. Am on g th ose arrested was Professor Anta nas Tu menas, former Prime Min ister , who was subjec ted to torture during an interrogation by the Gesta po . Th e fate of all th ese people is so far unknown.

VI. GENERAL ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE

Underground Mo vement Th e underground movement in Lithuan ia, havin g for its objec t th e restoration of the independence of the country, set in almos t from th e moment th e people were dep rived of their freedom by th e Sov iet in- 44 vas ion in June, 1940. That it was well organi zed is attested by th e widespreacl..,.evolt against Soviet r ule in June, 1941 , of, which m ention has -been rna de in previous pages. With th e advent of th e Germans and the - subseque nt occ up ation of the country by th em th e undergr ou nd movement did not di sappear, but,mer ely changed its di rection: instead of bein g primarily anti-Soviet as hitherto; it now became anti-Cerrnan also . Altho ug h for obvio us reasons, the present is not a fitting time to wr ite its hi story, so me of its features can be describ ed eve n now. Chi ef among th e factors co ntr ibuting to th e unusu al stre ng th and ten acit y of th e underground moveme nt in Lithuania is th e undergr ound Press which, in sp ite ,of gre at risks to 'its print ers, distributors and readers, keep s th e people united in th e struggle for freed om. Ano ther factor of no less importance is a well-knit internal organization which enjoys th e con­ fiden ce of th e people to an unusu al d egree.

Underground Press -There were eight printed clandestine newspapers of "general circ u­ lation " regularly publish ed in Li thuania. In addition , th er e are scores of local " home-made" sheets produced practicall y in every larger town. This P ress rea ch ed every village, farm and factory. For a small country of th e size of Lithuan ia, whe re th ere are no bi g cities which would mak e p ri n tin g and di stri bution much eas ier, this in itself is no mean achievement. The very names of th ese undergr ound newspapers are characteristic of th e moo d and attitude of th e Lithuanian people, viz ., " Independe nt Lithuania,"" Towar ds Freed om," " Fighter for Free- dom," etc. - To illustrate th e difficulties of th e underground P ress and also th e ten acity with which " p ublishers" are go ing about thei r busin ess two incid ents may be here recorded:- In 1943 in one of th e Kaunas suburbs th e p rinter s of one of th ese clandestine papers {"Fighter for Freed om"} were ca ug ht redhanded by Gestapo agents. Five men were apprehended during th e night in th e very ac t of printing th e newsp ap er. All of th em were, of CO urse, arrested and the p rinting-press, manuscri pts and p ap er confisca ted. No on e has ever heard; th ou gh one ma y imagine, what happen ed to these five men , but th e sa me issu e of the " Figh ter for F reedo m" 'ap peared only a few days later and h as been regularly appearing ever since. The places of th e unluck y five me n were ins tantly -filled by others. This is indeed , one may say, a case of " bus iness as ' usu al. ... " An other in cident, of a differ ent nature, happen ed in Feb ruary, 1944. In cidentally, it goes to sho w th at i ~ th e fight for fr eed om the customary rules of " utility" an d " aus terity" do not .necessar il y apply. Februar y 16th is Lithuania's Indep enden ce Day, ob servance of which was str ictly forbidden by th e Cermari autho rities . Both with character istic disregard for Gen nan -snscep tibilitiesfhe 'undergrou nd newspaper " Figh ter for 15 Freedom" decided to cele brate the occasion in its own wa y: the paper appeare d printed in gilt letters and with the national flag (yell ow­ green-re d) reproduced in color- this in spite of the additional work, time and danger involved. It was not surprising to hear that this in ci­ dent caused th e German authorities mu ch annoyance and irritation for th ey considere d, perhaps ri ghtly, that it was meant " to add insult to injury" to their dignity and authority. It is am azing to what an extent the Lithuanian people follow the instructions and advice of the under gr ound Press. This Press is the real voice of Lithuania. It represents the true spirit and feelings of th e Lithuanian nation. For th at reason it is deemed advisable to reproduce a few extracts fr om organs of that Press. It is felt that th e English­ rea ding public is more int erested in kn owing th e opinions of the people themselves, as expressed in secre t newspapers , th an th e views of certain protected emigres and their like, whether th ey are sitting in Berlin or Moscow. Concurrently such unfettered and uncensored confessions of political faith should contribute to a better understanding of the very intricate situation in Ea stern Europe, and foreign knowledge of them may even in th e long run help the cause of pe ace. , On th e second anniversary of the German occupation of Lithuania and the third anniversary of Russian occupation- both in June-the leading under gr ound newsp ap er "Nepriklausoma Lietuva"(Indepen­ dent Lithuania) on June 15th, 1943, wrote:- "Two P AINFUL ANNIVERSARIES: It would be ab surd to commemora te th e Ru ssian and th e German occupations separately, as both of th em in th e main ar e as identical and as inseparable as the Siamese tw in s. It cannot, however , be denied that some ta cti cal differ ences migh t occu r. The Ru ssian s mig ht be using more unpolish ed poli cy, whi ch is more characterstic of the East, whilst th e Germans might be executin g th eir dirty work in a more subtle, more int elli gent way and per haps looking farther ahea d. That dep ends on th eir cult ural standard. Thi s, however , is not th e principal thing, th e more so as even th is difference is fading out. Aft er liberation from th e Bolshevik yoke, depriving us of th ou sands of our people, we were able to breathe a little more freely, but that lasted only a short while un til th e Brownsh irts had organized th eir own machin ery of torture. Can an y Lith uanian now be sure th at he will not be arrested and deport ed? Can any farmer be sure that he will not one day be ki ck ed out of hi s far m, irrespec­ tive of wheth er he did hi s duty or not ? The same things ar e again happen ing as during th e Soviet occupa tion-arrests, murders, concentra tion ca mps, etc. All means are equally good to both th e Germans and the Ru ssians as long as th ey lead to th e ach ievement of th eir purpose, whi ch is to incorporat e Lithu­ ania togeth er with th e other Baltic States into Ru ssia or Germany, as th e ca se may be. The Russians, as well as th e Germans, are of th e opinion th at thi s aim can be accomplishe d only wh en Lithuania is inhabit ed eithe r by Ru ssians or by Germ ans, but not by Lithuanians. Therefore the Germans are alr eady colonizing 0 111' soil, evicting us from our farms and flat s, not returning to us our proper ties of which we were deprived by th e Soviet s and which are now bein g kept as the pro per ty of th e German Govern ment. It is no secret th at th ~ Russian s were also maki ng prep arations to colonize our land and dep ort us to th e Ea st. " The Lithuanian peopl e, th erefore, never staked their destiny on th e victory of eithe r of the occu pying Powers (German or Russian ) ; they ar c not staking 46 it now, and shall not do so in the future, since neither the victory of th e one nor th e defeat of the other would solve th e problem of th e fre edom and inde­ pend ence of Lithuania. Lithuan ia is resolved at the right moment to throw in her forces' with those of th e rest of occupied E urope in order to regain a free and independent life and to carryon her creative work [or her people and for th e peace and happiness of mank ind." To what extent the under gr ound Press is alert and efficient under most tr yin g circumstances may be judged by the following example:-- On Ap ril 28th, 1944 , 'as re la ted in previous pages, ' the German authorities announced the mobili zation of all Lithuanian officers and some classes of privates. On th e ver y next day, April 29th, ther e alread y appe ared extra issues of the undergr ound newspapers advising the people not to comply with the mobilizati on order. Here ar e some char- ' acteristic quotations fr om one of them," Independent Lithuania":- "The Germans intend to use our men in th e West, in dangero us parts and cities of Germany wher e th e (Allied) bombing is going on. In fact th ey demand that we should figh t not against Bolshevism but against th e En glish and Ameri­ cans. In this way our nat ion would be placed in danger of becoming an enemy of England and A merica, an ene my of th ose very countries whi ch recogni ze our inde pen dence and in who se capita ls even to-day th ere ar e our diplomatic Lega­ tions. . . Adhering to our undoubted right attitude-not to give a single man of our nation to die for inte rests that are foreign to our nation and to our State-­ we are going to hu sband strongly and with determination our youn g men for th e coming struggle in defence of th e fr eedom of our peopl e and our country. We were, we are, and we shall continue to be steadfas t and unbending in th is attitude. . . .Countrymen! Wh en th e pr oper time for active fighting actually faces our nation , we shall be called to it by tho se who are reall y expressing th e will of th e nati on-by th e Supreme Committee of Lib erati on of Lit hu ani a and by th e free Lithuani an Press."

Th e Supreme Committee of Liberation The united action of the Lithuanian people against the occupation authorities has increased in volume and intensit y, especially towards the end of 1943, when one central authority was formed by all the secret underground patriotic organizations. Hitherto various politi cal gro ups, parties and local organizations, including'comba t un its, had been acting on th eir own initiative without an y unified or central direction. In spite of this handicap , their attitude and general line of action were sur- , prisingly uniform. The leaders of these various groups, how ever, have realiz ed that their activity could in many resp ects be even more eflec­ tive, both at home and abroad, if th ey acted united in one bod y under a sing le leader ship. Apart from vari ous party organizations, ther e were already combinations of various gro ups, such as " The Unite d Front," indicating tendencies toward conso lidation of the national effort. Still th ere was a lack of one central leadership. The first step towards elimination of this handicap was taken iri October, 1943, when various political parties and combat organizations issued a Joint Declaration, an appeal to world opinion. Wc read in the 47 preamble ther eto th at " the Lithuanian nation, separated for more than thr ee years from the outside world by a wall of bayonets, desires that the world should hear the tru e voice of the Lithuanian people." In man y res pec ts thi s is an important as it is a tr agic document. It states in concise form, hot only what ma y be termed " Lithua nia's Case," but it also gives an authoritative acco unt of th e tragic experience of the Lithuanian people under a double enemy occupation. It al so makes some interesti ng reve lations throwing light on hitherto obscure phases of the international in trigue, whi ch finally led to th e outbre ak of war. It was issued in the nam e of all the Lithuanian pol itical parties and combat organiza tions comp rising the Lithuanian National Union, .the Peasant P opulist Union of Lithuania, the Lithuan ian Nationa list Party, the Social-Democratic Party of Lithuania; th e Lithuanian Chris­ tian -Dem ocratic Party, the Unio n of Combatants for Libert y of Lithu­ ania and the Lithuanian Front. The full text of thi s Decl aration will be found in the Appendix. The l oint Declaration of th e parties was soo n followed by th e adop­ tion of effective steps towards organization of a single leadership which was to direct the acti vities of the under gr ound movement th roughout the country . On February 16th, 1944 (the 26th ann iversary of th e decl arati on of the Independence of Lithuania ), th e newly-organized central authority whi ch took the nam e of th e "Supreme Comm ittee for Liberation of Lithuania" (or VLlK for short) addressed to the nation an appe al and a declar ation of po licy. In the preamble we read :"The Lithuanian nation, endeavoring to liberate Lithuania fr om the occupa­ tion and to restore th e fun ctioning of Lithuania's sovereign organs, temporarily impeded by foreign forces, stands in nee d of united political leadership. With thi s aim in view, the Lithuanian political gro ups, as exponents of the natio n's political th ought and in struments of its ap­ plication, have agreed to un ite all forces for common action and have created the Supreme Committee for Liber ati on of Lithuania." This is followed by a short sta teme nt of poli cy and an appeal to the people " to imbue themselves with t he spirit of unity and collabo ration in this un­ equal struggle for liberation of Lithuan ia." (Full text in the Appendix. ) Represent ing all shades of political th ought-from th e ri ght to the left, with th e sole excep tion of the Communists who never had any roots in the life of the nation-the Supreme Committee enjoys th e un stinted confidence of all Lithuanians. Th e whole und erground Press, as well as all combat units, now stre ng thened by the armed battalions which evaded German attempts to disa rm them, are under direction of thi s Comm ittee of Lib eration. For all practical purposes it is the under­ ground pr ovisional Government of the country. Its orders are obeyed and promptly exec uted by the population. It has succee ded in uniting th e entire n ati on to such a degr ee th at it has shown itself capable of apprecia bly nullifyin g most of the Ger ma n measures. 43 These ar e the latest events reaching the outside world from Lithu­ ania. They eloquently testify to the indomitable spir it of this small nation determined to fight for its freedom under well nigh hop eles s conditions.

-~-

POSTC RI PTUM

The for egoin g is a description of the situation in Lithuania as it existed until the end of Jun e, 1944. At the beginning of July the Red Army, in its western sweep, crossed the eas tern bounda ry of Lithuania. After five da ys of fightin g Vilnius was occupied on th e 13th, and on July 28th the Germans "gave up " Kaunas, th e Ru ssians announcin g its capture on Au gust I st, By the middle of October , practically all of Lithuania found itself, for the second time du ri ng th e present war, aga in und er th e Sov iet occupation. Wh at the ultimate fate of Lithuania is likely to be no one at this ju ncture can for etell. Th e immediate futu re, however, is dark with fore­ bodin g and a matter of the gravest conce rn to the Lithuanian people. Th e extremely harsh measures applied by the Red Army to the local populati on have al read y thrown it into a verita ble panic. The self-same Sup reme Committee for Lib eration of Lithuania , which so valiantly and success fully opposed the German occupation, has now been' forced to issue an appeal for international aid, fearing that th e new invasion ma y involve th e " extermination of the.nation." Horrifyin g stories are bein g told by Lithuanian refugees reaching neut ral countries. It is, for instance, asse rted th at well-known Lithuanian patri ots and employee s of local ad mini strative institutions under German occupation are bein g shot out of hand; that male members of the populati on fr om fifteen to sixty -five years of age are forcibly conscripted for the Red Army ; and that food is requisitioned from the farm ers " to the last morsel. " Stories fr om the western part, still und er German occupation, were no better. This ar ea of th e coun try was repo rted to be overc ro wded with re fugee s, both Lithuanian and Russian, who were devouring the scanty remaining stocks of food and the new harvest " like clouds of locusts." It is signifi­ cant that the German authorities, burning to wreak vengeance on the Lithuanians for th eir intrepid resistance and anti-German attitude during the occupati on, re fused to ad mit Lithuanian refu gees into Germany, . but freely passed Russians. The able-bodied inhabitants were pressed into for ced-labor ga ngs to dig trenches on th e German fr ontier. Thus within four sho rt years th e country , having endure d succes­ sively a Soviet an d then a German occupation, has now been caught bet ween the upper ami the neth er millstone of two hideous foreign ir- 49 ruptions and is being ground to powder. It is a tragic and an ommo us state of affairs: A word remains to be said about th e political asp ect of th e situation as it appears in th e light of fr esh developments. The Red Army has come ostensibly as a " liberator" of the country from the German yoke. The official Ru ssian High Command communique issu ed on July 13th, on the occasion of th e capture of Vilnius, stated that th e Russian troops "have liberated the capital of th e Soviet Lithuanian Republic from the Fascist yoke." The words " Soviet Lithuanian Republic" used ab ove in connection with so-calle d " liberation" sp eak volumes. They show clearly enough the intention to " liberate" Lithuania only in or der to make it a " Soviet Republic," i.e., part and parcel of Soviet Ru ssia. Wh eth er th at meta­ morphosis meets the actual wishes of the Lithuanian people themselves would seem to be a matter of indifference. Equal indifference is sh own to th e fact that, not only the spirit, but th e ver y letter of the Atlantic Charter and other solemn declarations renouncing territorial aggrandize­ ment, aggression and the imposition of foreign rule against the wishes of the people concerned is being openl y violated by one of the United Nations which sub scrib ed to all of them. And yet it is fai r to assume th at if th e forthcoming peace is to be just and lasting, such things cannot be either forgotten or conveniently passed over in silence, for the principles at stake are a part of the very foundation on which the structure of future peace must rest. 1 feel -I cannot put the issue more clearly th an was done by " The Weekl y Review" of Augu st 3rd, 1944, when it said:- "The Lithuani an s re fuse to obey orders given th em either by Germany or by Russia. Th ey speak of th e occupation of th eir coun try by th ese two Power s as identical and th ey are determined to resist aggression coming from either of th em. In th ese circumsta nces, what ar e our war aims? H ave we set our faces ag ainst aggression, as suc h, on a free country by a powerful neigbor ? Or do we distingui sh betw een German aggression and Ru ssian aggression in such a way as to condemn Germany and to justify Ru ssia for doing exactly the same thing? Put qu it e shortly, ar e we fight ing for a .prin ciple or are we not ? Th e issue in thi s instan ce is an ab solutely clear one-the same victims and exactl y th e same wrong done for th e same purpose-and we cannot avoid a decision up on it. The policy we adopt in th is and other similar cases will go far to decid e wheth er there is to be peace or another world war in some ten yea rs' time. Moreover both our hon or and our courage are at sta ke." .

-~- APPENDIX I.-INSTRUCTIONS R egarding th e Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Li thuania, Latvia and Estonia STRICTLY SECRET ( Trans late d in London from th e original R ussian Text )

1. GENERAL S ITUATION Th e deport ation of anti-Soviet elements from th e Balt ic Republi cs is a task of great politi cal importance. It s successful exec ution depend s upon th e exte nt to which th e distri ct operative "troikas" and opera tive headquarters are capable of carefully working out a plan for implementing the opera tions and for antici pating everything indis pensable. Moreover, care mu st be taken th at th e oper at ions ar e carr ied out with out distu rb anc e and panic, so as not to perm it any demonstrations and oth er troubles not only on th e part of tho se to be deport ed, but also on th e part of a certain sec tion of th e surrounding populat ion hostil e to th e Soviet ad ministration. . In struct ions as to th e proce dure for conducting the operations ar e given below. Th ey should be adh ered to, but in in dividual cases th e collabora tors engaged in carryi ng out th e opera tio ns sha n tak e into acco unt th e spec ial characte r of the concrete conditio ns of such operations and, in order correctly to appra ise th e situ­ ation, ma y and must adopt oth er decision s directed to th e same end, viz., to ful fill the task entrusted to them without noise an d pa nic.

2. PROCEDURE OF I NSTR UCTI NG Th e instructing of operati ve gro ups by th e district "tro ikas"* shan be done as spee dily as possible on the day before th e beginning of the opera tio ns, taking int o considera tion the time necessary for travelli ng to th e scene of operations. The' district " troi ka" shan pr eviously prepar e th e necessar y tr an spo rt for con­ veyance of the oper at ive groups in th e village to the scene of operati ons. On th e qu esti on of allocati ng th e necessar y number of motor-cars and wagon s for transport, th e district "troikas" shan consult the lead er s of th e Soviet party org anized on th e spot. Premi ses for th e issue of ins tructions mn st be carefully pr epared in advance, and their ca pacity, exits and entrances and the possibility of intrusion by strangers must be considere d. Whil st instructio ns are bein g issued th e building must be securely guarded by opera tive workers. Should an ybody from among th ose participatin g in th e operations failto appear for instru ct ions, the district "tr oika" sha n at once tak e ste ps to repl ace th e ab sentee , from a reserve which sha n be provided in advance , Th rough police officer s th e "troika" shan notify tho se assembled of th e Govern­ ment's decision to deport a pr escrib ed contingent of anti -Soviet elements from th e territory of th e said rep ublic or region. Moreover, th ey shan bri efly explain what the deportees represent. Th e spec ial attention of th e (lo cal) Sovi et party worker s ga there d for instruc­ tio ns sha n be drawn to th e fact th at th e deportees are enemies of th e Soviet peopl e and th at, th erefore, th e possibility Of an ar med att ack on th e part of th e deport ees cannot be excluded.

3. PROCEDURE F OR A CQUISITI ON OF DOCUM ENT S After t.he genera l ins truc tion of the operative groups, docum ents regarding th e

" "Troika"-a bod y consisting uf three members, §l dep ortees should be issu ed to suc h gro ups. The dep ort ees' personal files mu st be previou sly collecte d an d di stributed among the operative gro u ps, by communes and villages, so that wh en th ey are being given out there sha ll be no delays. . After receipt of th e perso nal files, th e senior member of th e operative gro u p shall ac quaint himself with the per sonal affairs of th e families which he will have to deport. H e shall, moreover , ascertain the com position of th e family, th e supply of essential forms for completion regarding the deportee, the supply of transpo rt for conveyance of th e deportee, and he sha ll receive exha ustive answer s to qu estions not clear to him. Simultane ous ly with the issu in g of doc uments, th e di strict "troika" shall explain to eac h senior member of th e operative group wh ere th e fam ili es to be deported are situa te d and shall describe the route to be foll owed to th e pl ace of deportation. T he roads to be taken by the operative per sonnel with th e deported families to the railway station for en trai nme nt mu st al so be indicate d. It is also essential to indi­ ca te wh ere reserve military gro ups are sta tione d, should it becom e necessary to ca ll th em out durin g trouble of any kind. The po ssession and state of arms and amm u ni tio n of th e en tire ope rative per ­ sonne l shall be checke d. W eapon s mu st be in complete battle readiness and ma ga zine loaded, but th e cartri dge sha ll n ot be slip ped into th e rifl e brea ch . Weapon s shall be used only in th e la st r esort , wh en th e operative group is at­ tacked or threat en ed with attack or wh en resist ance is offered.

4. P ROCEDURE FOR CARRYING · OUT D EP OR TATI O N S If the dep ortation of seve ral families is bein g ca rried out in a sett led locality, one of the operative worker s sha ll be appoin te d senior as regards deportation in that village, and un der hi s dir ection the operative per sonnel shall proceed to th e villages in qu estion. . On arrival in th e vill ages, th e operative groups sha ll get in touc h (o bserving the .necessary sec recy) with the local author ities : th e chairma n, secretary or member s of the village soviets, an d shall ascerta in from th em th e ex act dw elling-pl ace of th e families to be deport ed. Afte r this th e oper ative grou ps, together with th e repre­ senta tives of th e lo cal authorities, wh o shall be appoin te d to make an in ventory of prop erty, shall proceed to the dwe lli ngs of th e famili es to be deported. Op er at ion s shall be begun at daybreak. U pon enter ing the hom e of the per son to be dep orted, th e senio r member of the oper ative gro u p shall assemble the entire family of the dep ortee into one roo m, taking all necessary precautionary mea sures against any possible trouble. After th e mem ber s of the family ha ve been checke d in conformi ty with th e list, th e location of th ose absent and th e number of sick per son s shall be ascertain ed, a fte r which th ey shall be ca lled u pon to g ive up th ei r weapons. Irresp ective of wheth er or not an y weapon s are deli ver ed , th e dep ortee sha ll be personally searche d a nd then the entire premises shall be searc he d in order to discover hidden weapons. Durin g th e searc h of the premises one of the member s of th e ope rat ive group shall be appointed to keep wat ch over the depo rt ees. Sho uld the sea rc h di sclo se h idden weap on s in small quantities, th ese shall be col­ lect ed by th e operative gro ups and distrib ute d amo ng them . If man y weapon s are di scovered, they shall be piled into the wagon or motor-car which has brought th e . op erative grou p, a fter any ammunition in the m has been re moved. Ammu nition shall be packed and loaded togeth er with r ifles. If necessary, a convoy for tra nsporting th e weapon s sha ll be mo bilized with an adequ ate guar d. In the event of the discovery of weapon s, co unte r-revolutionary pamphlet s, lit er ature, for eign currency, large qu antities of valuables, etc., a brief report of searc h sha ll be drawn up on th c spo t, wh erein th c hidden weap on s or counte r­ n :volution ar y lit erature sha ll be indicat ed. If th ere is any armed r esistance, the :>2 qu esti on of th e necessit y of arrest in g the part ies showing suc h ar med resist an ce and of send ing th en; to the di strict br an ch of th e P eopl e's Commissa riat of Public Security shall be decided by th e di strict " tro ikas ." A re por t shall be drawn up rega rdi ng those deportees in h idin g or sick ones, and thi s rep or t shall be signe d by the representativ e of th e Soviet party .organizarion. A fter comple tion of the search th e dep ort ees shall be noti fied that by a Govern­ ment decision th ey will be 'dep oried to oth er regio ns of the Union. The deport ees shall be permitt ed to ta ke with th em hou seh old necessit ies not exceeding 100 kil ogram s in weig ht. 1. S uit. 2. Shoes. 3. Unde rwear. 4. Bedding. 5. Dish es. 6.Gla sswa re. 7. Ki tch en ut ensils. 8.Food- an estima te d month's supply for a fam ily, 9. Mon ey in th eir possession. 10. T runk or box in whi ch to pack ar ticles. It is not recommended that la rge articl es be tak en . If th e contingent is dep orted from ru ral di stricts, th ey sha ll be allowed to tak e with th em small agri cultural stocks-e-axcs , saws and othe r art icles, whi ch sha ll be tied together and pa cked se parately from th e oth er ar ticles, so th at wh en boarding th e dep ortation tr ain th ey ma y be loaded into special goods wagon s. In order not to mix th em with art icles belonging to oth er s, th e Christian name, patron ymi c and surn a me of th e dep or tee and name of th e villa ge sha ll be wr itt en on' th e pack ed property. When load in g th ese articles int o the ca rts, mea sur es shall be taken so th at th e dep ortee cannot make use of them for purposes of resistance whil e t he column is movin g al ong th e highway. S imu ltaneou sly with th e task of loading by th e operative gro ups, th e repr esenta­ tives of th e Soviet party orga niza tion s pr esent at th e time shall prepare an inven ­ tor y of th e propert y and of the manner of its protection in conformity with th e in stru ction s received by th em. If th e deportee possesses his own means of transport, hi s property sha ll be loaded into th e vehicle and together with his family sha ll be sent to th e designat ed place of entrainme nt. If th e depor tees ar e withou t any mean s of tr an sport, carts shall be mob ilized in th e village by the local autho rities, as instru cted by th e senior member of the operative gro up . All persons entering th e home of th e dep ortee durin g th e exec ution of th e opera tions or found th ere at the moment of these operations mu st be det ained until th e concl usion of th e opera tio ns, and th eir relation ship to th e dep ort ee shall he ascert ained. This is don e in or der to di sclose per son s hiding fro m th e poli ce, ge ndarmes and other person s. After verification of th e identit y of th e det ained per son s and establishme nt of th e fact th at th ey ar e per son s in whom th e contingent is not int er ested , th ey shall be lib erated . If the inh abitants of th e villa ge begin to gather around th e dep ortee's home while op eration s are in pro gr ess, th ey shall be calle d upon to' di sp er se to th eir own hom es, and crowds shall not be permitted to for m. If th e dep ortee refu ses to open th e door of hi s hom e, notw ithstan din g th at he is aware that th e mem ber s of th e P eopl e's Commi ssariat of Public Securi ty have arrived , th e door mu st be bro ken down. In individu al cases neighbori ng operative gro up s carrying out op eration s in th at local ity shall be calle d np on to help. 53 The deliver y of th e deportees from th e villa ge to th e meeting place at th e railway station mu st be effected during daylight ; care, moreover, should be tak en that the assemhling of every family shall not last more than two hour s. In all cases th rou ghout th e operations firm an d decisive action shall be taken, without th e slightes t exc itement, noi se and panic. It is categori cally forbidden to tak e any articles away from the deport ees except . weapons, counter-r evolutionary literature and foreign currency, as also to mak e use of the food of th e deport ees. All particip ants in th e opera tions mu st be warned that th ey will be held legally accountable for atte mpts to appropriat e in dividual ,' ar ticles belongin g to th e deportees. 5. P ROCEDURE FO R SEPA RATION OF DEPORTEE'S FAMILY FR OM HEAD OF THE FAMILY In view of th e fact that a lar ge nu mber of deport ees mu st be arrested and distributed in special camps and that th eir families mu st pr oceed to spec ial settle­ ment s in distant regions, it is essential th at th e operation of removal of both th e memb ers of the deport ee's family and its head should be car rie d out simultaneously, without notifying th em of the separation confro nting th em. After the doinicilia ry search ha s been carried out and th e appropriate id entificat ion document s have bee n dr awn up in th e deportee's home, th e operative worker shall complete th e docu­ ments for th e head of th e family and deposit them in th e latter' s personal file, but th e docum ents drawn up for memb ers of his famil y shall be deposited in th e per sonal file of th e deportee's family. The convoy of th e enti re family to the station shall, however, be effected in one vehicle and only at th e station of departure shall th e head of the faimly be placed separa tely from his family in a car speci ally intende d for head s of families. . During th e assembling (of th e fa mily) in th e home of th e deportee th e head of the family shall be warned that personal male effects mu st be pa cked in a separa te suitcase, as a sanitary inspection of th e deported men will be mad e separately from th e women and children. At the stations of entrainment heads of families subject to arr est shall be loaded into cars spec ially allotted for th em, which shall be indi cat ed by operative workers appointed for that pu rpo se.

6. PROCEDURE F OR CONV OYING THE D EPORTEES The assistants convoying th e column of deportees cin horse-carts are stric tly forbidden to sit in th e said carts. Th e assista nts mu st foll ow alon gside and behind th e column of deport ees. The senior assistant of th e convoy shall from time to tim e go th e ro unds of th e ent ire colum n to check th e correctness of movement. ' When th e column of deportees is passin g ' through inhab ited pla ces or when enco unteri ng pa ssers-by, th e convoy mu st be controlle d with particular care; th ose in charge mu st see th at no atte mpts are mad e to escape, and no conversation of an y kind shall be perm itt ed betw een th e deport ees and passer s-by.

7. PROCEDURE FOR E NTR AIN M ENT At each point of ent rainment a member of th e operative "tro ika" and a person specially appointed for that purpose shall be res ponsi ble for entrainment. On th e day of entrainment th e ch ief of th e entrainment point, together with th e chief of th e deport ati on train and of th e convoying militar y forces of th e P eopl e's Commi ssari at of Intern al Affairs, shall exa mine th e railway cars pr ovided in order to see that th ey ar e supplied with every thing necessary; and the chie f of th e entrainment point shall agree with th e chief of th e deportation train on th e pro­ cedure to be obser ved by th e latter in accepting delivery of th e deport ees. Red Army men of th e convoying forces of th e People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs shall surround th e entrainment sta tion. 54 The senior member of the op erative gr oup shall deliver to th e chief of th e deportation train one copy of th e nominal roll of th e deportees in each railway-car. The chief of the deportat ion train shall, in conformity with this list, call out th e name of eac h dep ortee, sha ll ca re fully chec k every name and assign th e dep ortee's pla ce in th e railway-car. The dep ort ees' effects shall he load ed int o the car, togeth er with th e dep ortees, with th e exceptio n of th e small agri cultural in vent ory, wh ich shall be loaded in a sepa rate car. The dep ortees shall be loaded into railway-car s by families; it is not permitted to break up a family (wi th th e exce ption of heads of families subject to arrest ). An estimate of tw enty-fi ve per son s to a ca r sho uld be obse rve d. Aft er th e railway-car has heen filled with th e necessary number of families, it sha ll be lock ed. After th e people h ave been tak en over and pla ced in th e deportation train , th e chief of th e train shall bear respon sibility for all person s handed over to him and for th eir deliv ery to th eir dest inati on. Aft er handin g over th e dep ortees th e senior member of th e operative group shall draw up a rep ort on th e operation carried out by him and sha ll address it to th e chief of th e di strict op erative " tro ika ." The rep ort shall briefly indicate th e name of th e deportee, whether any weap on s and counte r-re volutiona ry lit er ature hav e been di scovered , and al so how th e operation was carrid out. After having placed th e deportees on th e dep ortation train and having suh­ milled re ports of th e results of th e op erations thus di scharged, th e memhers of th e ope rative group shall be conside re d fr ee and sball act in accordance with th e in­ structions of th e chie f of th e di strict branch of th e P eople's Commissa r iat of Puhlic Secu rit y. D EP UTY P EOPLE'S COMM ISSA R OF P UIlLlC SECURITY OF niE U.S.S.R. Commissa r of Public Security of th e Third Rank. (S igned) S EROV.

H.-JOINT DECL AR A'rION OF THE LITHUANIAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND COM BAT ORGANIZATIONS As th e end of this fri ghtful war dra ws near er, the Lithuanian nat ion , se parated for more than three years from the ou tside worl d by a wall of bayon ets, desires that th e world sho uld hear the true voice of the Lithuan ian peopl e. The Lithuan ian S tate was first esta blished in th e twelfth century. The Lithu­ ani an nati on lost its indep enden ce for th e first time in 1795 wh en the Lithuanian S tate was in corporat ed in th e Ru ssian Empire. From 1795 the Lithuani an s took ad vantage of every occasion to endeavor to restore th e Lithuanian Sta te (e.g., 1812 and 1863) until th ey were finall y able to accomplish th eir desire in 1918. The Treat y of July 12th, 1920, between Lithuania and Russia states th at "R ussia with­ out an y reservation recognizes Lithuania as a separa te and indep endent st ate with all th e juridical conseque nces ens uing from suc h recognition and voluntarily re­ nounces for all time th e rights of sovere ignty whi ch it has exercised over th e Lithuanian peopl e and th eir territory" (Art. 1). On Se pte mber 28th, 1926, th er e was conclude d between Lithuania and th e Sovi et Union a Non-Aggression Treaty, according to whi ch both states "mutually promise to resp ect on e another 's sovere ig nty and territorial integrity and inviolability und er all circ umstances." This Treaty wa s again confirmed on October 10th, 1939, by th e Treaty for th e Restitution to the Lithuanian Republic of Vilnius and th e Vilnius T erritory and for Mutual Assistance betw een Lithuania and th e Soviet Un ion . By th e sa me Treat y Lithuania wa s forced to accept Soviet garrisons . 55 'In a speech mad e to th e Supreme Council of the U.S.S.R. on October 31st, 1939, th e President of the Coun cil of the P eopl es' Commissars and Commissar for Foreign Affairs, speaking of thi s Mutual Assistance Treat y with Lithuania and similar treaties with the other Baltic States, stated : "We stand for th e conscientious and exact obs ervation of th e treaties concluded, on th e principle of entire reciprocity, and declare the idl e talk about th e sovietization ofth e Baltic States to be profitable only to our common enemies and to all kinds of anti-Soviet provo cateurs." Despite this, on June 15th, 1940, th e Soviet Union carr ied out a military occu­ pation of Lithuania and on July 21st th e sovietization of Lithuania was proclaimed. In an act pa ssed on the same day with th e view of union with Soviet Russia, it was expressly stated that th e sovietization of Lithuania had been accomplished with th e help of the Red Army, "thanks to th e Sovi et Union alone" (Official Journal No. 719, Serial 5744). All this happened in spite of th e fact that (a ccording to data disclosed during th e congress of th e Lithuanian Communist Party, held in Feb­ ruary, 1941) at the tim e of th e entry of the Red Arm y, th e Lithuanian Communist Party had barely 1,500 memb er s (see "Taryhu Lietuva" of 1941, No. 35) out of a population of 3,000,000. And even of tho se 1,500 memb er s the majority wer e not of Lithuanian origin. Upon th e declaration of the sovietization of Lithuani a (favored by 1,500, and it may be even fewer, Communists) , th e Lithuanian St at e was incorporated in th e Soviet Union ag ainst th e will of 3,000,000 peopl e and contrary to internati onal tr eaties. As will be seen from the not e of the Germa n Foreign Office to the Soviet Cov­ ernment on June 21st, 1941, th e incorporati on of Lithuania in th e Sovi et Uni on came about as a result of agreements between the Soviet Union and Germany, according to which Lithuania was ori ginally recognized as enter ing into the Ger­ man sphere of int er est. Later Germany renounced her int er est in th e greater part of Lithuania "waehrend ein Streifen des Gebi etes noch in der deut sch en Inter es­ sen sphere verblieb " (while a stri p of the territory still rema ined in the sphere of German inter est). That "Streifen des Gebi etes" comprise d th e districts of Sakiai and Vilkaviski s, with parts of the districts of Mariampole and Sein ai. Regarding the renunciation of its interest in th is part of Lithuania also, the note of th e German Government states: "Als dann spaeter an Deutschl and ,di eserhalb herange­ treten wurde ueberliess die Heichsregierung .. . au ch di eses Teil Litauen s der Sovietunion" (when later Germany was approached on th is subject, th e German Government ... gave thi s part up also to th e Soviet Un ion ) , This "giving up " of Lithuania to the Soviet Union is said to be correlated to th e fact that Lithuania refused to take pa rt in th e war against Poland, th e all y of Great Britain, on th e side of Germany. From the very beg innin g the Li thuanian nation has held th e sovietization of Lithuania and her incorporation in th e Soviet Union to be null and void. The domination of th e Soviets in Lithuania did not last lon g; it was ended hy the outbreak of the Cerrnan-Russian war and by th e Lithuanian revolt against th e Soviet Government at the beginning of that war. During thi s period th e Lithuauians form ed a Provisional Government, whi ch was set as ide by th e German occupation authorities and Lithuania has since been living for over two years under German military occupation. , As the war enter s its final phase th e Lithuanian,nation awaits with th e gr eat est anxiety the decision to be made conce rn ing the future of Lithuania. Th e Lithuanian people beli eve that this war may decid e the qu estion of th eir very existence; that as a result of th e war they will either be left to live as a nation and a state or will be annihilated by th e well-known methods for the destruction of nations, methods which have been already applied to th e Lithuanian peopl e for over three years. The Lithuanians see no third way out for them. Th e fact alone that Lithuania, which has taken no direct part in the war, has proportionately lost more people than anyone of the belli ger ent states, explains the anxiety with whi ch Lithuania 56 await s the morrow. According to approxim ate statistics, Lithuania, whi ch at th c end of 1939 had ah out 3,000,000 inh abit ant s ha s since the beginning of th e war lost more th an 250,000 peopl e. About- 45,000 wer e lost during the Soviet occupation, either kill ed in Lithuania or deport ed to die in d istant Ru ssian lands ; among th ese were man y of the flower of Lithuanian youth and of her intellectuals. Over 4,000 lost th eir lives bearing arm s during the latt er part of J un e, 194.1, in the uprisin g against th e Soviet Governmen t. Over 200,000 have been put to death during the present existing German occupati on. The gre ate r number of those who peri shed during th e German occ upa tion were Lithuan ian citizens of J ewish or igin. Besides th ese, on th e occupation of the country by the Red Army, tens of thousands fled fro m Lithuani a to whatever lan ds wer e open to th em. From th e very beginning of the Germ an occupa tion th ousands have been tak en away to for ced labor in Germany. Th er e is no do ubt th at man y thou sand s of those who fled from Soviet occ upation and of th ose for cibl y taken to Germany, will never return ( 0 their homes. Since June 15th, 194.0, th e lives, li berty and property of tlie Lithuanian s have heen 'completely at the mer cy of foreign rul er s. In th e course of th e war an d under pr esent circumstances, should Lithuani a's occupati on by an ali en power again change hands, th e Lithuanian nati on may expec t a new and still more terribl e wave of extermination. Th ose wh o, according to th e doctrine so for eign to the Lithuani an peopl e, would be destroyed first have heen dubbed "enemies of th e peopl e"; these "e nemies of th e peopl e" ar e practi cally th e whol e of th e mor e active, mor e vital element of th e nation. In calli ng th e attention of th e world to thi s critical situation, the Lithuanian peopl e wish at the same tim e to emphasize that in thi s fourth year of their stru ggle again st foreign occ upation and for the national independ ence of Lithuania, they ar e fighting for th eir very existence; that they, too, even as oth er nations, great or sma ll, await the establishment of "a peace whic h will afford to all nation s, th e mean s of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and whi ch will afford assnrau ee that all men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from f"ar and want." Signed by: THE L ITH UANI ANN ATI O NA L UNION T HE P EASANT P OP ULI ST UNION OF LITHUANI A THE UNION OF COMBATANT S FO R T HE L IBERTY OF LITHUANI A THE L IT H UANI AN N AT IO NAI.IST P ART Y T HE SOCIAL- DEMOCRATI C P ARTY OFL IT H UANI A THE L IT HUANI ANC HIIISTI AN -D EM OC RATIC P ART Y THE LITH UANI AN FRONT KA UNAS. 14th October, 1943.

III.-DECLARATIONO F THE SUPREME C OMMI TTEE OF LIBERATION To t he Lithuanian People! Th e Lithuanian nation, endeavouring to lib er at e Lithuania from the occupation and to - restore th e fun cti oning of Lithuani a's sovereign org ans, temporarily im­ ped ed by for eign for ces, sta nds in need of united political lead er ship. With thi s aim in view, th e Lithuanian political gro ups, as th e exponents of th e nation's political thou ght and instrument s of its application, hav e agr eed to unite all forces for common . acti on and have created the S upre me Committee for Lib eration of Lithuania. - Th e Supreme Committe e for Lih er at ion of Lithuania, entering up on their duties, declare that:- 1. Th e freedom of the Lithuanian nat ion and th e indep end en ce of th e Lith­ uanian St at e are indi spensabl e cond itions for th e nati on's existence and well-being. 57 2. The sovereign State of Lith~ania has not disappeared by reason of its oc­ cupation by the Soviet Union or because of -the present occupation by th e German Reich; only the functioning of the sovereign State organs ha s been temporarily suspended. The occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union on 15th June, 1940, and th e diver s oth er acts perpetrated by force and fraud under cover of that occupation resulting in disruption of the fun cti ons of th e sovereign organs of th e State, wer e brought to an end by th e popular revolt of the Nation on June 23rd, 1941, and the fun ctions of the sovere ign organ s of th e State wer e temporarily resum ed by th e P rovisional Govern­ ment. 3. After liberation of Lithuania from th e occupation, th e Constitution of 1938 will remain in for ce until it is appropriately am end ed in a legal manner. 4.A Provisional Government of the Republic will be org anized, when th e proper time comes, within the Supreme Committee of Liberation of Lith­ uania on a coalition basis and by agreement of th e political groups. 5. The democratic organization of the State of Lithuania will be effected in conformity with the inter ests of th e peopl e as a whol e and with general post-war conditions. 6. The laws governing th e elec tion of the President of the Republic and of Members of Parliament will be modified in accordance with the principles of democratic elections. 7. The Supreme Committee for Lib eration of Lithuania, having undertaken leadership in the struggle and labour for th e liberation of the country, for the resuscitation of th e fun ctions of the sover eign org ans of the State, for the restoration of the democratic order, and for t he defence of th e country against Communism and oth er lif e-disrupting factors, will endeavor to bring about the broadest possible consolidation of th e community, at th e same tim e eliminating misunder standings am ong th e political groups. 8. Recognizing the gr eat importance of th e national armed forces in the stru ggle for lib eration of Lithuania, th e Committee will by all available mean s support th e restoration of th e Lithuani an army. 9. Th e Committee will maintain close contact with the Lithuani an Legations and Consulates and will collaborate with Lithuanians abroad, espec ially with Am eri can-Lithuanians, as well as with all nations that recogniz e the principle of self-determ ination of nations and th e ri ght of Lithuania to independence. 10. In order to facil itate th e cult ural and economic progr ess of the nation and to accelerate th e country's return to normal life, th e Committee will col­ lect and arrange the appropriate material for th e use of lib erated Lith­ uania's administration, as well as for regulation of the national economy, social life, justice and education. The Supreme Committee for Lib eration of Lithuania, in making thi s declara­ tion to th e Lithuanian people, invites all Lithuanians of goodwill of all political parties to imbue themselves with th e spirit of unity and colla boration in thi s II nequal stru ggle for liberation of Lithuania. "For th e sake of this Lithuania Let th e unity of her people blo ssom! " (From the Lithuanian. Natio~

THE S UPREME COMMITTEE FOR LIRERATION OF LITH UANIA .

VILNIUS. February 16th, 1944.

58 APP.EAL TO GRE AT BRITAI N AND THE UNITED STA TES OF AMERICA BY THE SUPREME COMMITTEE FOR LIBERATION OF LITHUANI A The following Appeal has reached Lond on: "In view of th e situation newly arisen through the second occupation of the grea ter part of Lithuania by the Red Army, th e Supreme Committee for Libera­ tion of Lithuania makes th e following declara tion in th e name of the entire Lithuanian Nation :- Th e Powers Signatory to the Atlantic Charter solemnly ,proclaimed by that act that th ey "seek no aggrandisement , territorial or other" and th at " they wish to see sovereign rights and self-govern ment restored to th ose who have been forci bly deprived of th em." Th e Soviet Union, in adhering to the Atla ntic Charter, pledged itself to observe the principles set forth th erein. Speaking at th e Inter-Alli ed meeting held in London on Sep tember 24, 1941, the Soviet Ambassador, Ivan Maisky, declared: "The Soviet Un ion has applied, and will apply, in its foreign policy the high principl es of respect for the sovereign rights of peoples ... the Soviet Union defends th e right s of every nation to in­ dependen ce and territorial integrity of its country." However, neith er when th e Red Army crossed th e frontiers of Lithuani a nor when the occupation of th e greater part of the country wastaking place last sum­ mer, did the Soviet Union give any assurance tha t it would respect the sovereign right s of th e Lithuanian Nati on and its territorial int egrity. On th e contrary, whil e the occupat ion of Lithuani a by the Red Army proceeds, Lithuania is being treat ed as part of the Soviet Union. Th e Soviet regime is being re-introduced, and general mobili zation for th e Red Army of all Lithu anians born in th e years 1909 to 1926 has been decreed. Furtherm ore, the arres ts and executions of Lithuanian politi cal leaders, public men and members of their families, and mass deport ations of Lithu anian men and women into the dep ths of the Soviet Union have begun. Th e Lithuanian Nation has always maint ained and continues to insist that the so-called in corporation of Lithu ania into the Soviet Unio n was carrie d out iu contravention of international engagements und ert aken by th e Soviet Union and in violation of the treati es entered into with Lithuania, and is null and void. Th e Red Army first occupied Lit hu ania on June 15, 1940, in violation of the solemn declaration by Viacheslav Molotov, the Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, mad e to th e session of th e Su preme Soviet on October 31, 1939, to wit: "The Soviet Uni on in sists upon the honorable and correc t exec ution of th e treat ies which it ha s signed, on th e basis of absolut e reciprocity, and declares th at all the talk about a sovietization of th e Baltic States is only of use to our enemies and to all possibl e anti-Soviet provocat eurs." The incorporati on of Lithu ania into th e Soviet Union and th e sovietization of the country were carr ied out when Lithuania had been 'completely occupied hy th e Red Arm y and with th e latt er's active int ervention. This was carried out by violence,·force and deceit, against the will of th e Lithuani an Nation. Th e tru e will .of our People is proved, int er alia, by th e effective boycott of th e "elections to the People's Diet," as well as to th e Supreme Soviet of th e U.S.S.R. ; by th e up­ ris ing of the Lithuanian Peopl e aga inst th e Soviet Union at th e outbreak of th e German-Soviet war; and by the proclam ati on of th e restoration of sovereignty of the Independent Lithuanian Republic. Th e Supreme Committee for Liberation of Lithuania, representi ng th e entire Lithuanian Nation, solemnly declar es that Lithuania does not hold herself to be a part of th e Soviet Union, and therefore categorically refuses to make any use 'of th e rights of a member of the Soviet Union or to accept th e obliga tions which membership in th e Soviet Union would imply. 59 Th e Supreme Committee for Liberatiou of Lithuania furl her declares that tli « so-called "Soviei Government of Lithuania," form ed in 194.o· afi er th e occupation of Lithuania by the Red Army and since June, 1941, establishe d in Moscow, does not represent Lithuania: It is mer ely a front for th e so-called " Communist-Bolshevik Party of Lithuania" which, according to th e official data published by th e Soviet newspapers earl y in 1941, had barely 2,500 memb er s and even th ese wer e mainly of non-Lithuanian extraction. Th e Lithuanian People have never considered and shall never con sid er any acts of that all eged "govern ment" to be binding. Th e Lithuanian P eople regard the Red Army as a foreign army of occupation for wh ich all the rules of International Law regulating th e conduct of an army of occupa­ tion on for eign soil , are obligatory. Ac cordingly, Lithuania mu st not be treated worse than an enemy territory. Th e Supreme Committee for Liberation of Lithuania formally protests on behalf of th e People of Lithuania again st th e general mobilization decreed by the foreign Sovi et occupational authorities and against all oth er violations on th e part of th e authorities of the Sovi et Union of th e rules whi ch govern warfare and define th e limits of power of th e authorities of occupation in occupied territories. Th e Supreme Committee for Lib eration of Lithuania eq ually prot ests against the forcible re-introduction of the Soviet regime in Lithuania and regards thi s as a hostile act of pure phy sical violence and moral terror. Th e Committee app eals to the conscience of th e world against th e extermination of th e Lithuanian Nation whi ch has already begun. During th e entire period of German military occupation, th e Lithuanian P eopl e fought for th eir mo st sacr ed cau se-the restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania. Our P eopl e bravely faced th e exce ssively severe repressive mea sures taken against it by th e Germans, and th er e was no backing away from any sacrifice. Our People refused to be involved in a war for Germ any's int erests and resist ed all the German efforts to enforce an effective mobilization of Lithuanian manpower. Continuing it s struggle for th e restoration of sovereignty of Lithuania, th e Lithuanian People will resist to th e utmost all endeavors of th e· Soviet Union to yoke Lithuania to Soviet int erests. The Lithuanian P eople will resist all attempts to re-introduce th e undemocratic Soviet regim e in Lithuania and will defend th em­ selves against all attempts to deport th e Lithuanian ma sses to th e remotest region s of the U.S .S.R. This struggle of th e Lithuanian P eopl e is a fight for its lib erty, for its right to an independent life, for its very survival. Lithuania is still a member of th e International Commu nity of independent sovere ign state s with all the rights and obligations en suing th erefrom. Th e free Democracies and the highest spiritual authorities of th e world hav e never explicitly or implicitly re cognized any attempted change in th e int ernational status of Lithu­ ania. The Lithuanian P eople firmly beli eve that the principles set forth in th e Atlantic Charter and th e obligations th er eb y assum ed by th e United Nations ar e applicable to Lithuania as to all oth er nations, large and small, and that Lithuania will again enjoy full sovereign rights after th e defeat of Nazi Germany. However, th e continuing ho stilities of war aga inst Germany may cause Lithu­ ania to remain for some time under th e Soviet mil itary occupation. This occupa­ tion should not preclude th e practi cal restoration of state fun ctions of th e sovereign Lithuanian anthority. The Supreme Committee for Liberation of Lithuania urg ently app eals to Hi s Majesty's Government of Great Britain and to th e Government of th e United States of America to dispatch th eir· missions to Lithuania, without delay, in order to saf e­ guard th e rights and th e vital interests of the Lithuanian People and to save our nation from threatening extermination.

VILNIUS-KAUNAS, S ept emb er 30, ] 944."

60 IV.-BIBLIOGRAPHY

The app ended list of pul:i li~ati on s on Lit huania is in no sense exhaustive ; the scope of the pr esent book let necessarily imposes certain limitations in this re spe ct. It is, however, hoped that reader s anxious to go farther afield in th eir study of Lit huanian questions than is possib le in the preceding pages can find therein the more relevant and esse ntial refer ences.

P UBLI CATIONS tN E NGLISH 1. .Agriculture in Lithuania, by Dr. J . Kriksciunas. Published by the Lit huanian Chamber of Agr iculture, Kaunas, 1938. 2. An Aspect of the Lithuanian R ecord o] :Independence, by P. Zad eikis. Reprint from the Annals of the Am er ican Acad emy of Political and Socia l Science, March, 1944, Philad elphia, Pa. 3. A Wayfarer in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, by E. C. Davies. Published by Methu en & Co. Ltd ., London, 1937-1938. 4. Balti c and Caucasian States. Nations of To-day. ANew Hi story of the World. Edited by John Buchan. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London, 1923. 5. Bank of Lithuania. Printed by Syre & Spottiswood e Ltd ., Ea st Harding Street, London, E.C. 4. 6. Beyond the Baltic, by A. Scott MacCa llum. Publish ed by Thornton Butter- worth Ltd., London, 1925. 7. Boundaries of Lithuania , by Jonas Ziliu s, 1920. 8. Britain and the Baltic, by E. W. Pol son Newman. 9. Current N ews on the Lithuanian. Situation. A monthly Bulletin published by the Lithuanian Legatio n, Wa shington, .D.C.- years 1941, 1942, .1943, 1944. Much . valuable material on recent events in Lith uani a. 10. Deportees, by Elrna Dangerfield. Reprint from "The Nin ete enth Century and Aft er, " Ju ly, 1943, London. 11. Economic Reconstruction of Lithuania aft er 1918, by Anicetas Simutis, Columbia Un iver sity Press, New- York, 1942. 12. Encyclopedia Britannica, 13th Edition, London.Contains articles on Lithuania. 13. Essays on th e Past, Present and Future of Lithuania, by J ohn Szl upas, Published by Svenska Andelsforlaget, Stockholm, 1918. 14. Europa Y ear-Book , 1928. Contains articles on Lithuania. 15. Fifteen Liquidated Priests in Lithuania, by J . Prunski s, Chi cago, Ill ., 1943. 16. Finland and the Baltic States. Studies of Eastern Europe. 1919-1939. Pub­ lished by th e Friend s Po st-War Servi ce Committee, London. 17. Have th e Baltic' Countries Voluntarily R enoun ced their Freedom ? An expose bas ed on authentic docum entary evidence, by Augu st Rei, former P resid en t of Estonia an d last Estonian Minister in Moscow. Published by the Estonian World Association, In c., New York, 1944 . . . 18. History of th e Lithuanian Nat ion and its Present National Aspirations, by Ju saiti s. Published by th e Lithuanian Catholic Truth Soci ety, 1919. 19. Historical Outlines of Lithuania, by Jozeph Hertmanowicz. Part I Th e Rep ubli c of Lithuania. Part II : An cient Lithuania. Published by Edgar A. Russel Co. ua, Chicago . 20. Lithuania in R etrospect and Prospect, by John Szlupas, M.D. P ubli shed by the Lithuanian Press Association of America, N. Y., 1915. 21. Lithuania's Case for Independence, by T. Norus and J . Ziliu s.Issued by the Lit hua nian National Council in U.S.A., 1918, obtainable at Lithuanian Lega ­ tion , Wa shington, D.C. An admirable and well-rlocum en ted h istorical, ethnographic, economic, cult ural and politi cal survey of the Lithu ani an na tion up 10 Ihe end of the First 'World War. 61 22. Lithuania and Eastern Pru ssia, by Dr. 1. Szlupas. Published by th e Lithuanian National Fund, 281, Eglinton Street, Gla sgow, 1919. ·23. Lithuania Past and Pr esent, by E. J . Harrison, formerly Briti sh Vice­ Cons ul in Kaunas and Vilnius. T. Fi sher Unwin Ltd., London, 1922. 24. Lithuania, by A ge M eyer Benedictsen, A Study of th e Past and Present of th e Lithuanian P eople. Copenhagen, 1924. 25. Lithuania, 1928. Edited and compiled .by E. J . Harrison, form erly Briti sh Vice-Co nsul in Kaunas and Vilniu s. Ha zell , Wat son & Vin ey Ltd., 52, Long Acr e, London, W.e. 2, 1928. 26.Lithuania, guid ing Facts for Tourists. Publi shed by the Lithuanian Tourists Ass ociation, Kaunas. 27. Lithuania: Th e First Tw enty Years, by V. Gustainis. Reprint from th e "S lavo nic Review," No. 51, 1939. 28. Lithuanian-Polish. Dispute. Vol. I ; Second Assembly of th e League of Natio ns at Geneva, 1921. Vol. 2; Correspondence betw een the Council of th e League of Nations an d the Lithuanian Government since th e Second Assembl y of the Leagu e of Nations, 15th Decemb er, 1921- 17th July, 1922. Vol. 3 ; Correspon­ dence between the Lithuanian Govern ment and th e League of Nations and th e Con­ fer en ce of Ambassad or s, Au gu st, 1922-July, 1923. Eyre & Spottiswood e, Londou. 29. L ithuanian R ecogn ition, by Hon. Wm. G.McAdoo, Dr . Herbert Adam Gib ­ bons and Hon. W alter Chandler. Published by the Lithuanian Information Bureau , Washingt on, D.C., 1925. 30. Lithuanian Quality Products, a record of agr icultural pr ogr ess, by K. Gineit is. A richl y illustrat ed album. London, 1938. 31. L ithuanian Language, a characte ris atio n, by Alfred Senn of University of P ennsylvania. Publicati on of th e Lithuanian Cultural In stitute. Printed in Chica go, 1942. 32. New Eastern Europe, by Ralph Butler. 33. New Governments 0/ Eastern Europe, by Malbone W. Gr aham. Published by Henry Holt & Co., Ne w Yor k 1927. 34. Old Lithuanian So ngs , translated by Adrian Pater son , Published by P ribacis, Kaunas, Lithuania, 1939. 35. Outline History 0/ Lithuanian Literature, by A. Vai ciulaitis, Marianap olis College, Thompson, Conn. Publicati on of th e Lithuanian Cultural In stitute, Chicago, Ill., 1942. 36.Peeps at M any Lands : Th e Baltic Sta tes, Lat via, Lithuania and Estonia. Hebe Sp aull, A. & C. Black Ltd. , London, 1931. 37. Probl ems 0/ th e Baltic, by W. F. Reddawa y, M.A., F.R.Hist., F ellow of King 's Coll ege . Ca mbri dg e Univers ity Press, 1940. 38. Question 0/ M emel. Diplomati c and other Document s from the Versailles Peace Conference till the refere nce of the Qu estion by th e Confere nce of Am­ ba ssad or s to the League of Na tio ns (191 9-1923 ) , including an Hi storical Ske tch of the Memel Region and other intro ducto ry Statements. Lithuanian Ministry for For eign Affairs, Kaunas. Eyre & Spo ttiswoode Ltd., London, 1924. . 39. R epor t on th e Economic and Industrial Conditions in L it'huania, by H. H . Cassels, Hi s Maj esty's Consul, Kovno (K aunas) . Published by His Maj esty' s Stationery Office, .London, 1924. 40. R oyal In stitute 0/ International Affairs. The Baltic St at es; A Survey of Political and Econ omi c Structure and F oreign R elat ions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Oxford Univer sity Press, 1938. 4,1. Rustic and Popular Art in Lithuania, by Giu seppe Salvat ori, Milan, 1925. 12. Se curity Against War , by France s Kellor and Ant oni a Hatvay, The Mac Millan Co.. New Yor k. 192/\' C(l n 'a i l1 ~ arlm ira hle ex position of various Lithuanian problems. 62 43. Sidelights o] Lij e in Lithuania. Published by the Lithuani an Information Bureau, Washin gton, D.C. . 44. Significance of Ruthenian and Mus covite Element s in Lithuanian History, by Rev. Th oma s G. Chase. Published by Lithuanian Bulletin, New York, 1944. 4.5. Sp ecial Lithuanian N umb er. "The Central European Review." Published by the Reconstruction Publishing Co. Ltd ., Lond on, Vienna, New York. 46. Statesman's Y ear-Book , 1928. Contains arti cle on Lithuan ia. 47. Sovi et Deportations [rom th e Baltic St ates. Reprint from Th e Weekly of 23rd March, 1944, Lond on. 48. Strictly Secret M emorandum , by the Vilna Vaivode Bocian ski (i n respect of th e Lithuanian Min ority in Vilnius) . Tran slat ion. Published by Spa udos Fond as, Kaunas, Lithuania, 1940. 49. Ten Y ears oj Lithuanian: Economy. Report of Cha mber of Commerce, In- du stry and Crafts. Kaunas, 1938. . 50. Th e Balt ic, by Ham pden J ackson. Oxford pamphlet on World Affairs, No. 27. . 51. The Baltic S tates as a British Market in the Past and Future, hy Dr. V.Raud. Lond on, 1943. 52. Th e Baltoscandian Conlederution, by Prof. K. Pakstas, Published by the Lithuanian Cultur al In stitute, Chica go, Ill ., 1942. 53.The Changed Baltic, by J . F.Stewart, F.R.S.G.S. Reprint from Th e Sco ttish Geograp hical Ma gazin e, Vol. 56, No. 3, 1940. A glan ce at the Balti c countries at the tim e of Soviet occupation. 54. Th e Historian's Hi story of th e Wo rld, 1926. Edition edited by Henr y Smith Williams, LL.D ., London. Encyclopedia Britannica Co. Ltd. Contains matter deal­ ing with Lithuania. 55. The Lith uanian Situation, by P rof. K. Paksta s. Published by th e Lithu­ ani an Cultural In stitute, Chi cago, Ill., 1941. 56. Th e N ew Balti c St ates and Th eir Futur e, hy Owen Ruiter. An account of Lithuan ia, Lat via and Estonia. Methuen & Co., Lond on, 1923. 57. Th e Smaller Nations -in World's Economic Life, by Dr. V.Raud. Published by King & Staples Ltd., London, 1944. 58. Th e S oviet Union and th e Balt ic St ates, by Kaar el Robert Pu sta, former Estonian Foreign Minister. John Felsberg , Inc., New York, 1942. 59. Tim eless Lith uania, by Dr. Owen J. C. Nor em, form er United Sta tes Min­ ister to Lithnani a. Published by Amer ica n Friends of Lit huania, 6820 Superior ­ Ave., Cleveland, 1944. 60. Vilna , P robl em. With five map s. Lithuan ian Information Bureau , Londo n, 1922. 61. Vilna Question (co ns ultations of MM. A. Dc Laprad elle, Louis Le F ur, and Andre N. Mandelslam, concern ing th e binding force of th e decision of the Conference of Ambas sador s of 15th March, 1923; authorized tr an sla tion from th e original texts). Puhlished by Hazell, Wa tson & Viney Ltd., Lond on, 1929. 62. An A ppeal. Published by Th e Lithuanian American Informati on Center, New York, 1944. 63. Supplement N o. 1 to th e A ppeal. Published by Th e Lithuanian Ameri can Information Center, New York, 1944. M . Ghill ebert de Lannoy in Medieval Lithuania. By Petrus Kl imas. Published by Th e Lithuanian American Information Center, New York, 1945.

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