The Tragedy of Lithuania: 1941–1944
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THE TRAGEDY OF LITHUANIA: 1941–1944 New documents on crimes of Lithuanian collaborators during the Second World War УДК 94 ББК (Т)63.3(0)62 Т 82 Издание осуществлено при поддержке Союза общественных объединений «Свободная Россия» T 82 The Tragedy of Lithuania: 1941−1944. New documents on crimes of Lithuanian collaborators during the Second World War / Трагедия Литвы: 1941−1944. Сборник архивных документов. − М: Алексей Яковлев, 2008. − 288 с. − Англ. ISBN 978-5-903588-01-5 The previously unpublished materials from Russian archives shock even 60 years after the events had taken place. Death seems to be a happy deliverance when contemplating the sufferings and torture, that the innocent citizens of Lithuania had to endure during the years of the Nazi occupation. Reading the evidence of the eyewitnesses, one understands, why people would ask for death in order to stop the monstrous torture and insult they were subjected to. Not only the hated Soviet and party functionaries, who were “guilty” of establishing the Soviet regime in Lithuania, not only the Jews who are always “guilty” of everything for the mere reason of being Jewish, but also the Polish, clergy, people with mental disorders, old people, and babies – all of them were totally eliminated. Lithuania was turned into a “factory of death”. The documents in this collection constitute a tiny part of the wealth of material found in the archives of Russia, Lithuania, Germany and other countries. УДК 94 ББК (Т)63.3(0)62 ISBN 978-5-903588-01-5 INTRODUCTION “...In October, 1943 I was taken to the Ponar railway station and placed in a bunker. Here Germans used us for preparing firewood and burning corpses. In December, 1943 we were fettered and began burning corpses. First we piled the firewood, on top of which up to 100 corpses of people were laid, poured some kerosene and gasoline and then proceeded with another layer of corpses. Thus, we stacked about 3,000 corpses, laid firewood around them, poured the bodies with petroleum, stuck incendiary bombs on four sides of the pile and lit it up. The fire was burning for 7–8 days. …Most of the bodies were of the Jewish people. About 2,000 corpses were laid on another fire: generally of the Red Army men and officers, and also 500 corpses of monks and priests. A total of 19 fires were made. Bodies of men, women, and children were burnt on these fires…” This is how the Ponar (Paneriai) nightmare is described by witnesses and members of those tragic events. In this world-known place of Lithuania, during the World War II, 100,000 people were killed, whose bodies were stacked and burnt. Such historic sites are numerous in Lithuania. The previously unpublished materials from Russian archives shock even 60 years after the events had taken place. Death seems to be a happy deliverance when contemplating the sufferings and torture, that the innocent citizens of Lithuania had to endure during the years of the Nazi occupation. Reading the evidence of the eyewitnesses, one understands, why people would ask for death in order to stop the monstrous torture and insult they were subjected to. Many of those became mentally ill … What had the Soviet authorities done in Lithuania just for one year, from 1940 to 1941, to deserve such hatred from Lithuanians, who launched the bloody massacre at the arrival of the German troops? Repressions, arrests and deportations, nationalization of land, and confiscation of prosperous farmers’ property. The sentiment of the offended party can partly be understood. But does it justify atrocities that followed? The answer seems to be clear. What happened in Lithuania cannot be logically understood. Not only the hated Soviet and party functionaries, who were “guilty” of establishing the Soviet regime in Lithuania; not only the Jews, who are always “guilty” of everything for the mere reason of being Jewish, but also Poles, clergy, mentally ill, the elderly, and babies of the “undesirable” social stratas – were totally eliminated. Lithuania was turned into a “factory of death”. And not merely historians, but 4 The Tragedy of Lithuania: 1941–1944 perhaps also psychiatrists and psychoanalysts are needed to examine and understand the phenomena. The period of the fascist German occupation of Lithuania and the crimes of local collaborators demand a responsible political appraisal. Who were the “champions of Lithuanian liberty” from among the Šauilists, members of the Lithuanian National Front, the National Labour Guards and the Lithuanian Self-Defense, who became the resourced for the police battalions? What was the position of the national intelligentsia? Some research has been done on the subject, but it is hardly sufficient. Examination of this period of Lithuanian history has advanced during the last couple of years, but mostly concerning the Holocaust. This is what Linas Jašinauskas, an expert on the Nazi occupation, has written in Atgiminas: “The discussions of the problem of whether to go or not [for the president of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus] to Moscow to celebrate the Victory Day [May 9, 2005] – have revealed that our knowledge about the Nazi occupation is at best limited by the Holocaust. There is even a tendency to think that the German occupation was more favourable than the Soviet one, [because] … physically Jews, not Lithuanians, were eliminated…” How was the Nazi “softness” repaid, and are there so few Lithuanian names in the victims lists? Judging by Atgiminas’s editorial staff statement that “Lithuanians know and understand little about what could have happened if Germans had won the World War II,” one could argue that an open-minded and unbiased research of all the available strata of documentary material about the tragedy of Lithuania in 1941–1944 is necessary. The desire of Communist Party ideologists during the Soviet period to avoid the topic of mass participation of Nazi henchmen in bloody crimes against civilian population of different nationalities on the territory of Lithuania, Byelorussia, Latvia, Russia, and Poland contributed to a surge of Lithuanian nationalism since the beginning of the 1990s with clear overtones of Russophobia and anti-Semitism. At times it seemed that everything could start all over again. As Vitautas Petkjavičus – one of the founders of the Lithuanian Sąjūdis nationalist movement, writes in his book Ship of Fools, “…on the third Sąjūdis congress, it [the movement's political declaration of reconstruction] fitted in one low-down phrase: “200,000 communists must be put up against the wall in Lithuania... and there will be order.” In 1941–1944, Lithuania had once recovered its independence, but its price was Nazism. Compilers of this book do not claim the present documents about Nazi crimes to be exhaustive. These documents are just a small part of what is stored in the archives of Russia, Lithuania, Germany, and other countries. The work, obviously, must be continued. At least, to remind people of the sufferings and pain the previous generations had to go through because of the fanatic desire of The Tragedy of Lithuania: 1941–1944 5 the nationally preoccupied leaders to create a racially and nationally “pure” country at any cost. The documents were collected with the assistance of the Free Europe Foundation NGO. The compilers of the book would like to express their special gratitude to the administration and officials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian State Military Archive, Central Archive of FSB (Federal Security Service) of Russia, Russian Archive, Russian State Archive of Sociopolitical History, and Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense that produced the unique archival materials. 1. AUTOGRAPHIC TESTIMONY OF MAJOR OF LITHUANIAN ARMY PAŠKOV ŠAULIS Not earlier than summer 1942 A regime close to a fascist one was established in Lithuania in 1926, when SMETONA and professor VOLDEMARAS came to power after the revolution. First there weren’t any frictions seen between them. But in time, their views on both internal and foreign policies diametrically differed. SMETONA was a supporter of a moderate fascist dictatorship and in internal policy wished to work together with Christian Democrats and populists, and was guided by Anglo-Saxons in foreign policy. VOLDEMARAS stood on a platform of purely fascist dictatorship and couldn’t find a common language with other parties, and orientated the foreign policy towards Germany. (Under a treaty between Lithuania and Germany, Germans could buy land in Lithuania). SMETONA had more supporters because he was partially supported by the Lithuanian Bishop and by the older part of the population, and VOLDEMARAS relied mostly on the youth. VOLDEMARAS participated in all celebrations, had the gift of speech and was becoming more popular than SMETONA. SMETONA’s supporters could not bear that, especially his wife Sofia and her sister Jadviga TUBELENE. (Some say that SMETONA’s wife had a great influence on control of the country, not even one ministerial cabinet was formed without her consent. She was very power-loving and ambitious. She liked card play, wine, and spending an hour or two with men. Her constant friends were two Roman Catholic priests TAMOŠAJTIS and MIRONAS, they also liked cards, wine, and women). VOLDEMARAS had to resign from the cabinet. SMETONA approved a new cabinet, and the party of “Tautinniks” was split. VOLDEMARAS’s supporters separated from him and went to work underground. At the head of the “Voldemarniks” (Voldemarininkai) was a certain Algerdas SLIESORAITIS, a young man that very few people knew, and at the head of “Tautinniks” (Lietuvių Tautininkų Sąjunga) was Prime Minister TŪBELIS . SMETONA changed ministers, but neither the external, nor the internal policy varied. Meanwhile, two major events were about to happen. On the one hand, the underground Voldemar’s organization was preparing a revolt in Lithuania (the centre of this organization was […]).