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Caught between two vicious totalitarian regimes, Lithuania suffered terribly durng the War. Lithuania was targeted by the NAZIs from an early stage because under the terms of the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, the people of Memel had voted in a plebecite to join the new nation of Lithuania. Hitler accompanied a naval transport reclaiming Memel even before launching World War II (March 1939). NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union signed a Non-Agression Pact (August 23, 1939). This essentially gave Hitler a free hand to invade Poland, thus launching World War II (September 1). The NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact carved up Eastern Europe. Lithuania was initially to be in the NAZI sphere of influence. Lithuanis refused, however. to join the NAZIs in their attack on Poland. After the successful invasion of Poland, NAZI and Soviet diplomats in Moscow hammered out a more detailed agreement over Eastern Europe and economic cooperation (September 27). Further NAZI-Soviet negotiations shifted Lithuania to the Spviet sphere. Stalin targeted Lituania because as a former part of the Russian Empire, he wanted to make it a part of the Soviet Union. Before the Soviets could seize control, Hitler ordered the ethnic Germans in Lithuania and the other Baltic states back to the Reich. The Soviets returned Vilinus to Lithuania (October 10). They thun begun a series of move to take over Lithuania and the other Baltic Republics. The Red Army occupied Lithuanian (June 15, 1940) as French resistance was collaspsing in the West. The Soviets began mass deportations (June 14, 1941). The first deportations totaled about 35,000 people. NAZI Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). Within only a few days, the Germans had occupied Lithuania. Lithuanians attempted to reinstitute an independent republic, but the NAZIs did not permit the reserection of indepedent Lithuania. The NAZIs immediately begun a massive operation to destroy the country's substantial Jewish population. About 0.2 million Jews perished in the Holocaust. After the Soviets inflicted massive defeats to the Wehrmact, the Red Army reached Lithuania (Summer 1944). The NAZI invasion was so rapid, that little damage occurred. Lithuania was, however, the location of bitter combat between the NAZIs and Soviets as the Red Army pushed toward Brlin. With the seizure of Klaipeda, Lithuania was again in Soviet hands (January 1945). The Soviets treated Lithuania as an integral part of the Soviet Union. The United States and Britain, however, did not recognize this, although they were powerless to prevent the Soviet annexation.
Caught between two vicious totalitarian regimes, Lithuania suffered terribly durng the War. Lithuania was targeted by the NAZIs from an early stage because under the terms of the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, the people of Memel had voted in a plebecite to join the new nation of Lithuania. Poland while the world's attention was focused on Munich, seized Vilinus from Lithuanis (1938). Lithuania's small armed forces were powerless to resist. Next Lithuania lost Memel which before World war I had been a part of east Prussia. . Hitler accompanied a naval transport reclaiming Memel even before launching World War II (March 1939).
NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union signed a Non-Agression Pact (August 23, 1939). This essentially gave Hitler a free hand to invade Poland, thus launching World War II (September 1). The NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact carved up Eastern Europe. Lithuania was initially to be in the NAZI sphere of influence.
The NAZIs launched their invasion of Poland (September 1). Britain and France demanded that the Germans withdeaw and when they refused, declared war (September 3). The Germans more than any other military, correctly assessed the lessons of World War II. The War in Europe began in 1939 when the German blitzkrieg smashed Poland in only a few weeks. The invasion was made possible the preceeding week when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The Panzers crossed the Polish frontier on September 1 along with a devestating strike by the Luftwaffe. The Polish Army and Air Force was shattered. Over 1 million German soldiers surged into Poland. Hitler emerged from the Reich Chancellery in a new grey uniform with his World War I Iron Cross. In a speech at the Reichstag before cheering NAZIs he declared, "I myself am today, and will be from now on, nothing but the soldier of the German Reich." Whithin 6 days Cracow, the center of Polish nationhood, fell. Pincer movements began on September 9 to encirle the major remaining Polish forces. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18. Warsaw fell a few days later after a ruthless bombing assault. The Blitzkrieg tactics that were to prove so devestaing in the West during 1940 were all on display in 1939. Neither the British or French showed much attention, abscribing Polish defeat to military incompetance. The French had promissed the Poles an offensive in the West. It never came. [Fest, pp. 602-603.]
Lithuanis refused, however. to join the NAZIs in their attack on Poland. After the successful invasion of Poland, NAZI and Soviet diplomats in Moscow hammered out a more detailed agreement over Eastern Europe and economic cooperation (September 27). Further NAZI-Soviet negotiations shifted Lithuania to the Spviet sphere. Here Hitler was willing to acede to Stalin, because he was already conceiving of a an invasion of the Soviet Union in the not all to distant future. talin targeted Lithuania because as a former part of the Russian Empire, he wanted to make it a part of the Soviet Union. Before the Soviets could seize control, Hitler ordered the ethnic Germans in Lithuania and the other Baltic states back to the Reich.
The Soviets after absorbing eastern Poland, returned Vilinus to Lithuania (October 10). They thun begun a series of move to take over Lithuania and the other Baltic Republics. The Red Army occupied Lithuanian (June 15, 1940) as French resistance was collaspsing in the West. The Soviets began mass deportations (June 14, 1941). The first deportations totaled about 35,000 people. br>
NAZI Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). Within only a few days, the Germans had occupied Lithuania. Lithuanians attempted to reinstitute an independent republic, but the NAZIs did not permit the reserection of indepedent Lithuania.
Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Kaunaus (the inter-war capital of Lithuania), issued over 1,600 transit visas to Jewsish refugees fleeing Poland, allowing them to transit the Soviet Union. The NAZIs occupied Lithuania in June 1941 in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa--the invasion of the Soviet Union. The NAZIs immediately begun a massive operation to destroy the country's substantial Jewish population. The specialized killing units the Eizenstazgrupen were deployed with chilling effiency. Almost at the inception of NAZI occupation ther were mass executions of Jews. The first was the killing of about 1,000 Jews at Vilijampole (June 25-26, 1941). Lithuanian collaborators enthusiastically embraced NAZI anti-Semitic propaganda. The attempted to identify Jews with Communism and the attrocities committed by Stalin during the Soviet occupation (1940-41). Many insisted that undoing Soviet rule and Communism required liquidating Jews. They began the same process persued in Poland by the NAZIs. While the NAZIs were unavle to find collaborators in Polnd, they were able to do so in Lithusnia. The local authorities subjected the Jews to a series of repressive measure designed to humiliate them, marginalize them. steal their propery, and ultimately kill them. Those not likked immeiately after the NAZI invssion were hearded into gettos like those formed in Poland. Most of the country's 240,000 Jews were killed. This was 90-95v percent, the highest mortality rate in NAZI occupied Europe.
After the Soviets inflicted massive defeats to the Wehrmact, the Red Army reached Lithuania (Summer 1944). The NAZI invasion was so rapid, that little damage occurred. Lithuania was, however, the location of bitter combat between the NAZIs and Soviets as the Red Army pushed toward Brlin. With the seizure of Klaipeda, Lithuania was again in Soviet hands (January 1945).
The Soviets treated Lithuania as an integral part of the Soviet Union. The United States and Britain, however, did not recognize this, although they were powerless to prevent the Soviet annexation. The Allies primary concern was Poland with had first confronted the NAZI menace. Failing to save Poland from Soviet dictatorship. America and Britain had little chance of effectively aiding Lithuania.
Fest, Joachum. Hitler (Vintage: New York, 1974), 844p.
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