Figure 1.--This is a column of Jewish women and children under the escort of Lithuanian 'self-defense' volunteers. We are not sure what city in Lithuania is shown here. It is clearly during the summer, presumably late-June or early-July. Note that the men have already been separated out. Columns like this usually led to isolated places outside the cities where the Jews were immediately killed. The Lithuanians sometimes participated in the killing, but usually of the Jewish men. It was normally the Germans who murdered the women and children.

Almost at the inception of NAZI occupation of Lithuania there were mass murder actions targeting 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 and actions. They often connected Jews with Communism and the atrocities committed by Stalin during the Soviet occupation (1940-41). Many Lithuanians believed that undoing Soviet rule and Communism required liquidating the Jews. This was all fueled by the prevailing anti-semetic attitudes. . The NAZIs began the same process pursued in Poland. While the NAZIs were unable to find many collaborators in Poland, they were more successful in Lithuania. The local authorities subjected Jews to a series of repressive measure designed to humiliate them, marginalize them. steal their property, and ultimately kill them. The Germans encouraged Lithuanian participation because it supported the idea that the persecution of the Jews was not a purely German effort. Most of the killing was done by Germans, but Lithuanians were involved in some actions. Primarily the Lithuanian help identify and concentrate their Jewish countrymen as we see here (figure 1). Within a few months, most of Lithuania's Jews were either murdered or confined in ghettos where they could be efficiently murdered with minimal expenditure of manpower. The murder process involved very few men and little time, it was the tracking down and concentrating the Jews that was the most difficult part of the Holocaust. And here the Lithuanians were a substantial aid ton the Germans in the process. The murder process in Lithuanian ghettos would be much faster than in Poland. Unknown to the Lithuanians was the fate the Germans were preparing for them under Generaplan Ost which would have been hideously similar to that of the Jews.

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Created: 10:23 AM 6/17/2014
Spell checked: 3:39 PM 4/11/2024
Last updated: 3:39 PM 4/11/2024