Soviet Genocide in Lithuania | True Lithuania
True Lithuania

World War 2 in Lithuania (1940-1944)

The cruelties of first Soviet occupation, of a scale not seen in Lithuania since the Russian Empire rule, led to a widespread despise of the regime in less than a year. For example in four days between June 14 and June 18 of 1941 alone some 40 000 people from educated families were exiled to Siberia and Soviet labor camps (almost half of them 16-year-old or younger, 556 infants under 1 year, families typically separated), most never to return alive. Others were arrested with many later tortured and massacred in places like Rainiai and Cherven.

Lithuanians murdered by the Soviets in Rainiai massacre, one of the brutal mass murders in World War 2 Lithuania. Out of the at least 73 bodies, only 27 could be identified due to mutilations. Prior to death, the victims were tortured: their genitals severed and put into their mouths, eyes picked out, bones crushed, skin burned by hot water and acid, they suffered electrocution. The victims were recently arrested by the Soviets for such 'crimes' as participating in the Boy Scout movement or owning a Lithuanian flag.

When the German Reich declared war on the Soviet Union the Lithuanians staged a June Revolt and managed to liberate most of the country. However, the German armies came in and while Germany did not immediately abolish the provisional government (possibly hoping for similar anti-Soviet revolts elsewhere) they rendered it powerless. By August all forms of self-rule were extinguished; by November all Lithuanian political parties banned.

The new Nazi German occupation brought a relief from the Soviet persecutions but it had its own target: the Jews. Some of them have fled Europe (never to return), most of the rest were killed (often after a brief life in forced ghetto or a deportation to a concentration camp in German-ruled lands elsewhere). The number of Jews living in Lithuania declined by ~88% by the time of 1959 census.

By 1944 the Germans were losing the war and the Soviets occupied Lithuania yet again. Knowing what to expect some 100 000 Lithuanians fled Lithuania beforehand. Two Soviet occupations led to a far greater loss of life than the Nazi German occupation, leading to a popular opinion that World War 2 ended for Lithuania only in 1990. Lithuania lost ~8% of its pre-WW2 inhabitants due to Nazi actions and ~32% due to Soviet actions (until the year 1953), some 40% in total (1,15 million out of 3 million). 1/3 to 1/2 of this number were killed. Well over 90% of the victims were civilians.

Statistics of people lost to Lithuania 1940-1959, both per event and per perpetrator. The tables are compiled consulting multiple sources (turmoil and subsequent propaganda made the exact figures impossible to find out, so approximations vary somewhat per source. Moreover the boundaries of Lithuania switched multiple times in the era). The per-event table lists the murdered and the refugees/deportees in separate rows where possible; where impossible they are put together and the approximate share of those killed is provided instead (most/many/some).

See also: Ethnic relations in World War 2 Lithuania (1939-1945)

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  1. Hi,
    I am looking for information of a person by the name of Regina Salkauski that was born on 28.05.1938 in Memel.
    I am not sure how I can find information about that person or any history about that person.
    Hopefully you can get back to me with some information.
    Thanks In Advance
    Nick Achmon

    • Hi, in general some of the information on people can be collected at public sources (especially internet) and various archives (church archives, state archives); it may be possible that now after you written the name here somebody else after some time would search for it and thus find this site. If you would need further help, I have contacted you by e-mail.

    • what month is the 28???

    • I have yet to come across someone with my last name that I didn’t know exactly who they were. My family last name research has left me with little more than dead ends. I know my great grandfather Kasimir Salkauski along with his wife Anna Pollock escaped a concentration camp where I understand most of the Salkauski line perished.

      • Have you tried contacting the Arolsen Archives? It takes awhile but they have access to all of the German records, which were impeccable. There’s also the Lithuanian archives, and the Lithuanian Genealogy group on Facebook

  2. what sources are you using for the population change numbers? I am working on a paper concerning this era and seeking sources for this information.

    • A “staple source” for many of the numbers is the book “Lietuvos gyventojai per du tūkstantmečius” (“People of Lithuania through the two millennia”) by Stasys Vaitiekūnas. It documents the change of Lithuania’s population numbers, ethnic/religious, urban/rural and other composition throughout its history.

      As is said in the article however the exact numbers may never be known, as in some cases entire communities were destroyed, while the ruling powers had different interests in altering the true numbers of particular victims (e.g. the Soviet Union had an interest to lower the numbers of its own genocide victims and inflate those of Nazi Germany). Moreover, the boundaries of Lithuania switched multiple times in the era so various “victims within Lithuania” numbers greatly depend on which borders of Lithuania the researcher uses (this is not always well-specified, especially in “popular history” articles).

      Those are the reasons why the estimations for the same events differ among publications. In such cases averages or most likely numbers have been used in this table (within the territory of modern-day Lithuania, unless specified otherwise), which may differ somewhat from Vaitiekūnas’s numbers.

      While the Vaitiekūnas’s book covers the entire demography (and thus the wars, genocides and other upheavals that influenced it) many other researches focuses on just a single topic out of those mentioned (e.g. the Genocide of Lithuania Minor, the guerilla war, the Holocaust or the mass expulsions to Siberia). Some of these are neutral, others are (intentionally or unintentionally) misled by the aforementioned alterations of victim numbers.

      The numbers of people killed/expelled/fled are not equal to population change numbers, however. That’s because the killed/expelled people were in most cases replaced by Russian/Russophone Soviet settlers (see the “Soviet occupation of Lithuania” article for details). Moreover, the birth rates in some communities were still high. Together this has meant that the total population did not decline to the extent that could have been expected.

      Good primary sources to consult are the Lithuanian census of 1923, pre-WW1 German censae (for Lithuania Minor), Klaipėda region census of 1925, Soviet census of 1959, Polish census of 1937 (for pre-war Vilnius region) – they have all been consulted in preparing this article/table. However they should be read knowing that different communities had different natural growth rates (e.g. ethnic Lithuanians had a large one as they were mostly peasants, whereas the numbers of mostly-urban Jews were actually declining since the 19th century both due to lower birth rates and emigration to Palestine/South Africa).

      The knowledge of growth rates is necessary to extrapolate the likely numbers of particular communities on the eve of World War 2 (as there were no censae taken in 1939). The growth/decline rates may be estimated by comparing the aforementioned censae to the even older ones, such as the 1897 Russian Empire census.

      Additionally, the exact meaning of particular communities became more rigid over time. Back in the era Lithuanian-Polish and Lithuanian-German differences were far more blurred with many people effectively bilingual natively and switching ethnic identities based on circumstances – or considering themselves to be both Poles and Lithuanians, or both Germans and Lithuanians, or e.g. a Polish-speaking Lithuanian (see the article “Poles in Lithuania” for details). Some pre-WW2 censae (1897 Russian, 1937 Polish) asked not for “ethnicity” but rather for “native language” (only a single one). This is generally believed to have influenced censae results in favor of the bigger, more prestigious languages. To make matters more complicated, in some modern researches the “native langauge” data of the old censae are automatically “converted” on 1:1 ratio to “ethnicities” as they are understood today (without explicitly mentioning it). This should be avoided.

      • My grandfather came from Ramygala, with relatives in the surrounding towns and villages, like Krekenavo. My grandfather spoke of his mother being Lithuanian-Polish while my grandfather spoke fluent Lithuanian especially when he said the rosary every morning. He did say the after his mother died due to complications during childbirth, they had to hide their Polish heritage due to persecution. I also know that my Lithuanian family were farmers and supposedly peasants. The Romavoff’s also ruled that land at one time (Russian Ruled). Am I on the right track to find out my Lithuanian life in Russia?

  3. My grandparents and their children fled to Germany when the Soviets first invaded. My grandfather was what is referred to as an ethnic German, but his family lived in Lithuania for a few generations and married Lithuanians. They had considered themselves Lithuanians. When they fled to Germany they ended up having to work in factories. Would they have been treated differently ie paid for work as opposed to being conscripted labour and only given ration cards? I have just read Bloodlands and the book was horrifically informative.

    • There was both paid and forced labor in Germany during World War 2. If he left to Germany on his own will and was an ethnic German I think he was likely paid for work.

      I am not saying that all non-Germans would have worked as forced labor, but ethnicity influenced person’s status and career opportunities at the time (and, indeed, the same can be said about the Soviet Union – just that different ethnicities were preferred / discriminated there).

      • My husband, an Ethnic German, was born and raised in Lithuania. At the age of six, he and his family fled to Germany in 1941. I am looking for informartion about the exodus of these German Lithuanians. They were housed in various camps for the next few years. Thanks for any help you can provide.

        • If I understand correctly, he would have fled Lithuania in early 1941 while the country was still under Soviet occupation? At the time ~52 000 Germans fled to Germany from the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. This was supported by the Hitler’s German government, which in turn deported some ethnic Lithuanians from German-annexed (1939) Klaipėda region (Memelland) to Soviet-occupied Lithuania.

          To my knowledge (source: book “Lietuvos gyventojai” by Stasys Vaitiekūnas) Germans moving to Germany was generally welcomed by Germans in question, while moving Lithuanians to Soviet-occupied Lithuania was heavily opposed by Lithuanians in question – that’s because economic, political and other conditions were much worse in the Soviet Union at the time (and the likelihood of persecution was much bigger in Soviet Union for these people).

  4. Hi I am looking for a person her Name was Anne Ruzgys i think her birth was around 1931-1932 her Mother Julia and Father Juozas and younger brother Richard left on the ship SS Svalbard on 22/3/1949 she did not leave for australia we think she was leaving for America or Canada from stories we have been told we can not find any information on her only her mother and father. Please can you help.

  5. I am researching some link to the former German prison camp in Siauliai.

    A local familiy of my hometown Biberach/Riss in Germany is in the pocession of some paintings painted by prisoners in Stalag 361 Schaulen around 1941/1942. The paintings were presents to the German officer who in turn organised paint, paper, brush, etc. for these prisoners. The family would consider to hand them back to the families of the artists if they could somehow be traced.

    Would you have any detailled knowledge of the history of this camp or could pass on my message to an appropriate person in Siauliai?

    Thank you for your help in this matter.

    Kind regards
    Stefan Rasser

    • Perhaps the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania may help you: http://www.genocid.lt/centras/en/

      However, it should be noted that Stalag was a system operated by Germans for mostly non-Lithuanian POWs, meaning that descendants of prisoners are unlikely to reside in Lithuania.

      • Thanks a lot, I will contact them. But you already helped me with your statement that the prisoners were mostly non-Lithuanians. On the other side, the names on the paintings look very German to me, could these be names of the German speaking minority of Lithuania?

        • To my knowledge, Stalag was a system for World War 2 prisoners of war (i.e. Allied and Soviet soldiers) rather than locals or local minorities. However, I think the Genocide and Resistance center may inform you better about the particular Šiauliai Stalag.

          • You are correct about STALAG, however sometimes it was more mixed in some places, but mostly for a short period only.
            I did send a message to the suggested Genocide Internet address, but no reply so far.

    • My Grandad was at a prisoner of war camp in Germany, but I have absolutely zero information about it, his name was Antanas Gaizitis.

  6. I send another message to Genocide.lt, but no answer. May be they publish in English, but do not communicate in English. Would you mind contacting them for me and ask in your local language what I can do or who I can contact?

    • You may contact by e-mails of particular employees which are shown here: http://genocid.lt/centras/en/297/c/ (or by phone numbers which are also listed there). If the particular person who checks the main e-mail doesn’t communicate in English or is not interested in this issue, then maybe other employees will react differently.

  7. Hi,

    I have noticed a few people searching for records of lost relatives in the comments…
    I am doing the same myself and I’m wondering if you could recommend the best way to go about this? Is there some official government department in Lithuania we are able to contact to find out information like this?

    I have researched the internet over and over and there isn’t much information at all other than an immigration record of my grandfather coming to Australia, but I already knew about that. I’m looking for further information, specifically a birth certificate as well.

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    • For searches on one’s forefathers, there are State Archives. Perhaps you can begin there – if you know something about your forefathers, you may learn more about them from the archives, and then you could perhaps what other descendents they had (for example), and then you may seek to contact such descendents.

      We may offer archive search services, if you are interested.

      Additionally, you may post the details of your forefathers online, expecting other descedents from the same forefathers to come forward (this depends on luck however)

      • If someone wants to know about their ancestors, Births, Marriage and Death their are groups that deal with this. Family Search which is completely free, Ancestry where searches are free but to access further is by subscription are the biggest ones. On Facebook their are groups which are very helpful such as Lietuvos Liuteronų (Lutheran) Genealogija. Their are also other ones. Looking for ancestors will in most cases be only those who have died more than 80-100 years ago. Data protection.

  8. My father was a prisoner of war (ww2) and I was told he came to England via the red cross his name was stasys maironis. I don’t know much about his past as he never talked about it, I know he had a sister called Barbara or (barbaras) he was born in lithuania but I just keep hitting a brick wall any help would be much appreciated

    • Is this all knowledge you have about them, or do you know anything more, such as a village / city in Lithuania he came from or the time they (he and his sister) were born? (you’d probably know your father’s age). Based on the information you have, we may offer services in searching the archives for more information. You may send us the more detailed information by e-mail ( tour.baltic@gmail.com ) and we would send our offer.

      • Thank you that would brilliant. I’m at work at the moment I will send you all the information I have . Thanks again

        • Hi David, forgive me for asking, but did your dad used to live in Patricroft Eccles?

          If so, my father and yours used to be great pals.

          Hope you have managed to find out a bit more of your family History

          Regards

          Paul Cesnavicius

      • My family was from Lenas. The last letter received to family in the US was 1939. I have no idea what happened to them accept two of the children were murdered in the partisan war. They were peasants and owned land. Thank you. Sharon

  9. As someone who just recently became interested in the Baltic Region, including information on the occupations before and during WWII, I am surprised at the seemingly lack of world wide attention to this area. The devastation to the peoples of this geographic area, apparently by both Germans and the Soviets, is almost a non-event by the rest of the world. Am I missing something? Or just too late in my personal interests?

    • Yes. That can be said not only about Baltic history, but also about history of other nations in Eastern Europe that were once beyond Iron Curtain, especially those that were under Soviet Union rule (some of them suffered even higher losses under the Soviet genocides than the Baltic nations, many ethnic groups had 50%+ of their populations killed in 1930s-1950s and their cultures damaged (e.g. stopping the transmission of native language to children), Ukrainians alone lost at least 7-10 million people in Holodomor).

      Such „lack of worldwide attention“ to the issue is largely because during 1940-1990 any independent historical research was suppressed in these countries and replaced by Soviet propaganda. The locals were unable to communicate the true story through Iron Curtain, and the only such accounts were provided by the refugees who managed to escape westwards (however, after 1944 such escaping became nearly impossible, moreover, refugees often had only personal stories to tell, with all the documents deep beyond the Iron Curtain and inaccessible).

      The German WW2 actions were better documented (compared to Soviet actions), as it was advatageous for Soviets to present them as „worse“, that way claiming themselves to be „benevolent liberators“ of the region. However, even the German actions were heavily altered in Soviet historiography in order to fit for Soviet propaganda purposes.

      So, while the real story of World War 2 sufferings in Western Europe was well researched soon after the war ended, only after 1990 did any serious research on Eastern European history begin (and that‘s not only about World War 2 history, but about entire 1940-1990 period, or 1920-1990 in case of nations that were taken by the Soviet Union earlier than the Baltic States).

      But by this time many Western books were written omitting or distorting that history, and the current non-Eastern-European generations generally learned from those books, and these books are still cited or relied on by the new works (meaning that it‘s not so that every post-1990 non-Eastern-European work gets it correctly). So, while peope of Baltic nations know their history well as they greedily read everything that became available after 1990 as the long years of secrecy finally ended (and other things they learned from their own parents and grandparents direct experiences), those outside the region generally know much less.

      Also, unlike modern-day Germany which has recognized its past, modern Russia generally refuses to do so and repeats the old Soviet cliches, which are unfortunately still „bought“ by various people from outside the region who (and whose forefathers) had no direct experience with the events (it is typically not so that somebody would directly read Russian sources, but it is so that these sources are (usually inadvertently) repeated by non-Russian media and historians whose works are read by common people). Also, the Russian reluctance to recognize the past makes it still hard to objectivelly research the 1930s-1950s history of some of the worst-hit ethnicities that are still part of the Russian Federation (the ethnicities of North Caucassus, Volga area, Kalmyks).

      • Very ironic for a lithuanian to criticise other nations for not recognising their past… the majority of jews were enthusiastically slaughtered by the native population, many before the Nazis ever arrived!

        • These accusations are quite simply a mere anti-Lithuanian propaganda, mostly dating to the post-WW2 Soviet attempts to smear the Lithuanian (as well as Latvian, Estonian, Ukrainian, etc.) freedom struggles and to falsely convince the Westerners that somehow the Soviet persecutions are not the worst ones. Unfortunately, there is rather little understanding of Eastern European history beyond Eastern Europe itself, making such propaganda quite easy to spread. Read this article that fully analyzes how and why this myth came into being.

  10. This is not just 1941-44.Horrible pictures like this you could continuesly see in Lithuanians viliges&small towns a decade or so after WW2!The biggest resistance in Europe took place in Lithuanian forests against bloody Soviets.~200.000 thousand men and women resisted to regular,good equipt,Soviet army,which more than ten yers sistematicly killed,forced to Siberia(what is equal to death)Lithuanian people.

  11. Omg, so much lies in this article. No wonder Lithuania is so rusophobic nation. And the charts above – out of the blue – no sources to check whatsoever. Next time you want to compile a good article, please provide some trustworthy sources of the data displayed

    • Some of the many sources and comments are provided in the comments above to people who asked that (especially the reply to Derrick).

      That said, it is not like Lithuanians have formed their opinions about Russia or Soviet Union based on statistics they read. In fact, under Soviet occupation all historical research into the issue was banned and statistics were unknown to the general public.

      However, with so many Lithuanian victims, every person had numerous people murdered or persecuted from their families. And it is that experience which has formed opinions.

      Extensive research came only after independence when Soviet censorship was shattered (except for limited research among Lithuanian diaspora).

  12. Of course the Germans, who undoubtedly saved the Lithuanians are painted as murderers and they have the obligatory spiel about “Jews” when it was the Jews behind electrocuting and castrating people while they were alive and forcing their own genitals into their mouths. But of course the civilized Germans are painted as just as evil.

    • The article currently reads “The new Nazi German occupation brought a relief from the Soviet persecutions but it had its own target: the Jews.”

      So it acknowledges that German occupation has ceased the Soviet Genocide for that time (and yes, Germany indeed has punished those Soviet perpetrators who had not fled with the Soviet army).

      However, it is also true that Nazi Germany has started a new genocide: that of Lithuania’s Jews.

      While it is true that a disproportional number of Lithuania’s Jews had collaborated with Soviet communist occupational authorities in 1940-1941 and some have also participated in the massacres of Lithuanians, Nazi German actions could not be anyhow explained simply by “bringing to the justice those responsible”.

      Nazi Germany killed or forced to flee the majority of Lithuania’s Jews (in-line with the Holocaust, a Europe-wide genocide). Even children were murdered. That genocide was based on ethnicity rather than political views. It was not like the Jews who were not communists would have been “generally spared”.

      Nazi German propaganda of the era sought to equate *all* Jews to Soviet collaborators (just like the Soviet propaganda of the era would later equal numerous ethnicities, e.g. Crimean Tatars and Chechens, to Nazi collaborators). However (for example) it is hardly even theoretically possible for young children to have been collaborating.

      The history is sometimes written from a single-ethnicity viewpoint. If it would be written from a Lithuanian-ethnicity-viewpoint, then it could be indeed (as you claim) argued that Germans liberated Lithuania in 1941 as they have murdered far less ethnic Lithuanians than Soviets did.

      Likewise, if the history would be written from a Jewish-ethnicity-viewpoint, then it could seem that Soviets liberated Lithuania in 1944, for Nazi Germany was far more deadly to the Jews.

      However, the point of this article is to stay ethnicity-neutral. So we mention casualties of all ethnic groups of Lithuania and we also mention which occupational power inflicted them.

      And that goes beyond just Catholic Lithuanians and Jews, but also includes Poles, Germans, Lutheran Lithuanians and other affected minorities that are often skipped in historical research, yet they each of them has suffered lots during the 1940-1990 occupations of Lithuania.

    • I am new to learning my Lithuanian ancestors history. I want to learn. That comment seems uncalled for and prejudiced-

  13. I am looking for information on Reb Archik Bakst. Where he was killed and if he was buried then where was he buried?

  14. My father was born in 1929 and lived in Nemencine, although his family was Polish. I know that he eventually reached England by travelling through France and joined the Free Polish Army (by lying about his age). However he died very suddenly and never explained how or why he left Lithuania. Could anyone advise me how I could find a anything about this.

    Thank you

  15. I suspect you are familiar with the name Agatha Sidlauskas (born 1914 in Rural Lithuania, now 102 and living in Canada). I am helping her compile her memoirs. Any additional info on her life from 1914 to 1940 when she fled would be appreciated. Can you point me to source Material in English?

    • At the time only a small minority of Lithuanian population spoke English, so it is hardly possible that there would be contemporary English sources from 1914-1940.

      However, we may offer Lithuanian archive search services, if needed. We may do genealogical research and find more information about her relatives, places, churches, etc. of her childhood. Data in the archives would be non-English, however, our services include translation.

      • Sir,
        I’ve been searching for my father’s family for many years. I just recently found my father’s name on the Marine Flasher’s ship manifest. Kazey Pilelis boarded in Bremen Germany on February 27, 1947; and arrived at Ellis Island NY, March 13, 1947. He was eight y/o when he arrived. He was alone and was delivered to USCC (United States Catholic Charities) in NY.
        His marriage application says: Casimir M. Pilelis, born in Memel, Lithuania, Sept. 28, 1939. His mother’s name: Skolostica Pilelis, maiden name: Ruhescharte. Father’s name: Casimir Pilelis; his birthplace: Vienna, Austria.
        If there is any information you can give me to help me with this search I would be much appreciated. My father had nothing when he arrived in America. Not a photo, nothing. I am desperate to know what happened to my family. My father gave me very little to go on – he refused to talk about it. What little information he did give me has been confirmed. He told me he was very young when he came by ship, and he believes an aunt helped him get to the ship. Moreover, he spoke of a camp – of guards that were kind to him. This is all I have to go on. Yet, there’s a glimmer of hope! To find this manifest has been the first breakthrough I have had in many, many years.

        With warm regards,
        Letitia

    • I have known Dr. Sidlauskas for many years and would like to speak with you. You can reach me at (613) 729-9734.

    • My previous message does not appear to have gone through. So I will try again. I would like to speak with you and would appreciate it if you would call me at: (613) 729-9734

  16. WW2 is not like WWE mind it

  17. When the Soviets returned in 1944 and Germany was ousted from Lithuania, who of the native Lithuanian population would have been invited into Germany? You say 100,000 “knew what to expect” and fled, but you don’t specify where – would Germany have been a viable option for natural citizens, or only reserved for those cooperating with the German occupation forces?

    • A wide variety of people fled westwards. Naturally, there were more of people targetted in the Soviet genocide, e.g. people of Lithuania Minor, the religious Christians, the Lithuanian intellectuals, those Lithuanians who were rich before the war. However, it was not so that the remainder were safe, so it is difficult to say that only some category of people fled. Moreover, there were people who were targetted by the Soviets but did not flee, choosing to wage a guerilla war instead.

      The ordinary ethnic Lithuanians were not invited into Germany, but they were not “thrown out” either. Germany was thus a logical place to retreat when the Soviets were advancing as it was ruled by the same power. Essentially, Germany was already losing the war and did not pay much attention to the issue. After the war, these people who reached the Allied occupation zones of Germany were settled in displaced people camps. There, the idea was to give them “conditions not worse than those of local German population”, which of course lived under bad conditions due to war destruction. Still, the cultural life was reborn there, with many Lithuanian schools, churches, and even a university established (of course, all the events taking place in various temporary buildings amongst the war rubble).

      Some 90% of all Lithuanian displaced persons initially went to Germany, with the remainder going to Denmark, Austria, Norway, Italy, France, Switzerland (typically also through Germany).

      They generally believed that they would return once the war and post-war political re-alignment had ended. However, it turned out that the Baltic States were the only three independent states in the world which remained occupied even by the time the Allied occupation of Germany itself and Japan ended. After it became clear that the Baltic States are not to be reborn anytime soon, many of them would be allowed to emigrate to various countries, depending on who they were. Generally, the “accepting nations” wanted people who could contribute the most to them. For example, the USA accepted those who had relatives in a strong Lithuanian-American community so they would not be a strain on social services. Australia accepted everybody, but required to work for several years for the state (e.g. manual labor somewhere in the outback) without a normal salary (in exchange for a residence permit). Relatively few have actually remained in war-torn Germany or the neighboring European countries.

      In the case of Latvians, the case was often sadder. Many of them have initially gone to Sweden (across the Baltic sea). Unlike the Allied occupational powers in Germany (USA, UK, and France), Sweden has actually recognized the Soviet occupation of Lithuania and would return these displaced persons to the Soviet Union, typically into prisons, exile or murder.

  18. How did those fleeing from the Baltic countries to Germany or Austria manage to get on trains to get there? How did they live once they got there, since both Germany and Austria were struggling under war conditions?

    • They did no necessarily go by train. Some would go by ships, others by horse carts. There are tragic stories how such horse carts (of those escaping too late) would be purposefully driven over by Soviet tanks, killing those fleeing. Some civilian-carrying ships were also torpedoed and sunk by the Soviets.

      Apparently, some trains were still going. My grandmother, who used a train ~1944, said that the explosions would be heard from the train. The journey was difficult. Her baby brother did not survive the journey. While he died because of a disease rather than military action or genocide, the lack of medical, food and other facilities en-route likely contributed to it.

      • There were few ways to get out of Lithuania at the time. There were no airports, no bus lines, still very few passenger cars (other than German military vehicles) – just the railroads provided transportation for freight and people. My father, (former Kapitonas) Juozas Virškavičius (Virskus) (Vilkaviskis) was the director (Virsininkas) of the railway station in Kaunas, and he related how they were able to escape from the re-occupying Russians in June 1944. He had to leave because he had escaped conscription into the Soviet Army at Svencionis when the Russians were withdrawing from the advancing Germans – he had been the Pioneer Battalion Commander.

        Juozas actually commandeered the last train to carry his family (I was born in a DP camp in SW Germany) and the Kaunas railway staff which included Genovaitė Adamkavičius and her son Valdas Adamkavičius (Adamkus). My uncle, Balys Grazulis (writer) left with his family by boat up the Nemunas to Klaipida from Kaunas. They all somehow ended up at the same forced labor camp in Lauban on the Polish border.

        I am in the final stages of a memoire called Finding My Father, which my daughter Jenn Virskus is now editing (Jennvirskus.com). One chapter is called The Last Train Out. Jenn has also written a novel based on my mother’s, her grandmother’s story, surviving the bombing of Dresden. She is friends with Ruta Sepetys.

        I believe that much more information will percolate to the surface as my generation begins to write down some of the family lore for their progeny now having the time in their retirement years.

        I thank you for your historical perspective and information that helps to link some of the seemingly disperate information together. Aciu labai.

  19. Hello,

    This is my personal impression that Lithuania has less old towns than former communist countries including Central Europe.

    Would you tell me what are the reasons?
    Is it World War 2 destruction or Soviet regime destruction?

    I would like to know that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which country had the most World War 2 destruction( such as battlefield etc.) or the least World war 2 destruction for old towns in Baltic States.

    I also would like to know that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which country had the most Soviet regime destruction or the least Soviet regime destruction for old towns in Baltic states.

    Thank you for your time.

    • There are several reasons.

      The first reason dates to the Russian Imperial rule (1795-1915) rather than the Soviet occupation or World War 2 (1945-1990). Namely, Russian Empire purposefully left Lithuania as an agricultural undeveloped area whereas (for example) Latvia was developed for industry (and thus urbanized). For this reason, the picturesque 19th century “old towns” in Latvia are larger, as Latvian cities were much larger than Lithuanian cities 100-150 years ago.

      See more here about the period in Lithuania: http://www.truelithuania.com/the-rule-of-russian-empire-in-lithuania-1795-1918-254 . History of Riga for a comparison: http://www.onlatvia.com/history-of-riga-206 .

      In fact, Riga, Liepaja and Daugavpils had roughly as many inhabittants in 1915 as they do today. Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, on the other hand, had merely 1/3rd or 1/4th of the current inhabitants before World War 1. In Lithuania, major urbanization happened in the 20th rather than 19th century, and 20th century districts are not considered Old Towns.

      As for destruction, a lot depended on the success of locals to preclude it. The post-WW2 destruction was the worst in the areas where Soviet genocide generally destroyed the local populations, e.g. Koenigsberg and, to a lesser extent, Klaipėda (in Klaipėda, all the Old Town churches were torn down by the Soviets). However, where the locals remained, they often were able to save significant parts of the Old Town. For example, many more Vilnius buildings were originally condemned by the Soviets than were demolished in reality (the famous Gate of Dawn, St. Catherine’s church, St. Theresa church, City Hall, etc. were all initially condemned).

      The amount of World War 2 destruction was also relevant for post-WW2 destruction. Often the “war destruction” was used as an excuse for the Soviets to destroy buildings on ideological basis, typically targetting houses of worship and any buildings standing in the way of their grandiose “Soviet redevelopment” plans.

      Such cities as Jelgava and Daugavpils (in Latvia) were heavily damaged and therefore have no truly intact Old Towns, while Liepaja and Ventspils have them, for example (albeit Soviets have destroyed some buildings there as well). In Lithuania, Šiauliai was especially devastated in World War 2 and thus received a grandiose plan of being rebuilt mostly in the Stalinist style.

      Generally, the frontline passed the Baltic States twice (1941 and 1944), but the 1944 Soviet invasion was far more destructive one. However, in some parts of Latvia the frontline passed merely once (1941), as the German troops managed to hold these places until Germany surrendered in 1945 (i.e. even after Berlin fell). This includes the cities of Ventspils and Liepaja in Latvia. This also may have helped to save more of those towns.

      The Central European countries that were communist but not ruled by the Soviet Union had more autonomy on this matter than either Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had. For example, in Poland the Catholic church was not persecuted so much, and the Old Towns were often rebuilt even if completely destroyed by war, including the churches (e.g. Warsaw Old Town, which suffered far more in World War 2 than most Baltic cities, nevertheless it currently looks much more authentic due to a post-World War 2 reconstruction).

  20. Mr. Zemaitis,

    Thank you for your information why there is less old towns in Lithuania than other former communist countries including Central Europe.

    I didn’t know that ” Riga, Liepaja and Daugavpils had roughly as many inhabitants in 1915 as they do today. On the other hand, Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda had merely 1/3rd or 1/4th of the current inhabitants before world War 1″. Because “Russian Empire purposefully left Lithuania as an agricultural undeveloped area whereas (for example) Latvia was developed for industry (and thus urbanized”. I rarely had a chance to learn Baltic states’ history at the school.

    For World War 2 destruction, “generally, the front line passed the Baltic states twice (1941 and 1944), but the 1944 Soviet invasion was far more destructive one. However, in some parts of Latvia the front line passed merely once (1941), as the German troops managed to hold places until Germany surrendered in 1945 (i.e. even after Berlin fell)”. That means Lithuania had more world War 2 destruction than Latvia (and Estonia) I think.

    If you don’t mind, would you explain the situation in Estonia?
    I think before 1918, Russian capital was St. Petersburg, so Estonia had an advantage for the development but I don’t know about World war 2 destruction in Estonia because information about Baltic states is still limited.

    Thank you for teaching me the Baltic states’ history.

    • In the terms of urbanization, the situation in Estonia before World War 2 was closer to the situation in Lithuania than Latvia.

      Tallinn had some 120 thousand of people in the years of World War 1 and it has 440 thousand today, for example. For Tartu, it was 50 thousand and 90 thousand.

      In comparison, for Riga it was 550 thousand and 650 thousand. For Liepaja – 94 thousand and 83 thousand, indicating a decline over 100 years. The same decline also happened in Daugavpils: it had a population of 115 thousand on the eve of World War 1 and just 105 thousand today.

      Vilnius had ~200 thousand people at the time of World War 1 and Kaunas had ~80 thousand. They have 550 thousand and 320 thousand today, respectively.

  21. Thank you for additional information about Baltic States’ urbanization in the years of World War 1 and the present-day.

    Well, I was thinking in terms of urbanization, the situation in Estonia before World War 2 was closer to the situation in Latvia than Lithuania.

    I read the articles that wealthy people in St. Petersburg frequently visited Estonian Baltic coasts such as Narva, Narva-joesuu, Toila (location of the Oru palace which was the Esonian president’s summer residence) and Tallinn.
    Also, the Krenholm Manufacturing Company (according to the Wikipedia, the company’s cotton spinning and manufacturing mills were the largest in the world) located in Narva.

    Overall, it seems Latvia was a strategically important location for imperial Russia and Soviet regime. That is why Riga (550 thousand), Daugavpils (115 thousand), and Liepaja (94 thousand) had over 90 thousand population in the years of World War 1.

    Maybe Latvia was the nearest ice free port from St. Petersburg.
    Plus, Latvia experienced less World War 2 destruction than Lithuania or Estonia, therefore, there is more old towns in Latvia.

    I have learned that Narva, Estonia was a beautiful baroque old town before World War 2 but Soviet Air Force destroyed 98% of the town.
    Oh, what a destruction Narva experienced from Soviet invasion.

    I have learned a lot of things about Baltic States’ history from you.
    Thank you very much MR. Zemaitis.

    • It must be said that urbanization happened in all three Baltic States before World War 2. So, all three had industries. For example, Vilnius had 60 000 inhabittants in 1860 and 200 000 in 1909.

      It is just that the urbanization and industrialization of Latvia was on another level. It was comparable to urbanization/industrialization in Western Europe, where prime urbanization/industrialization happened in the 19th century. Lithuania and Estonia lagged behind while under the Russian Empire and while some industries were built there, the countries generally remained agricultural well into the 20th century.

      At the time of World War 1, 20% of Lithuania’s people lived in cities. At the time of World War 2 this number stood at 30%. Today it is 70%.

  22. Mr. Zemaitis,

    Thank you very much for the comparative explanation of urbanization/industrialization in Western Europe/Latvia and Estonia/Lithuania.

    During the under Russian administration, urbanization was behind schedule in Lithuania and in Estonia. Therefore, two of the Baltic States’ countryside remained agricultural society until the 20th century.

  23. Mr. Zemaitis,

    I have been trying to do ancestry research and have 25% Lithuanian ancestry. Although my grandmother was not born in Lithuania, her mother, father and older brothers were born there. Her parents and older brothers immigrated here to the USA around 1905 and settled in upstate PA. She could speak fluent Lithuanian. I have been having trouble tracing the family back into Lithuania. i am 65 and remember asking my grandmother when I was young if we still had relatives in Lithuania. She told me no. They were all killed in WW2. From reading the previous posts I can see why this might be true. I had no idea that the civilian population was devastated by the Germans and Russians. The family’s last name was Schuleskie, Schuleski or Shelesky and they were supposedly from Vilnius. i noticed that the spelling of the last name kept changing in the US census records. Spoke with a relative in his 80’s a few years ago. A direct descendent of Joseph Schuleske, my great grandfather. He told me that Joseph Schuleskie kept changing the spelling of the last name of the family until he got it to where he liked it. Needless to say, that made it difficult to identify exactly when they arrived in the USA through US immigration records. I also asked the relative if he knew if any family members still live in Lithuania and told him what my grandmother previously told me. He said, she was probably right. Who the Germans didn’t kill the Russians probably did. From the history of the country and reading the posts it is most likely true. A very sad situation and not common knowledge here in the USA. Any suggestions on who could help me research when the family arrived in the USA or possibly help trace back the family into Lithuania? Maybe there are some family decedents still alive there.

    Thanks,
    Craig Curry

    • Hi,

      We do offer heritage search services. We could send you our offer by e-mail. However, typically, heritage search is the more successful the more information is known, e.g. names (including those of relatives) at least approximate ages, birthplaces and such. Some searches may be successful with very little information, but the probability of success depends on that. You already provided some information, however, you likely know some more, e.g. relative names, in which case the search may become easier.

      • Can you please send me that information on website too. I am also working on family tree and just recently came across a document that states my grandfather was born in Bine, Lithuania. I have been looking into geography and cannot find any place or word that is called Bine, maybe you can provide some insight on this? It would have been around 1894 and Lithuania was Russian occupied then. Did they change the names of all the towns?
        Thank you
        Miss Visnefski (Višniauskas)

      • Dear Mr. Žemaitis,
        Earlier this year I hired Sigita Gasparaviciene to research information of My Grandmother Tekle Andrzejewska and her family. She found a lot of information towns births etc. She couldn’t find information on my Great grandparents except their marriage. As per some of the documents there were a few siblings that stayed in Lithuania and one sister married and had children. I would like to consider a new approach on how to find them and their ascendants and possibly focus on my Great grandparents and their parents. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you
        Debra Luciani

        • The genealogist probably provided you a list of books where she has searched. If not, should ask for such a list. Then you’d know in what books / documents these records do not exist. Should you hire anybody else, this is important, so they would not simply search the same books again. We could then review the list of these books and the facts that you know about these people. Perhaps then we would get an idea about what additional archived books / documents could be searched and we would then offer you such services. You may send the information you have to the official True Lithuania e-mail address tour.baltic@gmail.com .

  24. Gerb. Augustinai,

    Ar galima būtų patikslinti lentelės antroje (apatinėje) dalyje. kur nurodomi žuvusieji, duomenis: čia kalbama apie 190 000 žuvusiųj7 dėl Vokietijos okupacijos, tačiau juk dar yra 200 000 nužudytų žydų? Šie skaičiai turėtų būti sumuojami?

    • 190 tūkst. apima visų tautybių aukas. Tačiau absoliuti dauguma jų buvo žydai.
      Nieko sumuoti nereikia. Tai yra tie žmonės, kurie iki Antrojo pasaulinio karo gyveno dabartinėje Lietuvos teritorijoje, ir dėl genocidų bei karo žuvo.

      Be abejo, tikslus jokio genocido aukų skaičius niekad nebus žinomas.

      Be to, kiti šaltiniai dažnai skaičiuoja kitus dalykus. Skaičiai labai smarkiai priklauso nuo to, kas ir kaip skaičiuojama:

      a)Kokia Lietuvos teritorija, kurioje skaičiuojamos aukos? Vieni šaltiniai skaičiuoja be Vilniaus krašto, kiti su pilnu Vilniaus kraštu, treti tik su 1940 m. perduota dalim ar pagal 1941 m. nacių korekcijas. Su Klaipėdos kraštu – dar viena problema, nes teoriškai jis 1939-1945 m. Lietuvai nepriklausė.
      b)Kas skaičiuojama? Ar nužudyti ilgalaikiai Lietuvos gyventojai, ar, tarkime, „prisumuojami“ ir karo metu atitremti (tarkime, į getus) arba atbėgę (tarkime, 1939 m. iš Lenkijos) žmonės, kurie paskui buvo nužudyti Lietuvoje? Ar „atimami“ tie žmonės, kurie buvo ištremti ir paskui nepakėlę tremties ar konclagerio sąlygų greitai mirė? (mano skaičiuose neprisumuojama ir neatimama)
      c)Ar įskaičiuojami nužudyti neciviliai (kariai, partizanai, o taip pat mirties bausme nuteisti realūs nusikaltėliai)? Kokiais kriterijais atskiriami civiliai nuo necivilių, kriminaliniai nuo politinių nusikaltėlių?
      d)Ar skaičiuojami nužudytieji, ar populiacijos praradimai (t.y. ir tremtiniai, kurie nežuvo, pabėgusieji į Vakarus ar Palestiną, evakuoti į TSRS žmonės, Hitlerio perkelti į Vokietiją vokiečiai ir t.t.)?
      e)Bandant apskaičiuoti praradimus surašymų duomenis kyla klausimas, kiek atitinkamų žmonių gyveno Lietuvoje 1939 m. ir kiek 1945 m., nes surašymai vyko tik 1923 m. ir 1959 m., o per tiek laiko vyko ne vien genocidai, tačiau ir emigracija, gyventojų prieaugio tempų kitimas ir t.t.

      Deja, labai dažnai būna, kad cituojant skaičiaus prasmė pakeičiama – tai yra, šaltinyje parašyti „populiacijos praradimai“, o kažkas cituodamas paverčia „nužudytaisiais“; parašytas skaičius be Vilniaus krašto (t.y. de facto Lietuvos teritorija 1939 m. pradžioje), o kažkas cituodamas rašo „dabartinėje Lietuvos teritorijoje“. Ypač daug tokių dalykų pasitaiko žiniasklaidoje, politinėje polemikoje, „populiariojoje“ istorijoje, studentų darbuose. Ir net atsekti kaip „viešojoje erdvėje“ atsirado vienas ar kitas skaičius sunku. Todėl čia bandau pagal įvairius šaltinius, įskaitant pirminius, pateikti platesnę lentelę, kur išskiriu į atskiras eilutes visokias aukų ir populiacijos praradimų kategorijas.

  25. Hi
    I am doing family research on my farther Joseph Victor Alesauskas born in Vilnius 1918 he came to England a round 1945 as a displaced person .
    He would not talk about that part of his life very often only before he passed away did he start to tell me bits .
    I looking for any info old war records or birth records can any one help.

  26. Labas,

    I stumbled across this website trying to find some information about my mother’s side of the family. They fled Lithuania and lived in a DP camp in Germany for over a decade until they received permission to immigrate to the States. I finished reading two of Ruta Sepetys books and dismayed by my own lack of knowledge, so here I am. My mom (whose father was a shoemaker in Klaipeda area I believe) told me that they Russians let some people go. She added they drew lots and my grandfather won and was able to leave. They took what they could carry and left everything behind forever. Why would the Russians allow lots to be drawn?? This makes no sense to me and I haven’t come across any other information to support this as of yet. This website is amazing and I am going to continue browsing it. I am astounded with the informative responses to questions. Very impressive!!

    • I have not heard such a story.

      However, I am not too surprised by it.

      This was one of the key differences between Holocaust and Soviet Genocide: the Holocaust was, basically, an “impersonal” state-owned industrial machine set at a killing mode, whereas the Soviet Genocide in this area often depended on thousands of state-sanctioned bands of perpetrators, often sadistic, who were given a “free hand” by the Soviet Union to act vis-a-vis the persecuted population groups (Lutheran Lithuanians, Germans, religious Catholic Lithuanians and such). These “bands” may have been part of Red Army (in wartime), NKVD (after war) or other organizations but they were allowed to decide on their own on how to torture, kill, etc.

      Therefore, there are a lot of stories about a sheer inexplicable Soviet brutality and “mind-games”. This ranges from the severement of male genitals and putting them into mouth before murdering somebody (as in Rainiai massacre) to husbands and children forced to watch how their wives/mothers are raped – and, at the same time, forced to count the number of Russian rapists aloud.

      Perhaps such a “lot drawing” was a kind of “mind-game”? If so, it could have been “invented” by some particular group of Soviets and not repeated in other cases. By 1944-1945, the Soviet army was in a position to decide who to let to seek refuge and who not to, after all (if the refugees failed to leave on time): there are stories from Klaipėda (and even images of the aftermath) how Soviets chased the refugee groups and drove over them in tanks.

      As your grandfather was from Klaipėda, he was almost certainly among the groups especially targetted by the Soviet regime, as Klaipėda was 70% German and 30% Lithuanian Lutheran at the time, with few minorities. You may read more at http://www.truelithuania.com/history-of-klaipeda-memel-447 and http://www.truelithuania.com/lithuania-minor-230 .

      The goal to depopulate the areas formerly inhabited by Lithuanian Lutherans or Germans (Kaliningrad Oblast, Klaipėda region) was met in any case. The unique culture of Lithuanian Lutherans (“lietuvininkai” or “mažlietuviai”) was destroyed altogether at that time, as the survivors spread among either Germans or Catholic Lithuanians and assimilated.

      Another thing, the Soviets also officially let some people out based on their ethnicity, e.g. Jews to Israel, Poles to Poland. However, this was not a lottery and this option was generally available only to particular population groups (not available to Lithuanians, for example, as Soviets considered Lithuania a part of the Soviet Union and thus all Lithuanians as Soviet people who could have no other homeland; however, some Lithuanians apparently used the option by impersonating to be Poles, as Poland, even if communist, was a somewhat better place to live).

  27. Hi, I am trying to find out info on my wives family that lived in a village called Sintautai. The name is Bindokas. Her fathers parents farm was taken and the 3 brothers were pow for 2 years, his mother was sent to Siberia for 15 years, her father said that they wore a half moon on their jackets but I can not find any info on this. Also would the family have been Jewish as her father never talked much about what happened. His was sent to the UK as a displaced person by the red cross many thanks .

    • Are you asking if the family was Jewish, or declaring it? If you are asking – this is very unlikely. Very few Jews lived in the villages and owned farms (most were craftsmen, businessmen). Moreover, Jewish culture was distinct from the Lithuanian one, so if someone would have been a Jew, people around him/her would likely know (unless he/she would purposefully hide that, however, after WW2 there was no reason for that). From what you tell, it would seemm they would have been Lithuanian landowners, targetted in the Soviet Genocide. As such, some of them chose to flee to the West thus saving their life, avoiding imprisonment, torture, expulsion, and such.

      • Thank you for the reply, can you tell why the grandmother was sent to Siberia for 15 years thank you for your time .

        • It is impossible to tell exactly without seeing particular Soviet documents (if such documents survive). However, what was taking place at that time was a genocide (Soviet / Stalinist) and there were many groups of people targetted. There were even plans to destroy the whole Lithuanian nation (i.e. to exile everybody of Lithuanian descent to Siberia, where most would have likely died). While such plans did not proceed in Lithuania, such total ethnic genocide befell on some 14 other Soviet-ruled ethnicities, such as Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, and Chechens.

          In Lithuania, the mere fact of being Lithuanian alone was not sufficient for murder or expulsion, but belonging to various sub-groups of the Lithuanian nation essentially was. These sub-groups were religious, political, and cultural. Such sub-groups included the Lietuvininkai (a unique culture of Lutheran Lithuanians from Lithuania Minor), religious Catholics (with even membership in organizations such as Boy Scouts possibly deadly, as they were considered religious), patriotically-minded Lithuanians, rightists and leftist non-communists, non-collaborating intellectuals, businessmen and so on.

          Furthermore, the Soviets did not actually investigate thoroughly on who fall into these groups. They chose their targets on circumstantial evidence or no evidence at all. For example, owning a Lithuanian flag after the occupation could lead to one’s death or expulsion (as that would signify Lithuanian patriotism), having family members who were members of some religious or non-communist political organizations in the past would be another reason (in essence, whole extended families would be punished if one person of that family would fall into the persecuted groups of people, that’s why so many children died in the Soviet Genocide). In fact, many Lithuanians were murdered or expelled based solely on defamation by other people who would, for example, “settle” disputes and feuds by telling the Soviets that their adversary belongs to one of the persecuted groups even if he didn’t. While being Lithuanian alone was not enough to be killed or expelled, it certainly did not help either: throughout the Soviet Genocide, many things that would have been tolerated if the person would have been Russian, for example, were not tolerated if the person was Lithuanian.

  28. Hi, I’m trying to find out some information about a family member who was Lithuanian, he came to the UK following WW11 and had been a prisoner of war in Germany. Is there anyone who can tell me why some Lithuanians became prisoners of war in Germany? Thank you.

    • He may have served in the Soviet Red Army. While extremely few Lithuanians willingly wanted to serve in the armies of either the Soviet Union or the Nazi Germany, both occupational regimes attempted to coerce people into their ranks through forced drafts and other means (with limited success, as often the people would manage to hide, etc.). So, the fact that he served there does not means that he would have been supportive of the Soviet Union ideologically. As you can see in the table at the article, some 25 000 people of Lithuania died fighting for one or the other regime in World War 2, often against their will; additionally, of course, many became POWs.

      • I know that he had his name on a plaque along with his father as they were vigilantes of some kind, but I’m not sure what movement they were involved in, they were farmers near kaunas. And he was a university student on his way to university when he was taken as prisoner of war. Can I just thank you so much for the information that you give as it is invaluable, I’m so glad that there are people around with the knowledge that you have.

        • Prisoner of war generally means somebody who has been fighting the opposing army and has been taken prisoner, which would seem to not have been the case if he was arrested while walking to university. However, Nazi Germany has arrested many people who were not prisoners of war as well and sent them to prisons or concentration camps (e.g. Stutthof). Perhaps he meant that he was a prisoner during the war (e.g. political prisoner for anti-Nazi opinions, for example) rather than a prisoner of war?

  29. Hi I am looking for any information about my mother’s experience during WW2.
    She was born April, 15 1930 and grew up in Kaunas. Her mother was Polish and married a Lithuanian man. I think they were relativity well off. As I understand the history Boris was kidnapped by the soviets and a few years later my mother and grandmother (Sophia) were sent to work camps.
    I have no idea where. They believed Boris had been killed. When their camp was liberated they went to Australia. My mother married an Australian and naturalized.
    All of the family I knew in Australia have died and I have no idea if I have any relatives in Lithuania. I remember hearing that Boris was not killed by the Russians but he believe my mother and grandmother were killed so he began a new life after the war as well.
    If you have any suggestions for how I can learn more I would love them.
    Thank you
    Amanda

    • Firstly, it is possible that the names you know are not correct. “Boris” is a Russian name, rather than Lithuanian, while “Sophia”, in this version, is English (Polish would be Zofia, Lithuanian would be Sofija/Zofija). It may also be that the ethnicities you know are not correct, e.g. Boris may have been a Russian, or the names were changed after emigration (in case for Sophia) or the memory of them changed (in case of Boris).

      As I understand, by “work camps” you mean the Nazi Germany World War 2 camps? (as the Soviet work camps were never liberated). In that case, the story seems somewhat plausible, as Soviets occupied Lithuania in 1940 (and exiled some 2% of population, which may have seemed as kidnapping), while Nazi Germany conquered it in 1941 and took a part of population to work camps (although the numbers were quite low in case of non-Jews).

      It may be possible to do an archive search in Lithuania for her birth records and from that point, we could continue in searching the information on her parents (finding out their real names, birthdates, marriage info and more, if surviving), etc. We offer such services, if needed.

  30. Mr Zemaitis, Please could you inform me what the role of the Baltic Guard were before and during WW2 and on whose side they operated. Thank you

    • Unfortunately, I don’t know what you mean by “Baltic Guard”. The search for “Baltic Guard” on Google does not find anything related to either pre-WW2 or WW2-era history of the Baltic States. Perhaps you refer to some institution that is usually known by some other name and “Baltic Guard” is, e.g. a mistranslation from Lithuanian?

  31. Mr Zemaitis, I have only just logged on and I thank you for your prompt reply. I am almost certain that the Baltic Guard existed because I saw a box file in 2016 which had belonged to my late partner’s late stepfather Mr Valteris Nejus. Inside the box were a collection of photos including one full colour, studio shot of Mr Nejus in his Baltic Guard uniform which was all black, with a little folding cap displaying purple and yellow insignia. There were several photos of his colleagues in the same uniform. There were photos of some sort of camp, rows of huts in the snow. Maybe a displaced persons camp? There also appears to have been some sort of selection process because I also saw a letter, dated 1939, stating that Mr. Nejus had been “screened for clearing purposes” signed by a Mr Max Stine. Like yourself I can find no reference to the Baltic Guard or any photos of the uniforms described above on the internet and I’d like to know why not, I would also like to know the significance of the comment in the letter.Do you have any suggestions for further research? Thank you.

    • If you talk about DP camps, then it could be post-war era.

      I have found this on Google now:
      “From July 1946 and throughout 1947, 22 Baltic companies were set up in the US zone, which was distributed into units according Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian ethnicity. The offer to join the Baltic defence and work company (Baltic Guard) gave the former prisoners the possibility of regaining lost human rights, but even more importantly, was that the jurisdiction of the US military authorities had belonged to the former German armed forces, thus giving some confidence in the future. Together the Estonians formed four defence companies and five work companies, which included close to 5000 men.” (source: http://www.archiv.org.lv/baltic_dp_germany/index.php?lang=en&id=215 )

      Apparently, it was some military company set up from Baltic-originated refugees in the camps by the US occupational authorities. In such case, Baltic Guard played no role in WW2 and that is why its quite obscure and little information is available.

      1939 letter then could be related to something else. In 1939 neither of the Baltic States was occupied yet. However, Germany had already occupied Klaipėda region, and, moreover, Germany long since held Lithuania Minor areas with large Lithuanian minority. If Valteris Nėjus originated from such areas, perhaps he then enlisted into German army as he was considered a German citizen by Germany and, after the war, came to Germany-proper, was put into a camp by the US authorities, and became part of the US-set-up Baltic Guard (which, apparently, consisted of former German army soldiers of Lithuanian, Latvian, or Estonian origin)?

  32. Mr Zemaitis, Thank you very much for all your research. I was very pleased to learn that the Baltic Guard was a force for good after the war was over. The letter still worries me though, also the likelihood that Wal (as Valteris Nejus was known as) joined the German army. I suppose it’s too much to hope that he wasn’t involved with Nazi activity in Lithuania. He was supposed to go to America after the war but through some administrive error ended up in the UK. I don’t whereabouts in Lithuania he came from but your explanation sounds very plausible. He certainly made his mark in this little community of Builth Wells in Wales where he ran a successful antique business with my late mother-in-law from 1972, but he would never talk about Lithuania. He died in 2007 of prostate cancer. Thank you again for your very interesting information

    • If by “Nazi activity” you mean genocide (murders of civilians), the vast majority of Germany’s World War 2 soldiers were not involved in it, they just fought in the war against the Soviet Union. So, the likelihood that he participated in those activities is not that large, I think. Many of those who participated in genocide were subsequently tried for that, so if you don’t know that he would have been tried, the likelihood is even lower (of course, some managed to evade trials, so it is not 100%).

  33. Mr Zemaitis, Thank you for replying. I was relieved to hear that it was very unlikely that Wal was guilty of war crimes. I suppose it was the wording of that1939 letter that was troubling: “screened for clearing purposes”. What sort of clearing procedures were Lithuanians put through?

    • Is the original document in English? I doubt that, if it really is 1939 document. In that case, the original text matters – this would be just a translation and different translators may translate the same differently.

      • It was in English and was very thin and fragile, falling apart at the folds. It looked original to me but I’m no expert. Also why would an old Lithunian man have a forged document with all his personal papers?

        • I asked not if it was forged, but rather if it was original or translation-into-English of the original. If the original is English, it is hardly possible it dates to 1939 and was created in Lithuania. Neither Lithuania, nor any of its occupying powers used English to any extent (Poland using Polish, Germany using German, and Soviet Union using Russian). I would then believe perhaps the document dates to post-WW2 era when he joined the aforementioned Baltic Guard in the camps (as two of the Allied occupational powers in Germany, Great Britain and the USA, used English). Else (less likely) he could have served some British or American institutions even before WW2 / at the beginning of WW2.

  34. I am interested in learning more about the history of Lithuania (not just during WWII, but before that as well), and was wondering if you could recommend any books for that.

  35. Hi, I am looking to find any information on living relatives of Augustas Myle (1921- 2014) Born in Mazeikiai, At the end of WW2 was placed in a POW camp in Belgium prior to being in a D.P. Camp (Name of camp not known) Came to England as a EVW possibly 1947-8 and was living in Eccles, Manchester 1950 – 1951. Emigrated to Canada via Southhampton England on 30th November 1951. Returned to Lithuania in 1994 and settled in the village of Pakalupe.
    Wrote a series of articles about his experiences during the war and had a book published in 1995 (Uzrasai 1940-1946 )

    Any help would be most appreciated
    Regards.

    Paul Cesnavicius
    Irlam, Manchester
    England.

    • The first thing should be googling the surname, which is a pretty rare one. Many of the people who have this surname are likely to be his relatives.

      As for archive search, the recent data is protected by privacy laws and so could not be accessed.

      If you’d be interested, we may ask some people in the Mažeikiai area.

      • Thanks, that would be most helpful.
        Incidentially, with regard to your article on the Rainiai Massacre, my father has often spoke to me about this terrible event. He was 17 years of age at the time and living with his elder brother who was a postmaster in Telsiai, he witnessed the remains of the bodies, a terrible memory that he has never been able to forget!

    • Dear Paul Cesnavicius,
      I don’t have any information about Augustas Myle, but I am eager to know in which POW-Camp he was in Belgium. Is it possible that this was Camp 2227 in Zedelgem (Cedelghem or Zedelghem)?
      Thanks,
      Pol Denys pol.denys@telenet.be

  36. is someone know about a tank battles in Lithuania region in ww2

  37. Thank you for this wonderful resource and website!
    My mother passed away. I am working on a memorial book about her history.

    Her mother was half German. So when the Russians took over Lithuania the first time at the start of the war, my mother’s family were allowed to flee Kybartai and resettle to Germany. They had to move from town to town.
    I wondered if there might be any information or records about her and her family’s life in Kybartai, their resettlement in Germany, their life in DP camps, or my mother’s immigration to Canada from Belgium in 1955. Some facts are:
    My mother’s name is
    Birute Jurgaitis (nee Bendoraitis), born May 25 1929.
    Her mother is Emma Bendoraitis, born Emma Gunther Feb 6 or 8 1906
    her father is Juozas Bendoraitis and he was a shoemaker in Kybartai, had a radio he hid (shortwave?) and had been in trouble with local authority, and I am told the Gestapo in a black car were looking for him in Kybartai at his home, but he was able to slip away and meet the rest of the family on the train as they were leaving to Germany for resettlement due to the German blood in the family (not sure if it is plausible the Gestapo would be looking for him in Kybartai, these are memories of a young girl, but he did once at least end up in the Kybartai police office, perhaps for a mistaken identity issue). I know he was born in Kybartai.
    The family ended up in 1946 in DP camp ” Team 77, Camp 540 – Oberzwehren Kassel”
    Later my mother married a Lithuain named Slajus and moved to Belgium around 1949 and then moved to Toronto, Canada in 1955.
    Thank you for any information or tips you might have on where I can find more details or records of my mother and her family.
    All the best to you!
    Mike Jurgaitis

  38. Could someone please help me to understand what was happening in this time period? I am doing a book report on the book between shades of gray (about this era) and I’m having trouble understanding everything about ww2 and how this ties into it. Thanks in advance 🙂

  39. My grandfather Stan Kinderis

  40. Hi, my grandparents and my father and siblings were born in Lithuania (I have DOB, place of birth, etc.). They fled to Germany I’m assuming in 1941 (based on what I have read here) and worked at a Cabbage farm. I’m wondering if you could help to provide more information about them through the archives?

    Thanks,
    Angie

    • It is also highly likely they left in 1944. In 1941, before the first Soviet occupation, relatively few people fled as the occupation was swift and they still did not know that the Soviet Union would undertake a genocide. In 1944, however, as the front was moving back, Lithuanians knew very well that Soviets are coming relatively long before they came and they already knew what to expect when the Soviets come as many of them have barely survived the 1940-1941 Soviet occupation. Most of the Lithuanian refugees actually left in 1944 rather than 1941.

      We may offer you archive search services if you need. We will send you an offer by e-mail.

  41. I’m looking for any information of Lithuanians who during WWII, fought with the British royal air force, either with the free Poles, or in regular service.

  42. Hi,
    I am trying to find out information about my fathers family who were killed by the Russians during the Second World War, my fathers name was Eduardas Vieselis, he fled to Germany during the war, then to Scotland in a pow camp and then to Leicester where he married my mother Elsie, can any body help me please?

  43. Hello!
    My name is Angelina, born in the USA and I have a report to do on the “Genocides of Lithuania” (during both Nazi and Soviet occupation, of course.)
    Do you have any articles here on the site that talk about WW2 Lithuania, or what the Soviet-Nazi occupation, and WW2 looked like?

    Things start to confuse me right after the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact that was signed….but maybe thats just me?

  44. Mr. Žemaitis,

    Thank you for your amazing service. I have read all of the posts under this topic (World War 2 in Lithuania (1940-1944)) and have found them very informative from a variety of perspectives. Like many who have written here, I was part of the exodus of families from Lithuania in July of 1944 just prior to the reoccupation. I was born in Germany 3 months after the war ended.

    I am now writing some historical perspectives of my family’s life during the period surrounding WWII. I recently found out that my uncle Vytautas was, in all probability(suggested by the LGGRTC), the Partisan “Naktis”, commander of the Kestutis Company (Kestučio Rinktines vadas) in the Tauras District and who was killed in a MGB ambush in 1948. Vytautas graduated the (1940 – 15th class of the Lithuanian Military Academy (Karo Mokyla XV) but didn’t receive his commission until he rejoined the military in 1944 in July. He fought as a Lieutenant in the battles of Papile, Seda, Barstyčiai, and Klaipeda. He retreated with the Germans, crossing over to the Curonion spit to Neringa and eventually to Labiau (Polessk) near what is now Kalingrad, where he was reassigned to a Lithuanian company, which from my estimation was near Warsaw. The letter states that he was near grandmother, “Bobute”- Eugenia Dambrauskaite Oginskiene, who lived in the middle of Warsaw.

    Most of this information was gleaned from a letter, I recently found that Vytautas had written to his uncle, my paternal grandfather’s brother Domas. The letter was from the waterlogged trenches in eastern front dated December 14th 1944 during a very long rainy spell. He served with two other Lithuanian lieutenants, one of whom became the partisan Aleksandras Zapkus-Piliakalnis. According to accounts about him, he was captured in late December of 1944 and escaped to the forests near Žasliai “with four friends” from a prisoner of war train headed to the Daugvapils prisoner transfer station during the Christmas time period. I surmise that Vytautas was one of those friends but he was never heard from again. My question for you is how might I find out more about Lithuanians and where they may have fought on the eastern front during the end of 1944? Might there be historical records of specific, but not necessarily, historic battles, where I might be able to figure out where Vytautas and Aleksandras were captured? Is there a military archive of the detailed progression of the German withdrawal? How did most Lithuanians pressed into service by the Germans respond to the end of the war?

    I would greatly appreciate your help and advice on this issue. Many thanks and much gratitude for your outstanding work.
    Algirdas

    • There are Geman archives and there are Lithuanian archives, depending on what you search.

      The movements of German armies would be documented in German arhcives and many books would be written about them.

      Few Lithuanians actually fought for the Germans, however. Unlike in Latvia and Estonia, Germans were unable to erect a Lithuanian legion due to disobedience.

      Lithuanians generally fought for Lithuania. As Lithuania was occupied, this meant fighting the occupation in a guerilla fashion. As Soviet occupation was more dangerous/deadly to Lithuanians (while the German occupation was seen as temporary, especially in the 1943-1944 as the German defeat was imminent), Soviets were the main target of the guerillas. This created the mistaken belief that Lithuanians somehow fought for Germans but it is just that they had the same enemy at the time (for different reasons). See the article on “Did Lithuania support Nazi Germany during WW2?” myth.

      In 1944, people who would have been targetted by Soviet genocide (this included Lithuanian army officials and whoever fought against Soviets) essentially had three choices: (1)To die or be exiled, which would likely have lead to death due to horrbile conditions. (2)To continue the guerilla war in the forests, which seemed increasingly hopeless over the time (3)To emigrate westwards, where the Allies would occupy after Germany loses the war.

  45. To Augustinas Žemaitis, Thank you for your patience to give such thorough answers to inquiries about personal histories of people of Lithuania. Your explanations, based on facts (http://www.truelithuania.com/topics/history-and-politics-of-lithuania/history-of-lithuania) make regular histories of Lithuania seem quite bland (also, often confused by misapplying information influenced by different agendas). I feel I never have to read heaps of books again to get an understanding of what went on. You make history live!

  46. Augustinas,
    I just recently found my father’s name on a DP list: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 for Kazys Pilelis (he was 7 y/o).

    Also, a document and listing put together by the County on Traunstein, located in Bavaria. It appears to be a legal record of people who were interned at the Dachau concentration camp, including my father. He is listed as being 7 years of age, no exact birth date (my father was born in 1938), and having lived in Lindach-Pirsch. I found Lindach on Wikipedia. It was an independent city until 1971 when it became a suburb of Schwaebisch-Gmuend in the state of Baden Wuerttemberg.
    It’s not exactly clear what this list is, but it was issued by the Economics Office of the County of Traunstein. It seems to document the issuance of some sort of document or certificate to the people listed, doesn’t say what document was issued, just the date of issuance: August 19, 1945. The list is signed by the then County Commissioner of Traunstein.
    Can you please tell me what this document is and what it might mean?

    With much appreciation,
    Tisha

  47. Dear Augustinas,
    Thank you for your wonderful research and this website!
    Do you have any idea on where one can search for records about their relatives in the DP camps, specifically the Kasel-Mattenburg DP camp in the American zone?
    Thank you!
    PS I’m sure you’re familiar with it, but Jonas Mekas’s memiors about his life during and after ww2 and his stay in German workcamps and also in various DP camps is a really good resources. “I had Nowhere to Go” by Jonas Mekas
    Mike.

  48. Hi,

    I’m looking off my grandfather Andrius Jaskaitis. He went from Lithuania around 1944 -1945 to Germany maybe France. He was born around 1909. He was living in the village of Šarkiškės.

    • Do you want to find information about his life abroad?

        • I have checked online archives of the DP camps but I see no such name there. Given that it is not clear where he went to (as few of the DPs stayed in Europe, if he was one, that was often just a temporary stop), it is not clear where to search. Maybe somebody will see this comment if he descends from the same person, although, of course, the chance is not that big (but there were times in this website when a person who posted information about their forefathers would get replies from the descendants of the same forefathers, usually a year or a couple of years later).

  49. Hello, Could you please see if you could provide some information about my father Vytautas Daunoras – we think he was forced to flee siauliai in 1941 aged approx. 16? He ended up living in the UK.

    • Hi Robert I have no idea if they might be related, but my stepfather, Stepas Daunoras was born in 1924 (I have his d.o.b.) and also ended up here in the UK. He would never talk about Lithuania except that he said he was half German and half Lithuanian. I do not know which area he was from but I know he had quite a few siblings. Reading the information on here, I now have some understanding of the way he was sometimes.

  50. my parents lived in Kaunas, my brother was born there in 1940. My father was a partizanas, and all three had to escape in 1944, when the last wave of butchers/russians were to occupy for the second time. They survived Dresden, my uncle fought at Staligrad. They all came to the U.S. on May 4, 1949 on the “General Black”. What horrors they shared with me… I was honored to hear and know their stories. Jie buvo herojai..

    • Hi Grazina,
      my father, Kazys Jurgaitis, born in 1919, Lithuania, fought in Russia too. I have no idea about the details on how he ended up fighting there for the Germans. He was a POW after, was starving and escaped. He was also described as a partisan. May I ask you how your uncle ended up in Stalingrad? He was Lithuanian? Very curious, as my father was on the Russian front as well… thanks!

      Mike Jurgaitis

  51. Hi friends! Might there be anyone familiar with the town of Kybartai, Lithuania or the Bendoraitis family who lived there and left for Germany in 1941 after the Russians took over? Also does anyone have any idea if the SS operated in Lithuania at the start of the war (my grandfather Juozas Bendoraitis had some trouble in Kybartai with what sounded like secret police who came to round him up in a black car sometime before 1941: was wondering if this was plausible). Thanks, take care!
    Mike

    • The Russians (Soviet Union) took over in 1940 June. In 1941 June, Nazi Germany took over from the Soviet Union. That said, the Soviet Union ruled Lithuania for half of 1941. The mass emigration fleeing the advanced Soviet armies (DPs), on the other hand, happened only in 1944, as the Soviet re-occupation was imminent. While the Soviet occupation lasted, it was generally impossible to leave Lithuania westwards. It was possible during the independent Lithuania years (until June 1940) and Nazi German occupation (1941-1944).

      Like in all the Nazi-German-occupied lands, SS would have operated. However, there was no “local Lithuanian SS unit”, as Lithuanians have successfully thwarted Nazi German plans to establish one – so the units would have been staffed by Germans who were moved in from elsewhere for this purpose.

  52. Inconceivable distain for mankind can only be driven by humans possessed by devils. Per the events in Lithuania, we are all witnesses to a biblical astonishment.

  53. Hello – can anyone enlighten me on the forced, by the Germans during their WW2 occupation of Lithuania, registration if all residents of Vilnius to register as Lithuanian – regardless whether they were Polish or any other nationality. I was told of this by a Pole who was in Vilnius during the German occupation and recalled having to comply with the German dictates. She couldn’t recall dates or finer details.
    Does anybody out there know of this?

    • If somebody would shed more light, that would be great. Given that Nazi Germany was antagonized to both Poles and Lithuanians, seeing them as supposedly “genetically worse than Germans” (even if supposedly “genetically better than Jews”), I am not sure why one ethnicity would have been preferred over the another. Of course, those are turbulent, rapidly-changing times and many things could have happened, especially as we don’t know the exact dates. Some of the things to consider are:
      -The boundary between a Pole and a Lithuanian was not clear at the time. Many people once considered themselves to be both, spoke both languages, or e.g. now spoke Polish but all their grandparents spoke Lithuanian (i.e. they were Polonized Lithuanians, and may have considered themselves to be either Lithuanians, Poles, or both). See these articles:
      http://www.truelithuania.com/topics/history-and-politics-of-lithuania/ethnic-relations
      http://www.truelithuania.com/history-of-vilnius-634
      http://www.truelithuania.com/poles-134
      -It may be so, perhaps, that e.g. some Germans would consider genes more important than self-determination (due to the Nazi ideas), and thus wanted to write down somebody who had all Lithuanian grandparents as a Lithuanian even if there was a generational switch to the Polish language/culture and the person self-identified as a Pole.
      -It may also be so that the actual people doing the write-down (on the German order) were local bureaucrats, i.e. either Poles or Lithuanians, and each one doing the write down wanted to inflate his/her own ethnicity for the statistics perhaps hoping that would be important for the post-war assignment of Vlinius.
      But these are simply theories I am not sure if it was anywhere a wider policy though.

  54. Thank you Augustinas! I appreciate your sharing your knowledge here!

  55. Hello,
    I had a sister in law who, as a child, left Lithuania with her Professor father during or just before WWII. She said they had to travel to the sea to get on a ship to go to America and just missed it. As they stood on the pier or shore watching the ship full of passengers sailing away, it blew up before their eyes. When she told me this there was no internet to self investigate & now, unfortunately, this is all I know.
    My question is, have you ever heard of such an explosion in that time period? 1915 Lusitania would have been too early.
    Thank you for your consideration,
    Caren Rische

    • It is possible but it is difficult to answer. This could have taken place in many locations – probably not any more in Lithuannia but somewhere else, as there were no direct ships from Lithuania to the USA, so people would first go somewhere else (e.g. Germany or the UK) to board the ship. Alternatively (and likely) it could have happened with a ship evacuating people from Klaipėda area and Lithuania Minor to Germany in later part of WW (such as Wilhelm Gustloff). In general, I think, such memories tend to change over the time or be retold / understood a bit differently – this is very common when we hear memories of old people – e.g.:
      -Exact date may change in memory.
      -Exact route of the ship may change.
      -Exact port may change.
      -The memory may be “dramatised” (or misheard as more dramatic), e.g. maybe they just learned that a ship sunk soon afterwards and they saw another ship blown up at another time but both memories are retold together as one.

      As such, it is difficult to say where it happened, however, it is possible to be at least partly true as such things used to happen, especially during World War 2.

      • Thanks so much for your reply! I don’t remember what port or country, but she was very definite about watching the ship blow up. She was only in her 40s when she told me this. She is now in her 80s & post stroke. So unless her daughter gets back to me, I’ll probably never know. But again, thank you!

  56. Can you please tell how many SS Nazi’s were killed in Lithuanians in WWII between 1941 to 1944

    • I don’t know if the deaths of SS soldiers in particular in Lithuania in particular were even researched – borders of modern-day Lithuania didn’t matter for the SS, as they didn’t exist, so there was no point in analysing the casualties of the SS by their location in modern-day countries (however, if somebody knows such reserch, please point it).

      This article focuses on Lithuania and its casualties (among its citizens and ethnic people). As Lithuania had no SS legion of its own, any SS casualties in Lithuania were suffered by outsiders (occupying army) and are thus not included in this table, just as the Red Army soldiers who died in Lithuania are not included in this table either. However, the soldiers who served either army (often after forced conscription) and were from Lithuania are included in the list (as “Killed WW2 soldiers, 25 000”).

  57. Augustinas, Balys Grazulis the writer was my great-grandmother Tekla Grazulis Prakusky’s cousin. I am the granddaughter of Anna Prakusky Makl from Woodbury CT.

    Anna and I were very close. She essentially raised me. My mother Mildred Makl Hayward was not a “good mother”; and I credit my wonderful grandmother (we called her grummy) for teaching me what love was.

    The stories she told me of the Russian occupation (s) my great grandmother and her ancestors lived under was horrendous.

    I know understand where my strong “protective” nature came from. Many of my Lituanian ancestors fought against them, and a few joined the “resistance “.

    I enjoy reading your site. If you are inclined to correspond my email is:

    rodeorider1960@gmail.com

    Polly Miller (Prakusky/Grazulis family Varena Lithuania)

  58. Hi,

    Excellent blog, but I just have a quick question. Maybe this is because I am in the anglo-sphere, but when we do ethnography, we usually consider Jewish groups to be sub-ethnic groups or their own geographical group based on variations of culture, etc., Austrian Jews are different than German Jews, and American Jews are a unique melting pot of Eastern and Western European Jewish groups.

    I was just curious; maybe this is too pedantic, but why did you just classify Jews as Jews when the Lithuanian Jews or the Litvaks were a unique group of Jews, very different than most of their eastern European brethren. They had a unique spiritual and culturally outlook, and where one of the devastated Jewish groups, along with Polish Jews as the 200,000 in Lithuanian are matched by the 800,000-900,000 in Belarus as Belarusian Jews are a subgroup of the Lithuanian Jews (Jews of the former Dutchy of Lithuanian is the metric I’ve seen commonly used and these two Jewish groups shared a unique dialect of Yiddish).

    • In the whole Central/Eastern Europe, Jews are considered to be (and consider themselves to be) a separate ethnic group from the other ethnic groups living in the area (e.g. Lithuanians, Poles, Tatars, Karaims, Gypsies/Romani people, etc.). This is also how they reply to the “ethnicity” question in the censae.

      Indeed, Jews are different by all the criteria often used to separate ethnicities from one another: they have a different faith, a different language (Yiddish), a different ancestry (their forefathers moved into Lithuania in 14th-19th century and intermarried very little with the other groups).

      Another issue that may have led to the different evaluation in the Eastern/Central Europe and Western Europe may be border changes. In Western Europe, they changed very little over the time – e.g. a Jew from Britain or France would have likely lived in Britain or France for generations (unless emigrating). Not so for e.g. a Jew from Vilnius (or many other areas) – a hypothetical Jewish person born in 1890 in Vilnius would have started life as a Russian citizen, then would have came under German occupation in 1915, would be seen as Lithuanian citizen since 1918, then Poles came and established Central Lithuania in 1920, only to be annexed to Poland in 1922 (so the Jew in question would be seen as a Polish citizen by Poland and this is the citizenship that mattered, but also still regarded as Lithuanian citizen by Lithuania). Then Lithuania came back in 1939, then Soviet Union in 1940, Nazi Germany in 1941, Soviet Union again in 1944… It was difficult for the person to identify strongly as either “Lithuanian Jew”, “Polish Jew” or “Russian Jew” when everything shifted so far – on the other hand, his Jewish religion, Yiddish language, and ancestry always remained with him.

      Furthermore, you have to take into account huge Jewish migration. Possibly most of the Jews who lived in Lithuania ~1914 were not descendents of the historic Jewish community of Lithuania, many were not even born in Lithuania – rather, they were new immigrants/settlers from the Russian Empire (as the Russian Empire had banned Jews from freely settling in most of its lands, leaving Lithuania one of the few where they were allowed to settle). These migrating Jews would integrate into local Jewish communities but never really felt any relation to Lithuania, however, they felt close relation to their Jewish kin; many of them left after World War 1 and Lithuania’s independence but some remained. On the other hand, they always felt they were Jews and never saw the “Litvak ancestry”, “Non-Litvak ancestry” distinction as truly important (other distinctions, e.g. religious, were far more important).

      “Litvak”, “Lithuanian Jew” are considered to be subgroups of “Jewish” ethnicity (or sub-sub-groups, as Ashkenazi would be the sub-group of the first order). Moreover, even today, terms such as “Litvak” or “Lithuanian Jew” have unclear meanings. In some discourses, they would be used to consider a Jewish person who resides (or has resided) in modern-day territory of Lithuania. In others, they are used to refer to Jews who lived in Lithuanian territory as it was at that particular time (here we start coming into problems, as in the World War 2 era Vilnius Region Jews would be considered Lithuanian Jews, Polish Jews or Russian Jews depending on who writes the article). Yet in others, as you say, it continues to consider Grand Duchy of Lithuania Jews as Litvaks even after it collapsed. What complicates the matter further is the huge Jewish migration. While there has been no research on this to my knowledge, it is most likely most of the Jews who live in Lithuania today are either not descendants of Grand Duchy of Lithuania Jews (i.e. those who lived here before 1795), or have only a very few ancestors from that era GDL (this is in start contrast to ethnic Lithuanians, most of whom would have a strong majority of their ancestors from 1795 Grand Duchy of Lithuania). But the reason there was no research is precisely because nobody feels any need for it – the Jews of the Central/Eastern Europe consider themselves to be the same ethnicity regardless of if they descend from the Vilnius Jews of the 18th century or they moved in from somewhere else; and even regardless if they profess Jewish faith, or are atheists, or have converted to Christian faith. In the same way as an ethnic Lithuanians from Vilnius and Klaipėda see themselves as belonging to the same ethnic group, so do the Jews from Vilnius, Riga, Budapest, Moscow, and Kyiv.

      See also this article: Are Lithuanians unwilling to regard minorities as Lithuanians?

  59. Yes please and thank you


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