The occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany
lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet
Union on June 22, 1941 to the end of the Battle
of Memel on January 28, 1945.
At first the Germans were welcomed as liberators
from the repressive Soviet regime which occupied
Lithuania prior to the German arrival.
In hopes of re-establishing independence or
regaining some autonomy, Lithuanians organized
their Provisional Government.
Soon the Lithuanian attitudes towards the
Germans changed into passive resistance.
== Background ==
=== Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact ===
In August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi
Germany signed the German–Soviet Nonaggression
Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol, dividing
Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of
influence.
Lithuania was initially assigned to the German
sphere, likely due to its economic dependence
on German trade.
After the March 1939 ultimatum regarding the
Klaipėda Region, Germany accounted for 75%
of Lithuanian exports and 86% of its imports.
To solidify its influence, Germany suggested
a German–Lithuanian military alliance against
Poland and promised to return the Vilnius
Region, but Lithuania held to its policy of
strict neutrality.
When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939,
the Wehrmacht took control of the Lublin Voivodeship
and eastern Warsaw Voivodeship, which were
in the Soviet sphere of influence.
To compensate the Soviet Union for this loss,
a secret codicil to the German–Soviet Boundary
and Friendship Treaty transferred Lithuania
to the Soviet sphere of influence, which would
serve as the justification that enabled the
Soviet Union to occupy Lithuania on June 15,
1940 and to establish the Lithuanian SSR.
=== Soviet occupation ===
Almost immediately after the German–Soviet
Boundary and Friendship Treaty, Soviets pressured
Lithuanians into signing the Soviet–Lithuanian
Mutual Assistance Treaty.
According to this treaty, Lithuania gained
about 6,880 square kilometres (2,660 sq mi)
of territory in the Vilnius Region (including
Vilnius, Lithuania's historical capital) in
return for five Soviet military bases in Lithuania
(total 20,000 troops).
The territories that Lithuania received from
the Soviet Union were the former territories
of the Second Polish Republic, disputed between
Poland and Lithuania since the times of the
Polish-Lithuanian War of 1920 and occupied
by the Soviet Union following the Soviet invasion
of Poland in September 1939.
The Soviet–Lithuanian Treaty was described
by The New York Times as "virtual sacrifice
of independence."
Similar pacts were proposed to Latvia, Estonia,
and Finland.
Finland was the only state to refuse such
a treaty and that sparked the Winter War.
This war delayed the occupation of Lithuania:
the Soviets did not interfere with Lithuania's
domestic affairs and Russian soldiers were
well-behaved in their bases.
As Winter War ended in March and Germany was
making rapid advances in the Battle of France,
the Soviets heightened anti-Lithuanian rhetoric
and accused Lithuanians of kidnapping Soviet
soldiers from their bases.
Despite Lithuanian attempts to negotiate and
resolve the issues, Soviet Union issued an
ultimatum on June 14, 1940.
Lithuanians accepted the ultimatum and Soviet
military took control of major cities by June
15.
The following day identical ultimatums were
issued to Latvia and Estonia.
To legitimize the occupation, the Soviets
staged elections to the so-called People's
Seimas, which then proclaimed establishment
of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
This allowed Soviet propaganda to claim that
Lithuania voluntarily joined the Soviet Union.
=== Soviet persecution ===
Soon after the occupation started, Sovietization
policies were implemented.
On July 1, all political, cultural, and religious
organizations were closed, with only the Communist
Party of Lithuania and its youth branch allowed
to exist.
All banks (including all accounts above 1,000
litas), real estate larger than 170 square
metres (1,800 sq ft), private enterprises
with more than 20 workers or more than 150,000
litas of gross receipts were nationalized.
This disruption in management and operations
created a sharp drop in production.
Russian soldiers and officials were eager
to spend their appreciated rubles and caused
massive shortages of goods.
To turn small peasants against large landowners,
collectivization was not introduced in Lithuania.
All land was nationalized, farms were reduced
to 30 hectares (74 acres), and extra land
(some 575,000 hectares (5,750 km2)) was distributed
to small farmers.
In preparation for eventual collectivization,
new taxes between 30% and 50% of farm production
were enacted.
The Lithuanian litas was artificially depreciated
3–4 times its actual value and withdrawn
by March 1941.
Before the elections to the People's Parliament,
Soviets arrested some 2,000 of most prominent
political activists.
These arrests paralyzed any attempts to create
anti-Soviet groups.
An estimated 12,000 were imprisoned as "enemies
of the people."
When farmers were unable to meet exorbitant
new taxes, some 1,100 of the larger farmers
were put on trial.
On June 14–18, 1941, less than a week before
the Nazi invasion, some 17,000 Lithuanians
were deported to Siberia, where many perished
due to inhumane living conditions (see June
deportation).
Some of the many political prisoners were
massacred by the retreating Red Army.
These persecutions were key in soliciting
support for the Nazis.
== Germany invasion and Lithuanian revolt
==
On June 22, 1941, the territory of the Lithuanian
SSR was invaded by two advancing German army
groups: Army Group North, which took over
western and northern Lithuania, and Army Group
Centre, which took over most of the Vilnius
Region.
The first attacks were carried out by the
Luftwaffe against Lithuanian cities and claimed
lives of some 4,000 civilians.
Most Russian aircraft were destroyed on the
ground.
Germans rapidly advanced, encountering only
sporadic resistance from the Soviets and assistance
from the Lithuanians, who viewed them as liberators
and hoped that the Germans would re-establish
their independence or at least autonomy.
Lithuanians took up arms in an anti-Soviet
and pro-Independence revolt.
Groups of men organized spontaneously and
took control of strategic objects (such as
railroads, bridges, communication equipment,
warehouses of food and equipment) protecting
them from potential Soviet sabotage.
Kaunas was taken by the rebels of the Lithuanian
Activist Front (LAF).
Kazys Škirpa, leader of LAF, had been preparing
for the uprising since at least March 1941.
The activists proclaimed Lithuanian independence
and established the Provisional Government
of Lithuania on June 23.
Vilnius was taken by soldiers of the 29th
Lithuanian Territorial Corps, former soldiers
of the independent Lithuanian Army, who deserted
from the Red Army.
Smaller, less organized groups emerged in
other cities and the countryside.
The Battle of Raseiniai began June 23 as Soviets
attempted to mount a counterattack, reinforced
by tanks, but were heavily defeated by the
27th.
It is estimated that the uprising involved
some 16,000–30,000 people and claimed lives
of about 600 Lithuanians and 5,000 Soviet
activists.
On June 24, Germans entered both Kaunas and
Vilnius without a fight.
Within a week, the Germans sustained 3,362
losses, but controlled the entire country.
== German occupation ==
=== 
Administration ===
During the first days of war, German military
administration, chiefly concerned with the
region's security, tolerated Lithuanian attempts
to establish their own administrative institutions
and left a number of civilian issues to the
Lithuanians.
The Provisional Government in Kaunas attempted
to establish the proclaimed independence of
Lithuania and undo the damage of the one-year
Soviet regime.
During six weeks of its existence, the Government
issued about 100 laws and decrees, but they
were largely not enforced.
Its policies can be described as both anti-Soviet
and antisemitic.
The Government organized volunteer forces,
known as the Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas
(TDA), to serve as basis for the re-established
Lithuanian Army, though the battalion was
soon employed by the Einsatzkommando 3 and
Rollkommando Hamann for mass executions of
the Lithuanian Jews in the Ninth Fort.
At the time rogue units led by the infamous
Algirdas Klimaitis rampaged through the city
and the outskirts.
The Germans did not recognize the Lithuanian
government, and at the end of July formed
their own civil administration – the Reichskommissariat
Ostland, which was divided into four Generalbezirk.
Adrian von Renteln became the commander of
Generalbezirk Litauen and took over all government
functions.
The Provisional Government resigned on August
5; some of its ministers became General Advisers
(Lithuanian: generalinis tarėjas) in charge
of local self-government.
The Germans did not have enough manpower to
staff local administration; therefore, most
local offices were headed by the Lithuanians.
Policy decisions would be made by high-ranking
Germans and actually implemented by low-ranking
Lithuanians.
The General Advisers were mostly a rubber
stamp institution that the Germans used to
blame for unpopular decisions.
Three of the advisers resigned within months,
other four were deported to the Stutthof concentration
camp when they protested several German policies.
Overall, local self-government was quite developed
in Lithuania and helped to sabotage or hinder
several German initiatives, including raising
a Waffen-SS unit or providing men for forced
labor in Germany.
=== The Holocaust ===
Before the Holocaust, Lithuania was home to
about 210,000 or 250,000 Jews and was one
of the greatest centers of Jewish theology,
philosophy, and learning which preceded even
the times of the Gaon of Vilna.
The Holocaust in Lithuania can be divided
into three stages: mass executions (June–December
1941), ghetto period (1942 – March 1943),
and final liquidation (April 1943 – July
1944).
Unlike in other Nazi-occupied countries where
the Holocaust was introduced gradually (first
limiting Jewish civil rights, then concentrating
Jews in ghettos, and only then executing them
in death camps), executions in Lithuania started
on the first days of war.
Einsatzkommando A entered Lithuania one day
behind the Wehrmacht invasion to encourage
self-cleansing.
According to German documents, on June 25–26,
1941, "about 1,500 Jews were eliminated by
Lithuanian partisans.
Many Jewish synagogues were set on fire; on
the following nights another 2,300 were killed."
The killings provided justification for rounding
up Jews and putting them in ghettos to "protect
them", where by December 1941 in Kaunas, 15,000
remained, 22,000 having been executed.
The executions were carried out at three main
groups: in Kaunas (Ninth Fort), in Vilnius
(Ponary massacre), and in countryside (Rollkommando
Hamann).
In Lithuania, by 1 December 1941, over 120,000
Lithuanian Jews had been killed.
It is estimated that 80% of the Lithuanian
Jews were killed before 1942, many by or with
the active participation of Lithuanians in
units, such as Police Battalions.The surviving
43,000 Jews were concentrated in the Vilnius,
Kaunas, Šiauliai, and Švenčionys Ghettos
and forced to work for the benefit of German
military industry.
On June 21, 1943, Heinrich Himmler issued
an order to liquidate all ghettos and transfer
the remaining Jews to concentration camps.
Vilnius Ghetto was liquidated, while Kaunas
and Šiauliai were turned into concentration
camps and survived until July 1944.
Remaining Jews were sent to camps in Stutthof,
Dachau, Auschwitz.
Only about 2,000–3,000 of Lithuanian Jews
were liberated from these camps.
More survived by withdrawing into Russia's
interior before the war broke out or by escaping
the ghettos and joining the Jewish partisans.
The genocide rate of Jews in Lithuania, up
to 95–97%, was one of the highest in Europe.
This was primarily due, with few notable exceptions,
to widespread Lithuanian cooperation with
the German authorities.
Jews were widely blamed for the previous Soviet
regime (see Jewish Bolshevism) and were resented
for welcoming Soviet troops.
Targeted Nazi propaganda exploited the anti-Soviet
sentiment and increased already existing,
traditional anti-Semitism.
=== 
Collaboration ===
Lithuanians formed several units that actively
assisted Germans:
Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions – 26
battalions with 13,000 men
Lithuanian Construction Battalions – 5 battalions
with 2,500 men
Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force – 10,000–12,000
men
Self-Defence units – 3,000 men
Homeland Protection Detachment – 6,000 men10
of the Lithuanian police battalions, working
with the Nazi Einsatzkommando, were involved
in mass killings, they were thought to have
executed 78,000 individuals.
=== Resistance ===
The majority of anti-Nazi resistance in Lithuania
came from the Polish partisans and the Soviet
partisans.
Both began sabotage and guerrilla operations
against German forces immediately after the
Nazi invasion of 1941.
The most important Polish resistance organization
in Lithuania was, as elsewhere in occupied
Poland, the Home Army (Armia Krajowa).
Polish commander of the Wilno (Vilnius) region
was Aleksander Krzyżanowski.
The activities of Soviet partisans in Lithuania
were partly coordinated by the Command of
the Lithuanian Partisan Movement headed by
Antanas Sniečkus and partly by the Central
Command of the Partisan Movement of the USSR.Jewish
partisans in Lithuania also fought against
the Nazi occupation.
In September 1943, the United Partisan Organization,
led by Abba Kovner, attempted to start an
uprising in the Vilna Ghetto, and later engaged
in sabotage and guerrilla operations against
the Nazi occupation.
In July 1944, as part of its Operation Tempest,
the Polish Home Army launched the Operation
Ostra Brama in an attempt to recapture that
city.
See also Polish–Lithuanian relations during
World War II.
Lithuania continued in exile, based on the
embassies in U.S. and UK.
There was no significant violent resistance
directed against the Nazis originating from
the Lithuanian society.
In 1943, several underground political groups
united under the Supreme Committee for the
Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausias Lietuvos
išlaisvinimo komitetas or VLIK).
It became mostly active outside of Lithuania
among emigrants and deportees, and was able
to establish contacts in Western countries
and get support for resistance operations
inside Lithuania (see Operation Jungle).
It would persist abroad for many years as
one of the groups representing Lithuania in
exile.In 1943, the Nazis attempted to raise
a Waffen-SS division from the local population
as they had in many other countries, but due
to widespread coordination between resistance
groups, the mobilization was boycotted.
The Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (Lietuvos
vietinė rinktinė) was eventually formed
in 1944 under Lithuanian command, but was
disbanded by the Nazis only a few months later
for refusing to subordinate to their command.
In particular, the relations between Lithuanians
and the Poles were poor.
Pre-war tensions over the Vilnius Region resulted
in a low-level civil war between Poles and
Lithuanians.
Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian units, primarily
the Lithuanian Secret Police, were active
in the region and assisted the Germans in
repressing the Polish population.
In autumn 1943, Armia Krajowa started retaliation
operations against the Lithuanian units and
killed hundreds of mostly Lithuanian policemen
and other collaborators during the first half
of 1944.
The conflict culminated in the massacres of
Polish and Lithuanian civilians in June 1944
in the Glitiškės (Glinciszki) and Dubingiai
(Dubinki) villages.
== Soviet re-occupation, 1944 ==
The Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania as part
of the Baltic Offensive in 1944, a two-fold
military-political operation to rout German
forces and "liberate the Soviet Baltic peoples"
beginning in summer 1944.
== Demographic losses ==
Lithuania suffered significant losses during
World War II and the first post-war decade.
Historians attempted to quantify population
losses and changes, but their task is complicated
by the lack of precise and reliable data.
There were no censuses between the 1923 census
in Lithuania, when Lithuania had 2,028,971
residents, and the Soviet census of 1959,
when Lithuania had 2,711,400 residents.
Various authors, while providing different
breakdowns, generally agree that the population
losses between 1940 and 1953 were more than
one million people or a third of the pre-war
population.
This number has three largest components:
victims of the Holocaust, victims of Soviet
repressions, and refugees or repatriates
