Unlike Estonia and Latvia there never existed a Lithuanian Waffen-SS Legion. Why was this?
Because Lithuania suffered a similar ordeal: ending up in the Soviet 'sphere of influence'
after the Hitler-Stalin Pact was concluded the country was prone to Soviet interference and
eventual annexation; on Stalin's orders countless of Lithuanians were executed or deported. And
then on the 22nd of June 1941 Hitler broke the non-aggression pact with the USSR and unleashed
Operation Barbarossa. Lithuanians were willing to join the Germans. In this video we're going
to talk about the Lithuanian collaboration with Nazi Germany in World War II. Welcome back on the
channel; if you're new: I'm Stefan, I'm a Dutch history teacher, like to cover history for you,
if you find interesting consider subscribing and also hit that notification bell. Do notice that
Baltic collaboration with Nazi Germany World War II is a tricky subject and the reason for
this is that unlike Western countries there was no other enemy; for the Baltic nations
there was another enemy and I'm talking about the Soviet Union. To explain this we need to
go back to before WW1 Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century
it had become part of it. Lithuania consisted of Vilnius, Kaunas and the Suwalki provinces.
As well as the city of Grdno (Gardinas) now located in Belarus. This area belonged to the Pale
of Settlement, an area were Jews were allowed to live. Therefore Lithuania had a large number
of Jews living in the country. When WW1 broke out Russia fought against the Central Powers
and Germany occupied Lithuania. After the Russian Revolution and the ensuing turmoil between 1918
and 1920 people speak about the Lithuanian Wars of Independence where the Lithuanians fought
against the Bolsheviks, the White Russian forces of the West Russian Volunteer Army that were led
by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov (which were also known as the Bermontians) and Poland. Interesting enough is
that when the Lithuanian Wars of Independence were concluded Vilnius (back then known as Wilno) ended
up under Polish control as it has a large Polish speaking community there. In the interwar years
Lithuania started as a western-style democracy but it did not last long: in 1926 Antanas Smetona
established a military dictatorship. Not only anti-Russian (or anti-Soviet) sentiments
were rife in Lithuania; also anti-German sentiments and that had to do with the port
city of Klaipeda (in German: Memel) which was largely inhabited by ethnic Germans but had large
Lithuanian speaker community living outside the city. Back in 1923 the Lithuanians had occupied
the disputed city. Because of this Lithuanians were left out of a joint defensive alliance
formed by Estonia and Latvia in the same year. In 1934 Lithuania was admitted on the condition
that both Klaipeda (Memel) and Vilnius (Wilno) were non-issues. Despite having a so-called Balkan
Entente no military preparations had been made. In 1938 the Lithuanian Army counted for 30 000
men. Relying on the League of Nations and the Western powers for their freedom preserving an
independent status became very tricky when Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact (also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact) in August 1939. Lithuanians could now only
speculate on what was to come, but what was to come had already been decided in a secret
protocol where Hitler and Stalin had divided the area in between their nations into spheres of
influence. And Lithuania was to come under the Soviet sphere of influence. Hitler had already
seized Klaipedia (Memelland) in March 1939. World War II started in September when Germany invaded
Poland. After three weeks the Soviets marched in from the east and the country was carved up. On
the 10th of October Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov made Latvia sign a
treaty with the USSR to allow Soviet troops on their soil; in return they got Vilnius, despite
having a majority of Poles and Jews living in it. Lithuanian nationalists cherished it as essential
to their country. This sweetened the deal. Full Soviet occupation occurred in June 1940. Under the
pretext of Lithuanians kidnapping two Red Army soldiers the Lithuanian Army was disbanded and
many of the senior officers were either executed or imprisoned. A People's Army was created which
was later absorbed into the Soviet 29th Rifle Corps. Many Lithuanians fled abroad to Germany,
where they founded the Lithuanian Activist Front or LAF (Lithuanian:
Lietuvių Aktivistų Frontas) led by Colonel Kazys Škirpa. Others went into hiding waiting to strike,
but it were the Soviets who struck first, which happened on the night the 13th to the 14th of June
1941 where 17 000 Lithuanians were deported. Many of them would not return and then on 22nd of June
1941 Nazi Germany started Operation Barbarossa. Army Group North aimed its assault through the
Baltic states towards Leningrad. Among his ranks were Baltic Germans who only recently had left
their home country for Germany and now assisted the German armies, since they knew the language,
the people and the terrain. As the Germans marched in the Lithuanian June Uprising occurred where
around 25 000 armed Lithuanians attacked Soviet bases before the Germans could do so. Suffering
hundreds of casualties cities like Kaunas and Vilnius came under control the Lithuanians
who proclaimed the Provision Government of Lithuania. It was formed in secret before,
now announced and later disbanded on German orders. The anti-Soviet partisan units were
largely disbanded and disarmed and the LAF was banned at the end of September. The Germans had
no interest in giving the Lithuanians any independence or whatsoever. Lithuania was
incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland as the Generalbezirk Litauen.
“The Lithuanians were probably the boldest in proposing
collaboration. Colonel Oskaras Urbonas offered to organize an entire brigade to march in with
the Wehrmacht, but the Germans wanted no such thing, preferring instead individual Lithuanians
dispersed across Army Group North.” The Germans did permit local police units for security tasks;
these were formed out of the Lithuanians that had participated in the June Uprising. Armed LAF men,
as well as Lithuanian deserters from the Red Army. From among the seven to eight thousand Lithuanian
soldiers in the Red Army some 6500 officers and enlisted men deserted; a mere 2000 Lithuanian
soldiers, either voluntarily or under pressure, went to the Soviet Union. During the initial days
a Lithuanian Army was set up on the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Antanas Špokevičius,
its commander. Later this army would be prohibited. Oonly self-defense units were
allowed and the Germans did not recognize a Lithuanian Army nor
a Lithuanian government. “The Nazis classified the peoples
of Europe as either worthy or unworthy of performing
military service. On the eastern front, the Nazis
accepted only Italians, Finns, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks,
and Croats as allies. Persons from other eastern European peoples (including the Lithuanians)
were granted only the role of auxiliary policemen.” The Lithuanian units were
referred to as Lithuanian self-defense units; the names of these units changed
frequently. For example: the term ‘Lithuanian Police Battalions’ was made
official only in April 1944. In Vilnius the local German commander formed the
Vilnius Reconstruction Service (VAT) divided into security, constabulary,
and labour services. Classified as self-defence their units became
battalions. By October 1941 five police battalions had been established in Vilnius; these men had
to perform guard duties, preparing the transfer to Lublin to guard at the Majdanek extermination
camp and to secure the local railway lines. In Kaunas police battalions were also set up. Himmler
named these men the so-called Schutzmannschaften. These were collaborationist auxiliary police
of native policemen serving in the areas of the Soviet Union and the Baltic states. The
leadership of these lay in the hands of the SS and Police Leader Lucian Wysocki. The Germans supplied
the Schutzmannschaften with weapons, rations and uniforms. Often it proved that these supplies
were not sufficient at all as Germany's war was demanding more of its resources. Despite this the
number of Lithuanian Schuma battalions grew. A decision was made to set up 15
battalions in September 1942. There were around 16 700 Lithuanian Schuma men in the country and
eventually 20 battalions were assembled. Schuma battalions were also deployed outside Lithuania:
I already mentioned some of these men had to guard the Majdanek extermination camp. They also had to
secure POWs and important sites. They were also used for murdering Jews and communists on the spot
and helped to fight partisans in the region. In the summer of 1941 three Lithuanian Schuma
battalions were sent to Belarus. These units
had to ‘purge the area of the remains of the Bolshevist army
and Bolshevist partisans’. Battalion members often
went on so-called ‘official trips’... Where this came
down to were punitive actions which included the murder of civilians;
mostly Jews and Soviet POWs in the autumn alone
Schuma and Gestapo men shot around 46 000 persons (including some 9,000 Soviet POWs).
From 1942 to 1944 the Lithuanian collaborators did not participate in murders against the local
population; they mostly fought partisans. In December of 1944 one battalion was disbanded;
otherunits were sent to Belarus, but also to Northern Russia,
Ukraine and Poland. Anti-partisan warfare in Belarus claimed many lives under the
Lithuanian battalions Also in Ukraine they had to guard railway tracks and were often attacked
by partisans. In 1942 they constructed defensive fortifications in the Voronezh
District. With heavy losses they withdrew to Kharkiv. They also served for Army Group North
in Leningrad–Pskov–Novgorod District to guard the rear
areas. In January 1942 one company of Schuma Battalion was encircled near Demyansk where
the Germans succeeded in breaking out of the encirclement. Another company fought in a Kholm
region in the winter of 1941-42. During the war there existed an Estonian Waffen-SS Legion
and also a Latvian Waffen-SS Legion, but why was there never a Lithuanian Waffen-SS Legion? Well,
actually did you know that there were plans to establish such a legion and these plans were
made by the Germans in early 1943. A deadline was set for March although this turned out to
be too tight for mustering propaganda material; at the same time the local Lithuanian resistance
launched a massive propaganda campaign of its own against such a legion. One leaflet read:
‘No occupation administration has the right to mobilize the citizens of the occupied areas . . .
Only stupid people and Lithuania’s traitors could
go and spill their blood for the occupation at such a time.’
The recruitment for a Lithuanian Waffen-SS Legion ended in a complete failure: only 5 to 10 percent
of the Lithuanians summoned actually showed up. Himmler halted the activities and it was
announced that the plan for legion was abandoned. As a punitive measure the universities of Kaunas
and Vilnius were closed and 46 intellectuals were deported to Stutthof concentration camp. A German
report also mentioned racist reasons and the Lithuanians were seen as the most racially mixed
which in the eyes of the Germans made them cultural backward and unsuitable for combat
operation. The Germans considered that only 15 percent of the Lithuanian population could be
germanized and instead they now focused their attention on recruiting Lithuanian workers to
work in the factories in the Reich. The mood began to shift at the end of 1943:
fearing a renewed Soviet occupation. At the same time Polish and Soviet partisan
activities were widespread in the country. Late November 1943 there were discussions between the
Germans and Lithuanian fepresentatives about the re-establishment of a Lithuanian Army and
Germans they allowed the Lithuanians to recruit five to ten thousand men. This
recruitment would be on a voluntary basis though: 10 special units were set up under
the leadership of lieutenant-general of the former Lithuanian army, Povilas
Plechavičius. These units were used to fight against local partisans and early 1944
20 000 volunteers had come forward. The Germans made one condition as they called for sending
Lithuanian men to provide service for the German Luftwaffe: for every 2 000 Luftwaffe volunteers
the Lithuanians were allowed to mobilize 1 000 men for their national unit. SS commander Friedrich
Jeckeln threatened severe reprisals against the Lithuanian population.
Clearly dissatisfied the Germans arrested General Plechavičius who they saw as a
Lithuanian nationalist instead of an ally and disbanded the units. Around
80 Lithuanians were shot at mutineers and a number of 3 500 were deported to Germany
others fled. “[T]here were still some 37,000 Lithuanians serving in other German military
units until the very end of the war. According to a report by the Ostministerium, in January 1945
5,400 Lithuanians were serving in the Wehrmacht, 12,000 in the Luftwaffe, 3,000 in the
police, 400 in the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD, Reich Labour Service), 15,000 in the Todt Organization
and 1,000 in the Speer Organization.” One sensitive topic is the Lithuanian
participation in the killing of Lithuanian Jews that already started once the Germans
invaded Lithuania. In the city of Kaunas Jews
were publicly murdered by Lithuanian nationalists known as Lietūkis Garage
Massacre. One German witnessed it and wrote the following about it: "There was a large number of
women in the crowd and they had lifted up their children or stood them on chairs or boxes so
they could see better. At first I thought this must be a victory celebration or some type of
sporting event because of the cheering, clapping and laughter that kept breaking out. However,
when I inquired what was happening, I was told that the 'Death-dealer of Kovno'
was at work and that this was where collaborators
and traitors were finally meted out their rightful punishment."
During the war Lithuanian Schuma men guarded the Vilnius Ghetto and on two occasions provided
support for the transport of Jews to the murder sites of Paneriai. Other men participated in
the killing of Jews in the Vinnytsia District in Ukraine; although facts are contested it
appears that together with German soldiers and Ukrainian policemen Lithuanian Schuma
men shot 300 Jewish men, women and children. Two Lithuanian Schuma battalions guarded the Majdanek
concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland. They had to patrol the
perimeter; inside the camp however the inmates were guarded by the special SS
unit: the SS-Totenkopf Sturmbann. Of the 220 000
Lithuanian Jews 195 000 would not survive the Second World War. However it's crucial
to emphasize that not all Lithuanians were collaborators and there were individuals
and groups who resisted the Nazi occupation and attempted to save Jewish lives. Some Lithuanians
risked their lives to hide Jews and provide them with support; contributing to the rescue
of Jewish individuals during the war. Looking at the uniforms of the Lithuanian collaborators the
initial self-defense units wore at first uniforms of the previous disbanded Lithuanian army.
Sometimes there wore civilian clothing which was later all replaced by German
army or police field grey. A shield in Lithuanians colors and a cap cockade
with similar colors was authorized. Another arm shield with the letters LIETUVA (the Lithuanian
spelling of Lithuania) also existed and can be seen on this photograph. When the Germans
were driven back in the summer of 1944 during Operation Bagration most Schuma
battalions withdrew with the Germans as a Soviets retook Lithuania. While some units
were trapped at a Courland Pocket others tried to make it for Germany. As Germany eventually
surrendered most of the Lithuanian Schuma men surrendered to the Soviets. “During the
war a total of twenty-eight Lithuanian Schuma battalions was set up, in which between 13,000
and 15,000 men served. At least 500 men from the battalions were killed in combat against
partisans and the Red Army. The number of injured and POWs is unknown.” Lithuania
would come on the Soviet rule again. Resistance fighters known as the Forest
Brothers resisted Soviet rule for years after the war. In March 1990
Lithuania was the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare its independence.