Figure 1.--.

NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union shocked the world by signing a Non-Agressioin Pact (August 23, 1939) A secret memorandum to the Pact involved an agreement on how to draw the borders between Soviet and NAZI control not only in Poland, but in the Baltics as well. Lithuania was allocated to the NAZIs. Stlalin's delay in invading Poland meant that the Wehrmacht had moved into areas of central Poland that had been allocated to the Soviets. As a result, Stalin demanded Lithuania in subsitution for central Poland. Stalin was surprised with the German successes in the West. Embolded by France's impending collapse and mindful of the need to create a buffer between Soviet and German forces, Stalin proceeded to take cover the Baltics. The first step toward seizing Lithuania was to demand that the Lithuanian Government accept Communist muinisters. The Lituanians saw no alternative to accepting and did so (June 10, 1940). The Soviets then immediately demanded that the Government dissolcve (June 14). Ppresident Smetana understanding what was coming went into exile. A new Communist-led government was organized. The new Government proclaimed Lithuania to be a Soviet Republic and requested that the country be admitted into the Soviet Union. This was accepted (August 3). The arrests and deportations (1940-41) had targeted groups that might harbor anti-Soviet attiutudes. With the deportations beginning after the Soviets had reestablished control were aimed at changing the ethnic ballance in Lithuania. The hoal was to Russify Lithuania. Many did not suyrvive.

Lithuanian Independance

Polish Seizure of Vilnus (March 1938)

The Polish Government had long sought Wilna. The Poles while the world's attention was focused on the NAZI Anchluss in Austria demanded that Lithuania ceed Vilnus (Wilna) to Poland (March 17, 1938). The Lithuanian Government recognizing that it did not have the military capability of resisting the Poles was forced to comply.

NAZI Germany Seizes Memel (March 1939)

The Germans seized a small area of Lithuania that had formerly been part of Germany. Lithuania became one of the eatly victims of the NAZIs. There was a dispute between Germany and Lithuania over Klaipeda, a coastal city on the Baltic. Before World War I, Klaipeda had been part of German East Prussia. Without foreign support, Lithuania was forced to turn over Klaipeda to the NAZI in March 1939. Hitler himself was aboard a naval taskforce preparing to invade. The Lithuanians, however, complied before the task force reached Memnel.

NAZI-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (August 1939)

NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union shocked the world by signing a Non-Agressioin Pact (August 23, 1939) A secret memorandum to the Pact involved an agreement on how to draw the borders between Soviet and NAZI control not only in Poland, but in the Baltics as well. Lithuania was allocated to the NAZIs.

Polish Defeat (September 1939)

Germany after invading Poland (September 1, 1939) and touching off World War II, the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht rapidly destroyed the Polish Army. Stalin did not, however, immediately follow suit. He waited to see how Britain and France reacted and the Polish army performed. This was an astute move on his part. Had the invaded with the NAZIs , Britain and France might well have declared war on both countries. The Soviet troops invaded Poland (September 17). Poland by that time was largely defeated and the World's attention was largely focused on the NAZIs.

Adjusting Sphere's of Influemnce

Stlalin's delay in invading Poland meant that the Wehrmacht had moved into areas of central Poland that had been allocated to the Soviets. (This was an area that Russia had controlled before Woirld war I.) As a result, Stalin demanded Lithuania in subsitution for central Poland.

Soviet Demands on Lituania (October 1939)

Poland's defeat left Lithuania in an impossible position. The NAZI defeat of Poland destroyed the only buffer in the region. With Poland defeated, Stalin immediastely turned his attention to the Baltics. He demanded military bases in Lithuania. The Lithuania Government had no choice but to comply with Soviet demands to post 20,000 Soviet troops in the country (October 10, 1939). The Soviets which had occupied eastern Poland transferred the Vilnius region back to Lithuania. Lithuanianian troops occupied Vilnus and the city was reconstituted as the country's capital (October 28).

Soviet Occupation (1940-1941)

Stalin was surprised with the German successes in the West. Embolded by France's impending collapse and mindful of the need to create a buffer between Soviet and German forces, Stalin proceeded to take cover the Baltics. The first step toward seizing Lithuania was to demand that the Lithuanian Government accept Communist muinisters. The Lituanians saw no alternative to accepting and did so (June 10, 1940). The Soviets then immediately demanded that the Government dissolcve (June 14). Ppresident Smetana understanding what was coming went into exile. A new Communist-led government was organized. The new Government proclaimed Lithuania to be a Soviet Republic and requested that the country be admitted ino the Soviet Union. This was accepted (August 3).

German Repatriations

Hitler called the ethnic Germans in the Baltics back to the Reich. Many were used to Germanize areas of western Poland after the Poles were expelled.

Soviet Arrests and Deportations (August 1940)

With the Soviets in control, arrests and deportations began. Large numbers of Lithanians were arrested and their families deported to Russia. One author describes Lithanian deportess "in the northern part of Kirov Oblast (near the border of Komi) in the Sinegorje wood-cutters’ barracks was only slightly better: log walls, brick stove in the middle of the room, families were often separated by a mere piece of cloth, and the temperature outside was slightly higher. Sleeping next to the dying and the dead, empty stomachs and hunger, extremely limited possibilities for washing, regular searching and killing of lice, a frozen pyramid of refuse near the door in the winter and a stinking cesspool in the summer – all this was no different from what the Latvians experienced. Whether there are bedbugs, roaches, mosquitoes and other vermin in the Arctic Region – this I do not know, but settlements in the Russian taiga-forests were infested with them, even in buildings that had been without people for as long as 5 years."

Jewish Refugees (1939-41)

NAZI repressions of the Jews in occupied Poland caused many to maske their way to Soviet occupied Poland. Some managed to reach Lithuania and obtain visas. Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Kaunaus (the inter-war capital of Lithuania), issued over 1,600 transit visas to Jewsish refugees fleeing Poland, allowing them to transit the Soviet Union. This was done against the orders of his Government. Some 6,000-8,000 Jews who reached Lithuania managed to get to saftey in Japan, China, and the Dutch Caribbean (1939-1940). This route was closed when the Japanese and Dutch closed their consulates in 1940 after the Soviet Union annexed Lithuasnia..

NAZI Invasion (June 22, 1941)

Hitler launched the massive Soviet invasion (June 22). The NAZIs overran Lithuania within 2 weeks. Fighting rapidly moved to the east as the Wehrmacht relentless moved toward Leningrad and Moscow.

NAZI Occupation

The NAZIs formed an administrative region they called Ostland which consisted of Lithuania and the other Baltic Republics, Belarus, and northwestern Russia. With the NAZIs in control, some of the repatriasted ethnic Germans returned to Lithuania. NAZI racial policies affected the occuipation. The NAZIs were more favorably disposed toward the ethnic Balts than the Slavs in Poland and Russia.

The Holocaust

As part of Operation Barbarossa, the specialized killing units the Eizenstazgrupen were deployed with chilling effiency. Almost at the inception of NAZI occupation ther were mass executions of Jews. The first was the killing of about 1,000 Jews at Vilijampole (June 25-26, 1941). Lithuanian collaborators enthusiastically embraced NAZI anti-Semitic propaganda. The attempted to identify Jews with Communism and the attrocities committed by Stalin during the Soviet occupation (1940-41). Many insisted that undoing Soviet rule and Communism required liquidating Jews. They began the same process persued in Poland by the NAZIs. While the NAZIs were unavle to find collaborators in Polnd, they were able to do so in Lithusnia. The local authorities subjected the Jews to a series of repressive measure designed to humiliate them, marginalize them. steal their propery, and ultimately kill them. Those not likked immeiately after the NAZI invssion were hearded into gettos like those formed in Poland. Most of the country's 240,000 Jews were killed. This was 90-95v percent, the highest mortality rate in NAZI occupied Europe.

Soviet Re-Occupation (1944)

The rejuvenated Red Army pushed back into Lithuania (1944). A major Wehrmacht force was cut off in Kurzeme (Courland). The Soviets Back in control the Soviets renewed the arrests and deportations. About 350,000 Lithuanians were deported in deplorable conditions. The arrests and deportations (1940-41) had targeted groups that might harbor anti-Soviet attiutudes. With the deportations beginning after the Soviets had reestablished control were aimed at changing the ethnic ballance in Lithuania. The goal was to Russify Lithuania. Many did not suyrvive. The Western Allies involved in the contentious issue of Poland. The future of Lithuania and the other Baltics was not discussed at either the Yalta or the Potsdam Conferences. While the Western Allies did not raise the issue of the Baltics which had been annexed, The United Stastes refussed to formsally recognize that annexation.

Created: April 9, 2004
Last updated: April 12, 2004