List of massacres in Lithuania

Last updated

The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Lithuania (numbers may be approximate):

NameDateLocationDeathsNotes
First Mass Execution of the Jews of Gargždai June 24, 1941 Gargždai 201The mass execution of Jewish men from Gargždai was the first of more than 250 mass execution of Jews committed by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators during the Holocaust in Lithuania [1] [2]
Rainiai massacre June 24–25, 1941Rainiai, near Telšiai 70 - 80Mass murder of between 70 and 80 Lithuanian political prisoners by the NKVD, with help from the Red Army, in a forest near Telšiai during the night of June 24–25, 1941
Kaunas pogrom June 25–29, 1941 Kaunas 5,000
Kaunas massacre October 29, 1941 Kaunas 9,200
Koniuchy massacre January 29, 1944Koniuchy (now Kaniūkai)34
Ponary (Paneriai) massacre July 1941 - August 1944 Paneriai, Vilnius 100,000
Pirčiupiai massacre 3 June 1944 Dzūkija 119
Glinciszki massacre 20 June 1944 Glitiškės 27
Dubingiai massacre 23 June 1944 Dubingiai 20-27
Draučiai shooting February 15, 1998 Draučiai 10 (including shooter)While the government initially suspected political motives, it turned out that it was most likely the result of mental illness.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelmė</span> Town in Samogitia Region, Lithuania

Kelmė is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė District Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaišiadorys</span> City in Aukštaitija, Lithuania

Kaišiadorys is a city in central Lithuania. It is situated between Vilnius and Kaunas. Kaišiadorys is one of six Lithuanian diocese centres. It is home to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Christ built in 1932. The Lithuanian Veterinary Institute is located there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gargždai</span> City in Samogitia, Lithuania

Gargždai is a city in western Lithuania located in Klaipėda County. The Minija River flows through the city. The Gargždai Stadium is the city's main sports venue where the FK Banga Gargždai play its home games.

The Lithuanian Security Police (LSP), also known as Saugumas, was a local police force that operated in German-occupied Lithuania from 1941 to 1944, in collaboration with the occupational authorities. Collaborating with the Nazi Sipo and SD, the unit was directly subordinate to the German Kripo. The LSP took part in perpetrating the Holocaust in Lithuania, persecuting the Polish resistance and communist underground.

Ypatingasis būrys or Special Squad of the German Security Police and SD was a killing squad operating in the Vilnius Region in 1941–1944. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers, was formed by the German occupation government and was subordinate to Einsatzkommando 9 and later to Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo).p.15 The unit was subordinated to German police, and had no official autonomy. In Polish they were colloquially called strzelcy ponarscy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jäger Report</span> Death count of a Nazi death squad, 1941

The Jäger Report, also Jaeger Report was written on 1 December 1941 by Karl Jäger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3, a death squad of Einsatzgruppe A attached to Army Group North in the Operation Barbarossa. It is the most detailed and precise surviving chronicle of the activities of one individual Einsatzkommando, and a key record documenting the Holocaust in Lithuania as well as in Latvia and Belarus.

The Lithuanian TDABattalion or simply TDA, was a paramilitary battalion organized in June–August 1941 by the Provisional Government of Lithuania at the onset of Operation Barbarossa. Members of the TDA were known by many names such as Lithuanian auxiliaries, policemen, white-armbands, nationalists, rebels, partisans, resistance fighters or Schutzmannschaften. TDA was intended to be the basis for a future independent Lithuanian Army, but it was taken over by Nazis and reorganized into the Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions. The original TDA eventually became the 12th and the 13th Police Battalions. These two units took an active role in mass killings of the Jews in Lithuania and Belarus. According to the Jäger Report, the TDA battalion's members killed about 26,000 Jews between July and December 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaunas pogrom</span> 1941 massacre of Jews in Kaunas, Lithuania

The Kaunas pogrom was a massacre of Jews living in Kaunas, Lithuania, that took place on 25–29 June 1941; the first days of Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. The most infamous incident occurred at the garage of NKVD Kaunas section, a nationalized garage of Lietūkis, an event known as the Lietūkis Garage Massacre. There several dozen Jewish men, allegedly associates of NKVD, were publicly tortured and executed on 27 June in front of a crowd of Lithuanian men, women and children. The incident was documented by a German soldier who photographed the event as a man, nicknamed the "Death Dealer", beat each man to death with a metal bar. After June, systematic executions took place at various forts of the Kaunas Fortress, especially the Seventh and Ninth Fort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Holocaust in Lithuania</span> Genocide of Lithuanian Jews

The Holocaust in Lithuania resulted in the near total eradication of Lithuanian (Litvaks) and Polish Jews[a] in Generalbezirk Litauen of the Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Nazi-controlled Lithuania. Of approximately 208,000–210,000 Jews at the time of the Nazi invasion, an estimated 190,000 to 195,000 were killed before the end of World War II, most of them between June and December 1941. More than 95% of Lithuania's Jewish population was murdered over the three-year German occupation, a more complete destruction than befell any other country in the Holocaust. Historians attribute this to the massive collaboration in the genocide by the non-Jewish local paramilitaries, though the reasons for this collaboration are still debated. The Holocaust resulted in the largest loss of life in so short a period of time in the history of Lithuania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josvainiai</span> Town in Aukštaitija, Lithuania

Josvainiai is a small town in Kėdainiai district, central Lithuania. It is located on the Šušvė River 10 km southwest from Kėdainiai. The town comprises the Catholic All Saints Church, a gymnasium, a post office, a public library, a stud farm, and a culture house.

Lithuanian partisans is a generic term used during World War II by Nazi officials and quoted in books by modern historians to describe Lithuanian anti-communist fighters, thus collaborators with the Nazis during the first months of the German occupation of Lithuania during World War II. A part of the Lithuanian partisans who fought against the Red Army during the June Uprising, were later organized into various auxiliary units by German Nazis. A minority of the units assisted and actively participated in mass executions of the Lithuanian Jews mostly in June–August 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German occupation of Lithuania during World War II</span> Period of Lithuanian history from 1941 to 1945

The military 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 had occupied Lithuania. In hopes of re-establishing independence or regaining some autonomy, Lithuanians organized a Provisional Government that lasted six weeks.

RollkommandoHamann was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible for many murders in Latvia from July through August 1941. At the end of 1941 the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry was effectively accomplished by Hamann's unit in the countryside, by the Ypatingasis būrys in the Ponary massacre, and by the Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas (TDA) in the Ninth Fort in Kaunas. In about six months an estimated 80% of all Lithuanian Jews were killed. The remaining few were spared for use as a labor force and concentrated in urban ghettos, mainly the Vilna and Kaunas Ghettos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girkalnis</span> Town in Samogitia, Lithuania

Girkalnis is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. As of 2011 it had a population of 877.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nemakščiai</span> Town in Samogitia Region, Lithuania

Nemakščiai is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. In 2011 it had a population of 748.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semeliškės</span> Town in Vilnius County, Lithuania

Semeliškės is a town in Elektrėnai municipality, Vilnius County, east Lithuania. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, the town has a population of 580 people. The town has a church of Catholics and Orthodox church of St. Nicolas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Užpaliai</span> Town in Utena County, Lithuania

Užpaliai is a town in Utena County, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 758 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalnujai</span> Village in Lithuania

Kalnujai is a village in Raseiniai District Municipality in Lithuania with a population of 402 inhabitants (2011).

Padubysis is a village in the Kelmė District Municipality in Lithuania.

Geruliai is a village located in the Telšiai District Municipality, 10 kilometers from Telšiai, Lithuania. According to the census of 2001, the village has a population of 95.

References

  1. "The First Mass Execution of the Jews of Gargždai". Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. 2010.
  2. "Execution of Jews in Gargždai". The Map of Holocaust by Bullets. Yahad-In Unum. 2012. Retrieved 2019-11-19.