Resistance in Lithuania during World War II

In 1940, President Antanas Smetona fled to Germany, not wanting his government to become a puppet of the Soviet occupation. Soviet attempts to capture him were unsuccessful, and he was able to settle in the United States.

In 1940, Jan Zwartendijk, the Dutch consul in Kaunas, and Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas, and his wife Yukiko disobeyed orders and saved thousands of Jewish refugees from Poland by granting them visas.[1]

In 1941, the Lithuanian Activist Front (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Aktyvistų Frontas) formed an underground government, and following the June uprising, the Provisional Government of Lithuania maintained sovereignty for a brief period.

Part of a series on
Anti-fascism
Interwar Ethiopia Black Lions Germany Antifaschistische Aktion Black Band Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany Confessing Church Iron Front Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold Roter Frontkämpferbund Three Arrows Italy Arditi del Popolo Concentrazione Antifascista Italiana TIGR Volante Rossa Spain (Spanish Civil War)  Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias Confederal militias International Brigades Abraham Lincoln Brigade British Battalion Dabrowski Battalion ILP Contingent Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion Palafox Battalion Thälmann Battalion
World War II Resistance during World War II Albania Albanian resistance National Liberation Movement Austria Austrian resistance Baltic states Latvian resistance movement Lithuanian resistance Soviet partisans Belgium Belgian Resistance Bulgaria Bulgarian resistance movement Burma Anti-Fascist Organisation Czechia Resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Jan Žižka partisan brigade Prague uprising Denmark Danish resistance movement France French Resistance Maquis Armée Juive Armée secrète Combat Franc-Tireur Francs-Tireurs et Partisans Libération-Nord Libération-sud Mouvements Unis de la Résistance National Council of the Resistance National Front Germany German resistance to Nazism 20 July plot Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany Oster conspiracy Pope Pius XII and the German Resistance White Rose Greece Cretan resistance Greek resistance Italy Italian resistance movement Japan Political dissidence in the Empire of Japan Jewish Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee Jewish partisans Jewish resistance during the Holocaust Jewish Labor Committee Luxembourg Luxembourg resistance Netherlands Dutch resistance Norway Norwegian resistance movement Poland Polish resistance movement in World War II (Polish Underground State) Anti-Fascist Bloc Armia Krajowa Armia Ludowa Bataliony Chłopskie Gwardia Ludowa Kampfgruppe Auschwitz Narodowe Siły Zbrojne Olimp Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa Zydowski Zwiazek Walki Slovakia Slovak National Uprising Spain Spanish Maquis Soviet Union Soviet partisans Soviet resistance movement Moldovan resistance movement Yugoslavia Yugoslav resistance movement Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Serbia Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Croatian Partisans Liberation Front of the Slovenian People Slovene Partisans Yugoslav Partisans
Postwar Post–World War II anti-fascism (denazification) Germany Antifa Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander Netherlands Anti-fascist research group Kafka Portugal Armed Forces Movement Carnation Revolution Spain Spanish Maquis Sweden Antifascistisk Aktion Switzerland Aktion Kinder des Holocaust United Kingdom 43 Group 62 Group Anti-Fascist Action Anti-Nazi League Unite Against Fascism United States Antifa Anti-Racist Action Redneck Revolt Refuse Fascism
Music and culture "A las Barricadas" "¡Ay Carmela!" "Bella ciao" "First they came ..." "Fischia il vento" "Grândola, Vila Morena" "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" Rock Against Racism "Rock gegen Rechts" Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice "This machine kills fascists" "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
Tactics and methods Black bloc Deplatforming Direct action Diversity of tactics Milkshaking Popular front Squadism United front
See also Anti-capitalism Anti-Chinilpa Anti-nationalism Anti-Germans (political current) Anti-Japaneseism Anti-racism Left-wing politics Anarchism Libertarian socialism
Politics portal

Soviet partisans began sabotage and guerrilla operations against German forces immediately after the Nazi invasion of 1941. 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.[2]

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 liquidated by the Nazis only a few months later for refusing to subordinate to their command.[3][4][5]

Home Army soldiers in Turgiele, 1944

There was no significant violent resistance directed against the Nazis. Some Lithuanians, encouraged by Germany's vague promises of autonomy,[6] cooperated with the Nazis. Pre-war tensions over the Vilnius Region resulted in a low-level civil war between Poles and Lithuanians.[7] Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian units, primarily the Lithuanian Secret Police,[7] were active in the region and assisted the Germans in repressing the Polish population. In the autumn of 1943, the Home Army began retaliatory operations against the Lithuanian units and killed hundreds of mostly Lithuanian Auxiliary 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. See also Polish-Lithuanian relations during World War II.

Also in 1943, several underground political groups united under the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausias Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas, or VLIK). The committee issued a declaration of independence that went largely unnoticed. It became active mostly outside 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.[8][9]

Lithuanian Freedom Army during Nazi Germany's occupation opposed German policies, but did not begin armed resistance. The armed struggle began in mid-1944 when Red Army reached the Lithuanian borders after the Minsk Offensive. The LLA became the first wave of the Lithuanian partisans, armed anti-Soviet guerrilla fighters. It attempted to become the central command of the armed struggle. However, the organization headquarters was liquidated by the Soviet security forces (NKVD and KGB) by April 1946. Many Lithuanian Freedom Army fighters joined Lithuanian partisans.

Jewish partisans 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.[10]

In July 1944, as part of its Operation Tempest, the Polish Home Army launched Operation Ostra Brama, an attempt to recapture that city. See also Polish–Lithuanian relations during World War II.

As of January 2008, 723 Lithuanians were recognized by Israel as Righteous among the Nations for their efforts in saving Lithuania's Jews from the Holocaust.[11] The total number of people who helped the Jews may be much higher.[12]

Lithuanian partisans, known as the Forest Brothers, began guerrilla warfare against the Soviet forces as soon as the front passed over them in 1944, and continued an armed struggle until 1953. The core of this movement was made up of soldiers from the Territorial Defense Force who had disbanded with their weapons and uniforms and members of the Lithuanian Freedom Army, established in 1941. The underground had extensive clandestine radio and press.[13] Thousands of people engaged in active and passive resistance against the Soviet authorities.[8] The various resistance organizations eventually united under the Movement of the Struggle for the Freedom of Lithuania (Lietuvos Laisvės Kovų Sąjūdis, or LLKS), issuing a declaration of independence in 1949 that would ultimately be signed into law by the independent Republic of Lithuania in 1999.[14] The most famous of these partisans is probably Juozas Lukša, author of several books during the resistance and the subject of a recent film.

While armed resistance ended in the 1950s, nonviolent resistance continued in various forms (e.g. through Lithuanians living abroad, the Catholic press, safeguarding local traditions and the Lithuanian language, the Sąjūdis movement, etc.), until 1991 when Russia recognized the independence declared by Lithuania on March 11, 1990.

February 16, the date that Lithuania first declared its independence in 1918, played an important symbolic role during this period. The call for volunteers for the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, the VLIK declaration of independence, and the LLKS declaration of independence were all made on February 16. This day has become a national holiday in Lithuania.

• Remeikis, Thomas. The Decision of the Lithuanian Government to Accept the Soviet Ultimatum of June 14, 1940, Lituanus, Vol. 21, No. 4, Winter 1975. ISSN 0024-5089