Lithuania, Crime & Punishment (in its seventh edition published single handedly Adv Melamed) enjoyed world wide circulation and contributed greatly to increasing public awareness to the culture of abuse and mental cruelty unleashed by Lithuanians from all walks of life on their Jewish neighbours before they brutally murdered them. This online issue gives accounts of just some of the atrocities perpetrated by Lithuanians during WW2.

We have accumulated thousands more eyewitness accounts given by survivors and victims who managed to tell their stories to friends before they died. Tens of detailed studies covering a wide range of events have also been published. An in-depth account of the genocide of Lithuanian Jewry can be found, among others, in Volume Four of “Yahadut Lita” - the Anthology of Lithuanian Jewry – published by The Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel and in “Pinkas Hakehilot – Lithuania, edited by Professor Dov Levin of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Some of the material published here already appeared in previous issues of the journal and it should come as no surprise to anyone that we find it necessary to repeat and recall those horrific events. For centuries Lithuanian Jewry made an outstanding contribution to the spiritual and cultural life of mainstream Lithuanian society.

It became famous for its practice of charity and compassion towards all those in need, irrespective of race, religion, or creed. Indeed the words of Rabbi Akiva “and you shall love your neighbor as you do yourself” formed a cornerstone of its philosophy of selfless contribution to those less fortunate. Jewish lawyers, doctors, and members of other professions very often provided their services free of charge to those in need of help. And when they finally met their horrifying fate, they were murdered not by Nazi guards in concentration camps but by their own neighbors who turned on them at the first opportunity.

Therefore we consider it our sacred duty to continue to remind the world of the appalling atrocities that the Lithuanians inflicted on our wonderful community. And we shall carry on doing so until Lithuania faces up to its bloody history and prosecutes the thousands of murderers, many of whom have been allowed to live out their lives in Lithuania safe in the knowledge that no proceedings will ever be brought against them.

For many years now, we have been reiterating our claims at every possible opportunity and we will continue to bring our message to the international community of civilized nations as long as Jews live on the face of this earth. We find it unacceptable that a country, whose citizens stooped to the lowest form of bestial behavior by massacring entire communities in their thousands should be allowed to take its place among the community of civilized nations without first answering for its crimes. And anyone familiar with the history of the period in question will know that it does indeed have a lot to answer for.

Are we expected just to turn our backs and go about our lives as if nothing happened? Six decades ago, the outside world did just that as the law abiding, patriotic and community conscious Jews of Lithuania were being cut down in their thousands by fascist thugs while ordinary people from every walk of life stood and applauded the killers.

With 2005 now upon us, the international community has once again ignored the dark truth of history by admitting Lithuania to the EU, NATO, and other key international organizations. So the publication of this article comes at an opportune moment. It will, we hope, remind the world of those historical facts that nobody wants to hear. Back then our loved ones were abandoned to their fate, as they suffered lonely and horrible deaths and were then thrown into unmarked graves in the hope that they would be forgotten forever. We, the survivors of that hell, will do whatever it takes to make sure that never happens again.

We will continue in future, to publish this and all our other pamphlets and related literature with the aim of perpetuating the memory of our loved ones who lost their lives in the appalling horror. We will also, from time to time, reproduce further articles from our print literature on this page. Our vigilance will serve as a constant reminder to the international community of the unspeakable persecution we suffered at the hands of the Lithuanians during that period of terror.

Some of those who survived the horrors are still with us today. There first hand testimony has been invaluable in educating the next generation about their own heritage and the tragic events that brought the golden age of Lithuanian Jewry to an end. It is thanks to such cooperation that this collective act of unspeakable brutality will never be forgotten.

But it is not only the barbarity with which Lithuanians tortured their Jewish neighbors before murdering them or burying them alive which we can never forgive or forget. We will never forgive them for their systematic refusal to prosecute even key criminals such as arch murderer Impulevicius, commander of the infamous First Battalion, which alone was responsible for the deaths of around 100,000 Jews. We will also never forgive them for failing to indict civil servants such as Revytis, who as Minister of Police in the Provisional Government was one of those “Desk Murderers” who issued directives to regional commanders as to the arrest and expulsion of the Jews from their homes and recruited and organized the death squads that massacred Jews in their thousands. Neither will we ever be able to forgive the Lithuanians for their absolute refusal over six decades to agree to the restitution of Jewish property and assets to their lawful owners, a cynical act of greed that has merely added insult to injury.

In the previous issue I referred to the “International Commission” set up by Lithuanian President Adamkus for the sole purpose of downsizing the magnitude of the crimes committed by his compatriots during World War Two. I also noted once again the tactics that the Lithuanians have traditionally resorted to when evading issues of that arise as a result of public pressure, such as the setting up of commissions, either local, bilateral, or international. I quoted, as examples, the commission of inquiry established to investigate the horrific progrom at Lietukis garage (see below) and the joint Israeli-Lithuanian commission on the rehabilitations granted by Lithuania to thousands of murderers of Jews. This trend appears set to continue with the establishment six years ago of the “International Commission.” All three have little or no value. As mentioned previously, the first commission of inquiry, the first commission of inquiry into the Lietukis pogrom spent two and a half years on its investigation and after having summoned witnessess with highly selective memories, it failed to deliver any tangible findings, which is exactly what the Lithuanians intended from the outset. The bilateral Israeli-Lithuanian commission fared little better. The Lithuanians promised to provide us with details regarding the approximate five thousand murderers that were repatriated. They never did. After approximately two years, during which the Lithuanians made a mockery of us and the work we were assigned to do, the commission effectively ceased to exist. A similar fate is likely to befall the “International Commission” set up in 1998 by President Valdas Adamkus. Adamkus has no interest in uncovering the historical truth and it is therefore highly unlikely that the commission will do anything other than procrastinate endlessly. Indeed, the need to provide a robust response to the international community’s indifference to the suffering of the Jews was identified as far back as 1947 by survivors attending the first conference of Lithuanian Jews in Munich, Germany. With the horrors of the Holocaust still fresh in their minds, they adopted the following resolution, which I now quote, word for word: “Lithuanians from all backgrounds and walks of life (intelligentsia, civil servants, farmers tradesmen, laborers and others) aided and abetted the Nazi murderers in the destruction of Jewry, especially that of Jewish communities in provinces throughout the country. A substantial number of these criminals have managed to reach the American, British, and French controlled sectors of Germany and Austria. They are posing as “displaced persons” and as such, have qualified for UNRA protection and support. distribute information relating to the mass murder of Jews by the Lithuanian nation – “This conference hereby authorizes the new association management to produce and both before and during Nazi occupation – to governments and public bodies across the globe. “We, the sole survivors of the former Jewish community of Lithuania, witnessed the brutality displayed by Lithuanians towards their Jewish neighbors. Each and every one of us can testify to incidents of brutal murder committed by Lithuanians against innocent and defenseless Jewish communities during Nazi rule. “It is with extreme sorrow that we note that Lithuanians single-handedly wiped out every single provincial and rural Jewish community in the country. They also actively participated in the destruction of Jewish communities in major cities, as well as the pogroms in Kovna – including the horrendous massacre in the Slabodka district – and the barbaric genocide at the Seventh Fort outside Kovna during the first weeks of occupation, which claimed the lives of more than nine thousand Jews. We also know that Lithuanians participated in the destruction of Jews in ghettos and camps outside Lithuania, at Maidanek, Warsaw, and other locations. “The Association of Lithuanian Jews in exile in Germany, considers it its moral duty, as Jews and survivors, to bring these facts to the attention of both Jews and non-Jews throughout the world.” This testimony represents the sole truth regarding the events that took place in Lithuania during the Holocaust. And as survivors, we will remain loyal to the mission statement set down by our predecessors back in 1947 and make our voices heard whenever and wherever possible regardless of the charade now taking place in Vilnius. The best way we can ensure these events never happen again is to never forget their full horror. This issue will reveal the truth about what happened to the Jews of Lithuania during the holocaust. It features more historical accounts of events that took place during the Holocaust in Lithuania. We also report on the Lithuanian authorities’ continuing intransigence regarding the two key issues of concern to us: the prosecution of known murderers – around 23,000 in all, according to our estimates, and the restitution of Jewish property and assets stolen by the Lithuanians following the genocide carried out during the period 1941-1944. I have divided this issue into two parts: the first describes in detail some of the bloody atrocities carried out by Lithuanian death squads during the Holocaust. The second focuses on the Lithuanians’ persistent unwillingness throughout the 15 years since gaining independence, to address the issue of war crimes committed by Lithuanian citizens during the three years of Nazi rule. Adv. Joseph A. Melamed, Editor