Jews Versus Lithuanians

From this Lithuanian nationalist site.

It's pretty familiar stuff, similar to Polish anti-Semitism after the war. Basically, they are claiming that the Jews helped the USSR when the USSR invaded Lithuania in 1940. It's true that there were some arrests and killings in the Baltic States when the Soviets took over. All of the Baltic states have always hated Communism, possibly because it was imposed at gunpoint.

In 1941, the Nazis invaded, and they occupied the place until 1944. It would seem to me that the Nazis were much worse as far as killing folks than the USSR, but that's just a WAG.

The Holocaust in Lithuania was one of the worst in any nation. There were about 200,000 Jews there when the Nazis invaded, and only 3-4% of them survived, about a 98% death rate.

I guess I can see why the Jews welcomed the Red Army with open arms.

The Holocaust here was a bit peculiar because the locals joined in the killing in a worse way than in most other Axis nations. In particular, the local police, and I believe, even regular citizens, joined in the frenzy.

The Polish (AK) and Lithuanian partisans both fought each other here in what was one of the war's sillier moments. Apparently the AK were Polish nationalists who had some territorial designs on Lithuania as a part of Poland. A lot of killing on all sides here, including civilians. Nasty fight.

Apparently some Jews who served under Stalin in 1940 were responsible for killing some Lithuanians, and the nationalists want these Jews to be extradited from Israel, where they have taken refuge, on war crimes charges.

No one has been able to try any Allies on war crimes charges during WW2. Otherwise we have to go after the bombers of Dresden and Frankfurt. History is written by the victors, and they also host the war crimes trials. That's just the way it goes. If you don't like it, don't lose a war, or if you do, try to fight at least slightly civilized while you are in conflict.

I really know little about the situation in Lithuania during WW2, and in particular, I am not able to rebut the nationalists' charges, although I suspect that they are false. The Lithuanians killed 98% of their Jews because some Jews helped the invading USSR a while earlier? Forget it. I don't buy it. But it might be nice to prove it.

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