Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions

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Lithuanian Auxiliary Police
Active1941 July - 1945 May

The Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions were Schutzmannschaft battalions formed during the German occupation of Lithuania between 1941 and 1944, with the first battalions originating from the most reliable freedom fighters that were disbanded following the anti-Soviet Lithuanian June Uprising in 1941.[1] Lithuanian activists hoped that these units would be the basis of the reestablished Lithuanian Army and commanded by the Lithuanian Provisional Government.[2] Instead, these units were placed under the orders of the SS- und Polizeiführer in Lithuania.[3] The battalions were charged with internal security duties and engaged in anti-partisan operations in the Wehrmacht's rear areas, e.g. Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Northwest Russia.[4]

Some battalions partook in the Holocaust, most notably the 12th and the 13th battalions, which started as the Lithuanian TDA Battalions. These two battalions are estimated to have been responsible for an estimated 78,000 Jewish deaths in Lithuania and Belarus.[citation needed] While the battalions were often deployed outside Lithuania, they generally did not participate in combat. In total, 26 battalions were formed and approximately 13,000 men served in them.[5] In July–September, 1944, the remaining units were combined into two Lithuanian Volunteer Infantry Regiments.[6]

Terminology[]

The units are known under a number of different names. German documents referred to them as Ordnungsdienst (order service), Selbstschutz (self-defense), Hilfspolizei (auxiliary police).[7] From September 1941, they became known as Schutzmannschaft-Bataillonen (abbreviated Schuma). In Lithuanian, the police battalions were known as savisaugos batalionai (self-defense battalions), apsaugos dalys (security units), Lietuvos apsaugos dalys (LAD, security units of Lithuania).[7]

Sources and historiography[]

The topic of Lithuanian Police Battalions is very controversial and poorly researched. The main obstacle is the lack of reliable and objective data. During the war, journal Karys published frequent stories about the battalions, but to protect military secrets the articles were heavily censored to remove names, dates, and locations. During the Soviet period, when Soviet propaganda exploited tales of war crimes and actively persecuted former members of the battalions, objective research was impossible. Several members of the battalions managed to escape to the West and publish memoirs, but they gloss over the controversial aspects of the battalions and often deny Lithuanian involvement in the Holocaust.[8] Foreign researchers were hampered by lack of archival data.

When Lithuania declared independence, the archives became accessible to scholars. However, many of the documents are scattered in various archives in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, Russia. In addition, due to the chaotic nature of the war, recordkeeping was poor, particularly towards the end of the war. The units were subject to frequent reorganizations and restructurings; sometimes the units were confused themselves of their proper name or numbering. In the post-war years, KGB produced interrogation protocols of former members of the battalions, but these are not considered reliable as confessions were often obtained through torture or outright fabricated. Nevertheless, Lithuanian scholars, primarily Arūnas Bubnys, published several articles analyzing structure and activities of individual battalions.[8]

Background[]

Lithuanian soldier escorting a group of Lithuanian Jews in Vilnius in July 1941

In June 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Soviets introduced harsh sovietization policies, including nationalization of larger enterprises, landholdings, and real estate.[9] Opponents of communism and the new regime were persecuted: an estimated 6,600 were imprisoned as "enemies of the people"[10] and another 17,600 deported to Siberia.[11] The Lithuanian Army was reorganized into the 29th Rifle Corps (179th Rifle and 184th Rifle Divisions) of the Red Army. More than 500 of Lithuanian officers were retired and 87 were imprisoned.[12]

When Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule.[13] They spontaneously joined the anti-Soviet June Uprising, formed the Provisional Government of Lithuania, and declared restoration of independence. Lithuanians began forming their own military and police units in hopes to recreate the Lithuanian Army.[14] The territory of Lithuania was invaded by and divided between two German Army Groups: Army Group North, which took over western and northern Lithuania, and Army Group Centre, which took over most of the Vilnius Region.[15] Therefore, developments in Kaunas and Vilnius were parallel but separate.

Formation[]

The first battalion, known as the Tautinio darbo apsaugos batalionas (TDA), was formed by the Provisional Government of Lithuania in Kaunas on June 28.[14] The Provisional Government dissolved itself on August 5, 1941. The battalion was not dissolved and German Major Franz Lechthaler took over its command.[14] On August 7, when TDA had 703 members, Lechthaler ordered the battalion to be reorganized into two battalions of auxiliary police (German: Polizeihilfsdienst bataillone; Lithuanian: Pagalbinės policijos tarnyba or PPT). During August three more battalions of PPT were formed. In October, these five battalions were renamed to security battalions (Lithuanian: apsaugos batalionas). In December, the five battalions were reorganized again into battalions of Schutzmannschaft.

Lithuanian men massively deserted from the Soviet 29th Rifle Corps and gathered in Vilnius. They organized Lithuanian Self-defense Units (Lithuanian: Lietuvių savisaugos dalys or LSD), stationed in Vilnius, Pabradė, Trakai, and Varėna.[16] On July 21, 1941, LSD was reorganized into Vilnius Reconstruction Service (Lithuanian: Vilniaus atstatymo tarnyba or VAT) that had three units (Work, Order, and Security). On August 1, VAT and its three units were reorganized into three battalions of Schutzmannschaft.[17] Two more battalions were organized before October 1941.

Atrocities[]

Some Lithuanian auxiliary police battalions took an active part in extermination of Jewish people in territory of Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Poland and committed crimes against Polish and Belarusian populations. One such action of Lithuanian policemen was liquidation of Jews in Kaunas in October 1941 by 12th Police Battalion under command of Antanas Impulevičius. Later the same month 12th battalion murdered the entire Jewish population of Slutsk in Belarus. 2nd Police Battalion served as guards in Majdanek death camp in occupied Poland. 20 out of 22 Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions was directly involved in destruction of Jewish people in Eastern Europe.[18] According to German reports[specify], Lithuanians committed 47,000 killings of Jews in Lithuania out of all 85,000 committed by Einsatzkommando there. They also killed 50,000 Belarusian Jews during the war.[19] Largest crime against non-Jewish civilian population of Lithuanian policemen was killing of about 400 Polish people in the villages Švenčionėliai and Švenčionys and their surroundings.[20]

List of battalions[]

BN#[n 1] Formed from Formation began Formed in First commander[n 2] Holocaust?
[n 3][21]		 Location on
1942-08-26[22]		 Location on
1944-03-17[7]		 Date disbanded Further fate
1st VAT Security Unit (former LSD)[17] July 14, 1941[23] Vilnius Col Lt Jonas Juknevičius[17] Yes Vilnius Vilnius Fall 1944[24] To anti-aircraft units or Germany[24]
2nd VAT Order Unit (former LSD)[17] July 14, 1941[23] Vilnius Col Lt Petras Vertelis[23] Yes Lublin Adutiškis August 1944[23] To various German units[23]
3rd VAT Work unit (former LSD)[17] July 14, 1941[23] Vilnius Capt Pranas Ambraziūnas[25] Yes Near Minsk Near Minsk July 1944[26] To anti-aircraft units or Dresden[26]
4th 4th battalion of PPT August 30, 1941[14] Kaunas Capt Viktoras Klimavičius[14] No Stalino disbanded February 1944[27] Kovel Pocket: Soviet captivity[27]
5th 5th battalion of PPT August 28, 1941[28] Kaunas Capt Juozas Kriščiūnas[14] No[28] Dedovichi Švenčionėliai December 1944[28] To the 256th and 13th battalions[28]
6th Railway Protection Battalion[29] July 1941[29] Vilnius No Vilnius Vilnius August 1944[30] To anti-aircraft units or Germany[30]
7th Kaunas Yes Lityn disbanded January 1944[31] To the 13th[21] and 257th battalions[32]
8th Kaunas No Kirovohrad disbanded Nov. 20, 1943[21]
9th Kaunas No Kaunas Kaunas July 1944[33] To the 1st Lithuanian Police Regiment[33]
10th - August 1941[34] Panevėžys Capt Bronius Kairiūnas[35] Yes[36] Panevėžys disbanded January 21, 1943[37] To the 14th battalion[37]
11th 3rd battalion of PPT August 15, 1941[14] Kaunas Capt Antanas Švilpa[7] Yes Korosten disbanded Late 1943[38]
12th 2nd battalion of PPT (former TDA) August 9, 1941[39] Kaunas Maj Antanas Impulevičius[14] Extensively Minsk disbanded February 1944[40] To the 15th battalion[40]
13th 1st battalion of PPT (former TDA) June 28, 1941[14] Kaunas Maj Kazys Šimkus[14] Extensively[41] Dedovichi Opochka May 1945[42] Courland Pocket: Soviet captivity[42]
14th - August 1941[43] Šiauliai Capt Stanislovas Lipčius[44] Yes[45] Šiauliai Šiauliai Summer 1944[34] To Gdańsk and Dresden[34]
15th VAT Hrodna battalion[46] July 1941[46] Vilnius Maj Albinas Levickis[47] No Baranovichi Near Minsk July 26, 1944[48] To Szczecin and Gdańsk[48]
250th - 1942[21] Kaunas No Pskov Daugavpils
251st - Summer 1942[49] Kaunas No Kaunas disbanded February 1943[49] To the 2nd battalion[49]
252nd - May 25, 1942[23] Kaunas Maj Bronius Bajerčius[23] Yes Kaunas Lublin November 1944[23] To northern Yugoslavia[50]
253rd - May 1943[33] Kaunas Capt Vladas Aižinas[33] No n/a Lublin August 1944[33] To aviation units and Dresden[33]
254th - Spring 1942[51] Vilnius Capt Povilas Bareišis[52] No Vilnius disbanded April 1944[53] To the 258th or 259th battalions[53]
255th - July 21, 1942[54] Kaunas No Kaunas Slutsk August 1944[55] To Dresden[55]
256th - March 1943[42] Kaunas Capt Jonas Matulis[42] No n/a Panemunė May 1945[42] Courland Pocket: Soviet captivity[42]
257th 4 representative police companies[56] October 24, 1943[57] Capt V. Miliauskas[58] No n/a  [lt] October 1944[59] To Gdańsk[59]
258th Training units[60] April 27, 1944[60] No n/a n/a Late 1944[55] To Germany near Belgian border[55]
259th - April 1944[61] Prienai[61] No n/a n/a
Lietuva Lithuanians in Reichsarbeitsdienst[62] Koszalin[62] No n/a n/a
Notes:
  1. ^ Battalion number. Numbers 301 through 310 were assigned to the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force.
  2. ^ Only the first commander is listed. Some of them were acting commanders, holding the post for a few weeks.
  3. ^ Indicates whether the unit participated in the Holocaust. The conclusion is based on the research by Arūnas Bubnys.

References[]

Notes

  1. ^ Mollo 1992, p. 26.
  2. ^ Caballero 2002, p. 35.
  3. ^ Arad 1990, p. 1176.
  4. ^ Caballero 2002, pp. 35–37.
  5. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), p. 232
  6. ^ Stoliarovas (2008a), p. 16
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bubnys (1998a)
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Stoliarovas (2008a), p. 8
  9. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), pp. 116–119
  10. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), p. 137
  11. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), p. 140
  12. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), p. 112
  13. ^ Suziedelis (2011), p. 252
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Knezys (2000)
  15. ^ Anušauskas, et al. (2005), p. 161
  16. ^ Bubnys (2008b), p. 36
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bubnys (2008b), p. 37
  18. ^ Statiev 2010, p. 69
  19. ^ Statiev 2010, p. 70
  20. ^ Wnuk 2018, p. 94
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Čekutis & Žygelis (2010-04-14)
  22. ^ Bubnys (1998c), p. 120
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Bubnys (2000)
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2008b), p. 42
  25. ^ Bubnys (2008b), p. 43
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2008b), p. 48
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2008b), p. 51
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bubnys (2001a)
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Breslavskienė (September 2010c)
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b Stankeras (2008), p. 566
  31. ^ Stankeras (2008), p. 567
  32. ^ Stankeras (2008), p. 534
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bubnys (1998b)
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b c Bubnys (2010), p. 84
  35. ^ Bubnys (2010), p. 85
  36. ^ Bubnys (2010), p. 85–86
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2010), p. 87
  38. ^ Bubnys (2008a), p. 52
  39. ^ Stoliarovas (2008a), p. 21
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b Stoliarovas (2008a), p. 36
  41. ^ Bubnys (2006), pp. 48–49
  42. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bubnys (2001b)
  43. ^ Bubnys (2010), p. 81
  44. ^ Bubnys (2010), p. 82
  45. ^ Bubnys (2010), pp. 82–83
  46. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2007), p. 70
  47. ^ Bubnys (2007), p. 69
  48. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2007), p. 76
  49. ^ Jump up to: a b c Bubnys (2001c)
  50. ^ Stoliarovas (2008b), p. 292
  51. ^ Bubnys (2008b), p. 52
  52. ^ Bubnys (2008b), p. 53
  53. ^ Jump up to: a b Bubnys (2008b), p. 54
  54. ^ Breslavskienė (August 2010b)
  55. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bubnys (2009-10-17)
  56. ^ Stankeras (2008), p. 533–534
  57. ^ Breslavskienė (September 2010b)
  58. ^ Stankeras (2008), p. 533
  59. ^ Jump up to: a b Stankeras (2008), p. 538
  60. ^ Jump up to: a b Breslavskienė (September 2010a)
  61. ^ Jump up to: a b Breslavskienė (August 2010a)
  62. ^ Jump up to: a b Stoliarovas (2008a), p. 15

Bibliography

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