Vokiečių okupuota Lietuva (1941-1944)

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LTKnyga skirta sovietiniais metais tarsi ir nemažai gvildentai temai, tačiau dabar, kai nebėra ideologinės cenzūros ir kliūčių naudotis archyvų šaltiniais, istorikams atsiveria naujos galimybės. Autorius, remdamasis daugelyje Lietuvos ir užsienio šalių archyvų surinkta gausia dokumentine medžiaga, kitų mokslininkų tyrinėjimais, plačiai ir įvairiais aspektais nušviečia Trečiojo reicho vadų kolonizacinius ir germanizacinius planus Lietuvos, kaip ir kitų Baltijos valstybių, atžvilgiu, jų įgyvendinimą. Nuodugniai atskleidžiama nacių vykdyta Lietuvos gyventojų masinio fizinio naikinimo, jų išnaudojimo vykdant darbo ir karo mobilizacijas, krašto ekonominio žlugdymo, kultūros griovimo politika ir kt. Knyga sudomins ir istorikus, ir visus, kurie neabejingi savo krašto istorijai. [Anotacija knygoje]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Vokietija; Vokiečių okupuota Lietuva; Ostlandas; Antrasis pasaulinis karas; Nacistinė okupacija; Holokaustas. Keywords: Ostland; Germany; German-occupied Lithuania; Second World War; Nazi occupation; Holocaust.

ENWhen Hitler came to power, he had big plans to change the map of Europe. His "New Europe" did not include the three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on it. Throughout the war Hitler was vague on the issue of future statehood for the three countries. Indeed the leaders of the Third Reich considered including them into the German "Lebensraum", the territory designated for future expansion of Germany. It simply meant that Germany would colonise the countries. A large portion of the occupied population was to be deported to the East, while the rest was to be gradually germanised and, eventually, incorporated into the Third Reich. One of the objects of the plan was to create a colonisation bridge across Western Lithuania, spanning East Prussian and Latvian lands. The first German colonists appeared in Lithuania during the war. Occupational authorities evicted Lithuanians from some of their farms and homes, and replaced them with some 30,000 privileged German colonists. The colonists were given 2-3 times larger rations, various subsidies, let alone the best farms and houses they had been tenanted in, etc. When the German-Soviet war started in June of 1941, many Lithuanians welcomed the German Army as liberators from the 1940-1941 Soviet occupation. Armed Lithuanian anti-Soviet rebels co-operated with German forces in driving out the Soviets from Lithuania. However, the Third Reich civil authorities pursued policies as if Lithuania was an occupied enemy territory. Germans ignored the Provisional Government installed by the Lithuanian uprising of 1941, disarmed Lithuanian freedom forces, and banned all activities of political and public organisations.The Provisional Government of Lithuania initially was replaced by the Nazi Military Administration, and later, in July of 1941, by the Nazi Civilian Administration (Civilfervaltung). In fact, Lithuania became an administrative unit of the territory designated as the Eastern Reich. Officially Lithuanians maintained a central administrative government for the country, but, in fact, this Lithuanian administration was just a local instrument of the Nazi occupational authorities. The Nazis had ready plans for extermination of ethnic minorities. The ultimate purpose of the Nazi genocide policy was to annihilate the Jews and the Romanies of Lithuania. Of all Lithuanian ethnic minorities, the Jews had suffered the most. Ninety-five percent of pre-World War II Jewish population of Lithuania, some 200,000 men, women, and children, fell victims to the Nazi atrocities. The only fault of those who perished was being a Jew. Other Lithuanian ethnic minorities were also persecuted and annihilated. Communists, Soviet partisans operating in the occupied Lithuania were persecuted as well. The same may be said about the participants in the Lithuanian and Polish national resistance. Thousands of Lithuanians either died or were imprisoned in the Nazi Germany concentration camps and prisons for anti-Nazi resistance. During the Nazi occupation approximately 250,000 people were killed in Lithuania and about 30,000 were imprisoned in concentration camps in Germany. The Nazi occupation also brought about destructive policies to Lithuanian economy and cultural life. The economy was made to service needs of the German war machine. Lithuanian farmers were saddled to deliver large shipments of agricultural products and live stock. Farmers failing to meet the imposed requisitions were severely punished. German-held companies predominated over local enterprise in Lithuanian.In turn, major Lithuanian companies were supervised by German trustees. In terms of food and fuel shortages, Lithuanian urban population suffered most. Because of low wages, city dwellers had to take up profiteering or sell their personal belongings for cash. Meanwhile, the Nazis fought the black market which they themselves created. Due to war time living conditions, scarce food, shortages in medicine, people suffered from various diseases and epidemics, and the mortality rate was up. During the war Lithuania exercised limited autonomy in cultural and educational activities, because the Germans were less bossy in these areas. In spite of that, attempts were made to germanise the Lithuanian culture. Immediately the Nazis imposed strict censorship. Book publishing practically came to a standstill. Most of those published were brochures on the Nazi teachings. Lithuanian system of schools and teacher colleges suffered as well, because many school buildings were taken over by the military. School programmes were pressed to strengthen the German language studies and were made to advocate Nazi teachings. After Lithuanian people successfully resisted Nazi orders to form a Lithuanian SS unit, occupational authorities closed universities in Lithuania. Retaliating to the SS fiasco, the Nazis arrested 45 outstanding Lithuanian intellectuals and imprisoned them in Stutthof concentration camp. A large number of museums, libraries and other Lithuanian cultural centres had been plundered by the Nazis and the artefacts shipped to Germany. In 1944, when retreating from Lithuania, the Nazis used the "burn to the ground" tactic. Hundreds of buildings, plants, bridges and railways had been destroyed in front of advancing Soviet troops. Some of the disassembled machinery, inventories, and raw materials were transported to Germany [...]. [From the publication]

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