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Polish–Lithuanian relations during World War II

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The issue of Polish–Lithuanian relations during World War II is a controversial one, and some modern Lithuanian and Polish historians still differ in their interpretations of the related events, many of which are related to the Lithuanian collaboration with Nazi Germany and the operations of Polish resistance organization of Armia Krajowa on territories inhabited by Lithuanians and Poles. Several common academic conferences started bridging the gap between Lithuanian and Polish interpretations, but significant differences remain.[1]

Polish–Lithuanian relations during World War II have consisted of conflicts such as the Battle of Murowana Oszmianka, or massacres such as the Ponary massacre. The last action between the two sides was the Dubingiai massacre, with any further escalation being cut short by the Soviet occupation of Vilnius two weeks later.

Prelude

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Independence of Poland and Lithuania

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Main article: Aftermath of World War I

On 16 February 1918, the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania, although the German Empire prohibited the publication of this act, leaving them in control over Lithuania.[2] However, on 11 November 1918, World War I ended, with the German Empire collapsing.[3] This lead to both the independence of the Second Polish Republic[4] and the Council of Lithuania gaining control over Lithuania.[5] The independence of Poland was further confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles.[6]

Polish–Lithuanian War

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Lucjan Żeligowski in front of the Vilnius Cathedral following the military annexation of Vilnius from the Lithuanians, 1920
Main article: Polish–Lithuanian War

However, both Poland and Lithuania had overlapping claims, (former Vilna, Grodno, and Suwałki governorates).[7] Following this, the Polish–Lithuanian War started in May 1919.[7] It eventually ended on 29 November 1920,[8] with the establishment of Central Lithuania[9] and Poland gaining the Suwałki and Vilnius regions.[10] This caused Lithuania to sever diplomatic relations with Poland.[11]

The irredentist demand for Vilnius' became one of the most important elements of socio-political life in interwar Lithuania and resulted in the emergence of hostility and resentment against the Poles.[12]

Polonisation

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Main article: Polonization

When Poland annexed the town of Sejny and its surroundings back in 1919, repressions towards the local Lithuanian population started, including Lithuanian being banned in public, Lithuanian organizations (with 1300 members), schools (with approx. 300 pupils) and press being closed, as well as the confiscation of property and even burning of Lithuanian books.[13]

Beginning in 1920, after the staged mutiny of Lucjan Żeligowski, Lithuanian cultural activities in Polish controlled territories were limited; newspapers were closed down and editors arrested.[14]

When 48 Polish schools were closed in Lithuania in 1927, Józef Piłsudski retaliated by closing many Lithuanian educational establishments in Poland.[15] In the same year 48 Lithuanian schools were closed and 11 Lithuanian activist were deported.[16]

About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland between 1936 and 1938.[17]

Demographics

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Main articles: Demographics of Vilnius, Lithuanian minority in Poland, and Poles in Lithuania

Since 1916, Poles were the majority in Vilnius, accounting for just over half of the population.[18] This majority grew larger, with Poles continuing to be the largest ethnicity in Vilnius in 1917,[19] 1919, and 1923.[18]

According to the Lithuanian census of 1923 (not including Vilnius and Klaipėda regions), there were 65,600 Poles in Lithuania (3.2% of the total population),[20] although according to Polish Election Committee in fact the number of Poles was 202,026, so about 10% of total population.[21] The Poles were concentrated in the districts of Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Kaišiadorys and Ukmergė, in each of which they constituted 20–30% of the population.[22]

In 1931, the Vilnius Region had a population of 1,273,900. Of this figure, 641,000 were Poles; 409,000 were Belorussians; 111,000 were Jews; 67,000 were Lithuanians; 43,000 were Russians; and 1,000 were Germans. Another 13,000 Lithuanians inhabited the province of Białystok, and some 3,000 lived in the province of Nowogródek. In the entirety of Poland, there were approximately 83,000 Lithuanians — all of them living in the three northeastern provinces near the Republic of Lithuania.[23]

There were also about 80,000 Lithuanians in Poland (although 66,300 of them in the Vilnus Region).[24] Following Piłsudski's death in 1935, further Polonisation ensued as the government encouraged the settlement of Polish army veterans in disputed regions.[25] About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland in 1936–1938.[26]

Józef Beck, Polish Foreign Minister who drafted the final version of the 1938 ultimatum.

Although Vilnius had a Polish majority, it was seen by Lithuanians as their historical capital.[27]

1938 ultimatum

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Main article: 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania

The 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania was delivered by Poland on 17 March 1938.[28] The first version of the ultimatum, as drafted by Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, and Jan Szembek,[29] was turned down by Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck as he argued that the ultimatum needed to contain only one demand: the establishment of diplomatic relations.[30] The final text of the ultimatum, completed by Józef Beck, was delivered through a Polish envoy in Tallinn to Bronius Dailidė, the Lithuanian envoy in Tallinn.[31] Lithuania was forced to agree to the full restoration of diplomatic relations with Poland, as per the terms of the ultimatum.[11]

World War II

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Main article: World War II

Invasion of Poland

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Main article: Invasion of Poland

The rapprochement between both countries came to a halt with the Nazi invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.[32] Germany proposed to Lithuania that they join the invasion to gain control of the disputed Vilnius region, however the Lithuanian government did not trust the Nazis and refused.[33] 16 days later, on 17 September, the Soviet Union also invaded Poland,[34] largely due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the German government repeatedly asked Molotov whether the Soviet Union would keep to its side of the partition bargain.[35] Soviet forces took Vilnius following a two-day battle, after which the city was transferred to Lithuania.[36] Once the new German-Soviet border was established on 28 September,[37] the Soviets invited the Lithuanians for diplomatic talks.[38]

Diplomatic talks

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Main article: Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty
Parade of the Lithuanian Army in the present-day Gediminas Avenue, Vilnius (1939). The Vilnius Cathedral is seen in the background.

The result of the talks was the "Treaty of Mutual Assistance and the transfer of the Vilnius Region to Lithuania. In exchange, Lithuania agreed to establish Soviet military bases on its territory.[39] Initially, many Lithuanians such as the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys protested that the establishment of Soviet bases would mean virtual occupation of Lithuania.[40] President Antanas Smetona doubted that it was worth gaining Vilnius for such a price and debated whether the negotiations could be broken off.[41] The agreement eventually came as a result of immense Soviet pressure, and Lithuanian diplomats had no illusions that the presence of Soviet troops meant preparation for annexation.[38] During negotiations, the Soviets threatened the possibility of annexing Vilnius to Soviet Belarus, and even the possibility of reconstituting the Lithuanian-Belarusian SSR.[42]

Lithuanians march into Vilnius

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The LAF parties with the largest representation were the National Unionists, whose prewar slogan was “Lithuania for Lithuanians”.[43]

When Lithuanians marched into Vilnius on 28 October 1939, they were shocked to find "instead of the princess of their fairy tales, the streets of alien Vilnius, unknown, speaking a foreign language". Such experiences only confirmed intellectuals' belief that speakers of Polish were "Polonised Lithuanians" who must be Lithuanised. This became the intellectual basis of Lithuanian policy. As Vilnius administrator and prime minister Antanas Merkys put it, the aims were "to make everybody think like Lithuanians" and "comb out the foreign element from the Vilnius Region". Poles and Jews, even those born in the city, were often denied Lithuanian citizenship.[44]

The breaking of Polish–Lithuanian relations

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Main article: Vilnius Region under Lithuanian administration (1939–1940)
Leon Mitkiewicz-Żołłtek

The Polish envoy in Kaunas, Franciszek Charwat, submitted a protest note on behalf of the Polish government.[45] The Lithuanian side responded that Vilnius was and is an inseparable part of Lithuania, which Poland had occupied since 1920. According to Polish military attaché Leon Mitkiewicz-Żołłtek [pl], the Lithuanians' response was even harsher, as they were to state that they did not recognize the Polish government in Paris and that for them, Poland ceased to exist.[46]

In response, Charwat left Lithuania, thus officially breaking off Polish-Lithuanian relations and rekindling a strong feeling of hostility between the two countries.[47]

Michał Römer, a Lithuanian specialist in international law and rector of University of Kaunas, argued that Lithuania had not violated Poland's sovereignty because it had taken over its capital peacefully, from the state under whose administration it was temporarily located. He argued that, from the Lithuanian point of view, Poland had never acquired the right to possess Vilnius, so in view of this, Lithuania remained neutral with respect to Poland.[47]

Lithuanian administration in Vilnius

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On October 18, 1939, the Polish government lodged a formal protest to the government of Lithuania and other countries with which it had diplomatic relations against Lithuania's takeover of Vilnius.[48]

Lithuanian troops crossed the Polish–Lithuanian border in several places. The main route of the march led from Kaunas through the border crossing at Zawiasy, where the barrier was ceremoniously sawed through and border wreaths were burned.[49]

Polish Archbishop of Vilnius Romuald Jałbrzykowski refused to greet Lithuanian troops by ringing bells, and during his sermon called the Lithuanians the next occupiers.[50] The very next day, a Polish patriotic demonstration was organized, attended by about 700-800 people; it was dispersed by the police.[51]

On 27 October, the Law on Citizenship of the Residents of Vilnius and Vilnius Region was passed. The law recognised Poles and Jews as "aliens", which were deprived of the civil rights, all persons who were not able to prove that at the age of 18 they had lived in Lithuania within the 1939 borders on 12 July 1920 (the date of the signing of the Lithuanian-Soviet Peace Treaty)[52] and on 27 October 1939. The problem with the law was that it concerned two specific dates, and because both fell within the period of warfare, many people were unable to provide proper evidence.[53]

In May 1940, there were 97,893 "aliens" (Jews and Poles) in the Vilnius region, of whom 87,616 were in Vilnius.[54] The Lithuanian government also attempted the removal of "aliens" and refugees from the city and by the start of the Soviet occupation, had succeeded in removing 5,220 people, including 1,975 Poles and 3,425 Jews.[55]

Polish resistance

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Polish society tried to oppose the repressive actions of the Lithuanian government. The semi-official representation of Polish society became the Polish Committee, headed by Bolesław Krzyżanowski, which was approved by Antanas Merkys on 6 November 1939. The Committee conducted its activities openly. However, it had limited capacities, its activities were basically limited to sending resolutions and protests to the Lithuanian local and central authorities, which were, mostly ignored. The Polish Committee included representatives of science and culture, as well as representatives of the main political parties: Maciej Dobrzański from the PPS, Aleksander Zwierzyński from the National Party and Witold Staniewicz representing the Sanacja camp.[56]

Nevertheless, the pressing matter for Lithuania now became resisting Soviet pressure: most of the better politically oriented Lithuanian intelligentsia realized that the takeover of the Vilnius region was merely a prelude to the occupation of Lithuania by Soviet forces.[57]

One of the last decisions of the Lithuanian government before the occupation of Lithuania by the USSR was an order of 14 June 1940, by which the Minister of Education ordered the closure of two out of three Polish secondary schools in the Kaunas region and the liquidation of all eight primary schools.[58]

Refugees in Vilnius

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By 2 December 1939, 18,311 war refugees had settled in Vilnius. Of these, 7,728 were Poles; 6,860 were Jews; and 3,723 were Lithuanians. As of 25 February 1940, about 36,000 refugees resided in Vilnius. Forced out of the city, some of the Polish refugees (assisted by Lithuanian Poles) settled temporarily in Lithuania, especially near its borders with Latvia and Germany.[59]

Occupation of Lithuania

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Main articles: Resistance in Lithuania during World War II and Soviet occupation of Baltic states
A welcome of the Soviet Army on 19 June 1940

On 15 June 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania, soon followed up by invasions of Latvia and Estonia a day later.[60] On 3 August, Lithuania was formally annexed to the USSR as the Lithuanian Socialist Soviet Republic.[61] On the eve of the Soviet annexation of Lithuania in June 1940, Vilnius was home to around 100,000 newcomers, including 85,000 Poles and 10,000 Jews according to the Lithuanian Red Cross.[62] Lithuania remained under the Soviet Union for nearly a year, until on 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and crossed the border into Lithuania, thereafter occupying it.[63]

Conflict

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Nationalism

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As with interwar Poland, nationalistic sentiments increased in Lithuania. Both countries educated their populations in the spirit of nationalism and sought to minimise the influence of minorities in politics and cultural activities. Both countries also resorted to the repression of minority activists who were deemed a danger to the state, and both governments (although Poland more so than Lithuania) were systemically anti-semitic by the late 1930s.[64]

The beginning of Lithuanisation

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Main article: Lithuanization

The process of Lithuanisation began as soon as Lithuania gained Vilnius on 27 October 1939, when the Soviets marched out of Vilnius and Lithuanian troops marched in, with crowds of angry Poles accusing them of betrayal. The Vilnius region (and specifically Vilnius itself) was lithuanised to the point that even local Lithuanians opposed it. A big event was the liquidation of the University of Stefan Batory (with 84 professors, 39 assistant professors, 245 teaching assistants, and over 3,000 students) on 15 December 1939. This process continued, with all Polish university employees being dismissed, though a small amount were rehired in subsequent months.[65] Polish-language books were removed from bookstores, and Polish schools were taken over by Lithuanian administrators.[66] Jews backed these measures taken by Lithuanians, and in return they earned the empathy and support of the Lithuanian intelligentsia.[67] The Lithuanian government, encouraged by the Germans, hoped that the Germans would grant Lithuania as much autonomy as it has granted Slovakia.[43]

Anti–Lithuanian demonstration in Vilnius

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The Anti–Lithuanian demonstration in Vilnius [pl] lasted from 31 October to 2 November. On 31 October, there were riots due to rumors about bread speculation. The incidents were hooligan and anti-Semitic in nature. As a result, 23 people were injured and an unknown number were arrested.[68]

On 1 November,[69] a patriotic demonstration took place at the cemetery in Rossa. The Lithuanian authorities agreed to demonstrate only within the cemetery, which the demonstrators did not comply with.[68]

On November 2,[69] a spontaneous demonstration took place at the mausoleum with the heart of Józef Piłsudski, as a result of which a twenty-thousand-strong procession was formed at the cemetery, composed mainly of school and student youth, which set off towards the city. After crossing the Gate of Dawn and entering the street "Wielka"[70] demonstration was pacified by the Lithuanian police.[71] Several dozen people were arrested during the demonstrations. The situation was brought under control only by hastily summoned military units, which stopped and dispersed the demonstration.[68]

German policy

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In 1941, German policy regarding Poles in Lithuania was just as brutal as with Jews. The Nazi regime allowed Lithuanians to serve as secret and security police, legitimising Lithuanian attacks on Poles in Vilnius. From Autumn 1943, the Home Army attacked and disarmed any collaborating Lithuanian police units in and around Vilnius.[72] Even though the Lithuanian Activist Front faded after 1941, and Germans never granted the Lithuanians the autonomy they desired, elements within the Lithuanian government collaborated with the Nazis, engaging in the program of "ethnic and racial purification" which targeted Jews, Poles, and other ethnic minorities.[44]

Anti-Polish rhetoric and violence became common under Juozas Ambrazevičius' government in 1941 (followed by the role of Petras Kubiliūnas as a puppet counsel to the German rulers). Some Lithuanian clergy called for the pogroms of Poles, stating that they were worse than the Jews. They even offered indulgences for those who killed a Polish person. A Lithuanian professor wrote a pamphlet on "Why we should hate the Poles", and LAF campaigned for the establishment of ghettos for Poles, a requirement for them to wear identifying badges, and the reduction of their food rations, claiming that "under Soviets, we killed 50% of Poles, under Germans we will kill the other 50%".[73]

On 3-4 March 1942, mass arrests of the Polish clergy and members of religious orders took place in the Vilnius Region and its capital. This was done with the assistance of the Lithuanian police. 16 institutions were closed in Vilnius between 23 March and 4 April. On 25 March, they killed two Poles for talking in Polish while in public. A week later, they broke the hand of Kacper Czecowski for answering them in Polish.[74]

In September 1942, the Lithuanian police shot a young Pole on the streets of Vilnius. In nearby Mickūnai, a Lithuanian policeman shot a teenager for refusing to hand over his bicycle. Near the Ponary brickyard, a man brought from Vilnius by the Lithuanian police was clubbed to death. In Draskienki, the Lithuanian police shot a Polish boy for taking some sugar from a store.[74]

On 15 September 1943, the inspector of the Lithuanian police, Marijonas Podabas, was assassinated by the Home Army. This led to the arrest of 100 Poles, 10 of whom were executed days later in Ponary.[74]

Conflict in the Vilnius Region

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From the autumn of 1943, the Polish underground Home Army attacked and disarmed any Lithuanian police in and around Vilnius who collaborated with the Nazis. Lithuanian policemen responded by executing Polish civilians, although this was followed by retributive attacks on Lithuanian villages by Poles.[72] Polish political and military underground cells were created all over Lithuania, and Polish partisan attacks were usually not only in Vilnius Region but across the former demarcation line as well.[75]

On 28 December 1943, a major action in Turgiele [pl] was carried out by two brigades, which took place at dusk. Lithuanian policemen spotted the attackers and opened fire from their headquarters. Shots also rang out from some houses. It was Lithuanian officials, sent to Turgiel, who joined the fight. After the Polish partisans used grenades, the Lithuanian policemen surrendered and the fires which broke out from the engagement were put out.[76] The policemen and officials were stripped of their weapons and uniforms. They were ordered to leave the area and return to where they had come from (Kaunas). A commander spoke to the Lithuanian policemen, stating that Poles do not cause harm to defenseless people, but he emphasised that Lithuanians behaved differently..[76]

The 1st assault company of the 3rd Vilnius Home Army Brigade leaves the church in Turgiel, led by Romuald Rajs "Bury" (April 1944)

At the end of October, about 1,300 Polish families were given fifteen minutes to two hours in which to pack their belongings. After this, they were placed under arrest in transit camps and then either set free, sent to other counties to live with relatives and friends, or shipped to labor camps. At the end of 1943, when this action was brought to a halt, 30,000 Germans (including 16,000 former residents) and an unknown number of Lithuanians were settled in the General Commissariat of Lithuania, on predominantly Polish farmsteads and domiciles. This action was carried out by the Lithuanian police, which routinely attacked Polish civilians in the process.[77]

As a result of a similar action, carried out on 15 April 1944 by the 4th and 5th Home Army Brigades, a communal Lithuanian police station in neighbouring Janiškės, with thirteen policemen and several Shaulis supporting them, was liquidated. During the battle, four Lithuanians were killed and four more were wounded. Thus, the area around Dubinki and Janiszki was permanently cleared of Lithuanian police and Soviet partisans, which provided freedom of action for the Polish partisans.[78]

During the first half of 1944, the Home Army (AK) killed hundreds of Lithuanians serving in Nazi auxiliary units or organisations: policemen, members of village self-defence units, servants of the local administration, soldiers of the LTDF, and other Nazi collaborators.[79][80]

Romuald Rajs "Bury" (on the left) and Piotr Motylewicz "Sczepcio" (on the right) commanded in the Battle of Mikuliszki

Battle of Mikuliszki

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The Battle of Mikuliszki [pl] took place on 8 January 1944. The forces of the 3rd Vilnius Brigade quartered in the village of Mikuliszki were attacked by the Lithuanian Auxiliary Police. The attack was repelled, resulting in 32 Lithuanian casualties.[81][76]

Battle of Pavlov

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The Battle of Pavlov took place on 4 May 1944. It was a skirmish between soldiers of the 3rd Home Army brigade "Szczerbiec" and the army of Plechavičius' unit, which began to abuse the local population. About 20 Lithuanian soldiers were killed[82] (including 8 executed along with the commander Vytautas Narkevicius).[83] On the Polish side, 1 was injured.[82]

Battle of Graużyszki

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Main article: Battle of Graużyszki

The Battle of Graużyszki took place on 6 May 1944. On 6 May, the 10th Battalion of the Plechavicius Corps, under the command of Major Antanas Andriunas, arrived at the village of Senkovshchina from the Oszmiana-Graużyszki route, and began murdering civilians and burning buildings.[84] The Lithuanians, being outnumbered, could not stop the assault and began to retreat.[85]

According to Hubert Kuberski, 37 Lithuanians were killed, 60 were wounded, and 30 were taken prisoner.[83] After the battle, an investigation was conducted and the culprits for the murder of 8 Polish civilians were determined. These individuals were executed.[84]

Battle of Murowana Oszmianka

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Main article: Battle of Murowana Oszmianka

The Battle of Murowana Oszmianka took place on 13-14 May 1944. The Lithuanian troops were satisfied by their perceived superiority, suppressing the local Polish communities,[86] with numerous war crimes committed by the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force.[87] Faced with the need to protect Polish civilians, the Home Army (AK) decided to fight back in early May, and organized a concentrated assault against the fortified Lithuanian positions around the village of Murowana Oszmianka. On 10 May, AK units were ordered to prepare an assault against one of the larger LTDF units in the region.[86]

Lithuanian volunteer for the LTDF

The battle started on the night of 13 May, when the 3rd Brigade of the AK assaulted the village from the west and north-west, while the 8th and 12th Brigades attacked from the south and east. The remainder of the Polish forces (9th AND 13th Brigades) secured the Murowana Oszmianka-Tołminowo road.[86]

The battle ended in a Polish victory, with the 301st battalion practically wiped out; only the 4th company managed to evade Polish forces and retreated.[86] The LTDF lost at least 50[86] to 70[88] men, with 60-130 wounded[86] and more than 150[88] to 300[86] taken prisoner (117 Lithuanians in Tołminowo).[89]

After their defeat in the battle and other skirmishes against the Home Army, the LTDF became so weakened that Povilas Plechavičius and his officers were judged to be useless by the Germans, and were relieved from their posts. Soon afterward, they were arrested and their unit was dissolved.[90][91]

Lithuanian offensive

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In the first half of May 1944, LVR battalions attempted to recapture rural areas south of the city from Polish control. This was the first and only LVR armed operation, which ended with a series of defeats inflicted on them by the Home Army: at Pavlov (4 May), at Graużyszki (6 May), at Koniavo (8 May), and at Murowana Oshmika and Tolminovo (13-14 May). As a result of these battles, around 100 Lithuanian soldiers were killed, many were wounded, and several hundred of these soldiers were disarmed by AK partisans. On 15 May 1944, the Germans withdrew the Lithuanian battalions from action and disbanded the entire formation. This happened both because of the attitude of the Lithuanian soldiers in the Vilnius region, and because of the refusal of the LVR to be strictly subordinated to the German authorities.[92][93]

Cooperation

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Although Lithuanian and Polish resistance movements had common enemies (Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union), they refused to ally with each other. The main obstacle in allying was the question of Vilnius – the Polish government in exile and the Polish resistance regarded Vilnius as part of Poland, while Lithuanian resistance regarded Vilnius as the capital of Lithuania. The Lithuanian resistance saw the Soviet Union as the main enemy and Nazi Germany as its secondary enemy. Polish resistance saw Nazi Germany as the main enemy and was much more ambiguous with their opinion of the Soviet Union. Only in 1944–1945, after the Soviet reoccupation, did the Lithuanian and Polish resistances start cooperating in the fight against the Soviets.[94]

Massacres

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Ponary massacre

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Main article: Ponary massacre
Monument commemorating Poles murdered in the Ponary massacre

The Ponary massacre began as soon as the Einsatzkommando 9 arrived in Vilnius on 2 July 1941.[95] Most of the killings were carried out by the Ypatingasis burys (Lithuanian volunteers), who were 80-men strong.[96] In September, the Vilna Ghetto was established.[97] On 27 September, 320 Poles from the prison at Łukiszki were executed in Ponary.[74] The massacre ended in August 1944, with the main victims being Jews (70,000, with 50,000-60,000 of them being killed in 1941),[98] along with 1,000[99] to 2,000[100] Poles, and 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war.[101] The Polish victims were mostly members of the Polish intelligentsia, academics, educators (such as Kazimierz Pelczar, a professor at Stefan Batory University), priests (such as Father Romuald Świrkowski), and members of the Armia Krajowa.[74]

The massacre was recorded by Polish journalist Kazimierz Sakowicz (1899-1944) in a series of journal entries written in hiding at his farm house in Vilnius, Lithuania. After Sakowicz's death in 1944, his journal was located and found on various scrap pieces of paper, soda bottles, and a calendar from 1941 by holocaust-survivor and author Rachel Margolis. Margolis, who had lost family members in the Ponary massacre, later translated the collection into Polish and published it in 1999. The diary became important to tracing the timeline of the massacre, and in many instances gave closure to surviving family members on what happened to their loved ones. Written in detail, the diary is a testimonial written from a first-person witness account of the atrocities.[102]

Likely on 20 May 1944, 20 officers and soldiers of the Lithuanian collaborationist formation Lietuvos vietinė rinktinė were shot in Ponary, having been accused of cowardice after the defeat at the Battle of Murowana Oszmianka.[103]

Święciany massacre

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Main article: Święciany massacre

The Święciany massacre was a series of mass murders committed against Poles in Święciany (now Švenčionys, Lithuania) and its surroundings on 19-21 May 1942 by Lithuanian Nazi collaborators (mainly the Lithuanian Security Police), who acted on German orders.[104] As a result, 400 people were killed.[104] to 1,200[105] The massacre was the reprisal for the assassination of German officials, carried out by Soviet partisans under the command of Colonel Fedor Markov [ru] on the road between Święciany and Łyntupy, on 19 May 1942. On the first day, Col. Adolf Zehnpfening ordered the execution of 400 Poles from Święciany and villages within a 50km radius of the assassination site, with the operation beginning the following day.[104]

Glinciszki massacre

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Main article: Glinciszki massacre
Map showing the location of the Glinciszki massacre and the events that accompanied it

The Glinciszki massacre was the mass murder of Polish civilians by the German-subordinated 258th Lithuanian Police Battalion[106] led by Petras Polekauskas, which took place on 20 June 1944. In it, 39 civilians were killed, including 11 women (one in an advanced state of pregnancy), 11 children (five under the age of 8)[107] and 6 elderly men.[108] The massacre occurred as a result of a Polish ambush the previous evening which resulted in the death of 4 Lithuanian auxiliary policemen. Following the massacre, Petras Polekauskas and 11 Lithuanian soldiers were arrested by the Germans for the execution of Władysław Komar.[109] Polekauskas was handed the death sentence and other sentences of hard labor, although he was released shortly afterward.[110]

Dubingiai massacre

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Main article: Dubingiai massacre
Lithuanian victims of the Dubingiai massacre committed by the Polish Home Army on 23 June 1944

The Dubingiai massacre was a mass murder of Lithuanian civilians that took place on 23 June by the Home Army 5th Wilno Brigade led by Zygmunt Szendzielarz.[111] The Home Army command of the region did not plan, and had strictly forbidden, any reprisals against innocent civilians. Łupaszko acted on his own, without agreement from the AK district commander, Lt. Col. Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk", perhaps even ignoring orders to halt the action and not to take revenge.[112] In the massacre, 20 to 27 civilians were killed,[106] including a Polish woman and her 4-year-old son.[113] The 5th Brigade continued, carrying out a series of actions against Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions and those labeled as Nazi sympathizers from 25 to 27 June. Bridges and telecommunication lines were destroyed, with many civilian casualties occurring as a result of several buildings having caught fire.[109] 70-100 Lithuanian civilians were killed by the end of June 1944 in Dubingiai and the neighbouring villages of Joniškis, Inturkė [it], Bijutiškis [it], and Giedraičiai.[114] Casualties in villages of the Molėtai district were: 8 in Vymančiai [it], 4 in Roputėnai [it], 2 in Ažuožeriai, and 17 in Alkūnai [it], with the youngest victims being 4- and 11-months-old.[115]

There were no further actions by Lithuanian forces similar to the preceding Glinciszki massacre,[109] most likely due to the fact that any potential for further escalation by either side was cut short by the Soviet occupation of Vilnius two weeks later.[106]

Aftermath and legacy

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Further demographics in Vilnius

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In 1941, the Poles only accounted for 50.7% of Vilnius' population, while Lithuanians went from 0.8% in 1931[18] to 28.1% of the population.[116] The population of Poles increased back up to 71.9% the following year, while the Lithuanian population regressed to 20.5%. However, after 1951, Lithuanians began to account for more of Vilnius' population than Poles did.[18]

Communist era

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The Second World War put an end to independent Polish and Lithuanian states. After the war, both former states fell under the domination of the Soviet Union. Poland was shifted westwards, thus giving up most of the disputed territories previously containing significant Lithuanian minority in the Second Polish Republic, those territories were incorporated into Lithuanian SSR and Belarus SSR, itself one of the Soviet republics. At the same time many Poles from Kresy were allowed to leave the Soviet Union, and mostly were transferred west to Recovered Territories, and the Polish minority in Lithuania (or Lithuanian SSR) was also significantly downsized.[117]

The remaining Polish minority in Lithuania became subject to Lithuanization and Sovietization policies. Under the eye of the Soviet Union, the various ethnic groups in the Eastern Bloc were to cooperate peacefully. To prevent creation or recreation of historical alliances that could weaken the Soviet regime, Soviet policy was aimed at minimizing the role of the historical ties between those nations, and there were few contacts of any significance between Poland and Lithuania during that period.[118]

Polonisation in Sejny and Suwałki

[edit]

In the Sejny and Suwałki districts the prohibition against speaking Lithuanian in public lasted until 1950 (and in phone calls until 1990) and it was not until the 1950s that the teaching of Lithuanian was introduced as a subject in schools.[119]

Aftermath of people involved

[edit]

In 1945, five Lithuanian police officers involved in the Święciany massacre (Jonas Kurpis, Edwardas Werikas, Bronus Czeczura, Jonas Ankienas, and Kazis Garła) stood trial before the Military Tribunal of the NKVD of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. They were sentenced to between 10 and 20 years' imprisonment. Granickas was also convicted of the Ponary murders. One of the Lithuanian Security Police officers, Antanas Granickas, was sentenced to death by the Military Tribunal of the 43rd Soviet Army, and was executed on 21 February 1946.[120]

Zygmunt Szendzielarz (Łupaszka)

Jonas Maciulevičius (responsible for the Święciany massacre), was arrested after the war on the French occupation zone in Germany. In 1948, he was handed over to the Polish judicial system. By the judgment of the appellate court in Olsztyn on 2 May 1950, Maciulevičius was given the death sentence and was executed in December of that year.[121]

Zygmunt Szendzielarz, commander of the 5th Brigade, which was responsible for the Dubingiai massacre, became a member of the Polish anti-Soviet resistance and was arrested in 1948 by the communist Polish secret police. After more than two years of torture and interrogation, he was executed by the communist Polish government in 1951.[122]

Petras Polekauskas (responsible for the Glinciszki massacre) emigrated to America after the war, where he committed suicide in 1965.[123]

The Lithuanian general Povilas Plechavičius, who was engaged in fighting the Polish and Soviet partisans, received a medal from the Lithuanian president in post-Soviet Lithuania.[124] Many heroes of Lithuanian resistance against the Soviets are blamed as Nazi collaborators who cooperated in the murder of the Poles and Lithuanian Jews, which caused controversy in Poland.[125]

Investigation

[edit]

In 1992, Lithuanian authorities opened a criminal case regarding AK massacres in Molėtai district. The investigation recorded at least 273 Lithuanian deaths between 1943–45, but was unable to determine the identities of the AK members responsible. Since all AK commanders had died by this time, the case was closed in 1996.[115]

In 1993, the Lithuanian government established a commission consisting of historians to evaluate Armia Krajowa (AK) activities in Lithuania. Tomas Venclova distanced himself from the commission and called it a "pathetic spectacle" and an "anti-Polish propaganda campaign" in one of his essays.[126]

Overcoming problems

[edit]
Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania, during a visit to the Pentagon on October 22, 1998.

On 22 October 2000, a decade after the fall of communism, an effort by several Polish organizations raised a cross to the fallen Polish citizens, in an official ceremony attended by Bronisław Komorowski, Polish Minister of Defence, and his Lithuanian counterpart, as well as several NGOs.[127]

On 20 August 2004, the Lithuanian government revoked the ban on using the name 'Armia Krajowa' in public spaces, allowing for the renaming of the Polish veterans' organization to include the name of AK. On 9 September 2004, veterans of AK and some veterans of the Local Lithuanian Detachment signed a Declaration of Peace. This initiative was encouraged by President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus, Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas, and President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, whose representative, Andrzej Majkowski, together with the Lithuanian president and prime minister, was present at the reconciliation ceremony.[128] Veterans of Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force who signed the declaration did so without approval of Union of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force's soldiers.[129]

Accusations

[edit]

In 2015, Polish historian Paweł Rokicki called both the massacres in Glinciszki and Dubingiai (the former committed by the Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion and the latter by the Polish Home Army) war crimes.[130]

Lithuanian death toll

[edit]

Polish and Lithuanian historians have yet to reach an agreement on the number of Lithuanian civilians who were killed during the war. Polish-Lithuanian historian Jarosław Wołkonowski puts the number of Lithuanians killed by rogue AK elements at under 100.[131] An estimate by Lithuanian investigator Rimas Bružas is that about 500 Lithuanian civilians were killed by Poles during the war.[132]

Legacy of the AK

[edit]

Not a single member of the Home Army, many veterans of which live in Lithuania, has been charged with any crimes as of 2001. Lithuanian historian Arūnas Bubnys stated that there were no mass murders carried out by AK (with the only exception being Dubingiai), but that AK was guilty of some war crimes against individuals or selected families; he also notes that any accusations of genocide are false and have an underlying political motive, among them a counteraction to the accusations of widespread Lithuanian collaboration with Nazi Germany and crimes committed by units such as the Lithuanian Security Police.[131]

Modern–day relations

[edit]
Main article: Lithuania–Poland relations

The fall of communism in the years between 1989 and 1991 led to a formal reestablishment of relations by the Polish and Lithuanian states. Poland was highly supportive of Lithuanian independence, and became one of the first countries to recognize independent Lithuania (on 26 August 1991). Despite that, there was a relative crisis in the early 1990s, due to alleged Lithuanian mistreatment of its Polish minority, and Lithuanian concerns that Poland sought again to put Lithuania under its sphere of influence, or even issue territorial claims.[133] After a few years, the situation normalized, and relations improved.[134]

In 2019, newly elected President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda exclusively made his first official foreign visit to Warsaw, Poland where he met with the President of Poland Andrzej Duda.[135] During his visit to Vilnius, Duda highlighted the Central European nations' unity importance for their independence.[136]

On 26 November 2022, a Lublin Triangle format meeting between the Prime Ministers of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine was held in Kyiv. In a joint statement the leaders stressed the role of the Lublin Triangle in "consolidating international support for Ukraine in countering Russia's armed aggression", "confirmed their readiness to continue active cooperation in restoring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders", "condemned systemic war crimes committed by Russia's forces in regions of Ukraine" and "confirmed the further importance of trilateral cooperation in such areas as: military and defense cooperation using NATO and the EU potential".[137]

Further demographics

[edit]
Main article: Lithuanian minority in Poland

According to census data from 2011, there were 200,317 Poles living in Lithuania[138] and 7,863 Lithuanians living in Poland[139] (~5,000 who declared it as their only nationality, and ~3,000 who declared it as the second one, after the Polish nationality).[140] The Lithuanian embassy in Poland notes that there are about 15,000 people in Poland of Lithuanian ancestry.[141]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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Sources

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