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Lithuania has a storied history of armed conflict in defense of its nation and identity, but it was not until February 16, 1918 that the Lithuanian Council unanimously passed the resolution for the re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania. Despite this declaration, Lithuania continued to fight agression from Poland, Germany and Russia. It was not until May 15, 1920 that Lithuania's independence was confirmed by the first meeting of the Constituent Seimas and the sovereignty of the Republic of Lithuania, with the capital city in Vilnius, was consolidated. On July 12, 1920, Soviet Russia signed a peace treaty with Lithuania stating that "...without any reservations, Russia recognizes Lithuania's independence and self-government with all its due jurisdictional rights, and with good will renounces for all times, all rights of Russian sovereignty which she had over the Lithuanian nation and its territories". However, on August 23, 1939, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentropthe signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, also known as the Hitler-Stalin pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Nazi-Soviet pact). Although the treaty was officially labeled as the Treaty of Nonaggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the pact included a secret protocol, in which the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest. This secret protocol explicitly assumed territorial and political rearrangements in the areas of these countries. This resulted in a new occupation campaign against Lithuania on June 15, 1940, when the Soviet government began moving troops into all regional centers and strategic locations that resulted in Lithuanian President A. Smetona withdrawing to Germany Then on August 3, 1940 Lithuania was annexed and incorporated
into the Soviet Union. With a heavy hand, Article 58 of the Soviet penal
code was enforced in which any relative or associate of a person charged
with a political crime could be found guilty of that crime. Given these
provisions, nearly the entire population of Lithuania was liable to
be prosecuted, deported, tortured, or executed at the hands of the NKVD.
Also at this time, Soviets and local collaborators made preparations
for mass deportations following a plan devised by the State Security
Deputy Commissar Ivan Serov. This plan was executed in October and November
of 1940 by Lithuanian Internal Affairs Commissar Aleksandras Guzevicius.
The instructions of this plan were to identify and list any anti-Soviet
"elements"; those that might pose a threat to communization
and russification. These groups included: (1) Former members of legislative
bodies and prominent members of political parties; (2) Army officers
from the Russian Civil War (1917-1921); (3) Prosecutors, judges, and
attorneys; (4) Government and municipal officials; (5) Policemen and
prison officials; (6) Members of the National Guard; (7) Mayors; (8)
Border and prison guards; (9) Active members of the press; (10) Active
members of the farmers' union; (11) Business owners; (12) Large real
estate owners; (13) Ship owners; (14) Stockholders; (15) Hoteliers and
restaurateurs; (16) Members of any organization considered to be right
wing; (17) Members of the White Guard; (18) Members of anti-communist
organizations; (19) Relatives of any person abroad; (20) Families against
whom reprisals had been taken during the Soviet regime; (21) Active
members in labor unions; (22) Persons with anti-communist relatives
abroad; and (23) Clergymen and active members of religious organizations.
The registration of anti-Soviet elements had been completed by the beginning
of 1941. The total number of people registered reached approximately
320,000 entries. These lists also included teachers and professors,
school/college students, farmers, industry workers and craftsmen. Connected successfully A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Original View (Total Number of Records in Database: 542) If you have a database or information that you would like to put into our database, that pertains to Lithuanian genealogy, please contact us at webmaster@lithuaniangenealogy.org |