4 - Return of the Soviets

Summary

HINSEY: What was the reaction of the population to the return of the Soviets?

VENCLOVA: Up until the spring of 1944, the Soviets’ return did not seem imminent. The intelligentsia, as well as the general population, felt that Germany was losing the war, but hoped that the Allies would convince the Soviets to stop at the borders of the former Baltic states. This time, the Soviets were much more feared than in 1940. The deportations and general tenor of life under the Bolshevik regime had been more than enough to disillusion even those who had once held pro-Soviet views during the interwar period. But the population had also suffered under the Nazis. Even many of the former Baltaraiščiai had been profoundly disillusioned by the fact that their German allies had not had the slightest intention of restoring Lithuania's independence and did not treat them as full-fledged Aryans.

HINSEY: How did the Soviet advance affect the German command?

VENCLOVA: When it became clear that Hitler might be defeated, the attitude of the German command toward the Lithuanians changed. Germany needed as large a fighting force as possible, thus it attempted to form a Lithuanian Waffen SS legion. Even if there were young people who were eager to defend the country against the Soviets, the attempt failed miserably (it succeeded in Latvia and Estonia). In retribution, the Germans closed Vilnius University and sent dozens of intellectuals to the Stutthof concentration camp. They were suspected—not without cause—of anti-Nazi propaganda. Among them was Balys Sruoga, the famous poet and playwright whom my parents knew well. There was then a second attempt; the Germans proposed the creation of Lithuanian units that would defend the country's borders (and that might be construed, with a stretch of the imagination, as the nucleus of a future army— in a sense, a counterpart to the Soviet Lithuanian division). This proposal was accepted, but when the Nazis decided to use Lithuanian units against the Allies (D-Day was imminent), most of the enlisted men deserted, and, fearing unrest, the Nazis forcibly dispersed some units.