6 - Postwar Lithuania

Summary

The Soviet postwar occupation of Lithuania was far different from the pre-war occupation. First, and perhaps foremost, the Soviets' primary tool in the latter period was out-and-out brutality. There was little of the “hearts and minds” propaganda campaign that accompanied threat and deportation in the earlier period. No doubt four years of savage fighting against the Germans, and the millions of dead produced by it, contributed to the formation and execution of savage pacification policies, especially when these policies were to be applied to a population considered guilty of collaboration.

The Soviet effort in Lithuania, led by General Kruglov, combined the resources of the NKVD, SMERSH (military counterintelligence), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The overall strategy included five fundamental elements: the formation of locally based and recruited militias (−2 on the spectrum), called istrebiteli; the periodic combined operation of istrebiteli and NKVD forces in “sweeps” through the forested areas to surround and capture or kill Lithuanian partisans; the infiltration of partisan units with spies; periodic offers of amnesty; and, starting in 1948, collectivization accompanied by deportation, a policy that eliminated much of the partisans' +2 base. The Soviets employed several more specific devices to threaten or demoralize the population. For example, the Soviets punished the families of partisans. In an effort to uncover those related or connected to the rebels, the bodies of killed partisans were displayed in the town square. In addition to providing possible deterrence value, hidden Soviet agents would observe the reactions of passersby trying to gauge who might be the mother or brother of the deceased.