Estonian Waffen-SS: th-cam.com/video/TpZiGHKkD3o/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUaZXN0b25pYW4gY29sbGFib3JhdGlvbiB3dzI%3D Latvian Waffen-SS: th-cam.com/video/TzuKI02_qVA/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUSTGF0dmlhbiBXYWZmZW4tU1M6
The Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth was the largest country in Europe and a major European power from 1500 to 1800. Belarus was a part of Lithuania. That is why Belarus is culturally distinct from Russia.
@@HistoryHustleThe last country in Europe to be Christianized, in 1387. Perkunas, the god of thunder, was a paramount figure of worship. Following the annexations of Polish-Lithuanian territory in 1772, 1793, and 1795, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine became the Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire. Russia proper was off limits and hostile to Jews until 1917. Litvaks, Lithuanians, are an ethnic subdivision within Ashkenazi (Yiddish speaking) Judaism. Their reputation is for scholarship. There is a Litvak accent in Yiddish.
From historical perspective for Lithuanians the most horrible time was a soviet first occupation 1940-1941 and second soviet occupation with guerrilla war 1944-1953 either let's say 1956 when most of the fightings over. During the german occupation for ethnical Lithuanians situation wasn't mild perhaps way better rather than WWI german occupation 1915-1918 when during the winter of 1917-1918 literally was a famine.
@@mikeromadin8744 if Hitler just accepted Lithuania as pure enough to fight maybe Germany would of made a bigger push Lithuanians were ruthless to Jews plus communism was the number 1 enemy of Baltics at the time
@@MaySimmy-bz8mf Both 3 Baltic countries were in way worse strategic situation rather than Finland. I really doubt they would succeeded to resist for more than several days.
Excellent work! As the grandson of a Lithuanian, I've always been fascinated by the history of the Baltic states during WW2. The Lithuanians never had a large Baltic German population like Latvia and Estonia, and the Nazis considered them to be more Slavic, and generally inferior to the other Baltic nations. That makes it even more ironic that Lithuania is always considered the biggest murderer of Jews among the 3, but I think that is more a function of Lithuania having the biggest Jewish population. Lithuanians always prefered the Germans to the Russians, but i have to assume that a lot of them saw the writing on the wall, and knew that the Germans couldn't keep the Russians from returning.
It was partly because of the strong Nazi propaganda, especially those who returned from annexed by Germans Klaipeda region were strongly affected by it. Anti-Soviet sentiments were high after the first deportations of 1940. Some members of Soviet repressive apparatus were Lithuanian collaborators. Part of them were of Jewish ethnicity. Add to this that Nazi propaganda equaled Jews to Bolsheviks, and for the simpleminded person it looked like all ends met. And then you need only a spark to start a fire.
I wish I was able to ask my grandfather more about this when he was still here, but he told me about the day Germany invaded and how he could see the planes fighting in the sky. He never told me he fought for the Soviets but he volunteered to fight for Lithuania, and he held his position from the Germans until he ran out of ammo and was only left with grenades.
It is important to say that Lithuanians are not Slavs. Originally, the Baltic peoples were neighbors of Germans to the west until the movement of the ancient Romans changed the entire configuration of the German territories. It was only in 1795 that Poland and Lithuania were incorporated by Russia into its Empire and from this we could start the history of the First World War. Hugs to friends!
Russia invaded and incorporated a number of border countries (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine Belarus, and part of Finland.) Some people in those countries supported the Third Reich not because they were pro-Nazi but because they were anti-Russian. Which is perfectly reasonable when you think about it as Soviet Russia was as cruel and brutal as Nazi Germany.
Agree, I would also ad Hungary to that list. Still Lithuanians willingly participated in mass genocide od Jews and Poles (where Poles not anti-russian too?).
@@BenyNukem That are has been filled with complicated relations for centuries. So every country had a mix of pro-whomever and anti-them. Also note the Soviet Russians killed and mistreated Jews as well.
@@Victor-lr2xr True ,I just don't understand vicious hatred towards Poles who where after all in the same situation, would not make sense to seek alliance there rather than antagonize them for centuries to came?
"just don't understand vicious hatred towards Poles" Lithuanians must really liked the Poles after the poles broke the treaty, attacked their country occupied their capital, and suppressed their language and culture... @@BenyNukem
If I had a modern history teacher like yourself at high school I would have considered myself very lucky. Great video as usual. Roosevelt threw ALL these country’s under the bus at the end of WW2. Condemning 10’s of millions to a terrible destiny under the iron curtain for the next 50 years.
They were heroes because they were fighting against russians, we call them partisans, not forest brothers, forest brothers is a name given by russian occupants.
i Wouldnt call it "collaboration". In modern terms collaboration is a dirty word connected with treason, however the Balts were occupied by the Soviets before the German arrival and in fact saw it as a liberation. The term "collaborator" has been overused and appropriated mainly by post war communists to justify mass murder and deportation of an ethnic group (from an area that was often times repopulated by the Russians). It also indirectly legitimizes Soviet/Rus occupation because for the Soviets the Balts were always a part of "natural" Soviet/Russian territory that dont have a right do secede so collaboration and nazism was connected through Soveit propaganda with unwanted nationalism and independence movements to demonize any potential "secession". There is a reason why Putins Russia calls Ukrainians "Banderites", to low key demonize Ukrainian independence and identity. Its in many ways its a carbon copy of the Serb propaganda during the 90s Balkan wars with the Serbs being the lynchpin and defacto rulers o Yugoslavia (just as Russians were in the USSR) and when Yugoslavia crumbled, Serb propaganda classified its enemies as "dirty Turk muslims" or "children of ustasha collaborator"...or both...and often times those classification found enough support in the west same with Ukraine now with Z bots) Take note that "collaboration" inside certain territories and ethnicities was proportionally way WAY higher with the lack of a national sovereign states or by the loss of it from Soviet occupation. To further prove this, nobody is calling Poles , Chezchs or any other eastern European ethnic group members as "collaborators" when fighting for the Soviets (even those that were die hard communists under the thumb of Kremlin pre war), that speaks for itself how politically (propaganda) charged the term is...The situation in eastern Europe was completely different to that in say France and the Low countries. We can also toss in the way Versailles influenced new borders that were led by a single line of thought "how to make German influence as small as possible in the east"... so only nations that were considered anti German got anything good from the Versailles treaty, anyone else was thrown under the bus and consequently all of those nations became axis, or very pro axis during ww2 because they were stuck between the hostile USSR and quite frankly ignorantly malicious and self centered French and UK policies. Also, unpopular fact no on has the guts to cover due to obvious political consequences. When the Soviet occupation started (that is before Operation Barbarossa during the Molotov Ribbentrop era) there was extensive collaboration from the part of Jewish minority in the Baltics working for the Soveits, which created a new wave of antisemitism.
Thank you so much for this! My Lithuanian grampa was conscripted into the Russian army, but defected and fought in the resistance. Because of this, his entire family were sent to Siberia and punished for the rest of their lives. I never understood how he ended up in Germany, but this video explains so much
You make a great point. Lithuania was between a rock and a hard place. The Soviets were as bad as the Germans. Who to support? I visited Vilnius and the KGB museum there tells the story of many hard and brutal years of occupation. They are rightfully very proud to be the first to break away from the Soviet Union. I was much impressed. But the fate of the Lithuanian Jews during WW2 is sad and a stain. If only more occupied lands had the skills and courage of Danish people during those difficult years.
You have this the wrong way around. The Germans turned out to be as bad as the Marxist USSR. Millions had been murdered well before the Germans arrived. The sad part of the history is "they thought the Germans were liberators from the West". Very sad.
A large mitigating factor of why Lithuanians viewed many Jewish people with suspicion and retaliated against the Jewish community was the historical fact that during the 1940-41 and thereafter 1944+ during the illegal Soviet occupation and annexation, a number of communist officials, who persecuted Lithuanians were of Jewish background. Those Communists of Jewish background were extremely brutal and committed crimes against humanity. Such as NKVD Officer Nachman Dushanski who was a perpetrator of the Rainiai Forest massacre and torturer of Lithuanian Freedom fighter Forest Brothers. Nachman Dushanski and others escaped justice by fleeing to Israel and Russia. The Lithuanian National prosecutor's office sought to have Nachman Dushanski and other communist war criminals extradited however both the Russian and Israeli governments refused and thus protected Nachman Dushanski and other Communist war criminals.
It was the same in Soviewt-occupied Poland. The Jewish collaborators with the Soviets were some of the most fanatical communists and took active part in preparing lists of Polish "class enemies" that would later serve as the basis for both deportations and executions during the 1939-1941 period. As deplorable as the pogroms at Jedwabne, Radziłów, Szczuczyn, and Wąsosz were, they didn't come from nowhere.
There's a book I read (I'll have to look it up again) that went in-depth on this topic. From what I remember, the main reason as to why the Lithuanians were cold to the prospect of an SS division (I believe Himmler wanted 42,000 men or something) was simply because they were unwilling to fight outside the borders of Lithuania. Maybe they read the tea leaves and knew it was only a matter of time before the Soviets came back. Anyway, I think that book said something like 80,000 or so men ended up joining various German-led military or paramilitary groups, mostly as police.
Some historians say that by 1943, Lithuania's knew that the tides are turning and thus were starting to prepare for the Soviet Russia coming back. Tbh, it is a sad period of history, with a lot of uncertainty and difficulties that is often FAR too overlooked and far too commonly simplified as black and white. Even when quite a few historians agree the Baltics especially were suffering from complete government and civil reforms every few months/years.
@@rodafowa1279 this number is totaly made up. Maybe if you include Lithuanians working in German administration (and that includes like teachers in local schools who were under German administration too after they occupied Lithuania) you could reach this number. And what the hell does it mean "joined"? Plechavičius organized "Vietinė rinktinė" (translates something like "local self defense battalions") with permission from Germans to defend Lithuania from closing soviets. In few weeks more when 20 thousand joined and rate of volunteers wasn't dropping. Germans surprised by such activity (after they failed to create SS legion) demanded Plechavičius to give command of this unit to Germans, so that they could send it to eastern front. Plechavičius rejected this order and ordered his unit to disband itself and hide. And that's exactly what had happened. Understandably Germans were very mad, they arrested all Lithuanian officers they could find, executed some, Plechavičius was send to concentration camp in Salaspilis, but this unit was gone. So tell me - was this unit "German-led military or paramilitary group" or not? And about police battalions - during all war about 20 000 Lithuanians served in German police battalions. So were is this "mostly" if we are talking about a number you gave us?
@@astrusis_dantis3655 I'm not talking about just police battalions. I'm talking about Lithuanians serving in the Luftwaffe and Heer as well. I'll find that book's name and post it. I don't really understand why it's so hard to find plausible, though. The Soviets were viewed as oppressors by not only Lithuania, but Estonia and Latvia as well. Both of those nations fielded SS divisions, 40,000+ men strong, in addition to Heer, Luftwaffe and police units. Plus, it's not like the Germans just came out and told the Lithuanians they were going to exterminate 85% of the population if they won the war.
Not many people know that Hitler wanted Lithuania to invade poland in 1939 for germany but Lithuania refused to joining the axis soon enough could of saved them from the first soviet invasion
Thank you, your story was mostly fair and honest. According to my knowledge in Kaunas massacre there was not one german but whole detachment of germans which assisted in that crime. And there were no random jews but collaborators with soviets.
Another wonderful introducing and informative video was shared by an excellent ( History Hustle) channel. Video about Lithuanian 🇱🇹 calibration with Nazism regimes during WW2. Thank you . an amazing ( History Hustle) channel for sharing. Good luck and best wishes for you 🙏 Sir Stefan
This was a great video. I have an interest in this topic as my great uncle was the chief of police of Lithuania and was responsible for the deaths of many Lithuanian Jews. I learned a lot in this video and what the many nuances were.
well, not all nuances are there... nobody like to mention that many new communist commissars in Lithuania were Jewish and they participated in deporting intellectuals, politicians and rich Lithuanians to gulags...and were Rainiai massacre... and so on. Lithuania asked Israel to give up that murderer Dushnskyj, but Israel never did... they protected their own mass murderers
Thank you. Another great piece, BZ A very detailed and telling document, the Jäger Report. Rollkommando Hamann and Ypatingasi s, cruel and efficient like their handlers.
By Wikipedia- "The Ponary massacre (Polish: zbrodnia w Ponarach), or the Paneriai massacre (Lithuanian: Paneri žudynės), was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German SD and SS and their Lithuanian collaborators." I bring it up because Jews and Poles where primary victims (while only Jews where mention in the video).
My Jewish family lived in Lithuania during World War II. All but one of them were killed. The survivor, who later lived in Connecticut, told me that in his estimate 90% of his Lithuanian neighbors supported the Nazis. These included his childhood friends.
I was an exchange student from the US to South Africa in the 80s. My first host family were Lithuanian Jews who escaped. They told me their stories and treated me very kindly despite my German heritage and my family having fought in the German military in WWII.
That's still huge problem. Those few Jews who managed to survive Shoa in Lithuania have opinion about Lithuanians like you stated and Lithuanians who had bad encounters with local Jewish community members who switched to USSR side are telling the same about Jews.
At first Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians were considered to be close to the Slavs be the Nazi racial ideology (85%, 50% and 50% to be killed respectively), but later Himmler announced a "stunning scientific discovery" that these peoples had a large proportion of Aryan ancestry (70% of Lithuanians were reconsidered as worthy of living) so then they were allowed into SS and we had these infamous Latvian and Estonian SS divisions.
This is somewhat incorrect. The percentage for the Latvians to be removed is much higher as the Nazis wanted to remove 100% of the Latgallians, which they counted as a seperate group from the remaining Latvians. As far as I know, these percentages refer to the amount of people to be deported and not to be exterminated. The Slavs would be subject to much harsher treatment including extermination through a man-made famine, but not the Balts.
Why is there always room for apologetics if we look at “our good” Nazis, but there is never any apologetics if we look at the Soviets or Communists in general? That’s the cold war / anti communist mentality persistent in the collective west. I can have bookshelves filled with books, many written by British and American historians, that are describing the German side of the war against the Soviet Union. A lot of these books are apologetic in tone, glorifying the German side, with Nazism being a kind of separate topic if at all it is a theme. Of course cold war needed its heroes and those heroes were the Wehrmacht and its allies and/or collaborators. Ironically when the subject is not the war against the Soviet Union, but the Holocaust the roles transform. It is this disconnect that demonstrates the hypocrisy and double standards that persist to this day. Good piece.
I know this is a very sensitive and controversial topping but do you think some of the collabarators were justified? for instance my Greek pontic ancestors collabarated with the Germans beacuse there lifes were in danger due to being former members of the national union of Greece party.
I'm sure most people these days will just give you a flat out, "no." However, these people are looking at it through the lens of today's society, where they probably haven't experienced a fraction of the strife in their entire lives that people like the Lithuanians faced in a single day back then. The reality is, people collaborated for a multitude of reasons, from buying in to everything the Germans were selling to believing it was the only they could survive.
Can't blame some Lithuanians for collaborating with one side, the other or both sides. Many just wanted to survive the war, have food and shelter. Some were anti-Jewish, anti-this or that. Their army was no match for any other in the region and their country divided many ways.
The PFK was formed in September 1941 as a result of an agreement between the German SS and the Polish government-in-exile led by General Władysław Sikorski. The primary objective of the PFK was to provide a military force composed of Polish citizens who were willing to fight against the Soviet Union alongside the German forces. How could a government in exile in England support the Germns?
The Map is wrong. The Capital of Lithuania is from 1323 Vilnius, not Kaunas. Vilnius was etnish Lithuanian and Lithuania-languaging City, not Polish-languaging. The anti-soviet Resistance in Lithuania during WW2 (1941-1954) was pro-american, not pro-german.
Its not colaboration when you fight for indepencence against enemy occupying you contry. You are not really good in central or eastern Europe history and take russian version.
What's interesting is the fact that the year 1939 wasn't the first time when the Soviets gave Vilnius to Lithuania. It also happened back in 1920, also after the red army capturing it from the Poles. Speaking of which... if you happen to read it Stefan, you could make a video about the Republic of Central Lithuania. It would be a nice addition to your "Short-Lived States" series.
@@simkunaskestutis6467 The polish-speaking inhabitants of Vilnius were those who were defending the city against the Soviets in January 1919, the Soviets captured the city, and only afterwards the "non-lithuanian" polish forces entered the city in April 1919, by driving the Soviets out of it. That's how it went under polish control prior to 1920: by the actions against the Soviets, not against Lithuania.
That whole story of Vilnius is that outdated plaque about the desire of the nobility and other fraudsters to return to the times of serfdom of the 18th century - and about the privelegias of the gentlemen. What are the Poles in Vilnius? These are the nobility - because that artificial status gave privelegias. Outdated Don Quixote in old armor .
My grandfather escaped war torn Europe in 1948, with my dad, aunt and uncle, They were small children, He was a poor Lithuanian farmer/coal miner, I’m wondering how he pulled this off, I’m betting he had to do some stuff he wasn’t proud of, I’m trying to find out
You have no idea how much I appreciate your collaboration videos. In an era where many of these countries are whitewashing their past involvement to the point of making it criminal to suggest collaboration, you’re proving otherwise, and it’s admirable and so very helpful.
It's really ridiculous to see people advocating German occupation as liberation or how they fought the Russians because of their past and bad experiences...but what love or sympathies toward Germans or Anti Russian sentiment have to do with Jewish extermination...no sod can explain.
The Department conducts research in pre-defined areas and periods (the physical and mental genocide of the Lithuanian population and the latter’s resistance in 1939-1990, the occupation regime and resistance movement in Vilnius Region in 1920-1939, the occupation regime and resistance movement in 1990-1991, and the occupation regime and resistance movement in 1990-1991); it collects, compiles, systematizes, and summarizes material on the processes, members and consequences of the resistance, records the facts of persecution and perpetrators of repressions, provides information about them to state law enforcement authorities; publishes scientific, informational and analytical material through various channels; participates in programmes organized by other institutions and states; compiles a list of victims of the 1939-1990 occupation, including a digital databases of perpetrators of war crimes, and publishes documents of the occupation regimes. On-going research programmes on the physical and mental genocide of the Lithuanian population by the occupation regimes in 1939-1990 and on resistance to these regimes:@@HistoryHustle
Great, Stefan....But you made a BIG MISTAKE at the very end. You gave the date as 1919 by error. I think that you meant 1990 - to be precise March 11, 1990. I will assume that it was just a slip of the tongue as I know that you know your history. Thanks again....Stephan
Some mistakes inthis video: Smetona didnt establish military dictatorship - army got no preferences . Officers responsble for overthrowing previous goverment tried the same with Smetona.Unsucsefully.Actualy,Smetonas goverment very sucsesfully crushed nazi organizations in Klaipėda region and germans were very resentfull.Only polish Armija Krajowa was problem for lithuanian police forces, prosoviet partisans were few and mostly not locals. Main reason why there was no lithuanian SS because nobody wanted join and when germans tried recruit by force soldiers from territorial defence it was mutiny. Mutiny was crushed, officers sent to Dachau concentration camp, german officers replaced them. Smetonas autoritarian goverment subdued all radicals,from right and left, but soviets changed that - radicals got uper hand,excuse to act and help from germans. It ended in tragedy.
yea and interestingly, all Western media of that time (1935) was very harsh on Lithuania for being so rude on nazzis.. :) search for "trial of Neumann and Sass"
Interesting and appalling in equal measure. The Lithuanians were definitely caught between two opposing forces, either of which could have destroyed them easily and that is never a good place to be.
Simon Wiesenthal was erg kritisch in zijn boek geen wraak maar gerechtigheid. Over hoe er in de baltische staten, Polen maar ook in de Oekraine met de Joden werd omgegaan. Een van de beste boeken die ik ooit gelezen heb.
Two quotes from memories of partisans of that time or their relatives that stuck to my head from like a decade ago: ''If they're doing this to their own, what will they do to us'' - about Red Army. Kind of what we got in Ukraine now, nothings changed looking into those meatwave tactics. ''German comes into your house gently with white gloves, and hes gonna sit there nicely talking with you with a smile untill you slip in our own lies. Russians on the contrary, will start by breaking your door, playing your women, stealing anything they find and then they'll beat you while enjoying your food and beverage untill you admit it, either you did it or not'' - about interrogation techniques and perfectly answers question why lithuanians at a time were quite a pro-nazi. We simply knew worse already. And it was hard to imagine even worse. And until massive genocides took place, noone realy had second thoughts. Life was just that shitty, that even nazi was called liberator at a certain point. Untill it wast ofc. From today's perspective, i could clearly say that if we were given as much liberty as France f.e., Hitler could've had a nice dog. Thanks God mistakes were made for not dropping that independance bone 😂
Потому что фашист-нацист-прибалт это одно и тоже. Как и вся гейропа строят моно государства. Раб - хозяин. По другому не могут. Нутро мракобесов мешает.😂 Со времён древнего Рима. Аминь...
Because the Soviets mainly made up RUSSIANS and some Jews collaborating with them, were as oppressive, if not even more than the SS. which specifically targeted Jews and the Soviet fanatics due to their belief of Communism being a Judeo-Bolshevik device to subvert their society. Both are bad, just of different shades and grades. This is how you make a nuance point without taking a side on either side.
In Lithuania was always russian/russian speaking minority maybe not so significant like in Latvia and Estonia. Practically all of those russians who use to live in Lithuania during the interbellum were deported by soviets during the first occupation of 1940-1941 to siberia along with lithuanians and died there from malnutrition and horrible conditions. By the way during the 1944-1953 guerrilla war against the soviet invaders one of the most fierce "forest brothers" were russian "old believers" from Zarasai district (North-East). Unfortunately nowadays significant amount of the russian-speaking community in Lithuania are pro-moscow (pro-commie) scumbags. I trying to avoid to use word "russian" as russia literally doesn't exist for the last 101 year. What most of you call "russia" doesn't get any legal connection to Russia which existed a century ago. Regarding Lithuanian troops under the german command during WWII is quite strange why you didn't mentioned general Povilas Plechavičius the head of Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force who was totally against establishment of the Lithuanian SS.
A book which is absolutely interesting to read about this topic is: Ponary Diary, 1941-1943: A Bystander’s Account of a Mass Murder Kazimierz Sakowicz This is the first publication in English of the diary kept by Kazimierz Sakowicz from 1941 to 1943 in Ponary, near Wilno (Lithuanian Vilnius, Jewish Vilna). This diary, which describes the murders of some 50,000 to 60,000 Jewish men, women, and children by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators, is one of the most shocking documents of its time. Historians were denied access to the diary for many years, possibly because it provides evidence of the atrocities committed by Lithuanians (Sakowicz’s “Ponary riflemen”) as well as by the German occupiers of the city.
@@HistoryHustle Lithuania fought against Teutonic Order for 200 years. It was a constant battle for survival. Lithuania finally won, but payed a big price. Historic memory and deeply ingrained narratives didn't allow to fight on the side of Germans. Lithuanian intellectuals campaigned against recruiting to Lithuanian SS, therefore many of them were imprisoned in Stutthof. Among them - Balys Sruoga, who later wrote "Forest of the Gods" - one of the first memoirs in Europe about Nazi camps (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_the_Gods). Second reason is practical - very few wanted to fight for strange ideals on some foreign land. For example, Lithuanian general Plechavičius agreed to form "Vietinė rinktinė" (Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force) only after he was promised his soldiers will stay in Lithuania. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Territorial_Defense_Force
1:30 , WHY DID YOU SAY THAT HARONIA WAS PART OF "LITHUANIA " IN 19c. ? IT WAS PART OF the VILNIA´s Governorate!! Where the Aukštaitijans WERE IN MINORITY , THE BELARUSIANS REPRESENTED THE LARGEST GROUP IN the VILNIA´s Governorate. WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans (Lithuanian) ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans
@@HistoryHustle very bad, valter34 who is not professional historian GOT ME RIGHT . OK, STEP BY STEP, WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans (Lithuanian) ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans . DO YOU SEE ERROR 1:30 ?
@@valter34 No forest troll, I am Litwin, and you know it , WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN Land in 1917 , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans . Any comment on this ?
@@HistoryHustle biased anger? I have no anger towards you at all, so stop imagining things. Ok, here is an example - you gave number of Lithuanians who "collaborated" with Germans, meaning they went to serve into German army. Number taken from German military registries. Talking about "collaboration" this number means nothing. Have you ever heard about Lithuania Minor? Lithuanians lived there, it was part of German state and they were (being citizens of Germany) simply mobilized into German army, not "collaborated". For example famous German sniper Bruno Sutkus was such mobilized Lithuanian. And that is just one example. Your story about general Plechavičius and Vietinė rinktinė is full of inaccuracies too. I have no time or wish to analyze your video step by step - do it yourself.
Actually Wilno was a polish city, the same as Brześć, Lwów, Łuck, Stanisławów and others that were stolen by Stalin later on. It was not just a city with a significant polish population as you indicate in your video.
Actually, Danzig was a German city, just like Oppeln, Liegnitz, Breslau, Stettin, Köslin, Posen, Elbing and the others that Stalin later gifted to poland.
@@Oberschutzee btw, why are you using kraut names for cities that 1000 years ago were founded by Slavic, Polish, Czech etc tribes and now still belong to Slavic nations? Opole, Legnica, Wrocław, Szczecin, Koszalin, Poznań, Elbląg - these are names of western slavic/ polish origin. In German they have no meaning at all, these are all translations of slavic names into german language, the same with cities in Czech Republic like Jablonec nad Nisou (czech), Gablonz an der NeiBe (german). What does Gablonz even mean 😆🤣😂😹 the word like Jablonec /Jablon/ Jabłoń is clearly of slavic origin and understable across all slavic languages.
@@hanibalesilveira What polak cities?! Except for a few slums with practically no population, there were no cities. Germans built civilised and expanded, they were rightful German cities and land with the majority of the population being German, later on, gifted to poland by the Allies and Stalin. In their own towns poles were a minority for 500 years polish towns were a Jewish majority 😂
Estonian Waffen-SS:
th-cam.com/video/TpZiGHKkD3o/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUaZXN0b25pYW4gY29sbGFib3JhdGlvbiB3dzI%3D
Latvian Waffen-SS:
th-cam.com/video/TzuKI02_qVA/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUSTGF0dmlhbiBXYWZmZW4tU1M6
✅ 👍
Given their historic problems with powerful neighbours, it's a miracle that Lithuania survived at all.
The Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth was the largest country in Europe and a major European power from 1500 to 1800. Belarus was a part of Lithuania. That is why Belarus is culturally distinct from Russia.
commonwealth stopped existing in 1793@@jonlenihan4798
@@jonlenihan4798but after that we was in a tough spot ever since.
Beautiful country.
@@HistoryHustleThe last country in Europe to be Christianized, in 1387. Perkunas, the god of thunder, was a paramount figure of worship.
Following the annexations of Polish-Lithuanian territory in 1772, 1793, and 1795, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine became the Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire. Russia proper was off limits and hostile to Jews until 1917.
Litvaks, Lithuanians, are an ethnic subdivision within Ashkenazi (Yiddish speaking) Judaism. Their reputation is for scholarship. There is a Litvak accent in Yiddish.
The nazis were seen as liberator's by the Baltics fighting alongside the germans would be a way better way to die than get tortured in soviet prison
From historical perspective for Lithuanians the most horrible time was a soviet first occupation 1940-1941 and second soviet occupation with guerrilla war 1944-1953 either let's say 1956 when most of the fightings over. During the german occupation for ethnical Lithuanians situation wasn't mild perhaps way better rather than WWI german occupation 1915-1918 when during the winter of 1917-1918 literally was a famine.
@@mikeromadin8744 if Hitler just accepted Lithuania as pure enough to fight maybe Germany would of made a bigger push Lithuanians were ruthless to Jews plus communism was the number 1 enemy of Baltics at the time
@@mikeromadin8744 tbh it's all Estonia/Latvia's fault for allowing Stalin in there countries in the first place
@@MaySimmy-bz8mf Both 3 Baltic countries were in way worse strategic situation rather than Finland. I really doubt they would succeeded to resist for more than several days.
So where did killing the Jews fit into this scheme
Excellent work!
As the grandson of a Lithuanian, I've always been fascinated by the history of the Baltic states during WW2.
The Lithuanians never had a large Baltic German population like Latvia and Estonia, and the Nazis considered them to be more Slavic, and generally inferior to the other Baltic nations.
That makes it even more ironic that Lithuania is always considered the biggest murderer of Jews among the 3, but I think that is more a function of Lithuania having the biggest Jewish population.
Lithuanians always prefered the Germans to the Russians, but i have to assume that a lot of them saw the writing on the wall, and knew that the Germans couldn't keep the Russians from returning.
It was partly because of the strong Nazi propaganda, especially those who returned from annexed by Germans Klaipeda region were strongly affected by it. Anti-Soviet sentiments were high after the first deportations of 1940. Some members of Soviet repressive apparatus were Lithuanian collaborators. Part of them were of Jewish ethnicity. Add to this that Nazi propaganda equaled Jews to Bolsheviks, and for the simpleminded person it looked like all ends met. And then you need only a spark to start a fire.
Interesting to hear that the Nazis considered Lithuanians as more Slavic when the people were no more similar to Slavs that Germans themselves were.
@@HellDuke- The Baltic languages (Lativian, Lithuania, Old Prussian, etc) are much more closely related to Slavic languages than German.
@@stephenbrand5661 they aren't even similar, so that's a bit of a reach
@@HellDuke- They comprise their own branch of the Indo-European language family called Balto-Slavic.
The kind of information that will never be found in any tv documentary! Great video Stefan!
Great to read, Joseph. Thanks!
I wish I was able to ask my grandfather more about this when he was still here, but he told me about the day Germany invaded and how he could see the planes fighting in the sky. He never told me he fought for the Soviets but he volunteered to fight for Lithuania, and he held his position from the Germans until he ran out of ammo and was only left with grenades.
Thanks for sharing.
It is important to say that Lithuanians are not Slavs. Originally, the Baltic peoples were neighbors of Germans to the west until the movement of the ancient Romans changed the entire configuration of the German territories. It was only in 1795 that Poland and Lithuania were incorporated by Russia into its Empire and from this we could start the history of the First World War. Hugs to friends!
Thanks for sharing.
Russia invaded and incorporated a number of border countries (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine Belarus, and part of Finland.) Some people in those countries supported the Third Reich not because they were pro-Nazi but because they were anti-Russian. Which is perfectly reasonable when you think about it as Soviet Russia was as cruel and brutal as Nazi Germany.
Agree, I would also ad Hungary to that list. Still Lithuanians willingly participated in mass genocide od Jews and Poles (where Poles not anti-russian too?).
@@BenyNukem That are has been filled with complicated relations for centuries. So every country had a mix of pro-whomever and anti-them. Also note the Soviet Russians killed and mistreated Jews as well.
@@Victor-lr2xr True ,I just don't understand vicious hatred towards Poles who where after all in the same situation, would not make sense to seek alliance there rather than antagonize them for centuries to came?
See video.
"just don't understand vicious hatred towards Poles"
Lithuanians must really liked the Poles after the poles broke the treaty, attacked their country occupied their capital, and suppressed their language and culture... @@BenyNukem
Great vid again. Interesting uniform, and armband especially, in the background!
Greets from Grun' 🇳🇱, T.
Many thanks T. Have a good weekend!
@@HistoryHustle : You too Stefan 👍
If I had a modern history teacher like yourself at high school I would have considered myself very lucky. Great video as usual. Roosevelt threw ALL these country’s under the bus at the end of WW2. Condemning 10’s of millions to a terrible destiny under the iron curtain for the next 50 years.
Thanks for replying.
I have a Lithuanian colleague who told me that the Forest Brothers are still talked about and lauded as heroes
I have heard similar things.
They were heroes because they were fighting against russians, we call them partisans, not forest brothers, forest brothers is a name given by russian occupants.
No poeple called them forest brothers@@user-st1ko3mh8v
Yes, as is the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. They were even in communication with each other.
Yes, they were fighting against traitors like Nachman Dushanski
i Wouldnt call it "collaboration".
In modern terms collaboration is a dirty word connected with treason, however the Balts were occupied by the Soviets before the German arrival and in fact saw it as a liberation.
The term "collaborator" has been overused and appropriated mainly by post war communists to justify mass murder and deportation of an ethnic group (from an area that was often times repopulated by the Russians).
It also indirectly legitimizes Soviet/Rus occupation because for the Soviets the Balts were always a part of "natural" Soviet/Russian territory that dont have a right do secede so collaboration and nazism was connected through Soveit propaganda with unwanted nationalism and independence movements to demonize any potential "secession".
There is a reason why Putins Russia calls Ukrainians "Banderites", to low key demonize Ukrainian independence and identity.
Its in many ways its a carbon copy of the Serb propaganda during the 90s Balkan wars with the Serbs being the lynchpin and defacto rulers o Yugoslavia (just as Russians were in the USSR) and when Yugoslavia crumbled, Serb propaganda classified its enemies as "dirty Turk muslims" or "children of ustasha collaborator"...or both...and often times those classification found enough support in the west same with Ukraine now with Z bots)
Take note that "collaboration" inside certain territories and ethnicities was proportionally way WAY higher with the lack of a national sovereign states or by the loss of it from Soviet occupation.
To further prove this, nobody is calling Poles , Chezchs or any other eastern European ethnic group members as "collaborators" when fighting for the Soviets (even those that were die hard communists under the thumb of Kremlin pre war), that speaks for itself how politically (propaganda) charged the term is...The situation in eastern Europe was completely different to that in say France and the Low countries.
We can also toss in the way Versailles influenced new borders that were led by a single line of thought "how to make German influence as small as possible in the east"... so only nations that were considered anti German got anything good from the Versailles treaty, anyone else was thrown under the bus and consequently all of those nations became axis, or very pro axis during ww2 because they were stuck between the hostile USSR and quite frankly ignorantly malicious and self centered French and UK policies.
Also, unpopular fact no on has the guts to cover due to obvious political consequences.
When the Soviet occupation started (that is before Operation Barbarossa during the Molotov Ribbentrop era) there was extensive collaboration from the part of Jewish minority in the Baltics working for the Soveits, which created a new wave of antisemitism.
I think many people somehow "don't want to remember" who pinched and handover nuke secrets to the soviets
Collaboration means working together with. That is where this video is about.
Thank you Stefan ✌️🫶🏻
Have s good weekend.
Thank you so much for this! My Lithuanian grampa was conscripted into the Russian army, but defected and fought in the resistance. Because of this, his entire family were sent to Siberia and punished for the rest of their lives. I never understood how he ended up in Germany, but this video explains so much
Thanks for your reply.
great video bro
🥇👍
You make a great point. Lithuania was between a rock and a hard place. The Soviets were as bad as the Germans. Who to support? I visited Vilnius and the KGB museum there tells the story of many hard and brutal years of occupation. They are rightfully very proud to be the first to break away from the Soviet Union. I was much impressed. But the fate of the Lithuanian Jews during WW2 is sad and a stain. If only more occupied lands had the skills and courage of Danish people during those difficult years.
I went to that KGB museum too. Man, that basement gave me the creeps! Thank you for watching.
Yep, that's the place! It gave me the creeps too! I'll never forget that basement.
You have this the wrong way around. The Germans turned out to be as bad as the Marxist USSR.
Millions had been murdered well before the Germans arrived. The sad part of the history is "they thought the Germans were liberators from the West". Very sad.
Sorry, Danes had king and government intact. How can you compare?!
That's true, you make a very good point. I didn't consider that.
A large mitigating factor of why Lithuanians viewed many Jewish people with suspicion and retaliated against the Jewish community was the historical fact that during the 1940-41 and thereafter 1944+ during the illegal Soviet occupation and annexation, a number of communist officials, who persecuted Lithuanians were of Jewish background. Those Communists of Jewish background were extremely brutal and committed crimes against humanity. Such as NKVD Officer Nachman Dushanski who was a perpetrator of the Rainiai Forest massacre and torturer of Lithuanian Freedom fighter Forest Brothers. Nachman Dushanski and others escaped justice by fleeing to Israel and Russia. The Lithuanian National prosecutor's office sought to have Nachman Dushanski and other communist war criminals extradited however both the Russian and Israeli governments refused and thus protected Nachman Dushanski and other Communist war criminals.
It was the same in Soviewt-occupied Poland. The Jewish collaborators with the Soviets were some of the most fanatical communists and took active part in preparing lists of Polish "class enemies" that would later serve as the basis for both deportations and executions during the 1939-1941 period. As deplorable as the pogroms at Jedwabne, Radziłów, Szczuczyn, and Wąsosz were, they didn't come from nowhere.
There's a book I read (I'll have to look it up again) that went in-depth on this topic. From what I remember, the main reason as to why the Lithuanians were cold to the prospect of an SS division (I believe Himmler wanted 42,000 men or something) was simply because they were unwilling to fight outside the borders of Lithuania. Maybe they read the tea leaves and knew it was only a matter of time before the Soviets came back. Anyway, I think that book said something like 80,000 or so men ended up joining various German-led military or paramilitary groups, mostly as police.
Some historians say that by 1943, Lithuania's knew that the tides are turning and thus were starting to prepare for the Soviet Russia coming back. Tbh, it is a sad period of history, with a lot of uncertainty and difficulties that is often FAR too overlooked and far too commonly simplified as black and white. Even when quite a few historians agree the Baltics especially were suffering from complete government and civil reforms every few months/years.
80000 men? You can throw this book away, it is garbage.
@@astrusis_dantis3655 Why?
@@rodafowa1279 this number is totaly made up. Maybe if you include Lithuanians working in German administration (and that includes like teachers in local schools who were under German administration too after they occupied Lithuania) you could reach this number. And what the hell does it mean "joined"? Plechavičius organized "Vietinė rinktinė" (translates something like "local self defense battalions") with permission from Germans to defend Lithuania from closing soviets. In few weeks more when 20 thousand joined and rate of volunteers wasn't dropping. Germans surprised by such activity (after they failed to create SS legion) demanded Plechavičius to give command of this unit to Germans, so that they could send it to eastern front. Plechavičius rejected this order and ordered his unit to disband itself and hide. And that's exactly what had happened. Understandably Germans were very mad, they arrested all Lithuanian officers they could find, executed some, Plechavičius was send to concentration camp in Salaspilis, but this unit was gone. So tell me - was this unit "German-led military or paramilitary group" or not? And about police battalions - during all war about 20 000 Lithuanians served in German police battalions. So were is this "mostly" if we are talking about a number you gave us?
@@astrusis_dantis3655 I'm not talking about just police battalions. I'm talking about Lithuanians serving in the Luftwaffe and Heer as well. I'll find that book's name and post it.
I don't really understand why it's so hard to find plausible, though. The Soviets were viewed as oppressors by not only Lithuania, but Estonia and Latvia as well. Both of those nations fielded SS divisions, 40,000+ men strong, in addition to Heer, Luftwaffe and police units.
Plus, it's not like the Germans just came out and told the Lithuanians they were going to exterminate 85% of the population if they won the war.
Keep up the great work Stefan! :)
Thanks LE! Hope you are doing well. Greetings from Bogotá 🇨🇴
Not many people know that Hitler wanted Lithuania to invade poland in 1939 for germany but Lithuania refused to joining the axis soon enough could of saved them from the first soviet invasion
That I did not know!
@@HistoryHustle Lithuania even gave support for Poland and lots of Polish troops survived escaped to Lithuania.
Thanks!
Many thanks once else Jesse 😁
Thank you ver much for giving Lithuania ww2 attention
Thanks for your reply.
Well-researched video on a difficult subject.
Many thanks Jonathan!
as a lithuanian, i love this vid
Great to read. Thanks!
I don't, it misses a lot of information, it should have been researched better
@@orderr928 well what did it miss? Wilno and kowno jewish ghettos?
@@orderr928it's not that bad. And he analysed some topics which were not covered by other TH-cam historians.
@@sanngritaon every of those ghettos you would need a 2 hour story.
Thank you, your story was mostly fair and honest.
According to my knowledge in Kaunas massacre there was not one german but whole detachment of germans which assisted in that crime.
And there were no random jews but collaborators with soviets.
Thanks for sharing.
Can tell who your father or grandfather was
@@EvaK-lo9cc Really? Tell me.
Another wonderful introducing and informative video was shared by an excellent ( History Hustle) channel. Video about Lithuanian 🇱🇹 calibration with Nazism regimes during WW2. Thank you . an amazing ( History Hustle) channel for sharing. Good luck and best wishes for you 🙏 Sir Stefan
Many thanks for your reply.
Great video
👍👍👍
This was a great video. I have an interest in this topic as my great uncle was the chief of police of Lithuania and was responsible for the deaths of many Lithuanian Jews. I learned a lot in this video and what the many nuances were.
Thanks for sharing this.
well, not all nuances are there... nobody like to mention that many new communist commissars in Lithuania were Jewish and they participated in deporting intellectuals, politicians and rich Lithuanians to gulags...and were Rainiai massacre... and so on. Lithuania asked Israel to give up that murderer Dushnskyj, but Israel never did... they protected their own mass murderers
My friend Rokus is Lithuanian
His mom was sent to Germany during the war
Thanks for sharing.
thank you for sharing the information
Thanks for watching.
Thank you😊awesome vid 😊👍
Thank you. Another great piece, BZ
A very detailed and telling document, the Jäger Report.
Rollkommando Hamann and Ypatingasi s, cruel and efficient like their handlers.
Thanks for replying!
By Wikipedia- "The Ponary massacre (Polish: zbrodnia w Ponarach), or the Paneriai massacre (Lithuanian: Paneri žudynės), was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German SD and SS and their Lithuanian collaborators."
I bring it up because Jews and Poles where primary victims (while only Jews where mention in the video).
Thanks for sharing.
Lithuanians only guarded and lead prisoners, they didn't participate in killings
@@valter34that is some BS. There are several documented accounts of brave "Lithuanian freedom fighters" participating in the killings.
Because there were polish Jews, Russian Jews and Lithuanian Jews. Video mentioned correctly: only Jews were killed in Panary by Lithuanian
@@EvaK-lo9cc so polish Jews where not Polish citzens? Wtf?
May I ask where you got your herringbone twill green Tunic ? I am interested in purchasing one. Rob from Miami Florida.
Which green tunic?
@@HistoryHustle the cotton hbt (herringbone twill). The one you wear . Summer uniform for the German WW2. Reed green.
Always interesting....thanks....
Thanks for watching 👍
My Jewish family lived in Lithuania during World War II. All but one of them were killed. The survivor, who later lived in Connecticut, told me that in his estimate 90% of his Lithuanian neighbors supported the Nazis. These included his childhood friends.
I was an exchange student from the US to South Africa in the 80s. My first host family were Lithuanian Jews who escaped. They told me their stories and treated me very kindly despite my German heritage and my family having fought in the German military in WWII.
That's still huge problem. Those few Jews who managed to survive Shoa in Lithuania have opinion about Lithuanians like you stated and Lithuanians who had bad encounters with local Jewish community members who switched to USSR side are telling the same about Jews.
No suprise there. The Same can be said for ukraine who are still regularly in the Media for cheering in nazis.
Interesting to read.
Do you know anything about people like Nachman Dushanski and how a lot of progressive ashkenazis supported soviets when they first invaded Lithuania?
At first Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians were considered to be close to the Slavs be the Nazi racial ideology (85%, 50% and 50% to be killed respectively), but later Himmler announced a "stunning scientific discovery" that these peoples had a large proportion of Aryan ancestry (70% of Lithuanians were reconsidered as worthy of living) so then they were allowed into SS and we had these infamous Latvian and Estonian SS divisions.
Thanks for sharing.
Šaltinis?
This is somewhat incorrect. The percentage for the Latvians to be removed is much higher as the Nazis wanted to remove 100% of the Latgallians, which they counted as a seperate group from the remaining Latvians. As far as I know, these percentages refer to the amount of people to be deported and not to be exterminated. The Slavs would be subject to much harsher treatment including extermination through a man-made famine, but not the Balts.
Funny because they have one of the largest concentration of N1c dna which is the most north adaptive finnic tribes in Europe. The irony
"Great Report".."Instructor".."at "deconstructing"...the "nuance".."politics"..and other "moving parts"..to make sense..of this "event"!!
Thanks for watching.
Why is there always room for apologetics if we look at “our good” Nazis, but there is never any apologetics if we look at the Soviets or Communists in general? That’s the cold war / anti communist mentality persistent in the collective west. I can have bookshelves filled with books, many written by British and American historians, that are describing the German side of the war against the Soviet Union. A lot of these books are apologetic in tone, glorifying the German side, with Nazism being a kind of separate topic if at all it is a theme. Of course cold war needed its heroes and those heroes were the Wehrmacht and its allies and/or collaborators. Ironically when the subject is not the war against the Soviet Union, but the Holocaust the roles transform. It is this disconnect that demonstrates the hypocrisy and double standards that persist to this day. Good piece.
Probably for the same reason, why the History channel is ancient alien Hitlers jumping on a bed nursery rhyme.
another great video
Thanks Mike!
Estonia and Latvia were old German provinces from the time of the Northern Crusade, Lithuania never was.
Funny since it was a lot closer to germany than the other two
I know this is a very sensitive and controversial topping but do you think some of the collabarators were justified? for instance my Greek pontic ancestors collabarated with the Germans beacuse there lifes were in danger due to being former members of the national union of Greece party.
I'm sure most people these days will just give you a flat out, "no." However, these people are looking at it through the lens of today's society, where they probably haven't experienced a fraction of the strife in their entire lives that people like the Lithuanians faced in a single day back then. The reality is, people collaborated for a multitude of reasons, from buying in to everything the Germans were selling to believing it was the only they could survive.
It is in some cases a grey area.
Can't blame some Lithuanians for collaborating with one side, the other or both sides. Many just wanted to survive the war, have food and shelter. Some were anti-Jewish, anti-this or that. Their army was no match for any other in the region and their country divided many ways.
For some it is understandable. For others not. See video.
The PFK was formed in September 1941 as a result of an agreement between the German SS and the Polish government-in-exile led by General Władysław Sikorski. The primary objective of the PFK was to provide a military force composed of Polish citizens who were willing to fight against the Soviet Union alongside the German forces. How could a government in exile in England support the Germns?
The Map is wrong. The Capital of Lithuania is from 1323 Vilnius, not Kaunas. Vilnius was etnish Lithuanian and Lithuania-languaging City, not Polish-languaging. The anti-soviet Resistance in Lithuania during WW2 (1941-1954) was pro-american, not pro-german.
Which map of the 20 maps I show in the video?
The anti-soviet Resistance was pro-independence not pro american or pro german...
Vilno was Polish speaking city.
@@jaroslawkukiel8211 so? Klaipėda was full of german speakers, yet it is a part of Lithuania today.
Its not colaboration when you fight for indepencence against enemy occupying you contry. You are not really good in central or eastern Europe history and take russian version.
Think you should watch the video and pay attention.
What is Balkan Antante? Bro....
*Baltic.
Very interesting 👌
Thanks for watching!
Ah interesting video again!
Thanks man 👍
Vilnius ended up in polish hands becouse they occupied it
That is the case most of the time yes.
Well researched. 🙏🇦🇺
Many thanks.
Thanks, well , I give you 10 points from 10 .My self as a Lithuanian, I confirm all what was mentioned is corect even though it is "dark side".
Great to read. Many thanks for your reply.
17:54. At least good news for the lithuanians...
Obrigado, Stefan! ヽ(͡◕ ͜ʖ ͡◕)ﾉ 🍀 🇧🇷
Thanks for watching.
What's interesting is the fact that the year 1939 wasn't the first time when the Soviets gave Vilnius to Lithuania. It also happened back in 1920, also after the red army capturing it from the Poles. Speaking of which... if you happen to read it Stefan, you could make a video about the Republic of Central Lithuania. It would be a nice addition to your "Short-Lived States" series.
Interesting to read.
Vilnius never was Polish. Polen was in Vilnius Okkupants. The Republic of Central Lithuania was a Projekt of Okkupants too.
@@simkunaskestutis6467 The polish-speaking inhabitants of Vilnius were those who were defending the city against the Soviets in January 1919, the Soviets captured the city, and only afterwards the "non-lithuanian" polish forces entered the city in April 1919, by driving the Soviets out of it. That's how it went under polish control prior to 1920: by the actions against the Soviets, not against Lithuania.
@@TheLink91 Wrong
That whole story of Vilnius is that outdated plaque about the desire of the nobility and other fraudsters to return to the times of serfdom of the 18th century - and about the privelegias of the gentlemen. What are the Poles in Vilnius? These are the nobility - because that artificial status gave privelegias. Outdated Don Quixote in old armor .
My grandfather escaped war torn Europe in 1948, with my dad, aunt and uncle, They were small children, He was a poor Lithuanian farmer/coal miner, I’m wondering how he pulled this off, I’m betting he had to do some stuff he wasn’t proud of, I’m trying to find out
You have no idea how much I appreciate your collaboration videos. In an era where many of these countries are whitewashing their past involvement to the point of making it criminal to suggest collaboration, you’re proving otherwise, and it’s admirable and so very helpful.
whitewashing? Wrong
Glad people appreciate the content.
It's really ridiculous to see people advocating German occupation as liberation or how they fought the Russians because of their past and bad experiences...but what love or sympathies toward Germans or Anti Russian sentiment have to do with Jewish extermination...no sod can explain.
Ačui kad pakalbejej apie lietuva ❤❤
👍
As a Lithuanian, this is very intresting to watch, because, obviuosly in Lithuania they tell history as if it was all white and black…
Thanks for watching!
They don't tell if it's all white...
@semtino3598 that’s correct
Read books and studies 🙂@@barsukascool
Ką tu nusišneki? :D
I recommend checking out Lithuanian genocide and resistance center for more information :)
Please explain.
Search up on google, Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania@@HistoryHustle
The Department conducts research in pre-defined areas and periods (the physical and mental genocide of the Lithuanian population and the latter’s resistance in 1939-1990, the occupation regime and resistance movement in Vilnius Region in 1920-1939, the occupation regime and resistance movement in 1990-1991, and the occupation regime and resistance movement in 1990-1991); it collects, compiles, systematizes, and summarizes material on the processes, members and consequences of the resistance, records the facts of persecution and perpetrators of repressions, provides information about them to state law enforcement authorities; publishes scientific, informational and analytical material through various channels; participates in programmes organized by other institutions and states; compiles a list of victims of the 1939-1990 occupation, including a digital databases of perpetrators of war crimes, and publishes documents of the occupation regimes.
On-going research programmes on the physical and mental genocide of the Lithuanian population by the occupation regimes in 1939-1990 and on resistance to these regimes:@@HistoryHustle
Great, Stefan....But you made a BIG MISTAKE at the very end. You gave the date as 1919 by error. I think that you meant 1990 - to be precise March 11, 1990. I will assume that it was just a slip of the tongue as I know that you know your history. Thanks again....Stephan
I see. Believe I did mean 1990 of course 👍
Some mistakes inthis video:
Smetona didnt establish military dictatorship - army got no preferences . Officers responsble for overthrowing previous goverment tried the same with Smetona.Unsucsefully.Actualy,Smetonas goverment very sucsesfully crushed nazi organizations in Klaipėda region and germans were very resentfull.Only polish Armija Krajowa was problem for lithuanian police forces, prosoviet partisans were few and mostly not locals. Main reason why there was no lithuanian SS because nobody wanted join and when germans tried recruit by force soldiers from territorial defence it was mutiny. Mutiny was crushed, officers sent to Dachau concentration camp, german officers replaced them. Smetonas autoritarian goverment subdued all radicals,from right and left, but soviets changed that - radicals got uper hand,excuse to act and help from germans. It ended in tragedy.
Thanks for sharing. I refer to my sources. Happy Holidays.
yea and interestingly, all Western media of that time (1935) was very harsh on Lithuania for being so rude on nazzis.. :) search for "trial of Neumann and Sass"
Interesting and appalling in equal measure. The Lithuanians were definitely caught between two opposing forces, either of which could have destroyed them easily and that is never a good place to be.
Nice video Stef.It's difficult to have real peace inn countries with mixed ethnicities
Thanks for watching!
Is it? Canada doesn't have real peace?
@@653j521yes it always fails in the long run
@@ree2453 Untrue. There's usually a dominant group - the biggest minority. But there are very few states that are not multi-ethnic.
Plechavičius is pronounced as "pleh-kha-vi-chyus".
... got it. I think 😅
3:15 surely you mean Baltic and not Balkan. Great video still!
@@konstantinasnavardauskas4495 i stand corrected.
Simon Wiesenthal was erg kritisch in zijn boek geen wraak maar gerechtigheid. Over hoe er in de baltische staten, Polen maar ook in de Oekraine met de Joden werd omgegaan. Een van de beste boeken die ik ooit gelezen heb.
Wil ik nog eens lezen. Dank voor je reactie.
Two quotes from memories of partisans of that time or their relatives that stuck to my head from like a decade ago:
''If they're doing this to their own, what will they do to us'' - about Red Army. Kind of what we got in Ukraine now, nothings changed looking into those meatwave tactics.
''German comes into your house gently with white gloves, and hes gonna sit there nicely talking with you with a smile untill you slip in our own lies. Russians on the contrary, will start by breaking your door, playing your women, stealing anything they find and then they'll beat you while enjoying your food and beverage untill you admit it, either you did it or not'' - about interrogation techniques and perfectly answers question why lithuanians at a time were quite a pro-nazi. We simply knew worse already. And it was hard to imagine even worse. And until massive genocides took place, noone realy had second thoughts. Life was just that shitty, that even nazi was called liberator at a certain point. Untill it wast ofc. From today's perspective, i could clearly say that if we were given as much liberty as France f.e., Hitler could've had a nice dog. Thanks God mistakes were made for not dropping that independance bone 😂
I knew a Waffen SS soldier from Lithuania. He disliked Russians. I wonder why.
Потому что фашист-нацист-прибалт это одно и тоже. Как и вся гейропа строят моно государства. Раб - хозяин. По другому не могут. Нутро мракобесов мешает.😂 Со времён древнего Рима. Аминь...
Because the Soviets mainly made up RUSSIANS and some Jews collaborating with them, were as oppressive, if not even more than the SS. which specifically targeted Jews and the Soviet fanatics due to their belief of Communism being a Judeo-Bolshevik device to subvert their society.
Both are bad, just of different shades and grades. This is how you make a nuance point without taking a side on either side.
There was no Lithuanian Waffen-SS Legion.
@@HistoryHustle
Hoo boy, that was over forty years ago. I think Latvian then, I know Jack was from the Baltics.
In Lithuania was always russian/russian speaking minority maybe not so significant like in Latvia and Estonia. Practically all of those russians who use to live in Lithuania during the interbellum were deported by soviets during the first occupation of 1940-1941 to siberia along with lithuanians and died there from malnutrition and horrible conditions. By the way during the 1944-1953 guerrilla war against the soviet invaders one of the most fierce "forest brothers" were russian "old believers" from Zarasai district (North-East). Unfortunately nowadays significant amount of the russian-speaking community in Lithuania are pro-moscow (pro-commie) scumbags. I trying to avoid to use word "russian" as russia literally doesn't exist for the last 101 year. What most of you call "russia" doesn't get any legal connection to Russia which existed a century ago.
Regarding Lithuanian troops under the german command during WWII is quite strange why you didn't mentioned general Povilas Plechavičius the head of Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force who was totally against establishment of the Lithuanian SS.
Blue Division
Already covered 👍
A book which is absolutely interesting to read about this topic is:
Ponary Diary, 1941-1943: A Bystander’s Account of a Mass Murder
Kazimierz Sakowicz
This is the first publication in English of the diary kept by Kazimierz Sakowicz from 1941 to 1943 in Ponary, near Wilno (Lithuanian Vilnius, Jewish Vilna). This diary, which describes the murders of some 50,000 to 60,000 Jewish men, women, and children by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators, is one of the most shocking documents of its time. Historians were denied access to the diary for many years, possibly because it provides evidence of the atrocities committed by Lithuanians (Sakowicz’s “Ponary riflemen”) as well as by the German occupiers of the city.
Thanks for sharing.
Why do you call them collaborators? They were fighting the Soviets. The Soviets invaded their Country in 1940 and were the enemy.
So why mass massacres of Poles and Jews in Ponary?
See video please.
@@BenyNukem do why mass massacres in polish auschwitz and stutthoff? Why did poles kill millions of jews?
Southern Lithuania including Vilnius was occupied by Poland when the Soviets incorporated Lithuania within the USSR.
@@rjames3981 incorporated? You mean occupied I belive.
Latvians and Estonians shouldn't have joined SS. Might be partial reason of why population is so bad now.
So bad now?
@HistoryHustle Well, about 1.2 million Latvians and around 500k Russians. Before wars was around 2mil Latvians if I am correct.
Why you don't talk about Ukrainian collaboration?
Why don't you check the channel and realize there are THREE videos on this topic.
This is the reason Lithuania never had SS units - the history. e.g.: Lithuanian Crusade - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Crusade
Please explain.
@@HistoryHustle Lithuania fought against Teutonic Order for 200 years. It was a constant battle for survival. Lithuania finally won, but payed a big price. Historic memory and deeply ingrained narratives didn't allow to fight on the side of Germans. Lithuanian intellectuals campaigned against recruiting to Lithuanian SS, therefore many of them were imprisoned in Stutthof. Among them - Balys Sruoga, who later wrote "Forest of the Gods" - one of the first memoirs in Europe about Nazi camps (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_the_Gods). Second reason is practical - very few wanted to fight for strange ideals on some foreign land. For example, Lithuanian general Plechavičius agreed to form "Vietinė rinktinė" (Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force) only after he was promised his soldiers will stay in Lithuania. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Territorial_Defense_Force
@@kestutisa3826 Wrong, that's not the reason, don't spread the soviet propaganda narratives...
@@Oberschutzee bye russian troll
@@kestutisa3826😂
IDK my friends lithuanian father sported a German army uniform
13:35. It’s a Belarusian flag.
I see!
Lithuanian flag* not belarusian
@@Oberschutzee it’s clearly white red white. Although looking at it again, you might be right.
It's clearly tricolour of yellow, green, and red@@paulmattt
🇱🇹 👍 🇷🇺👎🏼
Ok.
Battle of Murowana Oszmianka
Ok.
1:30 , WHY DID YOU SAY THAT HARONIA WAS PART OF "LITHUANIA " IN 19c. ? IT WAS PART OF the VILNIA´s Governorate!! Where the Aukštaitijans WERE IN MINORITY , THE BELARUSIANS REPRESENTED THE LARGEST GROUP IN the VILNIA´s Governorate. WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans (Lithuanian) ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans
Not sure what you mean Adam.
huh?! bulbash
@@HistoryHustle very bad, valter34 who is not professional historian GOT ME RIGHT . OK, STEP BY STEP, WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans (Lithuanian) ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans . DO YOU SEE ERROR 1:30 ?
@@valter34 No forest troll, I am Litwin, and you know it , WIKI : Vilna_Governorate - "Russian" Empire Census: Belarusian Language speakers 891,903 56.05 % (MAJORITY ) , Aukštaitijans ONLY - 79,720, 17.58 %. WITH other words Vilna_Governorate WAS BELARUSIAN Land in 1917 , NOT POLISH NOT DO Aukštaitijans . Any comment on this ?
Huh?! take your meds@@adamradziwill
IT WAS CALLED BALTIC ANTANT, NOT BALKAN ANTANT !!!
Entente, but did I say Baltic wrong? I stand corrected.
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12:30 15% Germanized
I see.
Unsurprisingly such topics are not talked about. Not in Lithuania at least, so thanks for the information.
Thank you for watching.
Apie ką tu čia kalbi? Kaiptik apie tai ir kalba per istorijos pamokas.
Ponary😭😭😭😭
Very sad, indeed.
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👍
Too much bullshit for person calling himself a historian.
@@astrusis_dantis3655 too much biased anger for a person to back up any claim.
@@HistoryHustle biased anger? I have no anger towards you at all, so stop imagining things. Ok, here is an example - you gave number of Lithuanians who "collaborated" with Germans, meaning they went to serve into German army. Number taken from German military registries. Talking about "collaboration" this number means nothing. Have you ever heard about Lithuania Minor? Lithuanians lived there, it was part of German state and they were (being citizens of Germany) simply mobilized into German army, not "collaborated". For example famous German sniper Bruno Sutkus was such mobilized Lithuanian. And that is just one example. Your story about general Plechavičius and Vietinė rinktinė is full of inaccuracies too. I have no time or wish to analyze your video step by step - do it yourself.
Do you perhaps know this very handsome distinguished looking gentleman 8:50
Can't tell.
Actually Wilno was a polish city, the same as Brześć, Lwów, Łuck, Stanisławów and others that were stolen by Stalin later on.
It was not just a city with a significant polish population as you indicate in your video.
poles founded it?
Actually, Danzig was a German city, just like Oppeln, Liegnitz, Breslau, Stettin, Köslin, Posen, Elbing and the others that Stalin later gifted to poland.
@@Oberschutzee btw, why are you using kraut names for cities that 1000 years ago were founded by Slavic, Polish, Czech etc tribes and now still belong to Slavic nations? Opole, Legnica, Wrocław, Szczecin, Koszalin, Poznań, Elbląg - these are names of western slavic/ polish origin. In German they have no meaning at all, these are all translations of slavic names into german language, the same with cities in Czech Republic like Jablonec nad Nisou (czech), Gablonz an der NeiBe (german).
What does Gablonz even mean 😆🤣😂😹 the word like Jablonec /Jablon/ Jabłoń is clearly of slavic origin and understable across all slavic languages.
@@hanibalesilveira What polak cities?! Except for a few slums with practically no population, there were no cities. Germans built civilised and expanded, they were rightful German cities and land with the majority of the population being German, later on, gifted to poland by the Allies and Stalin. In their own towns poles were a minority for 500 years polish towns were a Jewish majority 😂