ENGLISH SUMMARY
Nijolė Gaškaitė. Youth resistance and its suppression in sixties - seventies
Since the years of partizan war, youth which lived illegally organized itself into underground organizations. In 1946, MGB destroyed even 88 underground organizations with 1069 members. During the last years of partizan war, three directions of underground activities came to light practical help to still acting partizans, unarmed protest against occupation (distribution of proclamations, raising of national flags), and independent national (often-religious) educational activities.
The most significant examples of underground organizations were "United Labour Union" destroyed in 1952, "Independent Lithuanian Youth Union", "Vyčiai union". Besides, there were a lot of youth circles, called anti-Soviet groups in MGB documents. In 1952, they were found out in Švenčionys, Ignalina, Dūkštas, Anykščiai, Dusetos, Troškūnai, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Pagėgiai, Kybartai, Tytuvėnai, Kelmė, Ukmergė, Skuodas and other secondary schools.
Next year, situation in Soviet Union changed, partizan war was over and it was necessary to look for new forms of resistance, so establishing of underground organizations slowed down in 1953. But Hungary events of 1956 caused resistance in Lithuania too. In 1956-1957, even 38 underground organizations and groups were organized. Firs of all, some organizations had or wanted to acquire the arms for the case of war between USSR and Western countries. They had programs and organization structure. Later, this form of resistance changed. Youth organized itself into groups which acted within limits of Soviet law. There were literature circles, culture clubs etc.
KGB had changed its activities too. Physical suppression was changed into more delicate means of spiritual influence. KGB fulfilled some kind of spiritual terror by blackmail, discrediting in society, secret agents of influence. New form of suppression was so-called prophylaxis.
Its purpose was not just to stop anti-Soviet activities of the one to be prophylacted, but to make him change his ideological view of life too. Usually, prophylaxis plan was the following: people suspected in anti-Soviet activities were arrested, investigated and released in a few days. After that, they were off the pupils or students lists, condemned by meeting of their colleagues or by articles published in local press. For example, 179 persons were prophylacted in 1954, and in 1959, this number grew larger up to four hundred. Most of them were participants of individual resistance. A victim for prophylaxis and a suitable moment for it was selected by KGB agency. Sometimes it was simple examination of private correspondence. Its volume was stunning.
Diana Varnaitė.Today’s departments’correspondence becomes archive documents in the future
Today's documents (departments' correspondence, reports of investigation, minutes etc.) can become one of the sources for further future's historical researches, so it is important to accumulate and keep them for the future.
It is hard to say how many attempts to find partizans' remains (successful or not), to perpetuate their graves were made and what is role of state institutions in this process.
By the decisions of Supreme Council Presidium and Government of Lithuanian Republic of 1991-1992, special boards to solve problems of perpetuation of the memory of occupation victims (hereinafter called the Boards) were formed in towns and regions of Lithuania
In North Lithuania, where partizans' activities were not so active, for example, in Akmenė and Joniškis region, the mentioned boards had not much work. In some regions, the largest work of partizans' remains transferring was done till 1992.
Nevertheless, boards of many regions tried to work systematically. Programs of searching of partizans' remains, re-burying works were prepared.
Boards of Jurbarkas, Kaišiadorys, Kėdainiai, Klaipėda, Marijampolė, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, Širvintos, Švenčionys, Varėna and other regions prepared designs for partizans' monuments, found out the places where killed partizans, Jewish people, clergymen were buried and their names, tried to find partizans' bunkers, to fulfill archeological and historical researches, to collect reminiscences of witnesses, to co-operate with political prisoners and deportees and so on.
Huge work was done by Ignalina region board. It published information about its work in the press and asked the readers to inform about the berrying places they know, collected data about the destroyers trough the department of social insurance, reviewed documents of Soviet state institutions etc.
There are no data about the sork of boards of Plungė, Šakiai, Telšiai, Trakai, Ukmergė regions, doubtful activities were performed by Raseiniai, Šilutė and Tauragė regions boards.
J.Matusevičius.Colonization of Lithuania in 1940-1941
Result of occupation and annexation of 1940 was the colonization of the country. Features of self-dependence of state system, as institutions of independent state power and administration, internal and foreign policy and economics, armed forces, frontiers, law, citizens' rights and others were liquidated. Innocent inhabitants were deported to Siberia or other polar regions. Instead of them, colonists were sent to occupied country. Leading positions in Lithuanian government, administration and industry were given to them. Policy of sovietization and colonization was performed not only by new-comers, but by local population of non-Lithuanian nationality (Russians, Byelorussians, Jewish, Ukrainiers etc.) who were attracted to political and economical life too. In distribution of the positions, attention first of all was paid to part-membership, social origin (usually it was identical to nationality) and just after that to the experience.
Communist party with its Marxist-Leninist ideology had played fatal role in sovietization of Lithuania. First meeting of LCP was held on 11 09 1941, Moscow representative was elected one of the secretaries. Moscow did not trust even in local communists. The main decisions were made in Moscow.
Primary party organizations were not large. The biggest organization which had made a huge damage for Lithuanian nation, fulfilled repressions, genocide, tortures and deportations was NKVD. In the end of 1940, there were 150 party and 45 komsomol members in it.
Of course, leaders of industry, banking, economy of independent Lithuania could not create communist system. According to some sources, there were almost 30 000 state employees in independent Lithuania. After its incorporation to USSR, number of the officials had grown larger three times. Instead of former 9 ministries 16 new ones appeared, and later, the number of people’s commissariats became larger too.
In economical aspect, there were enough specialists for Lithuania. Level of Lithuanian economics was much higher than in USSR, and it shows higher competence of Lithuanian leaders. New-comers did not know local specific conditions and Lithuanian language, so they could not work better that local workers. But the main thing was that specialists-communists were required in sovietization of Lithuania.
Colonists came to Lithuania not only by the decision of party and government. They looked for better life conditions too. Their transferring to Lithuania was done on the expenses of our budget. They have got the flats promptly, travel expenses and allowances were paid, members of their families have got various privileges and advantages.
Eugenijus Grunskis.Historiography of Soviet "people’s defenders" (destroyers) in Lithuania
Red army entered Lithuania in the beginning of July, 1944. The second Soviet occupation had begun. The Red army was followed by USSR NKVD internal, border and escort troops, which had to destroy "counter - revolution and socially dangerous elements".
Soviet NKVD army was main and fatal armed force to suppress resistance of Lithuanian nation. Nevertheless, by the decision of occupation power, special military units of local population were established in Lithuania, as well as in other occupied countries (Estonia, Latvia, West Byelorussia, West Ukraine). These units were called destruction battalions, and their soldiers -the destroyers.
Destroyers had just auxiliary role in military operations against partizans. But they took part in mass deportations, accompanied party and Soviet activists, kept watch of Soviet institutions, pollingstations.
By physical and moral terror, they made people to enter collective farms, checked payment of state taxes and so on.
Officially, the destroyers were called people's defenders, but because of their cruelty and immoral behavior they were known as thieves, drunkards and murders.
In Soviet Lithuania, destroyers were described just fragmentically, by researchers of history of Lithuanian communist party. Statistic data about destroyers - numbers were not full, the attention was paid to describe "cruelty of bandits and other bourgeois nationalists", to show "people's defenders'" efforts to protect poor inhabitants and country Soviet activists from "bandits’ terror". The conclusion of Soviet historiography was the one "people's defenders" had destroyed "anti-Soviet nationalistic armed underground" and protected the nation from "class enemy".
Abroad, destroyers' phenomena was analyzed in detail by wellknown social activist Juozas Brazaitis (Ambrazevičius) and philosopher and politologian Kęstutis K.Girnius. Their works were based on partizans' reports about destroyers' activities, press of Soviet Lithuania and articles of journalists and historians.
After the restoration of Independence, many articles written on the grounds of former secret archive funds of party and repression institutions were published Nijolė Gaškaitė presented many interesting facts about destroyers' cruelty, their participation in shockers units organized by KGB major Aleksej Sokolov. Juozas Starkauskas has begun to publish his large article about destroyers organization and composition, their fights with partizans. Destroyers organization, their role in the struggle against resistance was described by E.Grunskis, L.Truska, A.Anušauskas and others. Important source is the reminiscences of partizans, especially their leaders, and their evidences during investigations. Some data can be found in the memories of destroyers themselves.
Nevertheless, historiographical analysis lets us make a conclusion that destroyers' problem is still unsolved. Evaluations of their activity and role are various and often discrepant
Juozas Starkauskas.Post-war Lithuania in documents of Soviet activists
In these documents, cases of criminal behavior of occupants Themselves are registered Repression structures often used to"offend Soviet law",
according to their own terminology, which means: to shoot, to torture, to rave, to steal and so on.
During post-war period, partizans fought with much more stronger enemy they had a hope to restore an independent Lithuanian state. But repression structures of occupants and communist party even more provoked this partizan resistance which had no precedent in a whole Europe. NKVD, MVD, NKGB, SMERS, border and internal troops, destroyers and others made this war much more cruel because of their brutality.
With the help of local collaborants, occupants fulfilled a double terror — legal and illegal. Soviet activists had brought a huge "work experience" from Russia, and they helped to rule the occupied land co-ordinating both forms of terror.
Local party bureaucrats tried to compare to compare to the new-comers. They had a material interest of "illegal" terror, besides, sometimes they could to satisfact their sadistic turns. Some of them were punished, because they crossed the limits even of Soviet cruelty.
Number of "illegal" crimes grew smaller since 1947-1948, because it was possible to torture people officially with a special permission. Most of Soviet activists were almost illiterate. There were no one LSSR MGB minister with a higher education, some colonels had just a primary education. Their road to the career was a sincere faith in Stalin-Lenin ideas and unlimited cruelty.
After the war, atrocities of various repression structures in Lithuanian country were limited by partizans. According to the reports of Soviet activists, there were many districts without Soviet power. Large Soviet troops used to devastate such district from time to time, but then partizans used to take control under them again, and people could live peacefully and work in their farms for a while.
