Lithuanian partisans is a generic term used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by Nazi officials and quoted in books by modern historians to describe Lithuanian

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

fighters, thus collaborators with the Nazis during the first months of the

German occupation of Lithuania during World War II The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were widely welcomed as liberators from the re ...

. A part of the Lithuanian partisans who fought against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during the June Uprising, were later organized into various auxiliary units by German Nazis. A minority of the units assisted and actively participated in mass executions of the

Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas ...

mostly in June–August 1941. The term "Lithuanian partisans" might apply to several different and unrelated groups during 1941 and later: * A group led by Nazi agent

Algirdas Klimaitis Algirdas Klimaitis (1910 in Kaunas – 29 August 1988 in Hamburg) was a Lithuanian paramilitary commander, infamous for his role in the Kaunas pogrom in June 1941. It is likely that Klimaitis was an officer in the Lithuanian Army. During the p ...

and active in Kaunas at the end of June 1941 *

Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas The Lithuanian TDA Battalions ( lt, Tautinio darbo apsaugos batalionas) or TDA, were paramilitary units organized in June–August 1941 by the Provisional Government of Lithuania at the onset of Operation Barbarossa. Members of the TDA were known by ...

(TDA) was formed in Kaunas as basis for independent Lithuanian army, but soon transformed into a Nazi auxiliary unit participating in executions of the Jews at the

Seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

and

Ninth Fort The Ninth Fort ( lt, Devintas Fortas) is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, which was constructed in the late 19th century. During the occupation of Kaunas and th ...

s *

Rollkommando Hamann ''Rollkommando'' Hamann ( lt, skrajojantis būrys) was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible ...

and its Lithuanian auxiliaries from TDA, responsible for mass murders in the countryside * Lithuanian Police Battalions formed in Vilnius from 3,600 deserters from the 29th Lithuanian Territorial Corps of the Red Army * Ypatingasis būrys formed in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

and participant in the

Ponary massacre , location = Paneriai (Ponary), Vilnius (Wilno), Reichskommissariat Ostland , coordinates = , date = July 1941 – August 1944 , incident_type = Shootings by automatic and semi-automatic weapons, genocide , perpetrators ...

References

1941 in Lithuania The Holocaust in Lithuania Lithuanian collaboration with Nazi Germany {{WWII-stub