The Lithuanian Security Police (LSP), also known as Saugumas ( lt, Saugumo policija), was a local police force that operated in
German-occupied Lithuania from 1941 to 1944, in
collaboration with the occupational authorities.
[ Collaborating with the Nazi ]Sipo
The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
(security police) and SD (intelligence agency of the SS),[ the unit was directly subordinate to the German ]Kripo
''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...
(criminal police).[ The LSP took part in perpetrating ]the Holocaust in Lithuania
The Holocaust in Lithuania resulted in the near total destruction of Lithuanian (Litvaks) and Polish Jews, living in '' Generalbezirk Litauen'' of ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' within the Nazi-controlled Lithuanian SSR. Out of approximately 20 ...
, persecuting Polish resistance and communist underground.
Background and formation
When Soviet Union occupied Lithuania on 15 June 1940, the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
was liquidated and replaced by the Soviet NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
. Many former employees of the Ministry were arrested and imprisoned as so-called enemies of the people
The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...
. When Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Lithuanians organized an anti-Soviet June Uprising in hopes that they could restore Lithuanian independence. Therefore, they started restoring pre-Soviet state institutions under the Provisional Government of Lithuania
The Provisional Government of Lithuania ( lt, Laikinoji Vyriausybė) was a temporary government aiming for independent Lithuania during the last days of the first Soviet occupation and the first months of German Nazi occupation in 1941.
It w ...
. On 24 June 1941, the Provisional Government recreated the pre-war Ministry of Internal Affairs with three departments – State Security, Police, and Prisons.[ The State Security Department headed by . The government asked all those who worked there prior to 15 June 1940 to report back for duty. Many of them were just released from Soviet prisons.][
After the German take-over of Lithuania, it became apparent that the Germans had no intention to grant autonomy to Lithuania. Instead, on 25 July 1941, they established a civil administration known as '']Generalbezirk Litauen
Generalbezirk Litauen ( lt, Lietuvos generalinė sritis, ) was one of the four administrative subdivisions of ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'', the 1941-1945 civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany for the administration of the three ...
'' under ''Generalkommissar'' Adrian von Renteln file:Adrian von Renteln.jpg, Theodor Adrian von Renteln
Theodor Adrian von Renteln (15 September 1897 – 1946 (disputed)) was an activist and politician in Nazi Germany. During World War II, he was General Commissioner of ''Generalbezirk Litauen'' ...
, and the Provisional Government was dissolved on 5 August 1941. At the same time, the police and intelligence agencies recreated during the transitional period were found useful and were incorporated into the German security system. The former State Security Department was reorganised to the Lithuanian Security Police.[
]
Organization
External structure
The police in German-occupied Lithuania consisted of separate German and Lithuanian units. The most important German police organizations were the SiPo (security police, german: Sicherheitspolizei
The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
) and SD (security service, german: Sicherheitsdienst
' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
), commanded by Karl Jäger
Karl Jäger (; 20 September 1888 – 22 June 1959) was a German mid-ranking official in the '' SS'' of Nazi Germany and '' Einsatzkommando'' leader who perpetrated acts of genocide during the Holocaust.
Early life and career
Jäger was born in Sc ...
and headquartered in Kaunas, and the public police (german: Schutzpolizei
The ''Schutzpolizei'' (), or ''Schupo'' () for short, is a uniform-wearing branch of the ''Landespolizei'', the state (''Land'') level police of the states of Germany. ''Schutzpolizei'' literally means security or protection police, but it is b ...
).[ The major Lithuanian police organisations were the Public Police, Lithuanian Security and Criminal Police (combined at the end of 1942 into one force), ]Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions
The Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions were Schutzmannschaft battalions formed during the German occupation of Lithuania between 1941 and 1944, with the first battalions originating from the most reliable freedom fighters that were disbande ...
(Lithuanian ''Schutzmannschaft
The ''Schutzmannschaft'' or Auxiliary Police ( "protective, or guard units"; plural: ''Schutzmannschaften'', abbreviated as ''Schuma'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and ...
''), Railway Police and Fire Police. Lithuanian police organizations were subordinate to their respective German counterparts.[ Neighboring Latvia and Estonia did not have an equivalent to LSP.][
The LSP was dependent on the German SiPo and SD. It had the authority to sentence suspects up to three years.][ Larger sentences had to be reviewed and approved by Karl Jäger who always increased the sentences.][ ]Wilhelm Fuchs
Oberführer and Oberst of Police Wilhelm Fuchs (1 September 1898, in Mannheim – 24 January 1947, in Belgrade) was a Nazi Einsatzkommando leader. From April 1941 to January 1942 he commanded Einsatzgruppe Serbia. From 15 September 1943 throu ...
,[ the new commander of '']Einsatzkommando 3
During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellect ...
'', wanted to liquidate LSP and incorporate it into the German police, but Stasys Čenkus wrote him a letter defending LSP usefulness and it was left undisturbed.[
]
Internal structure
The head of the Lithuanian Security and Criminal Police was , an agent of Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
. He kept this position until the end of the German occupation. His deputy assistants were head of the Security Police Kazys Matulis and personal secretary Vytenis Stasiškis. Petras Pamataitis headed Criminal Police.[
LSP had a staff of approximately 400 people, 250 of them in ]Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
[ and around another 130 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 ...
.[ Many of its members came from the fascist Iron Wolf organisation.][ For comparison, as of December 1943, the German SiPo and SD had 112 employees in Kaunas and 40 employees in Vilnius.][ The combined Lithuanian Security and Criminal Police had 886 employees in 1943.][
LSP was headquartered in ]Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
. The headquarters were divided onto several directories: Organization (recruitment and employee selection), Economical and Financial (general administration), and Information (collected reports from other departments and agencies, created registry of state enemies, organized archive).[
LSP had six regional branches in Kaunas (headed by Albinas Čiuoderis), ]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 ...
(Aleksandras Lileikis
Aleksandras Lileikis (10 June 1907 – 26 September 2000) was the chief of the Lithuanian Security Police in Vilnius during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania and a perpetrator of the Holocaust in Lithuania. He signed documents handing at least 7 ...
), Šiauliai
Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County.
Names
Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different l ...
(Juozas Pakulis), Ukmergė
Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; pl, Wiłkomierz) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius, with a population of about 20,000.
Etymology and variant names
The city took its original name ''Vilkmergė'' from t ...
(Aleksandras Braziukaitis), Marijampolė
Marijampolė (; also known by several other names) is a cultural and industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Mari ...
(Petras Banys) and Panevėžys
Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...
(Antanas Liepa). Regional branches usually had seven commissariats:[
* Guards' Commissariat – guarded buildings and prisons
* General Commissariat – general administrative functions
* Information Commissariat – screened applicants to governmental institutions, gathered operative information, created lists of state enemies, gathered information on political attitudes of local population, preparing reports and publications
* Communist Commissariat – gathered information on communists and ]Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...
, arrested and interrogated suspects, recruited agents
* Polish Commissariat – investigated activities of illegal Polish organizations, arrested and interrogated suspects, recruited agents
* Commissariat of Ethnic Minorities – investigated activities of Russians, Belarusians and other ethnic minorities
* Reconnaissance Commissariat
Regional branches sometimes had different set of commissariats, for example Kaunas's branch had a separate commissariat for right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
organizations.[
]
Activities
Persecution of communists and Polish resistance
The initial task of LSP was identifying and arresting communists. During the first months of German occupation, the Communist Commissariat of the Vilnius branch, headed by Juozas Bagdonis, was especially active. This commissariat in documents of 1941 is sometimes referred to as the Communist-Jewish section (). This commissariat was responsible for spying on, arresting and interrogating communists, members of Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
, former Soviet government workers, NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
collaborators, Jews and supporters of Jews.[ In Kaunas, the LSP arrested about 200 communists; about 170 of them were on a list of known communists. On 26 June 1941, this group was transferred to the ]Seventh Fort
The Seventh Fort or VII Fort is a defensive fortification built in Žaliakalnis district of Kaunas, Lithuania, during implementation of the first phase of the construction of the Kaunas Fortress. It is located near the Hospital of Lithuanian ...
and executed. The next day Germans forbade Lithuanians to order executions independently.[
As the war continued, the focus shifted to operations against ]Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...
and Polish resistance particularly active in eastern Lithuania.[ In February 1942, German SiPo and SD mandated registration of Polish ]intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
(cf. proscription
Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...
list).[
]
Persecution of Jews
During the first weeks of German occupation, LSP was focused on persecuting communists regardless of their nationality. At that time, Jews were persecuted only if they were involved in communist activities.[ Members of LSP collected at least some evidence to support the charge. However, that quickly changed and Jews became persecuted because of their ethnicity. The LSP targeted Jews and suspected Jews, supporters of Jews, people evading imprisonment in the ghettos, escapees from ghettos,][ or those who violated the Nazi racial laws.][
The activities of the LSP offices in major cities (Vilnius, Kaunas) and in the provinces differed in principle.][ The LSP officers in major cities would most often study more complicated cases of political and strategic character, thus not directly participating in mass killings of the Jews. After interrogations, the Jews were handed over either to the ]Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
or to another Lithuanian collaborationist force named Ypatingasis būrys, which then transported them to the mass murder site of Paneriai or to other places of mass execution.[ The LSP offices in the province took an active role in the Holocaust and, altogether, were more active. Here, the LSP officials would not only conduct the interrogations, but would also organize mass arrests, transport Jews to the venues of imprisonment or execution, and carry out the executions.][
]
Postwar developments
At the end of the war many members of the Lithuanian Security Police fled to Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
, notably to Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.[ In 1955, the former commander of its Vilnius branch, ]Aleksandras Lileikis
Aleksandras Lileikis (10 June 1907 – 26 September 2000) was the chief of the Lithuanian Security Police in Vilnius during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania and a perpetrator of the Holocaust in Lithuania. He signed documents handing at least 7 ...
, emigrated to the United States, where he obtained citizenship, of which he was stripped in 1996.[ In Lithuania, Lileikis's trial was postponed several times due to his poor health; he died at age 93 without trial.] Lileikis gave interviews to the press and published a memoir ''Pažadinto laiko pėdsakais'' () in which he denied any wrongdoing.[
Kazys Gimžauskas, deputy of Lileikis, who returned to Lithuania after US authorities began to investigate him in 1996, was convicted in 2001 of participation in genocide.] In 2006, Algimantas Dailidė
Algimantas Mykolas Dailidė (12 March 1921 – 2015) was an official of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian Security Police (Saugumas) during World War II. After the war, Dailidė sought refuge in the United States, saying he had been a "forester." Whil ...
was convicted in Lithuania of persecuting and arresting two Poles and 12 Jews while he was a member of Lithuanian Security Police.
See also
* Lithuanian collaboration during World War II
References
{{SS organizations
Collaboration with the Axis Powers
Generalbezirk Litauen
Law enforcement agencies of Lithuania
Lithuanian collaboration with Nazi Germany
Local participation in the Holocaust
The Holocaust in Lithuania