Lithuanian partisans is a generic term used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

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 welcomed as liberators from the repres ...

. A part of the Lithuanian partisans who fought against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

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 {{Jews and Judaism sidebar , Population Litvaks ({{Langx, yi, ליטװאַקעס) or Lita'im ({{Langx, he, לִיטָאִים) are Jews who historically resided in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuan ...

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 – 29 August 1988) was a Lithuanian paramilitary commander who was born in Kaunas and died in Hamburg. He was infamous for his role in the Kaunas pogrom in June 1941. Klimaitis was likely an officer in the Lithuanian ...

and active in Kaunas at the end of June 1941 *

Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas The Lithuanian TDA (; ) Battalion or simply TDA, was a paramilitary battalion organized in June–August 1941 by the Provisional Government of Lithuania at the onset of Operation Barbarossa. Members of the TDA were known by many names such as Lithu ...

(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 and

Ninth Fort The Ninth Fort () is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, built in the late 19th century. During the Soviet occupation, the fort was used as a prison and way-statio ...

s *

Rollkommando Hamann ''Rollkommando'' Hamann () 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 for many murders in L ...

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 ''Ypatingasis būrys'' (, ) or Special Squad of the German Security Police and SD () was a killing squad operating in the Vilnius Region in 1941–1944. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers,Timothy Snyder, ''The Reconstruction o ...

formed in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and participants in the

Ponary massacre The Ponary massacre (), or the Paneriai massacre (), was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German '' SD'' and '' SS'' and the Lithuanian '' Ypatingasis būrys'' killing squads, during World War II a ...

References

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