Nachman Dushanski (, , ; December 29, 1919 – February 20, 2008) was a

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

-born

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

officer of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

security agencies. For over thirty years, he was involved in the suppression of the

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

and

Nazi collaborators In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion". Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops they believed would liberate their ...

who fought against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In Russia, he was regarded as a war hero and was awarded the Medal for Courage,

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, and

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, while many Lithuanians perceived him as a

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

for the killing and torture of Viktoras Vitkauskas,

Juozas Lukša Juozas Lukša (10 August 1921 – 4 September 1951), also known among other pseudonyms as Daumantas and Skirmantas, was a leader of the anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisan armed resistance movement. Life Lukša was born on 10 August 1921 to a fa ...

and other partisans. In 1989, Dushanski immigrated to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. After Lithuania declared independence in 1990, Lithuanian prosecutors began a case for 9 criminal activities, but

refused to

extradite In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

him, on the grounds that the case was motivated by anti-Semitism. Dushanski died a free man in 2008.

Early life

He was born in to a large

family with a long military background. Dushanski's father was blinded during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and could not provide for the large family. Therefore, after graduating from the 6th grade, Dushanski began working. This early exposure to manual labor pushed him into communism–socialism and, in 1934, he joined the illegal Lithuanian branch of the Komsomol (Communist Union of Youth) and helped distributing underground communist publications. For such communist activities he was arrested in June 1936. First, he was jailed in a

juvenile prison In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile dete ...

; later he was transferred to prisons in

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

and

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

. While in prison, Dushanski joined the

Lithuanian Communist Party The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

in 1938.

Soviet security officer

World War II

He was released when Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in June 1940 and was given a job as an assistant security officer at the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

office in

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the ol ...

. His duties included securing the Soviet Union – Nazi Germany border. He was involved in mass arrests of the "

enemies of the people The terms enemy of the people and enemy of the nation are designations for the political opponents and the social-class opponents of the power group within a larger social unit, who, thus identified, can be subjected to political repression. ...

" and the

June deportation The June deportation of 1941 (, , ) was a mass deportation of tens of thousands of people during World War II from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, present-day western Belarus and western Ukraine, and present-day Moldova – territories which had been ...

. Conflicting witnesses testimony implicated Dushanski in the

Rainiai massacre The Rainiai massacre () was the mass murder of between 70 and 80 Lithuanians, Lithuanian political prisoners by the NKVD, with help from the Red Army, in a forest near Telšiai, Lithuania, during the night of June 24–25, 1941. It was one of NKVD ...

, one of the many

NKVD prisoner massacres The NKVD prisoner massacres were a series of mass executions of political prisoners carried out by the NKVD, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, across Eastern Europe, primarily in Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states ...

at the beginning of the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

. According to Dushanski, at the time he was returning from a vacation in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

and was attempting to evacuate his family from Šiauliai into Russia. However, the train did not leave the station and his parents and three siblings perished during

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

; only his brother Jacob survived. Dushanski evacuated through

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He was stationed in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

during the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

and was put on firewood duty. Between spring 1942 and summer 1943, he attended intensive NKVD training courses on identification of spies, recruitment, interrogation, and other areas in preparation for work behind the German lines. He became a junior lieutenant of the KGB in January 1943, captain by 1945, and lieutenant colonel in 1956. He was deployed in the

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

area to capture German officers and other collaborators. Dushanski and other agents would dress in German uniforms, cross the front line, and arrest German officers.

Post-war

After the

Minsk Offensive The Minsk offensive () was part of the second phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. The Red Army encircled the German 4th Army (Wehrmacht), Fourth Army in the city of ...

, Dushanski returned to Lithuania where he was assigned to the duties of the suppression of the

, the armed

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism or anti-Soviet sentiment are activities that were actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union. Three common uses of the term include the following: * Anti-Sovietism in inter ...

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

fighters. He was involved in the liquidation of the commands of the Tauras, Dainava, and Prisikėlimas districts, the killing of Juozas Vitkus and

, and arrest and torture of

Adolfas Ramanauskas Adolfas Ramanauskas (March 6, 1918 – November 29, 1957), code name Vanagas (), was a one of the leaders of the Lithuanian partisans and the anti-Soviet Resistance in Lithuania during World War II, resistance. In 2018, the Seimas of Lithuania po ...

. According to Dushanski, he was also involved in the apprehension of former

Nazi collaborator In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals Collaborationism, collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion". Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops they believed wou ...

s, Holocaust perpetrators, and members of the

Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions The Lithuanian Auxiliary Police was a Schutzmannschaft formation formed during the German occupation of Lithuania between 1941 and 1944, with the first battalions originating from the most reliable freedom fighters, disbanded following the 194 ...

(''

Schutzmannschaft The ''Schutzmannschaft'', or Auxiliary Police ( "protection team"; plural: ''Schutzmannschaften'', abbreviated as ''Schuma'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and the Balti ...

''). In 1964, Dushanski graduated from the Law Faculty of

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

. He retired from the Soviet security agencies in 1971 and worked as a jurist at a chemical factory and engineer at a computing directorate. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

in 1989, just before the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

Lithuanian investigation

In 1996, now-independent Lithuanian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Dushanski. He was investigated on nine counts of repressions against the Lithuanian partisans. However, Israel refused to cooperate and did not respond to Lithuanian requests to question Dushanski as a witness or to extradite him on the grounds that the case stemmed from

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Israel argued that there were at least 20 KGB and NKVD officers who were involved in similar reprisal actions and who lived in Lithuania, but were not prosecuted. Therefore, Israel concluded that Dushanski was being singled out because he was Jewish. Lithuania replied that the list contained names of people who had already died or who were born in post-war years and were too young to participate in the anti-partisan operations.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dushanski, Nachman 1919 births 2008 deaths Israeli Jews KGB officers Jewish communists Lithuanian communists Lithuanian Jews NKVD officers People from Haifa People from Šiauliai Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia) Soviet emigrants to Israel Soviet Jews Soviet people of World War II Vilnius University alumni