Genocidas ir rezistencija (Nr. 2) http://www.tdd.lt/genocid/pr02.htm

Articles of the International Conference “Investigation Problems of the History of the Resistance Against Totalitarian Regimes”, October 3–4, 1997, Vilnius

---

Oleksandr Vovk. Paskutinis karinis ir politinis sąjūdis dėl Ukrainos nepriklausomybės

The Latest Armed and Political Movement for the Independence of Ukraine

 

Arvydas Anušauskas. Ginkluotos kovos dėl Baltijos šalių ir Vakarų Ukrainos nepriklausomybės lyginamoji analizė

Comparative Analysis of Armed Resistance for Independence in the Baltic Countries and Ukraine

 

Juozas Starkauskas. Sovietinė vidaus kariuomenė. Jos taktika ir veiklos metodai (1944–1953)

Soviet Home Army, Its Strategy and Tactics in 1944–1953

 

Arūnas Streikus. Lietuvos Katalikų Bažnyčia ir ginkluotasis pasipriešinimo sąjūdis Lietuvoje

The Church and the Armed Resistance Movement

 

Dalia Kuodytė. Lietuvos rezistencijos ryšiai su Vakarais

The Resistance of Lithuania and the West

 

Aleksandras Kokurinas. SSRS NKGB–MGB struktūra

USSR NKGB–MGB Structure

 

Tiit Noormets. Ginkluotasis pasipriešinimo sąjūdis ir partizaninis karas Estijoje 1941 m.

Armed Resistance Movement and Guerrilla War in Estonia in 1941

 

Aleksandras Gurjanovas. Gyventojų trėmimo į SSRS gilumą mastas (1941 m. gegužės–birželio mėn.)

Exiles to the far Regions of the USSR in May–June, 1941

 

Heinrihs Strods. Visiškai slapta SSRS MGB Baltijos šalių gyventojų trėmimo operacija (1949 m. vasario 25 d.–rugpjūčio 23 d.)

Top Secret Deportation Operation of the Population of the Baltic Countries (in February 25–August 23, 1949)

 

Wanda Krystyna Roman. Centrinio karo archyvo fondų dokumentai apie Lenkijos kariuomenės karininkų politines represijas (1944–1956)

Central War Archive Documents about the Repression against Military Officers of Polish Army in 1944–1956

 

Ritvars Jansons. Latvijos SSR MGB specialiosios grupės ir specialieji agentai kovoje su tautinėmis ginkluotomis formuotėmis (1946–1953)

Latvian SSR MGB Special Troops and Special Agents Against National Armed Units in 1946–1953

 

Janis Vasilevskis. Ginkluoti tautinio pasipriešinimo junginiai – SSRS (Latvijos SSR) ir Didžiosios Britanijos specialiųjų tarnybų operatyvinių žaidimų terpė (1945–1956)

Armed National Resistance Units – the Medium of the Games of the SSSR/Latvian SSR and Great Britain Special Operative Services in 1945–1956

 

Nijolė Žemaitienė. MGB–KGB agentūra okupuotoje Lietuvoje

MGB–KGB Agencies in Occupied Lithuania

 

Viktor Niitsoo. Pasipriešinimo sąjūdis Estijoje (1955–1985)

Resistance Movement in Estonia in 1955–1985

 

Indulis Zālīte. Pagrindinės neprievartinio pasipriešinimo formos ir slaptasis nacionalizmas ­ vidinis nepaklusimas sovietiniam režimui Latvijoje (aštuntasis–devintasis dešimtmečiai)

The Basic Non-violence Resistance Forms and Hidden Nationalism as Inner Insubordination to the Soviet Regime in Latvia in seventies and eighties

 

Jan Pięta. Lenkijos karinės archyvinės komisijos veikla renkant ir tiriant dokumentus apie totalitarinių režimų aukas

The Activities of War Archives Committee in Collecting Documents about the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes

---

The Latest Armed and Political Movement for the Independence of Ukraine
S u m m a r y

The armed movement for the independence of Ukraine can be linked with the outcome of the fall of two empires - the Empire of Russia and the Empire of Austria. It is also closely connected the policy pursued by Poland, Germany and the USSR after the World War Two. The Ukrainian National Organisation (UNO) was founded in Vienna in 1929. Its ideology was based on integral nationalism characteristic to post-war Europe. The most active and largest organisations were in Western Ukraine (the territory of Galicia ) and in the North West Lands of Ukraine (Volyne and Polese)

It should be noted that the ideological activity of the UNO and the UPA (Ukrainian Uprising Army) during the WWT was radically changed. The UNO severely criticise both Nazi and Soviet imperialism. The organisation rejected the model of dictatorship of single party and advocated the idea of Ukrainian Nationalism based on the concept of revolutionary democracy. Its aim was to fight mercilessly against both totalitarian states.

In 1944–1954 the Armed Ukrainian Underground executed 14, 424 attacks against the Soviets. Fifty thousand people perished, 30 thousand of them were from NKVD–MVD ranks and the Red Army soldiers, and – 25 thousand were the so-called “peaceful residents”, most of whom were the representatives of the Soviet authorities and active supporters of Stalin’s regime.

According to the Soviet data only during two years from 1944 to 1945 there fell 103, 313 participants of armed resistance and 110, 783 were detained.

The history of armed resistance had a considerable impact to the course of the events in Ukraine as long as 1991 when the process of “perestroika” ended in the re-establishment of the independence of Ukraine.

Comparative Analysis of Armed Resistance for Independence in the Baltic Countries and Ukraine
S u m m a r y

The struggle of Western Ukraine for the independent State of Ukraine against Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany goes back to 1918. The movement for the restoration of independence in Baltic countries after the Soviet occupation in 1940 grew into armed resistance in 1941. The geopolitical situation in 1940– 1941, postured the Soviet Union as the worst enemy of the independence movements in the Baltic countries. The non-aggression and lingering strategy was practised with respect to German occupation. Whereas the Soviet occupation policy was opposed by armed resistance as well as other means. The armed resistance movements in the Baltic Countries and Western Ukraine in 1944–1953 became major determinants for the future historical events.

Studies of armed resistance in other Soviet-held territories, their respective scale and intensity, can be compared with the scale and intensity of armed resistance in Lithuania and Western Ukraine. For instance in 1947 the scope of the movement in Lithuania was 9–15 times intense than in Latvia in, battles with MVD–MGB forces and sustained casualties on both sides. The movement in Estonia accordingly was 3–4 times smaller than in Latvia. Anti Soviet movements in the struggle against totalitarian regimes both in Baltic Countries and Ukraine were based on the support of their populations inherent national values and the quest for independence. It was the first strong blow to communist regime and armed response to genocide policy.

Soviet Home Army, Its Strategy and Tactics in 1944–1953
S u m m a r y

In 1944–1945 Lithuania was devastated by eleven of NKVD army rear defence regiments of four fronts., 7 frontier platoons, 4–5 infantry regiments and 3–4 special NKVD regiments. The enemy did not take into account the patriotism of the people of Lithuania and the specifics of guerrilla war, especially when the war is supported by the majority of the population. KGB made methodological mistakes in tracing the leaders of partisans and the roots of resistance. The inert communist – KGB way of thinking reasoned that people against the Soviets should be rallied round either by a personality or by some organisation. That is why in their instruction they directed to look for leaders of the underground first, and only then for partisan detachments. About a hundred different platoons were sent to the forests of Lithuania to fight partisans every day and per year the number of such platoons per year totalled 44–65 thousand platoons The number of platoons fighting against partisans was 45–65 thousand per year.

THE CHURCH AND THE ARMED RESISTANCE MOVEMENT

S u m m a r y

On the basis of a wide range of archival sources the paper addresses the relations between the Catholic Church of Lithuania with the Armed Resistance Movement in post-World War II Lithuania. In the initial stage of the movement the episcopate of Lithuania took the position of a non-interference policy i.e. they did not support the armed resistance overtly. But on the other hand the episcopate did not agree to be used as a suppressive instrument of the armed resistance movement. Later on, when four of six bishops of Lithuania were subject to occupation repression by the Soviets and were replaced by a far more loyal ecclesiastics, the ruling hierarchy of the Lithuanian Church consented to call on the partisans to cease the armed resistance. This attitude did not exert major influence over the slackening of the movement, since the partisans were very well aware of the fact that the statements made by those bishopric proprietors did not represent the genuine voice of the Church.

The Resistance of Lithuania and the West

S u m m a r y

The title of the paper itself defines the research object of the author, i.e. the relation of the resistance leaders and governing bodies in Lithuania and the resistance organisations set up in the West. Broadly speaking the West was of major importance to resistance in Lithuania due to some relevant reasons. First, it was related to the hope of military conflict because the leaders of the resistance, the majority of whom were servicemen, were very well aware of the fact that only in that case, the guerrilla war could result in victory. Second, a part population that retreated to the West, at least during the Nazi occupation, were those who generated the idea of resistance or/and were the leaders of the resistance organisations. Namely the resistance felt the lack of such people – commanders and leaders – at least at the beginning of post-war years and jumped to any opportunity to intercommunicate with them . But the hopes of the fighting country failed.

USSR NKGB–MGB Structure

S u m m a r y

By the decree of April 14, 1943 of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR, NKVD was disestablished and became an independent State Security People’s Commissariat (SSSR NKGB) as was the case in 1941. The process of reorganisation of Operation Boards took place till March of 1953. They were either joined or disjoined. The type of their work changed and new frameworks were introduced as some of the functions of the MVD were assigned to MGB The process was likely due to Stalin’s intention to establish a powerful and centralised state security service. Though Stalin increased the influence of MGB for home affairs, he deprived MGB of its most important and traditional activities that of intelligence service. In 1947 the resolution to conjoin all departments and services of intelligence service was passed (the USSR MGB 1st Supreme Board, the Supreme Intelligence Service Board of the Ministry of Armed Forces, CK of VKP(b) and other intelligence service and information schemes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade , etc.). The Committee of Information to the Council of Ministers was founded, the head of which was V.Molotov. Only in 1951 intelligence service was again engaged to MGB from the Information Committee to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. By the decision of September 9, 1950 of VKP(b) CK, Office No.1 (for acts of sabotage and terrorism abroad) and Office No.2 (for acts of terrorism in the USSR) were founded at MGB of the USSR. The Offices were subordinate directly to the Minister of MGB. The task of the above mentioned structures was to suppress any resistance against the USSR using acts of terror both within the USSR and outside its boundaries.

Armed Resistance Movement and Guerrilla War in Estonia in 1941 S u m m a r y Guerrilla war in Estonia as the pinnacle of manifestation of resistance lasted several months in the summer of 1941. The purpose was to liberate Estonia as soon as possible from the soviet occupation and to stop soviet terror. In pursuing the objective, the co-operation with Germans and that Estonian volunteers fought the Soviets alongside the German forces was quite natural and justifiable. Armed resistance spread rapidly and soon Estonian partisan operations developed into national and open war against soviet regime. The partisan detachments, organised under the model of military formations or at least partly armed numbered about 12, 000 people. But the total number of people taking part in military operations against the Soviets was much greater. By the end of military operations on the territory of Estonia self-defence detachments numbered 33, 000 people, Military Formations of Estonia – 2,5 thousand and in German Army – there were 2 thousand people. That made 50 per cent of total mobilisation of pre-war forces of Estonia. The main reason of the constant increase of resistance forces was soviet acts of terror, and the armed resistance movement itself was the reaction to the repressive policy of soviet regime.   Exiles to the far Regions of the USSR in May–June, 1941 S u m m a r y In May–June, 1941 mass exiles of large groups of population were executed from the territories occupied by the Soviet Union according to the Soviet Union and Germany Pact of August 23, 1939 and subsequent treaties with Germany. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia and North Bucovina, western parts of Byelorussia and Ukraine were the territories the population was exiled from in 1941. Three types of repression were applied for ten categories of deported: living on a settlement under NKVD supervision, detention at prisoner-of-war camps and GULAG’o camps. The second and the third types of repression submerged after Germany attacked the USSR. Those who had to deported to prisoner-of-war camps or were on the way to the camps were either transferred or directed to reformatory labour camps. Those three types of repression were ascertained on the ground of the analyses of archival documents. There were also made an exhaustive lists of trains and lists of deportees. The number of persons deported of every region they were exiled to (the first type of repression) and the number of persons displaced at labour camps of every region they were exiled from (the second and the third type of repression) was specified and defined on the basis of the documents.

Top Secret Deportation Operation of the Population of the Baltic Countries in February 25–August 23, 1949 Summary Genocide of the Baltic people was promulgated through a top secret operation of MGB of March 25, 1949 under code name “Priboj” (The Surf). The operation was ordered by the VKP(B) CK of the USSR and the Council of Ministers. Up to 100 000 Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians were exiled from their homelands during the operation. Many of economically, socially and politically active people in 1944–1945 either emigrated from their countries or were inprisomed, or perished fighting in national guerrilla detachments or still were in hiding. Consequently the deportations of 1949 should not be named as the annihilation of “class enemy” of the Soviet State but rather as the punishment of the Baltic nations for their active and passive resistance against communist occupation of Baltic countries. This top secret operation of deportations of the residents of Baltic countries is the crime against humanity executed by the Communist party and the Soviet government. The term of prescription shall never be applied to the crime.

Central War Archive Documents about the Repression against Military Officers of Polish Army in 1944–1956 S u m m a r y The history of Polish Army after the World War II is closely connected with the system under control of which for some years Poland was not the only one country. It was the so called Stalin’s system. Polish Army was a very important element, which exerted an influence on interior situation of the country and partly on foreign policy. The Government of the Republic of Poland did not hesitate to use the army to uphold the anti-democratic political system. The army was used to suppress political forces hostile to the regime. This is the reason why undesirable elements were eliminated from the ranks. Undesirable military officers and soldiers were those, whose past histories were not related with leftist organisations. First of all this include the members of Armia Krajowa, Narodowe Sily Zbrojne and organisation, that were subordinate to the Government of Poland in London during the WWII. Ten thousand officers alone in 1949–1954 were dismissed. The repression of 1944–1954 is called “Stalin’s repression” by the historians of Poland. This period is the most tragic period for Polish Army after WWII. Many documents related to the criminal activities of the Soviet totalitarian regime were been destroyed. Those that survived disclosed the structure of repressive institutions, their goals and methods. The history of the of the repression of the Polish Army by the Soviets needs a thorough scientific investigation. Present process of democratisation and restructuring in Eastern Europe creates positive conditions for scientific research of the surviving archives.

Latvian SSR MGB Special Troops and Special Agents Against National Armed Units in 1946–1953 S u m m a r y Soviet KGB organs had to apply special measures to suppress national resistance movement in Latvia. KGB decided to use secret strategical methods of work against military operations as the effective way to achieve its objectives. With the assistance of special troops KGB in 1945–1946 annihilated one of the largest armed units in East Latvia - Latvian National Partisan Formation and the Alliance of the Defenders of Latvia. In Kurzeme they annihilated the Organisation of National Partisans of Latvia. Special groups blocked communication of partisans with Western intelligence services and consequently prevented the West to render assistance for the movement at the end of forties and the beginning of fifties. Due to the fact that Latvian national partisans with arms in their hands defended their own State, according to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 have to be conferred the status of combatants. And the fact that KGB of the USSR and the Communist party annihilated Latvian partisans by using special troops has to be acknowledged as violation of the Conventions.

Armed National Resistance Units – the Medium of the Games of the SSSR/Latvian SSR and Great Britain Special Operative Services in 1945–1956 S u m m a r y At the end of the World War II Great Britain Secret Service was looking for new chances for its service in Baltic countries. They decided for this purpose to use the organisations of national movements in Baltic countries. The intentions of Great Britain Secret Service had been exploited by SSSR KGB in lasting games in the territory of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania against secret services of Sweden and Great Britain. An exhaustive picture of the activities of KGB in occupied Baltic republics, can be restored from the archives of special services of the former SSSR KGB, Sweden, Great Britain and the USA. The study of the archives reveal that the former allies of the World War II exploited National resistance movements of occupied Baltic countries in working out the tasks of secret services on both sides. MGB–KGB Agencies in Occupied Lithuania S u m m a r y Soviet occupation induced part of society to collaborate with occupation authorities. By the open supporters of the occupation authorities there appeared an army of secret collaborators – the agents of MGB–KGB. Espionage and ideological processing is a necessary condition for a totalitarian system to exist. There existed three basic motives of recruiting the agents: discrediting material, personal interest and ideological community. The interior policy of recruitment in the SSSR can be divided into three periods. The periods differ both in the tactics of recruitment and the reaction of an individual to the fact of being recruited. The first period covers the decade of partisan war. During the period the KGBists did not inquire much into psychological characteristics of a candidate and recruited any person that had fallen into their vision. The consent to collaborate was usually got by blackmail using discrediting material. With the end of the partisan war the tactics had changed. The candidate was gradually involved in fulfilling KGB tasks. The third period coincides with the years of Gorbachov’s “perestroika”. It seemed more dangerous at that time to become an agent then to refuse to collaborate. Ideological community became the main motive for collaboration. The KGB objectives during the Revival were to control public movements, penetrate into newly born organisations, to make influence to their activities and to split them by discrediting their leaders and establishing alternative organisations. After the declaration of independence KGB through their agents tried to advocate the idea of gradual secession from the SSSR, to discredit the right wing, to organise early elections to SC and “to remove V. Landsbergis legally”. Independence to many Lithuanian people meant getting back to their lost and destroyed mentality and life with no masks on. But for collaborators, that made up 5% of mature population, the period brought in new parts and new masks. Only a few of them took the courage to throw off the disguise publicly. Different Laws of Lustration passed in post-communist countries attempt to unharm the collaborators and to define their status by law, i.e. to help them to take off their masks.

Resistance Movement in Estonia in 1955–1985 S u m m a r y The resistance of the nation of Estonia against the hostile power started in June, 1940 when the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Estonia. The resistance movement lasted as long as August, 1991 when the independence of Estonia was restored. The scale of active resistance was, comparatively, low. Meanwhile the passive movement embraced all the nation. The nation resisted the attempts to destroy its consciousness by Soviet occupation, protected the Estonian language and culture. Many Estonians passively protested against their russification and sovietization. The active resistance movement, according to its form, which was closely connected with the events abroad (the uprising in Hungary, Prague spring, Helsinki conference), can roughly be divided into five periods: armed resistance movement against Soviet occupation in 1941, 1944, 1953; the activities of youth underground rebel organisation from 1944 to 1962; democratic movement activities in 1968–1975; open resistance in 1977–1985; the general liberation movement (“singing revolution”) in 1987–1991. The statehood of present Estonia is based on the ground of resolutions publicly spoken by the resistance movement at the end of seventies. The Basic Non-violence Resistance Forms and Hidden Nationalism as Inner Insubordination to the Soviet Regime in Latvia in seventies and eighties S u m m a r y The study is based on the Latvian SSR KGB and SSSR KGB documents and other material of seventies and eighties. One of documents of the consequences of totalitarianism in Latvia that the Centre restored is ASIO “Delta Latvija” (Computerised Information Maintenance System for the activities of the Latvian SSR KGB). The system comprises the information about 35, 656 persons and approximately 8000 abstracts of reports of the Latvian SSR KGB informers. The following conclusions were made on the basis of the study of the above mentioned document: the resistance movement in the seventies and eighties became legal to the extent possible at that time, post-war generation joined the resistance movement; the Latvian SSR KGB had a thorough under-standing of the processes going on, but the knowledge could not save the collapsing empire; many Soviet analysts considered that the process of disintegration in SSSR was due to ideological sabotage committed by hostile foreign centres. This theoretical standpoint prevented analysts, standing in the guard of the socialist power, to realise the depth of the processes going on in a multinational empire’s society. The Activities of War Archives Committee in Collecting Documents about the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes S u m m a r y The War Archives Committee of Poland pursues to collect every possible data on every repressed in the Soviet Union polish officer and soldier as well as the participants of anti-Soviet and anti-Fascist underground. The committee also is engaged in tracing way of repressed to soviet camps and prisons and looking for documents, which could help to localise places of their burial. In 1992–1997 the War Archives Committee has collected 1 million pages of documents, many of them in the archives of Russia and Lithuania. These documents became the object of scientific research and are used for educational purpose. The documents have also been used in many publications and in scientific works of history.

to: Crimes Against Humanity