Undigested past

Jews lived in Lithuania throughout its pre-1941 history, but Lithuanian-Jewish relations were clouded by antisemitism, especially during the interwar period. The Soviet occupation of 1940-41 greatly increased the existing antisemitism by enhancing the image of Jews as supporters of the Soviets and traitors of the Lithuanian nation. Many Lithuanians took part in the genocide of Jews in 1941. Compares the behavior of the Lithuanians in face of the Holocaust, in particular their collaboration with the Nazis, with the behavior of the Dutch and some other European nations during the war. Concludes that the Lithuanians' reactions to the Holocaust and their behavior were no different from the reactions and behavior of the Dutch; neither was the behavior of the Lithuanian Judenrats different from that of the Jewish councils in the Netherlands. In both of these countries there were collaborators with the Nazis, as well as resisters and rescuers of Jews. The motives and personalities of those who got involved in the mass murder of Jews in both Lithuania and Western Europe were similar. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)