Holocaust and Soviet genocide in the Northern Jerusalem

The differences and similarities between the rein of Hitler and Stalinism, Nazism and Bolshevism are often a subject of discussions these days. To Vilnius, both these regimes were equally cruel and Vilnius suffered from both of them. The plans of both these regimes were concocted in the same KGB / Gestapo House with its own inner prison located on Lukiškių square. All these regimes came with four occupations of Vilnius in World War Two. The first invasion happened on September 17, 1939, when the Soviet Union occupied Eastern Poland and Vilnius with it, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. One of the outcomes of this occupation was that many citizens of Vilnius, together with other hostages from Poland, were killed by the Soviets at the mass massacre of Katyn in May 1940. In June 15, 1940 Vilnius was occupied again together with the rest of Lithuania. The first Lithuanians were exiled in July 1940, and then a huge exile operation followed in June 14-18, 1941, when around 18.5 thousand people were exiled. On June 22, 1941 Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and on June 24 it occupied Vilnius. The Nazi genocide of Jews followed, which wiped out nearly all of Vilnius and Lithuania’s Jewish population. In 1941, the Great and the Small Vilnius Ghettos were formed and around 30 thousand – more than half of Vilnius Jews were killed by the end of that year. Vilnius Jews were executed in Paneriai, with around 100 thousand people being killed there: Jews from Vilnius and surrounding regions, and also people of other nationalities: Polish, Belarusians, Russians, Lithuanians and Romani people. Today, Heritage Signs mark the former Ghetto territory and The Holocaust is commemorated by exhibits at Vilnius Gaon Jewish museum. In July 1944 another Soviet invasion came, lasting half a century. After World War Two ended, armed Lithuanian resistance against the Soviet occupation lasted for one more decade. Resistance fighters were imprisoned and killed at the KGB-MGB prison, and buried in Tuskulėnai. Even wider repressions and exile started: in May 1948 around 40 thousand people were exiled, in March 1949 – 33.5 thousand. Totalitarians regimes didn’t just satisfy themselves by killing people; even the former Ghetto quarters and Jewish cemeteries were destroyed. The Holocaust, Soviet genocide, mass exile, deportations and emigration resulted in Lithuania losing around one million or 30 percent of its population. The number of population reached the level of 1939 only in 1980.