Lithuanian Holocaust

Lithuania [World War II]

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July 23, 2026

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The Lithuanian Holocaust was a horrific period during World War II when the vast majority of Lithuania's Jewish population was systematically murdered. Following the Soviet occupation in 1940, Germany invaded Lithuania in June 1941. Amidst hopes of regaining independence and existing anti-Semitic sentiments, Lithuanian collaborators aided Nazi Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) in carrying out massacres.

By the end of 1941, approximately 210,000 Jews, out of a pre-war population of around 250,000, had been killed. Notable massacres occurred in Gargždai and Paneriai. The surviving Jews were concentrated in ghettos, with the ultimate goal of deportation to concentration camps. This systematic extermination devastated Lithuania's centuries-old Jewish community and its vibrant cultural life, particularly in Vilnius.123

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75th Anniversary of the Lithuanian Holocaust
…of a dark episode in Lithuania’s history: amid World War II and the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany, on or about June 23 the slaughter of nearly the entire Jewish population of Lithuania began. Lithuania’s Jews had lived in the country for hundreds of years and, in the…
Read More
…of a dark episode in Lithuania’s history: amid World War II and the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany, on or about June 23 the slaughter of nearly the entire Jewish population of Lithuania began. Lithuania’s Jews had lived in the country for hundreds of years and, in the…
Read More