The Massacre of Lithuania's Jews Book

The Massacre of Lithuania's Jews : Lithuanian Collaboration in the Final Solution, 1941-1944 exposes several misconceptions concerning the role of Lithuanians, both the leaders and the "ordinary" people, in rounding up and murdering their Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust. It is well documented that Lithuanians, before and during the Nazi occupation, actively killed Jews on their own initiative. However, what is uncovered here is that under Nazi rule Lithuanian officials and church leaders were not merely puppets of the Germans, but showed great ability to maneuver and resist German directives in nearly every other realm, with the sole exception of executing the Final Solution. Although this scholarly exposition shines light on the extraordinary acts of a precious few Lithuanians in assisting Jews, it also exposes the far more typical acts of the many, whose indifference, hatred, or self-interest made genocide possible in Lithuania.