Policja litewska i sprawy polskie na ziemiach litewskich w latach 1939–1944
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/EO.2010.012Abstrakt
When the war broke out, refugees from Poland flooded Lithuania. This is probably a unique case when people who despised others fled to them in order to save their own lives. Confrontation between Lithuanians and Poles started growing in 1941, when Wehrmacht entered the territory of Lithuania. Chauvinistic sentiments were particularly marked by reactionary Polish nationalists, who acted fairly widely in individual German institutions in Vilnius and established the so-called local selfgoverning bodies in individual areas of Vilnius Region, the Polish auxiliary police was set up. Lithuanian and Polish contradictions for a long time did not result in any major confrontation. However, a conflict was inevitably coming to a head. As soon as Germans took power into their hands they tried to exploit contradictions between Lithuanians and Poles. In 1942, an effort was made to foster hostility between Lithuanians and Poles by evicting from Eastern Lithuania the so-called statistical Poles. Lithuanian officers were to confirm the eviction with their signatures and Lithuanian policemen were to conduct eviction. The German administration supported and well armed the Polish guerillas who raged in areas of the Švenčionys County, terrorizing and killing Lithuanians and attacking the Lithuanian police. The Lithuanian security service even had photographs showing how German police officers armed Armia Krajowa (AK) squads in the Šalčininkiai District. The animosity between the Lithuanians and Poles somewhat decreased only when the war was coming to an end. In many places and Vilnius District in particular an agreement mediated by German officers was reached between the Polish guerillas and the Lithuanian police not to attack each other and to fight together against Bolshevik guerilla gangs. In 1943, AK leadership tended jointly with the Red Army to fight against the German Wehrmacht, whereas the Lithuanian Resistance movement did not reject the possibility of defending against the invasion by the Red Army together with the German army if the German political leadership recognized the right of the Lithuanian people to restore their state and army. Nevertheless in 1942–1944 the Lithuanian and Polish underground Resistance movements in numerous secret discussions tried to mitigate the mutual hatred and to look for compromises.
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