Whose responsibility? · Lithuania · 1945 and after

Remembering the victims requires rejecting explanations that blame them for Soviet repression.

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1945 and after

Whose responsibility? · An old lie can survive in the account of the crime

Remembering the victims requires rejecting explanations that blame them for Soviet repression.

The community’s destruction

The Holocaust murdered the overwhelming majority of Lithuania’s Jews. Survivors inherited losses extending across families, towns and institutions. The destruction explains the absence of communities that had once been central to local life; that absence must not become proof they had never belonged.

Collective guilt is still false

Presenting the killings as retaliation against Jews for Soviet rule repeats the perpetrators’ collective accusation. Jews held varied political views and also suffered Soviet repression. Explaining the impact of occupation is necessary; assigning its crimes to an entire minority is historically false.

Naming collaboration and rescue

German responsibility, Lithuanian collaboration and individual rescue belong in the same historical account. Naming specific perpetrators avoids both denial and blanket national guilt. The essential question is how people and institutions responded when their Jewish neighbours were placed outside protection.