Expert speaks about crimes of collaborators from Baltic states

MINSK, 27 March (BelTA) - In the latest episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel political analyst, military expert and former Israeli government official Yakov Kedmi spoke about the crimes committed by collaborators during World War II in the Baltic states.

Yakov Kedmi noted that before the war, approximately 250,000 Jews lived in Lithuania. After Nazi troops occupied Lithuanian territory, about 90% of the Jewish population was annihilated. Both German occupiers and Lithuanian collaborators took part in this. At the same time, Yakov Kedmi pointed out one distinctive feature of Lithuania compared to other Baltic countries: Lithuanians did not volunteer to serve in the SS.

“However, Lithuanian police units were present in the ghettos of Minsk, Mozyr, Smolensk, and Białystok. What they had done to Jews on their own soil was not enough for them. They eagerly did the same on Belarusian territory. The Minsk ghetto was guarded by Lithuanians. There were hardly any Belarusians there - there was German leadership and Lithuanian guards,” the expert emphasized.

Yakov Kedmi stated that the situation with collaboration in Latvia was even worse than in Lithuania: “In Lithuania, about 20-something police battalions were formed, which were involved in guarding, deportation, and other activities. In Latvia, far more were created - about 40. Additionally, there were two SS divisions composed of Latvians.”

As an example of the cruelty of Latvian Nazi collaborators, he cited the so-called Arajs Kommando. Throughout the war, approximately 5,000 Latvians passed through this unit. In Latvia alone, Viktors Arājs and his henchmen killed 20,000 Jews. But the crimes of the Arajs Kommando were not limited to Latvia - they also committed atrocities on Belarusian territory.

“When they were sent to Belarusian territory, the commander of Army Group Center demanded their removal because their atrocities against the local population, both Jewish and non-Jewish, were demoralizing the Wehrmacht. And they were removed,” Yakov Kedmi emphasized. “How brutal must they have been for German generals to say that even for Wehrmacht soldiers, it was too much.”

The expert also pointed out that more Latvians served in the Wehrmacht and SS than in the Red Army. But those Latvians who fought against Nazism and participated in the liberation of Latvia are not mentioned by today’s Latvian leadership. Similarly, in modern Lithuania, no one remembers the fighters of the Lithuanian division that fought on the side of the Red Army, Yakov Kedmi added. “Those who fought against the Nazis have been forgotten, their memory erased. Meanwhile, those who sided with the Nazis are considered national heroes,” the expert said.

Speaking about Estonia, he noted that it was the first of the German-occupied territories to be declared “Judenfrei”, meaning the complete annihilation of the Jewish population. “What had the Jews ever done to Latvians, Estonians, or Lithuanians?” Yakov Kedmi remarked. “But here I must say that in Lithuania, despite all the atrocities, more than 900 people have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. While in Estonia - only three. And two of them were husband and wife, while the third, although Estonian, hid Jews in Crimea.”