Kaunas pogrom
카우나스 포그롬
The massacre of Jews by Lithuanian militias in Kaunas on 25–29 June 1941, in the first week of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Walter Stahlecker of Einsatzgruppe A had the unit of Algirdas Klimaitis start it in a way that concealed German instigation.
In depth
After the Lithuanian Activist Front took control of Kaunas on 23 June, Stahlecker arrived on the morning of the 25th and delivered an antisemitic speech at the headquarters of the Lithuanian Security Police. When local Lithuanians proved unenthusiastic, he gave the task to Klimaitis’s unit of some 600 men, organised by the SD in Tilsit. The killing began on the night of the 25th in the Jewish suburb of Vilijampolė (Slobodka), and on the 27th several dozen Jewish men were beaten to death with a metal bar before a crowd at the Lietūkis garage.
Figures differ. Stahlecker reported 3,800 dead in Kaunas and 1,200 in nearby towns by 28 June, though he is suspected of exaggerating, and other sources give 1,500–3,800. Karl Jäger recorded 7,800 Jews killed in Kaunas between 24 June and 6 July. Whether primary responsibility lay with local Lithuanians or with Nazi officials has been disputed. After the pogrom, systematic shootings moved to the Seventh and Ninth Forts of the Kaunas Fortress.