June Uprising in Lithuania - Background and Preparations

Background and Preparations

In 1920, in the aftermath of the First World War and the Russian revolution Lithuania achieved independence. This lasted until August 1940 when the Soviet Union invaded, forcefully transforming it into the Lithuanian SSR and incorporated it into the Soviet Union . The Lithuanian nation was unable to resist the implementation of Sovietization, including nationalization, nor prevent the mass arrests of political activists and others dubbed "enemies of the people". Nor could they prevent the closing of all cultural, religious and political organizations. The economic situation steadily worsened and the standard of living decreased. A year later, just a week before the uprising, some 17,000 Lithuanians, mainly the intelligentsia, were taken with their entire families and deported to Siberia, where many perished due to inhumane living conditions (see the June deportation). It was the single major event that incurred popular support for the uprising. That tragedy initially also garnered a positive predisposition toward the German invasion. People who escaped the deportations or arrests, spontaneously organized themselves into armed groups, hid in the forests, and waited for a wider uprising.

The ultimate goal of the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), formed in the fall of 1940, was to re-establish Lithuania's independence. Commanded by Kazys Škirpa in Berlin, the LAF sought to unify Lithuanian resistance, organize and conserve resources for the planned uprising against the Soviets. It acted as an umbrella organization and many groups used the name of LAF even though they were not connected with the LAF in Berlin. The LAF established its military–political headquarters in Vilnius and organizational headquarters in Kaunas. The communication and coordination between these centers in Berlin, Kaunas, and Vilnius was rather poor. The headquarters in Vilnius suffered heavily from Soviet arrests, especially in early June 1941, and became largely defunct. Most of those arrested activists were executed in December 1941, in Russia.

In March 1941, the LAF in Berlin published a memorandum, titled Brangūs vergaujantieji broliai (Dear Enslaved Brothers), with instructions how to prepare for the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The rebels were asked to secure strategic objects (prisons, railroad, bridges, communication hubs, factories, etc.), guarding them from potential sabotage by the retreating Red Army, while Central Headquarters would organize a Provisional Government and declare independence. In April, a list of the members of the Provisional Government, which would declare Lithuanian independence, was compiled. The Prime Minister's post was reserved for Škirpa, four ministers were from Vilnius, six from Kaunas, and one from Berlin. The members represented a wide spectrum of pre-war political parties and, as such, claimed to represent a majority of the Lithuanian people. It has been suggested that not all of the designated Ministers knew about their proposed appointments in the Provisional Government. On June 14, the Nazi authorities in Berlin insisted that Škirpa and his activists not form any government or make any public declarations without their prior approval. Škirpa agreed to this, but he had very little control over the activists in Lithuania itself.