Local Involvement, Memory, and Denial: The Complexities of the Holocaust in Lithuania

The Holocaust was one of the most pivotal and destructive events in the 20th century. While decades of research have been done in order to attempt to understand the events of the Holocaust, its preconditions, its survivors, and its lasting impacts, there is still much to be studied. This thesis explores the complex and understudied relationship of Lithuanians with the Holocaust. Local collaboration with Nazi perpetrators was widespread, yet acknowledgement of and reconciliation with this collaboration is largely absent from Lithuania’s current public memory. While this work does not excuse the actions of perpetrators or condemn those who helped Jewish victims, this thesis endeavors to complicate the view of these figures in the past and present. A combination of secondary literature and primary sources to connect Holocaust preconditions, events, and public memory in Lithuania reveals a dangerous path of denial and perpetrator victimization