Lithuanian Men in the Forced Soviet Army
The History of Compulsory Military Service
Between the Walls of Destroyed Houses
After the occupation and annexation of Lithuania, the so-called Council of Ministers of Lithuanian SSR, on the 30th of August, 1940, named the Lithuanian army the “People’s Army” and effectively liquidated it. The officers and soldiers were not trusted, and patriotic officers were arrested and locked up in prisons or labour camps, where they were tortured and killed, or died from the unbearable conditions of detention. Many of them were killed by the Bolsheviks after the war between Communist Russia and Nazi Germany had begun.
Representatives of the puppet government of occupied Lithuania and other Soviet military “elite” watch a concert, performed by the Red Army, with fascination in Kaunas Sports Hall. The inscription on the back of the photo reads: “A memento from the ‘concert-ensemble’ that the Red Army gave us on the 2nd of July. Here you can see the hall full of guests and all kinds of groups and excursions, including the Komsomol.”
Kaunas, the 2nd of July, 1940. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Occupier’s Red Army concert in Kaunas Sports Hall. The inscription on the back of the photo reads: “A memento from the ‘concert-ensemble’ that the Red Army gave us on the 2nd of July. Here, the Red Army choir is successfully performing its programme. I’m in the third row, the second from the right in Kaunas Sports Hall.”
Kaunas, the 2nd of July, 1940. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Officers of the Republic of Lithuania, killed by the occupation regime of the USSR, from the left to the right: Captain Kazys Abaravičius (Abaras) (died at the Tayshet labour camp in 1950), Lieutenant Vladas Vaitkus (shot dead in 1941), Captain Petras Daukšys (killed at the Lama labour camp in 1943).
Republic of Lithuania, mid 1920s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Soviet soldiers in the barracks, bearing a Lithuanian slogan
Pabradė, 1952. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Lithuanian Soviet soldiers by a portrait of Stalin and a Lithuanian slogan.
Vilnius, 1953. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
A military commander with his teenage “pupils”. Orphans and waifs were sometimes taken to Soviet military units to be brought up.
Location unknown, 1930s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
A soldier of the Republic of Lithuania protects the state.
Republic of Lithuania, 1930s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Soviet soldiers at a photo studio.
Location unknown, 1940s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
A portrait of a Soviet soldier, surrounded by images of Vilnius.
Vilnius, 1955. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Lithuanian soldiers in the Soviet Army. There is an inscription on the back of the photo.
Location unknown, 1940s–1950s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
Lithuanian families visiting their men, soldiers of the USSR, at Pabradė training area.
Pabradė, 1955. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Elena Matulionienė
A Lithuanian Soviet military cadet by a monument to General Chernyakhovsky.
Vilnius, 1950s–1960s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas