Koniuchy massacre
World War II incident / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Koniuchy massacre (Polish: Zbrodnia w Koniuchach) or the Kaniūkai massacre (Lithuanian: Kaniūkų žudynės) was a World War II massacre of civilians, mostly women and children,[1][2] carried out in the village of Koniuchy (now Kaniūkai, Lithuania) on 29 January 1944 by a Soviet partisan unit together with a contingent of Jewish partisans under Soviet command.[3] At least 38 civilians who have been identified by name were killed, and more than a dozen were injured.[3] In addition, houses were burned and livestock was slaughtered.[4] It was the largest atrocity committed by the Soviet partisans in present-day Lithuania.[5]
Sources on the massacre are scarce, fragmentary, and biased hindering objective evaluation of the events.[6] Prior to the massacre, to defend from Soviet partisan raids, the village had formed an armed self-defense force with the encouragement and backing of the German-sponsored Lithuanian Auxiliary Police. The strength and role of this self-defense force is a matter of controversy. According to Soviet and Jewish sources, the force was large and well-armed and was a significant hindrance to the partisan activity in the vicinity.[7][8] According to Lithuanian and Polish sources, the force was 25–30 men armed with a few rifles.[9][10]
The events were investigated by authorities in Poland (2001) and Lithuania (2004). Lithuania opened a pretrial investigation against the former Jewish partisan Yitzhak Arad and sought to question other surviving Jewish veterans – the action was met with protests and accusations of hypocrisy and antisemitism.[3] Lithuania closed the investigation in 2008; Poland closed its investigation in 2018. The massacre remains controversial and politically charged. Some coverage of this event has been criticized for exaggerating the role of the Jewish partisans in this raid; others for trying to minimize or justify the massacre.[7][11]