Pavykusi ar nepavykusi mobilizacija į Raudonąją armiją?

Book reviewTININIS, Vytautas. Prievartinė mobilizacija į Raudonąją armiją. Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventojųgenocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras, 2014. – 310, [1] p., [16] iliustr.lap. ISBN 978-609-8037-36-

Destructive KGB actions against Santara-Šviesa in the 1960s to 1980s

One of the émigré organizations targeted by the KGB was the Santara-Šviesa Federation. The Soviet security service viewed the federation in negative terms as a tool of foreign special services carrying out activities inimical to the Soviet Union. The Soviet services feared that the allegedly inimical activities were being carried out under deceptive guises. But the KGB did not always understand the structure of Santara-Šviesa and the purpose of its activities, which sometimes led to failures in its work. In this article we seek to identify the main points of KGB plans to disrupt the federation's endeavours. These plans included information- gathering, infiltrating secret agents, and undertaking disinformation activities. Specific instances of activities planned and undertaken by the KGB are described; for example, attempts to infiltrate the federation with the help of agents and persons of confidence. The article also surveys possible attempts by Soviet security persons to exaggerate the results of their activities in the eyes of their superiors since the announced objectives were not always fully met. The KGB also organized disinformation campaigns against Santara-Šviesa and some of its more active members. Due to a lack of sufficient archival material the outcomes of these actions are difficult to ascertain. However, one may surmise that these actions were undertaken in the expectation of good results, which could not be obtained for objective reasons

The image of Lithuanian exiles in Soviet state security documents from 1945 to 1991

Soviet State Security, as an integral part of the Soviet system, fostered a negative and denigrating attitude toward those Lithuanian emigrants who did not approve of the Soviet system in Lithuania. This attitude began to be actively promoted from 1945 onwards, when Lithuanian war refugees arrived in Western Germany. It was in their ranks that the Soviets found many enemies of the Soviet system. At first these refugees were accused of having collaborated with the Nazi occupying regime; later they were accused of cooperating with the intelligence services of Great Britain and the United States. A similarly negative and derogatory attitude was adopted toward those organizations that joined efforts to promote the liberation of Lithuania. It was only the so-called progressive, i.e., Communist-sympathizing Lithuanians living abroad the Soviets did not attack—they held them to be their support group in the Lithuanian emigration. Among Lithuanian diaspora organizations the Soviets held their fiercest enemy to have been the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (best known under its Lithuanian acronym VLIK ). It was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and later of working for American intelligence. But besides the denigrating evaluation there were indications that the Soviets un derstood VLIK ’s importance in the life of the emigrant community. Still it was often emphasized that the activities of VLIK had no future. Second on the list of the Soviet Union’s enemies was the Santara-Šviesa Federation. It was seen as posing a danger because it adopted camouflaged methods of working against the Soviet system. Other organizations negatively viewed by the Soviets included the World Lithuanian Community and the Lithuanian American Council. Negative attitudes were not only recorded in internal Soviet security documents but propagated in publications as well. A rticles and books directed against the anti-Communist Lithuanian emigration were prepared on the basis of material selected by the KG B and with the help of workers from that agency. These publications displayed the same negative and derogatory attitudes. Every publication was accompanied by propaganda and publicity actions. But their results were minimal in comparison to the planned-for goals. The KG B-fashioned image of the emigration was intended to be transmitted to all potential audiences: the inhabitants of Lithuania, foreign citizens, ordinary emigrants— thereby inculcating certain stereotypes into their thinking

Soviet security operations actions against Lithuanian refugees in Germany in 1945-1950

The paper examines the specific activities of the People’s Commissariat for State Security, or NKGB (later the USSR Ministry of National Security, MGB), directed against emigrant organisations and individual persons. The 1st (Intelligence) Division of NKGB (MGB) was responsible for the activities against Lithuanian emigration. The 2nd (Counterintelligence) Division also helped it in certain areas. The subdivision of the 1st Division of NKGB (MGB), also known as Berlin Operational Group, was established specifically for intelligence operations among Lithuanian emigrants. Agent infiltration in emigrants’ life was considered to be the most efficient fighting means. In the post-war period, the Soviet security service recruited and infiltrated several agents. Besides special tasks, the aim of secret collaborators was to collect diverse information about Lithuanian refugees. The press became the major source of information for NKGB (MGB). Their documents mainly focus on the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (VLIK). The security service despised this committee and constantly accused it of cooperating with the secret services of foreign states. However, the significance of VLIK in the life of Lithuanian refugees was recognised. Diverse information about its composition and activities was collected. The Soviet security service was also interested in other political, cultural or scientific organisations. There were attempts to collect as much information as possible, which was necessary for undertaking “active measures”, i.e. discredit, blackmail, disinformation, etc. The harshest form of actions was arresting people or planning and executing their abduction from the occupation zones of Western states

Destructive KGB actions against “Santara–Šviesa” in the 1960s to 1980s

One of the émigré organizations targeted by the KGB was the Santara-Šviesa Federation. The Soviet security service viewed the federation in negative terms as a tool of foreign special services carrying out activities inimical to the Soviet Union. The Soviet services feared that the allegedly inimical activities were being carried out under deceptive guises. But the KGB did not always understand the structure of Santara-Šviesa and the purpose of its activities, which sometimes led to failures in its work. In this article we seek to identify the main points of KGB plans to disrupt the federation‘s endeavors. These plans included information-gathering, infiltrating secret agents, and undertaking disinformation activities. Specific instances of activities planned and undertaken by the KGB are described; for example, attempts to infiltrate the federation with the help of agents and persons of confidence. The article also surveys possible attempts by Soviet security persons to exaggerate the results of their activities in the eyes of their superiors since the announced objectives were not always fully met. The KGB also organized disinformation campaigns against Santara-Šviesa and some of its more active members. Due to a lack of sufficient archival material the outcomes of these actions are difficult to ascertain. However, one may surmise that these actions were undertaken in the expectation of good results, which could not be obtained for objective reasons