Insurrection. Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) in Kaunas: June 1940 - June 1941

„One of the most misunderstood and least investigated chapters of modern Lithuanian history relates to the activity of the anti-Soviet resistance movement during the time of the initial Soviet occupation between June 1940 and June 1941.
This work will focus on events in Kaunas from June 22 to 28. The LAF’s organization and execution of the insurrection, as well as the initial activity of the Provisional Government will be examined. The German army entered Kaunas on Wednesday, June 25. The city was already under control of the insurgents. Soon after the arrival of the Germans, pogroms began at Vilijampolė. The next day, June 26, retreating Red Army soldiers, with the help of local collaborators, murdered about 400 Lithuanians at Pravieniškės – a Soviet labor camp outside of Kaunas. On Friday, June 27, between 52 to 60 Jews were killed at the Lietūkis Garage. The next day, German authorities ordered the disarmament of the insurgents. A new phase of resistance began.“
Dr. Augustine Idzelis

„Small nations fare poorly in canonical history. Inevitably, established and generally accepted history is the work of historians of the major powers, reflecting their interests and limitations.
There is a double standard. While academic opinion has been shifting over the last several decades, mass murder by Communists is generally not considered a punishable offense. After the Soviet Union collapsed, there was no international clamor for a second Nuremberg. The Baltic states made a few feeble efforts, but even these were met with entrenched general disinterest, and even opposition from some Jewish organizations.
Idzelis takes the one promising approach: to collect and collate testimony from all sources and evaluate it in the light of surviving documents, against the background of a war being fought then and there. History knows no last word. Idzelis does not offer one. Nor is this the beginning. But it is a valuable step in the right direction towards understanding events about which we have little hard information in spite of the three-quarters of a century which has passed.“
Dr. Ignas Skrupskelis

„In 2019 we published a book by journalist and history researcher, Vidmantas Valiušaitis, entitled “Historians Do Not Use Some Sources: Dr. Augustine Idzelis And the Drama Surrounding Interpretation of Lithuania’s Occupations.” This was the first more comprehensive introduction to readers in Lithuania of the Lithuanian-American historian and lawyer, Dr. Augustine Idzelis (1942–2018). His works are important for research of 20th Century Lithuanian history. There we mentioned that among the manuscripts of Dr. Idzelis are some unpublished monographs on complicated issues of that history. Importantly, most of his historiographical works are written in English. The book “Insurrection: The Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) in Kaunas: June 1940-June 1941” is a part of Dr. Idzelis’ intellectual legacy.“
Žara Publishing House