Ashley Blog #5: Photographs of Perpetrators

These two pictures, taken from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, depict Lithuanians actively participating in the implementation of the Holocaust. The top picture, submitted by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, shows a Lithuanian guard outside Ponary in 1941 and a group of Jews moments before their execution. In the space between the two trees, more Lithuanians are seen, armed and waiting to murder the circled Jews. This photograph shows the active involvement of the Lithuanians in all aspects of the Holocaust killings, including the round-up of victims and their guarding. The second picture, taken from Kovno in 1941 and donated by Ernst Klee, shows a group of Lithuanian volunteers rounding up the Jewish citizens of Kovno. They would later go on to launch a pogrom, targeting the Jews of the city. The picture shows the men as armed and uniformed, yet not in the usual strict formations typical of staged Nazi photographs. Instead, they almost appear to be milling about, showing the lack of structure and control in their actions. These men were not trained soldiers, and the bottom picture shows this.