Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1948-08-06
(Rer rint from Newsletter from Be
hind the Iron Curtain)

AAhu tAC SuI
LITHUANIAN guerilla activities
continue. The Russian commandant
of Mazeikiai is reported to have
been a victim. The names of some
collaborators with the Soviets who
have been sentenced to death by the
Underground courts have reached
this country. 1t was reported that
during the elections Of last Febru-
ary, underground fighters kill e d
some Reds and destroyed voting
places in the district of Alytus. The
railway line between Vilnius and
Minsk was cut and taken over by
Lithuanian guerillas from Septem-
Der II to 19, 1947. In retaliation,
the Russians made arrests and de-
portations and ransacked the homes
of many innocent people throughout
Lithuania.
About twenty publications are be-
ing clandestinely issued by the I'm
derground, mostly in mimeographed
form. The names of the publica-
ton speak for the spirit behind
them, as for example: Ginkime Lie
tuva (Let Us Defend Lithuania) !;
Uz Laisve (For Freedom); Tevynes
Kovotojas Fighter of the Homeland);
Laisves Varpas (Freedom BelD; Uz
Tevu Zeme (For the Land of Our
Fathers), Laisves Rytas Dawn OF
Freedom), etc.
The Soviets instituted a special
school in the city of Vilnius, on Fl
laret St., under the leadership of
Sokolov, a Russian, to teach new
methods of combating the Lithuan-
ian Underground. Candidates are
recruited by means of threats, pro-
misses of repatriation from depor-
tation, liberation from imprison-
ment, torture, etc. After the com
rletion of the training course, they
are to pose as escapes from ST.
IBERIA, from prisons, concentration
camps, DIP camps of Western Ger
many, etc. One of the methods used
by the graduates of the Vilnlus
school is this: Gangs posing as pa
triotic guerillas fighting the 'Soviets
rob farmers and arrest them, al
ledgedly for sympathizing with the
Soviet occupants. These arrestees
are promised release only if they
can prove by witnesses that they
are not Communists or Communist
sympathizers. AS soon as the ar
restee proves that he is not pro-
Soviet. both he and the witnesses
disappear from Lithuania as "ene-
mics of the people,"
NKVD agents enter physicians
offices and sit there for days walt
ing to apprehend wounded or sick
guerilla fighters or other suspects.
The same practice is conducted in
private homes as well.
According to the Luebecker Free
Presse, Lubeck, Germany, OF April
3, 1948, "free German units from
Soviet Russia have been sent to the
area between Kaunas, Suvalkai, Gar
dinas. and Minsk to combat the var
ious Lithuanian and Byeolorussian
guerillas.
Captured Lithuanian guerillas are
tried by secret NKVD courts, as
described in the following article:
The political prisoners tor
UNDERGROUND resistance, sabotage,
etc) are now as before secretly
sentenced as r-revolutionarles
by MVD judges after the notorious
Paragraph SO of the Criminal CODE
The trial, too, proceeds after the
time-honored manner. The prison.
e.. is interrogated under torture,
to ture (Which many do not survlVe)
and not even brought before his
Judges, still less given chance to
defend himself or to engage the
services of a counsel. Some time
after the Interrogation is concluded
a verdict is read to him whereby
he is usually sentenced to death.
Lately, however, the death sentence
has been known to have been con-
yerted to forced labor for 25 years
occasionally, which is actually the
equivalent of an execution drawn
out over 2-3 years for the very