 On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and within a week took control of all Lithuania. At first the Germans were greeted as liberators from the oppressive Soviet regime. The Lithuanians hoped that the Germans would re-establish their independence or at least allow some degree of autonomy (similar to the Slovak Republic). Organized by the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), Lithuanians rose in the anti-Soviet and pro-Nazi June Uprising, established the short-lived Provisional Government, and declared independence. However, the Germans did not recognize the Provisional Government and established their own civil administration, the Reichskommissariat Ostland. When the Red Army regained control of Lithuania in summer 1944 – January 1945, the Lithuanian partisans began an armed struggle against the second Soviet occupation. An estimated 30,000 partisans and partisan supporters were killed during the guerrilla warfare between 1944 and 1953.
