Nachman Dushanski
Encyclopedia
Nachman Dushanski was an officer of Soviet security agencies (NKVD
, NKGB, MGB
, KGB
) in the Lithuanian SSR
for over thirty years. He was heavily involved in suppression of the Lithuanian partisans
, who fought against Soviet occupation of Lithuania. In Russia he was regarded as a war hero and was awarded the Medal of Valor, Order of the Patriotic War
, and Order of Lenin
, while the Lithuanians perceived him as a war criminal. After Lithuania declared independence in 1990, Lithuanian prosecutors began a criminal case, but Israel refused to extradite him.
and could not provide for the large family. Therefore, after graduating from the 6th grade, Dushanski began working. This early exposure to manual labor pushed him into communism–socialism and, in 1934, he joined the illegal Lithuanian branch of the Komsomol
(Communist Union of Youth) and helped distributing underground communist publications. For the communist activities he was arrested in June 1936. He first was jailed in a juvenile prison, later transferred to Šiauliai
and Raseiniai
prisons. While in prison, Dushanski joined the Lithuanian Communist Party in 1938. He was released when Soviet Union occupied Lithuania
in June 1940 and was given a job as an assistant security officer at the NKVD
office in Telšiai
. His duties included securing Soviet Union – Nazi Germany border. He was involved in mass arrests of "enemies of the people" and June deportation
. Conflicting witnesses testimony implicated Duchanski in the Rainiai massacre
, one of the many NKVD prisoner massacres at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. According Duchanski, at the time he was returning from a vacation in Crimea
and was attempting to evacuate his family from Šiauliai into Russia. However, the train did not leave the station and his parents and three siblings perished during the Holocaust
; only his brother Jacob survived.
to Leningrad
. He was stationed in Moscow
during the Battle of Moscow
and was put on firewood duty. Between spring 1942 and summer 1943, he attended intensive NKVD training courses on identification of spies, recruitment, interrogation, and other areas in preparation for work behind the German lines. He became a junior lieutenant of the KGB in January 1943, captain by 1945, and lieutenant colonel in 1956. He was deployed in the Smolensk
area to capture German officers and other collaborators. Dushanski and other agents would dress in German uniforms, cross the front line, and arrest German officers. After the Minsk Offensive, Dushanski returned to Lithuania where he was assigned to the duties of suppression of the Lithuanian partisans
, the armed anti-Soviet guerrilla fighters. He was involved in liquidation of commands of the Tauras, Dainava, and Prisikėlimas districts, murders of Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis and Juozas Lukša
-Daumantas, arrest of Adolfas Ramanauskas
-Vanagas. He was also involved in apprehension of former Nazi collaborators, Holocaust perpetrators, and members of the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft
. He retired from the Soviet security agencies in 1971.
In 1964 he graduated from Law Faculty of Vilnius University
. He moved to Israel
in 1989, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1996, now-independent Lithuanian prosecutors opened a criminal case. He was investigated for nine counts of repressions against the Lithuanian partisans. However, Israel refused to cooperate and did not respond to Lithuanian requests to question Dushanski as a witness or to extradite him on the grounds that the case stemmed from anti-Semitism
. Israel argued that there were at least 20 KGB and NKVD officers, who were involved in similar reprisal actions and who lived in Lithuania, but were not prosecuted. Therefore, Israel conculed that Dushanski was being singled out because he was Jewish. Lithuania replied that the list contained names of people who had already died or who were born in post-war years and were to young to participate in the anti-partisan operations.
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, NKGB, MGB
Ministry for State Security (USSR)
The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
, KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
) in the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
for over thirty years. He was heavily involved in suppression of the Lithuanian partisans
Lithuanian partisans
The Lithuanian partisans can refer to various irregular military units in different historical periods active in Lithuania against foreign invaders and occupiers:...
, who fought against Soviet occupation of Lithuania. In Russia he was regarded as a war hero and was awarded the Medal of Valor, Order of the Patriotic War
Order of the Patriotic War
The Order of the Patriotic War is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.- History :The Order was...
, and Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
, while the Lithuanians perceived him as a war criminal. After Lithuania declared independence in 1990, Lithuanian prosecutors began a criminal case, but Israel refused to extradite him.
Early life
Dushanki's father was blinded during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and could not provide for the large family. Therefore, after graduating from the 6th grade, Dushanski began working. This early exposure to manual labor pushed him into communism–socialism and, in 1934, he joined the illegal Lithuanian branch of the Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
(Communist Union of Youth) and helped distributing underground communist publications. For the communist activities he was arrested in June 1936. He first was jailed in a juvenile prison, later transferred to Šiauliai
Šiauliai
Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...
and Raseiniai
Raseiniai
Raseiniai is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the Kaunas–Klaipėda highway.- Grand Duchy of Lithuania :...
prisons. While in prison, Dushanski joined the Lithuanian Communist Party in 1938. He was released when Soviet Union occupied Lithuania
Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (1940)
The occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to the illegal annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941...
in June 1940 and was given a job as an assistant security officer at the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
office in Telšiai
Telšiai
Telšiai , is a city in Lithuania with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on Lake Mastis.-Names:...
. His duties included securing Soviet Union – Nazi Germany border. He was involved in mass arrests of "enemies of the people" and June deportation
June deportation
June deportation was the first in the series of mass Soviet deportations of tens of thousands of people from the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova starting June 14, 1941 that followed the occupation and annexation of the Baltic states. The procedure for deporting the "anti-Soviet...
. Conflicting witnesses testimony implicated Duchanski in the Rainiai massacre
Rainiai massacre
The Rainiai massacre was the mass murder of between 70 and 80 Lithuanian political prisoners by the NKVD, with help from the Red Army, in a forest near Telšiai, Lithuania, during the night of June 24–25, 1941. It was one of many similar massacres carried out by Soviet forces in Lithuania, and...
, one of the many NKVD prisoner massacres at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. According Duchanski, at the time he was returning from a vacation in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and was attempting to evacuate his family from Šiauliai into Russia. However, the train did not leave the station and his parents and three siblings perished during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
; only his brother Jacob survived.
World War II and post-war
Dushanski evacuated through PskovPskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
to Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
. He was stationed in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
during the Battle of Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
and was put on firewood duty. Between spring 1942 and summer 1943, he attended intensive NKVD training courses on identification of spies, recruitment, interrogation, and other areas in preparation for work behind the German lines. He became a junior lieutenant of the KGB in January 1943, captain by 1945, and lieutenant colonel in 1956. He was deployed in the Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
area to capture German officers and other collaborators. Dushanski and other agents would dress in German uniforms, cross the front line, and arrest German officers. After the Minsk Offensive, Dushanski returned to Lithuania where he was assigned to the duties of suppression of the Lithuanian partisans
Lithuanian partisans
The Lithuanian partisans can refer to various irregular military units in different historical periods active in Lithuania against foreign invaders and occupiers:...
, the armed anti-Soviet guerrilla fighters. He was involved in liquidation of commands of the Tauras, Dainava, and Prisikėlimas districts, murders of Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis and Juozas Lukša
Juozas Lukša
Juozas Lukša also known by the pseudonym Daumantas or Skirmantas was one of the most prominent post-World War II leaders of the Lithuanian partisans, the anti-Soviet armed resistance...
-Daumantas, arrest of Adolfas Ramanauskas
Adolfas Ramanauskas
Adolfas Ramanauskas codename Vanagas was one of the prominent leaders of the Lithuanian partisans. Ramanauskas worked as a teacher when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944–45...
-Vanagas. He was also involved in apprehension of former Nazi collaborators, Holocaust perpetrators, and members of the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft
Schutzmannschaft
Schutzmannschaft or Hilfspolizei were the collaborationist auxiliary police battalions of native policemen in occupied countries in East, which were created to fight the resistance during World War II mostly in the Eastern European countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Hilfspolizei refers also to...
. He retired from the Soviet security agencies in 1971.
In 1964 he graduated from Law Faculty of Vilnius University
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
. He moved to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1989, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1996, now-independent Lithuanian prosecutors opened a criminal case. He was investigated for nine counts of repressions against the Lithuanian partisans. However, Israel refused to cooperate and did not respond to Lithuanian requests to question Dushanski as a witness or to extradite him on the grounds that the case stemmed from anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. Israel argued that there were at least 20 KGB and NKVD officers, who were involved in similar reprisal actions and who lived in Lithuania, but were not prosecuted. Therefore, Israel conculed that Dushanski was being singled out because he was Jewish. Lithuania replied that the list contained names of people who had already died or who were born in post-war years and were to young to participate in the anti-partisan operations.