Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas
Encyclopedia
Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas (TDA) was organized by the Provisional Government of Lithuania
Provisional Government of Lithuania
The Provisional Government of Lithuania was a temporary government aiming for independent Lithuania during the last days of the Soviet occupation and the first weeks of German Nazi occupation in 1941. It was secretly formed on 22 April, 1941, announced on 23 June, 1941, and dissolved on 5 August,...

 in 1941 as basis for future independent Lithuanian Army, but Nazi authorities soon reorganized the battalion into auxiliary police (Lithuanian Hilfspolizei
Hilfspolizei
The Hilfspolizei was a short-lived auxiliary police in Nazi Germany in 1933.The Hilfspolizei was created on February 22, 1933 by Hermann Göring, newly appointed Interior Minister of Prussia, to assist regular police in maintaining order and persecuting communist in the wake of the Reichstag fire...

). Members of the TDA were known by many names such as 'nationalists', 'rebels', 'partisans', 'police' or 'resistance fighters' and took part in mass killings of the Jews 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...

.

Formation

As Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 declared war on the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and invaded Lithuania, the Provisional Government of Lithuania
Provisional Government of Lithuania
The Provisional Government of Lithuania was a temporary government aiming for independent Lithuania during the last days of the Soviet occupation and the first weeks of German Nazi occupation in 1941. It was secretly formed on 22 April, 1941, announced on 23 June, 1941, and dissolved on 5 August,...

 declared independence on June 23, 1941. Lithuanians hoped to restore independent Lithuania that existed before the Soviet occupation or at least obtain some autonomy from Nazi Germany. In an effort to re-establish Lithuanian Army, the Provisional Government announced formation of the TDA in Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

 on June 28. Plans for such a formation were made as early as March 24, 1941. TDA wore a white armband with black letters TDA on their sleeves. Andrius Butkūnas became the first commander of the newly formed battalion.

The original goals of the formation were to protect strategic objects (like bridges or railways), guard Soviet prisoners of war, establish general order in Kaunas and in the vicinity. By July 4, 724 men, mostly former Lithuanian soldiers and partisans fighting in the June Uprising
Lithuanian 1941 independence
The June Uprising was a brief period in the history of Lithuania between the first Soviet and Nazi occupations in June 1941. Approximately one year earlier, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania and the unpopular Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was soon established. Political...

 against the retreating Soviets, responded to the announcement and signed up for the battalion. By the end of July, seven companies were formed. At the time of its formation TDA was the only armed and organized group in Kaunas and Nazi authorities took advantage of it.

Executions of Jews

According to a July 6 report by Karl Jäger
Karl Jäger
Karl Jäger was a Swiss-born SS-Standartenführer and Einsatzkommando leader who perpetrated acts of genocide.-Early life and career:...

, commander of Einsatzgruppe A, two companies of TDA were assigned to duties related to mass murders of Jews: one was to guard and execute Jews at the Seventh Fort of the Kaunas Fortress
Kaunas Fortress
Kaunas Fortress is the remains of a fortress complex in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was constructed and renovated between 1882 and 1915 to protect the Russian Empire's western borders, and was designated a "first-class" fortress in 1887...

 and another was assigned to Einsatzkommando
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...

. According to extensive post-war investigations by Soviet authorities, as executions of Jews grew in number more companies of TDA were involved in the murders. In light of such developments TDA started losing its members: between July 5 and July 11, 117 members resigned. Commander of the 1st company, which was especially frequently involved in the executions, committed suicide on July 12. The 3rd company was assigned to the notorious Rollkommando Hamann
Rollkommando Hamann
Rollkommando Hamann was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941. The unit was also responsible for a large number of murders in Latvia from July through August, 1941...

 commanded by Joachim Hamann and Bronius Norkus. The unit committed mass murders of Jews in the countryside. Based on the Jäger Report
Jäger Report
The Jäger Report was written on 1 December 1941 by Karl Jäger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppen A which was attached to Army Group North during the Operation Barbarossa...

, members of TDA murdered about 26,000 Jews between July and December 1941.

Reorganizations

During the night between July 23 and 24, some members of the TDA were involved in attempted coup against the Provisional Government. The coup, organized by members of the Iron Wolf Association
Iron Wolf (Lithuania)
Iron Wolf was a Lithuanian fascist movement formed by Augustinas Voldemaras in 1927. Set up as a guard movement for Voldemaras' Tautininkai, the Iron Wolves were used by Voldemaras to target his political opponents. The movement was banned in 1930, although it continued as an underground group...

 and supported by German Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

, succeeded in replacing leadership of the TDA. Iron Wolf now could promote or dismiss various members of TDA. Commander Butkūnas was replaced by Kazys Šimkus.

The Provisional Government dissolved itself on August 5, 1941. The following day Franz Lechthaler took over the command of all police units, including TDA. On August 7, when TDA had 703 members, Lechthaler ordered the battalion to be reorganized into two battalions of auxiliary police or Hilfspolizei
Hilfspolizei
The Hilfspolizei was a short-lived auxiliary police in Nazi Germany in 1933.The Hilfspolizei was created on February 22, 1933 by Hermann Göring, newly appointed Interior Minister of Prussia, to assist regular police in maintaining order and persecuting communist in the wake of the Reichstag fire...

 ( or PPT) and renamed accordingly. During August three more battalions of PPT were formed. In October these five battalions were renamed to security battalions .

Liquidation and persecution

In December, the five battalions were reorganized again: the 1st battalion became 13th, 2nd – 12th, and 3rd – 11th battalions of Lithuanian Self-Defence Units . In 1942 the new 13th battalion was reassigned to combat Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....

 near Pskov
Pskov
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:...

 and Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...

. The 13th battalion started retreating with losing Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 in 1944. Its members were captured by Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 or hid themselves in Lithuanian forests. Many members were persecuted by Soviet authorities for their anti-Soviet activities. Some were executed, others imprisoned in Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

s. Soviet investigations continued until 1979, when the last execution was carried out in Minsk.
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