A famous Nazi hunter and a descendent of Nazi collaborators team up on a journey to uncover Lithuanias Holocaust secrets.

This remarkable book traces the quest for the truth about the Holocaust in Lithuania by two ostensible enemies: Rta a descendant of the perpetrators, Efraim a descendant of the victims. Rta Vanagait, a successful Lithuanian writer, was motivated by her recent discoveries that some of her relatives had played a role in the mass murder of Jews and that Lithuanian officials had tried to hide the complicity of local collaborators. Efraim Zuroff, a noted Israeli Nazi hunter, had both professional and personal motivations. He had worked for years to bring Lithuanian war criminals to justice and to compel local authorities to tell the truth about the Holocaust in their country. The facts that his maternal grandparents were born in Lithuania and that he was named for a great-uncle who was murdered with his family in Vilnius with the active help of Lithuanians made his search personal as well.

Our People exposes the significant role in implementing the Final Solution played by local political leaders and the prewar Lithuanian administration that remained in place during the Nazi occupation. It also tackles the sensitive issue of the motivation of thousands of ordinary Lithuanians who were complicit in the murder of their Jewish neighbors. At the heart of the book, these are the issues that Rta and Efraim discuss, debate, and analyze as they crisscross the country to visit dozens of Holocaust mass murder sites in Lithuania and neighboring Belarus. This book follows them on their remarkable journey as they search for neglected graves, interview eyewitnesses, and uncover hints of the rich life that had existed in hundreds of Jewish communities throughout Lithuania.

Rta Vanagait, one of Lithuanias most popular public personalities and the successful author of numerous best sellers, becamepersona non grata in her homeland after this book was originally published in Lithuania.

Efraim Zuroff is the chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and director of the centers Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs. A Holocaust historian, popular lecturer, and author, he lives in Jerusalem.

Preface

Introduction: Efraim Zuroff: Lithuania and the Holocaust

Part I: Before the Journey

1 Efraim Zuroff: My Connection to Lithuania

2 Rta Vanagait: My Connection to the Holocaust

3 Meeting the Enemy

Part II: Preparation for the Journey

4 Lithuania, 1941: Getting Rid of the Jews

5 Lithuania Today: Minimizing the Crimes

6 Mission Impossible?

Part III: Journey with the Enemy: Thirteen Destinations

7 Kaunas/Kovno

8 Linkmenys/Ligmiyan

9 ¦venionys/Shventzyan

10 Kavarskas/Kovarsk

11 Ukmerg/Vilkomir

12 ¦eduva/Shadeve

13 Tel¨iai/Telz

14 Plung/Plungyan

15 Plateliai/Plotel

16 Taurag/Tavrig

17 Butrimonys/Butrimants

18 Panev¸ys/Ponevezh

19 Belarus

Part IV: The Hell of Vilnius/Vilna

20 Portraits of the Witnesses

21 Portrait of a Student

22 Portrait of a Postman

23 Dreams of a Killer

24 Portraits of the Victims

25 Portrait of a Corpse-Burner

26 The Fates of the Killers

27 The Last Day

Part V: Conclusion

28 Human Faces of the Murderers

29 Lithuania Got Richer

30 The Farewell

Afterword: Rta Vanagait: Lithuania Is Angry, Lithuania Is Sad

Index