CAMERA OBSCURA

THE ELEPHANT IN THE DARKROOM

TIMELINE

The origins of the Lithuanian State date back to the 13th and 14th centuries, when the miscellaneous Baltic tribes living in the region joined forces to defeat the crusading—and plundering—German knights. Susceptible to an overabundance of invading and occupying regimes ever since, the country is no stranger to the loss and displacement of its many cultural and religious treasures. The following timeline provides a short chronological overview of some but not all of the currently known incidents and attacks against Lithuanian Jewish photographic cultural heritage that took place during a period that roughly corresponds with the Second World War. 

1939

MARCH 22

Nazi Germany occupies the Lithuanian city of Klaipėda and the region that surrounds it, the regime's last uncontested land grab before the outbreak of the Second World War. Adolf Hitler pays a personal visit the following day, and the city is officially renamed Memel. According to various accounts from the period, the first few weeks of occupation are accompanied by episodes of both official and unofficial looting. See also Down by the Sea.

AUGUST 23

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty that contains a secret protocol dividing Europe in two for the benefit of their expansionist goals. Lithuania falls within the Soviet sphere of influence.

SEPTEMBER 1

Nazi Germany invades western Poland. 

SEPTEMBER 3

Great Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany. The Second World War officially begins.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

The Soviet Union invades eastern Poland, including the provincial Polish city of Wilno. The regime temporarily governs—and plunders—the city until October 28, when Wilno is renamed Vilnius and it becomes the newly restored capital of Lithuania. In return, the Lithuanian government agrees to host 20,000 Red Army soldiers on its territory.

1940

JUNE 15

The Soviet Union launches a full-scale invasion of Lithuania. 

JULY 14-15

Two days of fraudulent elections end in the Moscow-backed Liaudies Seimas, or People's Government taking political control of the country. 

JULY 17

Following the invasion of France in May, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (see Glossary) is founded with the sole purpose of looting valuable art and cultural property from all countries in Europe occupied by Nazi Germany.

JULY 20

The Soviet Law on the Protection of Cultural Monuments is ratified, paving the way for the mass nationalisation of almost all cultural and religious property. Nearly all Jewish cultural and religious organisations are either closed or reorganised according to 'Soviet principles', and their contents are mostly confiscated and taken away to locations still mostly unknown and/or unrecorded. Several Lithuanian museums play a major role in the expropriation of countless thousands of works of art and other significant cultural objects. More than eight decades after the event, the law is effectively still in place. See the Republic of Lithuania Law on Museums entry in the Glossary for more information on the subject. 

AUGUST 3

Lithuania is officially incorporated into the Soviet Union.

1941

JUNE 14

The first mass Soviet deportations to Siberia take place. Among the victims are the Zarasai-based Lithuanian Jewish photographer Moisiejus Botvinikas (1901-1984) and his family. See the Zarasai section in The Invisible Magicians for more information on the subject.

JUNE 22

Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union.

JUNE 24

The recently founded Lithuanian Provisional Government (see Glossary for a full description) attempts to restore Lithuanian independence and take back control of the country. 

JUNE 30

Five days after the German military occupies Telšiai, Pranas Genys, the 39-year-old founder and director of the the city's Alka Museum, writes two letters to the mayor, the first requesting permission for the museum to take possession of all photographic negatives belonging to the city's Jewish-owned photography studios, and the second asking if the museum can also take possession of all photographic equipment belonging to the same businesses. The mayor replies on July 2, granting the director temporary permission to take possession of both. See Heart of Glass in Cases for more information. 

LATE JUNE-EARLY JULY

The Catholic theologian, Hebraica expert and serial looter Johannes Pohl (1904-1960) arrives in Vilnius on behalf of his employer, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. See the Glossary and February 11, 1942 (↓) for more information.

JULY 9

Either on or very close to this date, staff from the Aušros Museum in Šiauliai and the city's municipality conspired to break into the apartment and photography studio belonging to the 29-year-old Lithuanian Jewish photographer Mauša Fligelis. Among the expropriated objects listed on thje official documents held by the museum were at least one valuable camera, studio lighting, and miscellaneous pieces of darkroom equipment. See The Curious Case of Mauša Fligelis in Cases for the latest information concerning the ongoing investigation into the incident.

JULY 25

The German civil administration takes over from the miltary (some sources quote the date as being July 17). One of its first tasks is to set about recovering Jewish cultural property looted by the local non-Jewish population.

 
AUGUST 5

The Lithuanian Provisional Government ceases to exist.

AUGUST 15

The Kovno Ghetto and Šiauliai Ghetto are established.

AUGUST -SEPTEMBER

The Čekiškė photographer Leizer Beker and his wife, Šifra, are murdered sometime during the late summer. The non-Jewish family who move into their empty house finds several of the couple's personal photographs. See A Memento for Henke in Cases for more.

SEPTEMBER 6

The Vilna Ghetto is established.

SEPTEMBER 8

The last few Jewish residents of Butrimonys are believed to have been murdered on or around this day. One family's personal photo album miraculously survives. See The Picture of Selma Vogel in Cases for more.

SEPTEMBER 29

A few days after the last Jewish men, women and children from the small town of Seredžius have been murdered, a local office clerk types out a two-page inventory of all the valuable possessions that once belonged to the victims and that are now the property of the Germans. Among the gold and silver watches, wedding rings and kiddush cups is a single camera, whose recorded serial number shows it to be a Leica III that was manufactured in 1935 and shipped to Berlin on February 19 of the same year. See A Different Kind of Leica Train in Cases for more information. 

1942

JANUARY 21-26

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg pays a visit to the Vytautas the Great Culture Museum in Kaunas. Among the Jewish cultural objects they seize are a collection of photographs from the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society in Lithuania. Photographs from the Lithuanian headquarters of OZE are also probably taken at the same time. See The Rape of Kaunas in Cases for more.

FEBRUARY 11

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg pays a visit to the Vilna Ghetto, an event that inadvertently brought about the creation of the so-called Paper Brigade. See The Beyond the Paper Brigade in Cases for more.

FEBRUARY 18-JUNE 8

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg produces a large document that includes an inventory of the cultural objects held by YIVO in Vilnius. Among the items listed are the institution's main photo collection and another collection of photographs belonging to YIVO's in-house Theatre Museum. See The Beyond the Paper Brigade in Cases for more.

1943

SEPTEMBER 23

The Vilna Ghetto is liquidated. 

1944

JULY 13

The Nazi occupation of Vilnius ends when the city is 'liberated' by the Red Army.  

AUGUST 26

With the help of several other survivors and the necessary Soviet bureaucracy, Abraham Sutzkever and Shmerke Kaczerginski open the so-called Jewish Museum for Culture & Art in the former Vilna Ghetto library. Plans for a similar institution in Kaunas aren’t so successful, and the Soviets eventually succeed in closing the institution down five years later. Among the objects in the museum’s possession are 2,162 photographs from a variety of sources. See The Impossible Museum in Cases for more information. 

1945

JANUARY 28

The last German soldiers flee Lithuania after the Red Army's victory at the Battle of Memel. Two Lithuanian Jewish photographers, Judelis Kacenbergas and Chanonas Levinas (see The Invisible Magicians) photograph the day's events, the latter capturing an anonymous Red Army soldier in the process of looting an unusual trophy. One regime replaces another.    

MAY 8

Nazi Germany officially surrenders, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe. 

AFTERMATH

Pranas Genys (see June 30, 1941 ↑) is arrested by the NKVD on April 27, 1951. Found among his possessions is a large collection of professional photography studio equipment.