Crisis, War, and the Holocaust in Lithuania

Book Presentation  by Saulius Suziedelis (Millersville University of Pennsylvania). 

Crisis, War, and the Holocaust in Lithuania is the first scholarly English-language study of Lithuania during World War II which utilizes previously inaccessible archives as well as academic works published in that country in the post-Soviet era. The book  examines the multifaceted relations of Lithuaniaâ s national communities before World War II and the international and domestic crises which led to the destruction of the Lithuanian state in 1940. The author describes in detail the process of the mass persecution and murder of the country's Jews during the Holocaust, the role of Nazi and collaborationist forces, acts of resistance, as well as the society's responses. The book concludes with an examination of the postwar struggle within Lithuania to confront this legacy of unprecedented violence.

Saulius Sužiedėlis is professor emeritus of history at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph. D in Russian and European history from the University of Kansas in 1977. From 1982 to 1987 he was a research historian for the investigation of Nazi war crimes in the U. S. Department of Justice, and during 1989-1990 worked for the Voice of America. Between 2007 and 2010 he was director of Millersville University’s Annual Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide. In 2013 Professor Sužiedėlis was awarded an honorary doctorate from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas in recognition of his work in furthering the study of humanities and for contributions to Holocaust research. Professor Sužiedėlis is the author of a number of scholarly books and articles, most recently, Crisis, War and the Holocaust in Lithuania. (2025).