Ypatingasis būrys (lit. 'Special Squad',German:Sonderkommando) orSpecial Squad of the German Security Police and SD (Lithuanian:Vokiečių Saugumo policijos ir SD ypatingasis būrys)[1] was a killing squad operating in theVilnius Region in 1941–1944. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers,[2] was formed by the German occupation government[3] and was subordinate toEinsatzkommando 9 and later toSicherheitsdienst (SD) andSicherheitspolizei (Sipo).[4]p.15 The unit was subordinated to German police, and had no official autonomy.[5] In Polish they were colloquially calledstrzelcy ponarscy ("Ponaryriflemen" in Polish).
The Vilnian Special Squad (Lithuanian:Ypatingasis būrys) was first mentioned in documents dated 15 July 1941. The Special Squad (YB) began as police units formed when Lithuania was occupied by Germany in 1941. Lithuanian historianArūnas Bubnys notes that it is difficult to confirm how many members the YB had and how many people they killed. Bubnys argues that the number of 100,000 victims attributed to the organization is inflated.[6]
Many members were volunteers,[2] particularly former members of thenationalistic[1] paramilitaryLithuanian Riflemen's Union[7][4]p.12 It was composed primarily of Lithuanians, although according to Bubnys, a few Russians and Poles served as well.[3]
Estimates differ regarding the size of the unit. Polish historianCzesław Michalski [pl] estimates that it grew from a base of 50 whileTadeusz Piotrowski asserts there were 100 volunteers at the onset.[8] According to Michalski, at times it had hundreds of members. Bubnys says that it never exceeded a core of forty or fifty men.[9] Of the members, 118 names are known; 20 have been prosecuted and sentenced.[10] According to Bubnys, who cited the Polish historianHelena Pasierbska, during 1941–1944, approximately 108 men were members of the YB.[6]
The squad members were used as guards and tookJews from their apartments to theghetto. The YB also guarded theGestapo headquarters inVilnius, the prison on present-dayGediminas Avenue, as well as thePaneriai base.[citation needed]
Together with the German military'sEinsatzgruppen, the squad participated in thePonary massacre, in which some 70,000 Jews were murdered, many from nearby Vilnius[11] along with estimated 20,000 Poles and 8,000 Russian POWs. The YB was created to kill people and it killed people during its entire existence.[citation needed] It carried out most of the murders in 1941. The YB is known to have killed people in Paneriai,Nemenčinė,Naujoji Vilnia,Varėna,Jašiūnai,Eišiškės,Trakai,Semeliškės, andŠvenčionys.[6]
When the Germans closed Vilnius' monasteries in 1943, the YB guarded their facilities until Germans removed the seized property.[6][clarification needed] In 1943, the YB performed far fewer executions than in 1941–1942. Beginning in December 1943, Paneriai was guarded by anSS unit, and by 1944, according to Bubnys, the YB did not perform shootings in Paneriai.[6]
Beginning in August 1943, the YB was renamed a squad of the 11th Battalion of theLatvian Legion. Their old identity documents were replaced with new documents from the Latvian Legion. Despite the formal change, the YB still served the German Security Police and SD.[citation needed]
In July 1944, the YB was moved toKaunas and stationed atNinth Fort. There, the YB guarded the prison and before retreating, killed 100 prisoners.[citation needed] Afterward, the YB was moved toStutthof, where it escorted Jews toToruń. It stayed there until April 1945, when it received orders to convoy Jews toBydgoszcz. However, the YB members fled from the approaching front and the Jewish prisoners escaped. Some YB members successfully retreated to Germany; some stayed in the zone occupied byRed Army.[6]
Squad members were issued Soviet weapons and white armbands. Some squad members wore Lithuanian Army uniforms until 1942, when they were issued greenSD uniforms withswastikas and skulls on their caps. Squad members were also issued SD identity cards.
Among the original organizers of the squad were junior lieutenants Jakubka and Butkus. After 23 July 1941, the commanding officer wasJuozas Šidlauskas. In November 1941, lieutenantBalys Norvaiša, became the commander of the squad and his deputy was lieutenantBalys Lukošius. By the end of 1943, Norvaiša and Lukošius were deployed to a self-defence battalion and command of the YB was transferred to sergeantJonas Tumas. The longest-serving commander of the YB was SS manMartin Weiss. Weiss not only directed executions, but killed victims personally. In 1943, Weiss was replaced by private Fiedler.[6]
Ten YB members were sentenced and executed by Soviet authorities in 1945 (Jonas Oželis-Kazlauskas, Juozas Macys, Stasys Ukrinas, Mikas Bogotkevičius, Povilas Vaitulionis, Jonas Dvilainis, Vladas Mandeika, Borisas Baltūsis, Juozas Augustas, and Jonas Norkevičius).[6] In total, twenty YB members were convicted by Polish and Soviet authorities, four of them in Poland in the 70s. In 1972, Polish authorities arrested three men, one Polish (Jan Borkowski, who during the war used a Lithuanized version of his name, Jonas Barkauskas), and the other two of mixed Polish–Lithuanian ethnicity (Władysław Butkun aka Vladas Butkunas and Józef Miakisz aka Juozas Mikašius) and sentenced them to death. These sentences were later commuted to 25 years imprisonment.[12][13] Other YB members died after the war or lived abroad.[6]
Daugumą būrio narių sudarė lietuviai, tačiau buvo keletas rusų ir lenkų.
YB buvo pavaldus tik vokiečių saugumo policijai ir vykdė jos pareigūnų nurodymus.
Pirmą kartą dokumentuose Vilniaus ypatingojo būrio vardas (vok. Sonderkommando) aptinkamas 1941 m. liepos 15 d. Dokumentuose kalbama apie šovinių išdavimą ypatingojo būrio reikmėms.