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Oral history interview with Juozas Aleksynas

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1998.A.0221.10 | RG Number: RG-50.473.0010

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    Oral history interview with Juozas Aleksynas

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Juozas Aleksynas, born in 1914 in Makrickai village in Lithuania, describes his service in the Lithuanian Army in 1936 and 1937; his mobilization in 1941 into an auxiliary police unit aiding the German Army; serving as a guard of prisoner of war labor units in Zapyškis, Lithuania; the treatment of Soviet prisoners by German soldiers; the starvation of the Soviet prisoners; being under the command of German soldiers; the transfer of his battalion to Minsk, Belarus; traveling through Belarus with German soldiers to Kletsk, Barysaw (Barysau), and Slutsk; the digging of burial pits; taking Jews to the pits and participating in their execution; his situation that refusing to shoot was not an option; details of the guns and bullets used in the shootings; the behavior of the victims; the sequence of the mass shootings; actions against partisan groups, including the retaliation of German soldiers against villages where attacks occurred; German soldiers filming the killing of Jews; his transfer to guard duties in Gomel (Homel'), Belarus as a result of increased partisan activity; deserting his battalion in 1942; being caught by German police after his desertion; and his subsequent escape from imprisonment.
    Interviewee
    Juozas Aleksynas
    Interviewer
    Saulius Berzinis
    Date
    interview:  1998 April 16
    Geography
    creation: Vilnius (Lithuania)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    Lithuanian
    Extent
    1 videocasette (Betacam SP).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Aleksynas, Juozas.
    Corporate Name
    Lithuania. Kariuomene

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    This interview is part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. The interview was directed and supervised by Nathan Beyrak.
    Funding Note
    The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:41:48
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn508564

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