‘CENTURIES WILL NOT SUFFICE’
BRINGING FULL CONTEXT AND UNDERSTANDING TO THE LITHUANIAN HOLOCAUST
Author: Prit Buttar Publisher: Amberley Publishing Price: £25 Released: Out now
As an author, Prit Buttar has a commendable track record of trudging through the deepest and darkest mud of the Eastern Front of the Second World War to bring its stories to new audiences. These often challenging and desperate tales have too frequently been sidelined in favour of well-trodden tales from the Western Front or big-picture overviews of the powerful figures. As Buttar outlines in his introduction, that big-picture vantage also tends to sum up the human cost in numbers so large that they become difficult to fully absorb, and so here he tries to focus on one area: the Holocaust in Lithuania.
While that target may be contained, there is no lack of context here. Buttar takes us back to the origins of the Nazi’s Einsatzgruppen (meaning task force, but essentially death squads), to the politics at play in the Molotov-ribbentrop Pact. We even head back into medieval history to learn more about the struggles for independence in Lithuania and the role the Teutonic Knights played. And of course, most importantly, we delve into the backstories of the people who led the execution of Jews in the region. We also learn about some of the heroic people who stood up to these crimes, saving as many as they could, including Japanese and a Dutch diplomat and even a German Army officer who couldn›t abide by what was happening behind the front line. Engaging, potent and informative, this is another excellent work from Buttar.
“WE DELVE INTO THE BACKSTORIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LED THE EXECUTION OF JEWS IN THE REGION. WE ALSO LEARN ABOUT SOME OF THE HEROIC PEOPLE WHO STOOD UP TO THESE CRIMES”