Dubingiai massacre

Dubingiai massacre
Part of World War II
Dubingiai is located in Lithuania
Dubingiai
Dubingiai
Dubingiai (Lithuania)
LocationDubingiai, Generalbezirk Litauen, Reichskommissariat Ostland
(now in Lithuania)
Coordinates55°04′00″N 25°27′00″E / 55.06667°N 25.45000°E / 55.06667; 25.45000
Date23 June 1944
TargetLithuanian civilians
Attack type
Massacre (war crime)
Deaths27 (In Dubingiai)
70-100 in Dubingiai and Neighboring villages
VictimsLithuanians and Lithuanian Auxiliary Police men
PerpetratorsHome Army 5th Wilno Brigade
No. of participants
~50
MotiveRetaliation for Glinciszki massacre and scaring the Lithuanians

The Dubingiai massacre was a mass murder of 20–27 Lithuanian civilians in the town of Dubingiai (in Polish, Dubinki) on 23 June 1944. The massacre was carried out by the Polish Home Army's 5th Wilno Brigade, part of the Polish resistance, in reprisal for the Glinciszki (Glitiškės) massacre of Polish civilians committed on 20 June 1944 by the Nazi-subordinated 258th Lithuanian Police Battalion.

The Dubingiai massacre started a wider Polish Home Army (AK) operation in which units beyond the 5th Brigade were involved. By the end of June 1944, a total 70–100 Lithuanians were killed in Dubingiai and the neighbouring villages of Joniškis, Inturkė [lt], Bijutiškis [lt], and Giedraičiai. While Nazi collaborators were ostensibly the prime targets,[1] the victims also included the elderly, children, and infants of 4 and 11 months.[2]

Further conflicts between Lithuanian and Polish units were prevented by the Soviet capture of Vilnius in mid-July 1944.

  1. ^ Piskunowicz 1997, pp. 40–45.
  2. ^ Bubnys 2015, pp. 199–201.