June 25, 1941

Kaunas pogrom

The anti-Jewish pogrom in Kaunas begins

The SS ordered that German direction stay invisible — and then German personnel photographed the killings, to manufacture evidence that they had been spontaneous.

The night of 25–26 June

Anti-Jewish pogroms began in Kaunas on 25 June 1941, the same day German Sixteenth Army forces entered the city and established a military commandant's office. Arrival and pogrom were not cleanly separated events.

The first large attack unfolded in Vilijampolė, or Slobodka, during the night of 25–26 June. Jewish residents were killed, synagogues destroyed and a Jewish residential area burned — about 60 houses, by Stahlecker's own account.

German soldiers took part alongside the Lithuanian White Armbands; one documented episode has German soldiers firing at Jews trying to escape from a bridge into the river.

Organized to look unorganized

SS-Brigadeführer Franz Walter Stahlecker organized and encouraged the violence, using Algirdas Klimaitis and other Lithuanian nationalist groups while working to conceal German direction.

'Partisans' in the German reports means these nationalist irregulars, not anti-Nazi resistance fighters. Responsibility is not either-or: the evidence supports German instigation, direction and participation alongside substantial local perpetration.

The violence continued through 29 June, including the Lietūkis Garage massacre on the 27th — not the 25th, as it is often placed.

What the numbers actually are

Stahlecker's October report claimed more than 1,500 Jews killed on the night of 25–26 June and 2,300 more on subsequent nights. It was written to claim success and disguise German orders, so its totals are not independently verified counts.

A modern Lithuanian study reads his 3,800 as roughly 1,000 people killed during the pogroms plus 2,800 arrested and handed into custody; many of those arrested were murdered soon afterwards. The same study reconstructs approximately 52 to 70 victims at Lietūkis Garage.

After the public pogroms ended, German SS authorities carried out systematic executions at the Seventh Fort, including Jews arrested during the pogrom.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

Stahlecker’s October report is an indispensable perpetrator document, but it was also written to claim success and disguise German direction. Its figure of 3,800 “eliminated” in Kaunas should not be treated as an independently verified death toll.
A modern Lithuanian study interprets Stahlecker’s 3,800 as about 1,000 people killed during the pogroms plus 2,800 arrested and transferred into custody; many of the latter were murdered subsequently.
The exact identities of the principal Lietūkis Garage killers remain disputed. Recent analysis concludes that the accordion player described by witnesses and the White Armband photographed with a crowbar may have been two different people.
Responsibility is sometimes framed as exclusively German or exclusively Lithuanian. The evidence supports German instigation, direction and participation alongside substantial local perpetration.