1964 metų Klaipėdos karo nusikaltėlių teismo procesas: kaltinamųjų karo nusikaltimais žmonų liudijimai ir jų sociopsichologiniai portretai | The Klaipėda War Crimes Trial in 1964: Testimonies and Socio-Psychological Portraits of the Defendants’ Wives

Abstract

This article takes a micro-analytical approach to examining a war crimes trial in Klaipėda in 1964, when seven defendants were sentenced for their contribution to the extermination of 3,000 people, mostly Jews, in the summer of 1941, in Skuodas, northwest Lithuania, and its area. The article is a case study that attempts to shed a light on the role of the wives of war criminals during similar wartime events. In order to achieve this aim, it presents the historical context of the Holocaust in and around Skuodas, and discusses the war crimes trial that took place in the city of Klaipėda in 1964, before presenting socio-psychological portraits of the wives of the defendants, insofar as this can be done based on the case material. In addition, the article reveals their attitudes towards the war crimes committed by their husbands, and discusses their role in the region during the Holocaust. The paper also seeks to locate these female trial testimonies within the broader context of the case, by revealing how in general the Soviet interrogators (re)presented images of women in the course of this war crimes trial.

Keywords

• the Holocaust in Lithuania
• Second World War
• Klaipėda war crimes trial
• war crimes trials
• war criminals
• war criminals’ wives