Casablanca of the north : refugees & rescuers in Kaunas 1939-1940

Abstract

When two totalitarian regimes folded Europe, everyone understood that some crucial events would take place. At the beginning, Nazis and Bolsheviks acted as friends, but at the same time they did not trust each other, therefore they were searching for allies and creating their plans of dominance. Nations and states were in their way, the qonquest of which was only a question of time Finally, Nazis attacked Bolsheviks in June 1941, but before that, just in a few years (starting from 1 September1939, when WW II broke out), the whole drama took place in Europe, as well as Far East. In fact, the majority of those Europeans, who found themselves in Far East, had never expected to go on such a long journey and reach such a distant place. Naturally, a war is seen as a danger and turmoil, therefore some people tend to leave their homes in order to find a more secure place. It is difficult to say why some persons choose to leave their homes and move to other places, as if trying to avoid the same view in front of their eyes: occupation, danger and destruction. Undoubtedly, some groups of people, like military personnel and intellectuals, are always in danger when they face occupation. For istance, Nazis’ special target were Jews, while Bolsheviks’ - so called “bourgeois”, “nationalists”, etc.