Aleksandras Lileikis, an 88‑year‑old Norwood resident and former Lithuanian security official, files an eleventh‑hour objection to the federal government’s effort to revoke his U.S. citizenship. Prosecutors allege that during World War II he served as the chief of the Lithuanian Security Police in Nazi‑occupied Vilnius, where he signed orders transferring Jews—including children—to the Ypatingasis būrys death squad, actions that U.S. investigators say contributed directly to mass executions.
The Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations had already described the case as one of the most significant Nazi‑era prosecutions in the world, citing captured wartime documents and Lithuanian archival records that linked Lileikis to the roundup and disappearance of thousands of Jews in the Vilnius region. Federal Judge Richard Stearns previously ruled that the evidence showed Lileikis ordered arrests for “crimes” such as being Jewish, escaping the ghetto, or hiding a child—actions that led directly to execution once detainees were handed over to German or Lithuanian killing units.
Lileikis, who immigrated to the United States in 1955 and became a citizen in 1976, had lived quietly in Norwood for decades before investigators uncovered his wartime role. His appeal on this day sought to block the government’s attempt to strip his citizenship without trial, even as Lithuanian authorities prepared their own genocide case against him—the first such prosecution in the post‑Soviet Baltic states.
Outside his Norwood home, the case drew national attention and protests. Members of the Jewish Defense League confronted him, demanding answers about his alleged role in the Holocaust. Lileikis denied being a murderer but did not dispute his identity or wartime position, insisting his duties had been “innocuous”—a claim contradicted by extensive documentary evidence.
Source articles: Associated Press; U.S. Department of Justice; Jewish Telegraphic Agency; UPI; Lithuanian archival summaries.
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