Why Lithuanian Jewry was caught unprepared? - Adv. Joseph A.Melamed  

1) Lithuanian Jews were the first ones in Europe againt whom the German regime applied mass murder. They did not know what expected them and therefore were not ready for the disaster that befell them

2) The suddenness of the German invasion and the assurances of the Soviet leadership that this could not happen

3) The collapse and flight of the Red Army against the German attack

4) The explosion of Lithuanian hatred towards the Jews that made it impossible to escape the murderers

5) The instant attack of the Lithuanian murderers, that were organized in an anti-Jewish underground, against the Jews

6) The absence of a Jewish leadership that was liquidated by the Communists

7) Jewish nature that is fed sometimes with false hopes and depends on miracles
 
For all of these reasons the Jewish population was stunned and their senses dulled. The pogroms and "Akcijot" in the Ghetto were still interpreted among the Jews as passing events and when they realized the true meaning of the Akcijot – most of Lithuanuan Jewry had already been murdered