Simonas Alperavicius, the chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish community, said he doubts that the commission will be successful in digging up the truth. The commission has too many people with different views on how to confront the country's past, he said.

Some members of the commission have vowed to investigate both Lithuania's crimes against the Jews during the Nazi era and Jewish crimes against Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation of the country.

The commission will be co-chaired by Emanuelis Zingeris, the only Jewish member of the 141-seat Lithuanian Parliament.

Meanwhile, the war crimes trial of Aleksandras Lileikis, 91, who headed the Lithuanian secret police during World War II, was postponed for the fourth time this year. This most recent delay raises doubts that the trial will ever take place, said Alperavicius.