Some believe Stahlecker exaggerated his murder tally. There is controversy over who is primarily responsible for initiating the massacres: local Lithuanians or Nazi officials. Lithuanians cite Franz Walter Stahlecker's report of October 15 to Heinrich Himmler. Stahlecker wrote that he had succeeded in covering up actions of the "Vorkommando" (German vanguard unit) and made it look like an initiative of the local population. Other authors claim that massacres began even before Germans arrived. They point out that executions took place in the countryside and not just in the city of Kaunas.