Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Yugoslavia 03: Holocaust
1941-1944
Deprivations - concentration camps - deportations - massacres
- Italian zone without massacres - German occupation of Italian zone
and deportations - partisan units
Map of Yugoslavia with the indication of the Jewish communities of 1931
and 1969.
Courtesy Federaton of Jewish Communitites in Yugoslavia,
Belgrade
from: Yugoslavia; In:
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971, vol. 16
presented by Michael Palomino
(2008)
<Holocaust Period. [Partition
of Yugoslavia in April 1941]
In April 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by German,Hungarian, Italian,
and Bulgarian troops. It was divided into several parts:
-- Serbia and the Banat came under direct German military
administration
-- Hungary reoccupied some of the areas it had ceded to newly formed
Yugoslavia after World War I
-- Bulgaria took over Macedonia
-- and Italy extended its rule over Dalmatia and Montenegro.
Most of the remaining territory - Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina -
was formed into a new "Independent State of Croatia".
SERBIA AND THE BANAT. [German
occupation]
The Ashkenazi synagogue in
Belgrade, restored after World War II by the Yugoslav government and
the American Joint
Distribution Committee. Courtesy Federation of
Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia, Belgrade
On the day after the occupation of Belgrade (April 13, 1941), German
troops, assisted by "Volksdeutsche"
(local Germans), ransacked the Jewish shops. Within a week, the Jews
were ordered to register with the police, and eventually 9,145 Jews,
out of a total prewar population of about 12,000, were registered. The
Jews were removed from public service. The yellow *badge was
introduced, and Jews were drafted into forced labor. About 3,500 to
4,000 males from the age of 14 to 60 were forced to clear the buildings
that had been razed by the bombardment, while women aged 16 to 40 were
given menial tasks in the German military installations.
A special police detachment was formed to deal with the Jewish
population. A "Jewish Organization" (Jevrejska Zajednica) was created
to attend to the needs of the Jewish population. The Nazis forced the
organization to collect contributions from the Jews and provide
hostages to ensure Jewish compliance with their orders.
After the German invasion of the U.S.S.R. [[with the collaborators]],
the occupation regime became even harsher. In one incident alone, at
the end of July, 120 Jewish hostages were shot to death (in the village
of Jajinci, near Belgrade).
In the Banat, which had a large German minority, the situation was
worse. After robbing the Jews of (col. 874)
all their property and belongings, the Nazis [[and their collaborators,
e.g. of the local population]] placed them in camps and a few weeks
later (in September 1941) deported them to Belgrade, adding another
2,500 people to its destitute Jewish population. By the end of
September, all Jewish men aged 16 and above were put into a
concentration camp, situated in Topovske Supe (¦upe), a Belgrade
suburb.
[Massacre on Jews of the Topovske
Supe (¦upe) camp in September 1941: Jajinci region on the Danube -
further massacres in Zasavica - gassing by gas lorry]
Felix Benzler, German consul in Belgrade, and Edmund Veesenmayer, from
the German Foreign Office, demanded the concentration of "at least"
8,000 men on an island in the Danube delta and their liquidation there
and asked for appropriate pressure on the German military authorities.
Adolf *Eichmann was consulted on the matter and proposed the immediate
execution of the Jews. He dispatched Franz Rademacher to Belgrade who
discovered that of the 8,000 Jewish men, 2,000 had already been shot
and there were only about 4,000-5,000 left. He arranged for their
execution "by the end of the week" (October 1941). Between Aug. 25 and
Oct. 18, 1941, all Jewish men in Nazi hands - those who had been put on
forced labor (about 3,000), the deportees from the Banat, and any
others that the Nazis had succeeded in apprehending - were concentrated
in the Topovske Supe (¦upe) camp and in the nearby Banjica camp.
The massacre began in the early part of September. Day by day, groups
of Jews, ranging from 100 to 300, were taken out of the two camps,
ostensibly for work in the fields. In fact a total of 4,500 were shot
to death, the scene of the crime being either Jajinci or some other
site on the opposite bank of the Danube. (col. 875)
A group of Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia
who had been on their way to Palestine in September 1940 had been
stranded on the Danube for lack of a seaworthy boat to continue their
voyage. They had found temporary refuge in the Yugoslav town of Sabac
(¦abac), but when the Nazis occupied the country they were all interned
(together with 63 local Jews). Originally their number was 1,300, but
200 refugees, mostly children, had received immigration certificates to
Palestine and had departed. In October 1941, all the men were taken to
the Danube village of Zasavica and shot; the women and children were
deported to the Sajmiste (Sajmi¨te) camp in Zemun near Belgrade. IN
February 1942 they were loaded into closed trucks and were gassed while
en route to Jajinci. Not a single person escaped from this camp, and
the fate of its inmates was reported by a few Jewish women, wives of
gentiles, whom the Nazis had released. In August 1942 a German report
stated that the "problem of Jews and gypsies had been solved; Serbia is
the only country where this problem no longer exists."
THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA.
[Ustase terror with anti-Jewish law and depriving property - fines and
destroyed Jewish cemeteries - concentration camps and extermination
camp near Jasenovac in Croatia]
The new Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was headed by Ante *Pavelic
(Pavelič), leader of the Ustase (Usta¨e) movement, who had been in
exile in Italy and Germany and had developed relations with the Nazis.
For the Jews, the four years of his rule in Croatia were marked by
savage cruelty and terror. Within a few days of the occupation of
Zagreb, the Germans, the local Nazis, and the Ustase (Usta¨e) combined
to deprive the Jews of (col. 876)
their property and their status. Nuremberg-style laws were enacted as
early as April 30, 1941, followed by the removal of Jews from all
public posts and the introduction of the yellow badge. On August 27, a
decree was issued expropriating all Jewish-owned real estate, and two
months later the Jews were ordered to hand over all other valuables in
their possession. In Osijek, a levy of 20,000,000 dinars was imposed
upon the Jews within three days of the occupation of the city; in
Zagreb, the Ustase (Usta¨e) arrested the wealthy Jews in May and kept
them hostage until a ransom equivalent to 100 kilograms of gold was
provided for their release. Synagogues, cultural institutions, and even
Jewish cemeteries were razed by the Ustase (Usta¨e) as soon as it came
to power.
Early in May 1941, the first concentration camp was established in the
Danica factory, in the village of Drinja, near Koprivnica. Mass arrests
of Jews were stepped up after the outbreak of the German-Soviet war
(June 1941), and a number of additional concentration camps were
established in Jasenovac, Stara Gradiska (Gradi¨ka), Loborgrad, and
Djakovo. A temporary camp, at Jadovna near Gospic (Gospič), served as
one of the early extermination camps.
By July 1941 all the inmates of the Danica camp had been murdered, and
by August the inmates at the Jadovna camp had suffered the same fate.
The main, and most notorious, of the Croatian concentration camps was
situated near Jasenovac, a town on the Zagreb-Belgrade railroad. This
camp remained in existence throughout the period of Croatian
"independence", and tens of thousands of people were murdered there,
among them about 20,000 Jews. It was to these camps that the Jews of
Croatia proper were deported. Exact figures are not available, but it
is estimated that by the end of 1942, 5,000 Jews had been deported.
Further deportations took place as late as 1944.
The Jewish communities continued to exist, although they were now
largely made up of persons with only one Jewish parent, who were
protected by law; Jewish partners of mixed marriages were also saved
from deportation due to the efforts of the Catholic Church, and
especially the papal nuncio. (About 1,000 such persons survived in
Croatia).
Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were incorporated into "independent"
Croatia, had a prewar Jewish population of about 14,000. When the
Germans occupied Sarajevo (April 17, 1941), one of their first acts was
to set fire to the Sephardi synagogue in the city, the finest structure
of its kind in the Balkan countries. They were assisted in this act of
vandalism by local Muslims, who, under the influence of their spiritual
leaders, were generally hostile to the Jews and willingly collaborated
with the Nazis.
[Bosnian Muslim division "Handjar"
(Sword)]
Hajj Amin al-Husseini (Hājj Amīn al-Husseini), the ex-mufti of
Jerusalem, went especially from Berlin to Sarajevo in order to give his
blessing to the Bosnian Muslim division named "Handjar" (Sword), which
was among the Croatian puppet state's contributions to the German war
machine. This division effectively fought on the eastern front against
the Soviet Union, incorporated in the ranks of the Wehrmacht.
[Deportations, massacres, and
flights]
In the wake of an act of sabotage that occurred at the end of July,
nine of the leading Jews of Sarajevo and 12 prominent Serbs were
arrested, and within a few days the police announced their execution by
a firing squad. Mass deportations began on September 3, when 500 Jews
were dispatched to a camp at Kruscica (Kru¨čica) near Travnik; a second
transport to the same location took place a few days later. On Oct. 19,
1941, in celebration of "Germany Day", 1,400 Jews were arrested in
Sarajevo. Although the community commissars (a Serb and a Muslim)
succeeded in getting a few of the Jews released, the community as a
whole was panic-stricken and made strenuous efforts to escape. About
1,600 made their way to Italian-occupied Mostar. The largest roundup of
Jews was organized by the Germans on Nov. 15-16, 1941, when 3,000 (col.
877)
Jews were deported to Jasenovac. Women and children from Bosnia and
Herzegovina were taken to the Loborgrad and Djakovo camps. By the end
of August 1942, some 9,000 Jews had been deported, and lony 120 were
left. In the fall of 1941 the Kruscica (Kru¨čica) camp was liquidated,
the men being sent to Jasenovac and the women to Loborgrad. A year
later, the Loborgrad camp suffered a similar fate, and those who had
survived the first year were now dispatched to the Auschwitz death camp
[[and from there probably to the tunnel systems with high death
rates]].
The Jewish community of Osijek had been tricked by the Ustase (Usta¨e)
into building its own ghetto in a factory near the village of Tenje.
When the job was completed, the Jews of Osijek and the surrounding area
were crowded into the factory, where they lived for a period of two
months. In August 1942, the surviving inmates were transported to
Jasenovac and Auschwitz [[and from there probably to the tunnel systems
with high death rates]].
By April 1945, only a little over 1,000 Serbs and Jews were still alive
in the Jasenovac camp. On April 22 they were all crowded into a single
factory building to await their death. In a final desperate effort,
some 600 of the prisoners broke the gates and attacked the Ustase
(Usta¨e) guard; for most of the, the effort was in vain, and only 80
saved their lives, among them 20 Jews. The Stara Gradiska (Gradi¨ka)
camp, a "branch" of Jasenovac, "specialized" in women and children, and
no less than 6,000-7,000 children, according to one report, were put to
death there. The German consul in Zagreb, Siegfried Kasche, and police
attaché Hans Helm reported to Berlin on April 18, 1944 that "Croatia is
one of the countries in which the Jewish problem has been solved".
VOJVODINA (BACKA (BAČKA) AND
BARANJA). [Concentrations
camps and labor battalions - deportations and flight]
The synagogue of Pancevo in Banat, Vojvodina, north Serbia. Courtesy
Federation
of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia, Belgrade.
In Vojvodina, occupied by Hungarian troops, the fate of the Jews (and,
to a certain degree, the local Serbs) was no different. In Subotica,
the main city in Backa (Bačka), 250 persons were killed in (col. 878)
the first days of the occupation. In Novi Sad, the first slaughter took
place on the third day of the occupation, when 500 people, both Jews
and Serbs, were murdered. The Jewish community was threatened with
deportation to Croatia unless it made an immediate payment of
50,000,000 dinars; after great efforts, 34,000,000 were raised.
Altogether, about 3,500 people were killed in Vojvodina in the initial
stage, among them 150-200 Jews. Concentration camps were established in
various places (Subotica, Stari Becej (Bečej), Ada, Odzaci (Od¸aci),
Backa (Bačka) Topola), and some 2,000 Jews passed through these camps
in the first two months of the occupation. In January 19442, a clash
between resistance fighters and a Hungarian troop detachment caused the
death of four Hungarian soldiers, and in reprisal 1,000 men, women, and
children were rounded up and shot to death. Among the victims of
this slaughter were 100 Jews. A few weeks later, a similar action took
place at Novi Sad, where 870 Jews - almost a fifth of the total Jewish
population of the city - in addition to 430 Serbs were murdered.
Thousands more were brought to the banks of the Danube to suffer the
same fate when a dispatch from the Hungarian military authorities
arrived to put an end to the mass killing.
In 1942 the Hungarians ordered the formation of forced labor
battalions into which all Jews and Serbs between the ages of 21 and 48
were drafted. Some 4,000 Jew from Backa (Bačka) and Baranja were
conscripted into the Battalions, 1,500 were sent to the Ukraine, near
the front, where they succumbed to disease and starvation or were
murdered. Only 20 of the entire group survived the ordeal. The others
were sent to Hungary and Serbia, where they were put to work in copper
mines and on the railroads, together with about 6,000 Hungarian Jews.
In spite of the harsh conditions to which they were exposed, they
managed to survive for a while. The end came in March 1944, when
Hungary was taken over by German forces. On September 17, a transport
of 3,600 Jews from the Bor mines (where the labor battalions were
concentrated) was dispatched in the direction of Belgrade; about 1,300
prisoners were murdered or died en route and the rest were deported to
Germany. A short while later a second transport of 2,500 Jews, which
included a large contingent of Vojvodina Jews, was organized. Some of
these managed to escape, and several hundred were liberated by Tito's
partisans, finding refuge with the population in Serbia and the Banat.
The rest of the Jews from Backa (Bačka) and Baranja were deported on
April 25-26, 1944. About 4,000 Jews from the area of Novi Sad (col. 879)
were interned at Subotica, while the Jews from the eastern part of
Backa (Bačka) were dispatched to a camp in Baja (Hungary); in May 1944,
the group from Subotica were also sent to Baja. Eventually all the
inmates of the Baja camp (as well as those of the Backa (Bačka) Topola
camp) were deported to Auschwitz [[and from there probably to the
tunnel systems with high death rates]].
MACEDONIA. [Deprivation of
property - concentration camps - deportations]
The majority of Macedonian Jews were concentrated in three cities:
-- in Skoplje (3,795 Jews, including 300 refugees from Belgrade)
-- Bitolj (Monastir; 3,350)
- and Stip (¦tip) (550).
Direct control of the area was in Bulgarian hands, and for the first 18
months persecution of the Jews did not go beyond confiscation of
property, forced contributions, and personal insults. In August 1942, a
group of 50 refugees from Belgrade were handed over to the Gestapo,
which deported them to the Banjica camp; on Dec. 3, 1942, they were put
to death in Jajinci. At the beginning of January 1943, further
restrictions were imposed on the Jews, and two months later all of the
Jewish population of Macedonia was placed in a temporary concentration
camp in the "Monopol" tobacco factory near Skoplje.
On March 21 a transport of 2,334 Jews was dispatched to the death camps
in Poland [[and from there probably to the tunnel systems with high
death rates]], followed a week later by two more transports, numbering
2,399 and 3,398 people. Only about 100 Jews returned to Macedonia from
these transports. About 150-200 Sephardi Jews were recognized by the
Spanish government as Spanish nationals and were not deported; about
120 Jews fled to Albania, and some joined the partisans.
ITALIAN-OCCUPIED AREAS. [Jewish
refugees from Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina - refugee camps in Kupari,
Kraljevica, island of Korcula (Korčula), Ferramonti in Italy, island of
Rab - deportations and massacres after German occupation since
September 1943]
Compared to the other parts of occupied Yugoslavia, the area under
Italian control was a haven for the Jews. In spite of constant pressure
by German diplomats - including Kasche, the German consul at Zagreb -
the Italians refused to accede to demands to deport Jews and, for a
while at least, regarded any measure discriminating against the Jews as
incompatible with the honor of the Italian army. Originally there were
a small number of Jews in this area, but soon it became a refuge for
Jews from Bosnia and Croatia.
In August 1941, according to a German estimate, there were between
4,000 and 5,000 Jews in Dubrovnik and Mostar. By November 1941, the
Italians went as far as establishing camps for the Jewish refugees,
interning refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Kupari (near
Dubrovnik) and Jews from Croatia in Kraljevica. In Split there were
2,000 refugees, in addition to 415 local Jews; 500 were sent to the
island of Korcula (Korčula) and 1,100 to Italy (mostly to Ferramonti
internees camp). In June 1943, 2,650 Jewish inmates of camps in
Dalmatia were deported to the island of Rab. In all the camps, the
Italians extended humane treatment to the Jews.
In September 1943, after the Italian capitulation, Tito's partisan army
evacuated 2,000 refugees from Rab, ablebodied men joined the partisans,
while the old men, women, and children found refuge in northern
Dalmatia. About 300 people - the old and sick, women and their small
children - remained on the island, and when the Germans invaded it, in
March 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz [[and from there probably
to the tunnel systems with high death rate]]. A similar fate overtook
the Jews in Split. On Sept. 28, 1943, all adult men were interned, and
after a while they were deported to Sajmiste (Sajmi¨te), where they
were all murdered. In March 1944 300 women and children were deported
from Split to Jasenovac where they died.
JEWISH PARTISANS. [Secret radio -
heavy losses in the fight]
Yugoslav Jews took an active part in the fight against the Nazis and
played a leading role among the organizers of Tito's revolt. Ten Jews
were named as national heroes of the resistance. No exact figures are
available for the number of Jews who fought with the partisans, because
they did not enlist as Jews, and in the early stage no family names
were recorded. With one exception, there were no Jewish units. After
the war, (col. 880)
however, the Federation of Yugoslav Jewish Communities was able to
identify 2,000 Jewish names among the members of Tito's formations.
[[Many Jews also changed their names and could not be found by name any
more]].
Shortly after the occupation of Belgrade, *Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir put
itself at the disposal of the Communist Party and helped organize the
resistance. The first secret radio in Zagreb was operated by two Jewish
brothers and the first act of sabotage in Vojvodina was carried out by
youngsters of the Jewish youth movement. Individual Jews committed acts
of sabotage, and in August 1942 the first group joined the partisans. A
Jewish partisan unit was formed in the fall of 1943 from among the Jews
evacuated from the Italian camp on the island of Rab. Composed of 250
men, the unit suffered heavy losses in the fighting against the
Germans; its ranks were decimated, and the survivors were incorporated
into other units. The most prominent Jewish resistance fighter was Mosa
(Mo¨a) *Pijade, who became one of Tito's four vice-presidents after the
liberation.
[ED.]> (col. 881)
Sources
|
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yugoslavia, vol. 16, col. 873-874 |
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yugoslavia, vol. 16, col. 875-876
|
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yugoslavia, vol. 16, col. 877-878
|
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yugoslavia, vol. 16, col. 879-880 |
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yugoslavia, vol. 16, col. 881-882 |
|
