The Holocaust in Bulgarian-occupied Greece
In March 1943, about 4,075 Jews living in Bulgarian-occupied eastern
Background
The ancient Greek-speaking
The area was conquered by Bulgaria during the
Bulgarian occupation
In April 1941, Greece was defeated in the
In mid-1941, Greece was partitioned into different occupation zones by Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria. Germany occupied strategically important areas, including Salonica and the surrounding area and a strip of land along what had been Greece's border with Turkey.
Greeks and Jews were allotted smaller food rations than Bulgarians, which meant that Jews were disproportionately affected by the
Planning
Preparations for a possible Allied attack in the northern Aegean coincided with preparations for the deportation of Salonica's Jews and the deployment of German advisor Theodor Dannecker to Bulgaria in late 1942, in order to ensure that Western Thrace was also cleared. According to historian Steven Bowman, Hitler believed that Jewish populations would hamper the Axis defenses in the event of invasion.[16]
In October 1942, all Jews, including those in Belomorie, were registered by the authorities.
On 2 March 1943, the cabinet issued a series of decrees approving the deportation of Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Greece and ordering various ministries to prepare for and execute it. All the KEV personnel were forbidden to resign or refuse to complete assigned tasks until 31 March. The cabinet agreed that Jews of Bulgarian nationality would be stripped of it as soon as they were deported and that immobile property would be confiscated by the government, while the KEV was empowered to sell mobile property for the benefit of local Bulgarians. These decrees were signed by all ministers present (but not Justice Minister Konstantin Partov , who was absent) and were not published in the government gazette, Durzhaven Vestnik, to maintain secrecy.[22] The KEV was led in Belomorie by Jaroslav Kalicin, who directed the deportation.[23]
Roundup
External videos | |
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Silent film of the deportation of Jews from Kavala, Serres, and Drama |
The operation was executed at 04:00 on 4 March 1943 in all the places in Belomorie with a significant Jewish population—
The KEV reported that 42 people were arrested in Alexandroupolis, 3 in Samothrace, 589 in Drama, 878 in Komotini, 1,484 in Kavala, 19 in Eleftheroupoli, 16 in Thasos, 526 in Xanthi, 12 in Chrysoupoli, 471 from Serres, and 18 in Ziliahovo . Overall 4,058 of the 4,273 Jews in Western Thrace were arrested during the roundup.[27][28] The majority of those not deported were citizens of neutral or Axis-allied countries, who were exempt, as well as a few Greek citizens who managed to escape or were in jail or hospitalized at the time.[27][15] Another 42 Jews from Greece who were in labor battalions were arrested and deported along with the Jews from Vardar Macedonia, while others were not sent to the KEV before the deportations were over, thus escaping death.[29] Belev asked for and obtained declarations of gratitude from local Bulgarian authorities for depriving them of their Jewish population.[30]
Deportation
The Jews were then sent in open railway cars to the camps in Gorna Dzhumaya and Dupnica, guarded by police or soldiers.
At Gorna Dzhumaya, Jews had to walk a mile from the train station to the transit camps at the Rainov tobacco warehouse and the School of Economics. There was only one water faucet for 1,000 people and only one toilet per 300–500 detainees. Poor conditions led to 1–3 people dying in the camp each day.[34] At Dupnica, five people died at the camp and were buried in the city's Jewish cemetery. Jewish doctor Marko A. Perets reported that little of some supplies donated by the local Jewish community reached the prisoners as it was appropriated by the guards. The Jews in the camp had to submit to searches during which money was stolen from them. Some Bulgarian residents of Dupnica suggested interning the local Jews in the camp as well as they were blamed for shortages.[35] On 9 March, some Jews with Bulgarian citizenship were released.[29] The rest of the Jews were told that there was a plan to send them to Mandatory Palestine via Black Sea ports.[36]
On 18 and 19 March, the Jews were deported again from Gorna Dzhumaya (the first train) and Gorna Dzhumaya and Dupnica (the second) to the Danube port city of Lom via Sofia by rail.[27][37] In Sofia a representative of the railway company counted the passengers to determine the fare, charged to the KEV, which was covered using the proceeds of Jewish property sales. At this point there were 4,057 Jews, minus some deaths but with a few additional stragglers as well as births added.[38] Arriving in Lom on 19 and 20 March,[39] Jews were deported again on ships. Kara G'orgi departed at 14:00, 20 March; the second, Voivoda Mashil, left later that day. Saturnus and Tsar Dushan departed in the evening of 21 March. Each ship carried between 875 and 1,100 people, for a total of 4,219 deported (including some from Pirot in Bulgarian-occupied Yugoslavia). Several people died during the journey, which took five to ten days depending on the vessel.[40] In Vienna, they were surrendered to Nazi authorities. The Jews were then deported to Katowice on 26 and 27 March, where the Bulgarian guards returned home.[41] Bulgaria was responsible for the paying the fare as far as Katowice, also charged to the KEV.[41]
The Jews continued by rail to Treblinka extermination camp, where all were immediately killed in the gas chamber.[42] Ninety other Jews from Kavala were deported along with the Jews of Vardar Macedonia from the camp in Skopje to Treblinka on 29 March.[43] Historian Frederick B. Chary estimates that in all, 4,075 Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Greece were deported by Bulgaria.[44] In less than a month 97 percent of the Jews under Bulgarian control were murdered.[45] This death rate was one of the highest in Europe.[46]
Property
After the deportation, the KEV sold the movable property of the deportees for the "Jewish community fund" placed at the disposal of the agency. Property belonging to different people was not registered according to its original owner in order to speed up the process. There were also instances of unofficial looting, especially in Kavala and Komotini. The government bought up much of the property and the rest was often sold off to friends of the liquidators for a fraction of its actual value, often to be resold for personal profit. Those involved in this organized despoliation included policemen, judges, KEV officials, laborers, and civil servants assigned to the liquidation committees.[47]
The total profit to the government was 6,163,978
Aftermath
On 4 May 1943, the Jews in the German-occupied strip along the Turkish border, who lived in
In 2016, researcher Vassilis Ritzaleos organized a conference at Democritus University of Thrace in Komotini, during which academics from Germany, Israel, Bulgaria and Greece gathered to discuss the Holocaust in Bulgarian-occupied areas of Greece.[52][53]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Bowman 2009, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 16.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 18.
- ^ Levene 2018, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Fleming 2008, p. 108.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 43.
- ^ Bowman 2009, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Levene 2018, p. 40.
- ^ Levene 2018, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Gerlach 2016, p. 379.
- ^ a b c d Bowman 2009, p. 47.
- ^ Levene 2018, p. 44.
- ^ Levene 2018, p. 42.
- ^ Sage 2018, p. 6.
- ^ a b Chary 1972, pp. 104, 106.
- ^ Bowman 2009, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Sage 2018, p. 7.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 77.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 79.
- ^ Sage 2018, p. 9.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 80.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 81–82.
- ^ a b c Ragaru, Nadège (19 March 2017). "Contrasting Destinies: The Plight of Bulgarian Jews and the Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Greek and Yugoslav Territories during World War Two". Mass Violence and Resistance. Sciences Po. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 101.
- ^ Bowman 2009, pp. 80–81.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 101–102.
- ^ a b c d e Bowman 2009, p. 81.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 102–103.
- ^ a b Chary 1972, p. 107.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 107–108.
- ^ a b Chary 1972, p. 108.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 109.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 110.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 111.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 117.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 117–118, 128.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 121.
- ^ a b Chary 1972, p. 118.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 80.
- ^ Bowman 2009, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 127.
- ^ a b Bowman 2009, p. 82.
- ^ Levene 2018, p. 41.
- ^ Chary 1972, pp. 112–113.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 114.
- ^ Chary 1972, p. 128.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 9.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 91.
- ^ "Η ιστορία των 864 Εβραίων που εκτοπίστηκαν από την Κομοτηνή". www.xronos.gr (in Greek). 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Επιστημονική ημερίδα για το Ολοκαύτωμα των Ελλήνων Εβραίων στην Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, 1941–1944 | Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Εθνολογίας". www.he.duth.gr. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-8047-7249-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8229-3251-2.
- ISBN 978-0-691-10272-6.
- ISBN 978-0-521-88078-7.
- ISBN 978-1-108-47467-2.
- ISBN 978-0-253-02373-5.
Further reading
- Danova, Nadia (2015). "Das Schicksal der Juden im bulgarischen Machtbereich der Jahre 1941 – 1944". Die Okkupation Griechenlands im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Griechische und deutsche Erinnerungskultur (in German). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. pp. 129–142. ISBN 978-3-412-22467-7.
- Ragaru, Nadège (2016). "Nationalizing the Holocaust. 'Foreign' Jews and the Making of Indifference in Macedonia Under Bulgarian Occupation". The Holocaust and European Societies: Social Processes and Social Dynamics. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 105–126. ISBN 978-1-137-56984-4.
- Ragaru, Nadége (2019). "The Prosecution of Anti-Jewish Crimes in Bulgaria: Fashioning a Master Narrative of the Second World War (1944–1945)". East European Politics and Societies. 33 (4): 941–975. S2CID 199277131.
- Rusin, Bartłomiej (2015). "Deportacja Żydów z Macedonii Wardarskiej, Bełomoria i Pirotu w historiografii bułgarskiej" [The Deportation of Jews from Vardar Macedonia, Belomorie, and Pirot in Bulgarian Historiography]. Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały (in Polish) (11): 255–268. ISSN 1895-247X.