The Holocaust in the Southern Balkans: Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding

Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding (The Holocaust in the Southern Balkans) Paul Isaac Hagouel, Ph.D. Thessaloniki, Greece [email protected]

Full paper to be published at the Conference Proceedings of the Scientific Forum

70 years from the deportation of Jews from Skopje, Bitola & Štip March 12, 2013 Skopje at the Academy of Sciences and Arts Co–organizers: Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute of National History Holocaust Fund Full Program of Scientific Forum, Program of Commemorative Events and Talk delivered at the Forum follow

Paul Isaac Hagouel

Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding 1 (The Holocaust in the Southern Balkans) Paul Isaac Hagouel Abstract The present work focuses on the underlying seminal causes of the Annihilation of Jewish Greeks in Bulgarian occupied Northern Greece, along with the Annihilation of their brethren in Skopje, Bitola, Štip and Pirot, also occupied by Bulgaria, as well as with the Annihilation of Jewish Greeks from Thessaloniki and surroundings and the cities of Soufli, Didimoteixo, Nea Orestiada of Thrace occupied by the Germans 70 years ago. A definition of the Holocaust is given that broadens the term beyond its peak point that of the actual assassination of Jews by the Germans and some of their allies. The definition includes all past historical events and practices that fermented the path to destruction of the European and North African Jewry during the World War II as well as the now and current state practices. Starting milestones are the Preliminary Peace Treaty at San Stefano and the Peace Treaty at Berlin both of the year 1878. The root causes of the complicity of the Bulgarian governments of the time in the deportation of the Jewish inhabitants of the “New” Bulgarian territories are analyzed and, given the documentary evidence presented, conclusions are reached. Also, the nation states that were created in the wake of the First World War and the ensuing Peace Treaties are shown to be fraught with all those ingredients that fertilize the national psyche to accept as legitimate racist and exclusive policies. The distinction of Racial Anti–Semitism versus the millennia old Religious one is emphasized. Finally, all of the above lead to the inexorable conclusion that the Jewish citizens of the Balkans, given their centuries of epitomizing, with their predicament and sufferings, what was wrong in our region and Europe in matters of civil rights and other liberties, are the de facto bridge to friendship and understanding amongst our neighborly states. The calamity that befell the Jews of Europe and North Africa during the Second World War in general and, in particular, the Jews of Skopje, Bitola, Štip, Pirot, as well as the Jewish Greeks of Alexandroupolis, Komotini, Xanthi, Kavala, Drama and Serres under Bulgarian Occupation and the ones of Thessaloniki and surroundings as well as those of Soufli, Didimoteixo and Nea Orestiada under German Occupation 70 years ago has no comparison with any other event in World History nor will it ever be possible to be compared with any future one. 2 Paul Isaac Hagouel, 11 Chrysostomou Smyrnis Street, GR–54622, Thessaloniki, Greece, E–mail: [email protected] Paul Hagouel represented the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki NPDD for the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the deportation of the Jews of Skopje, Bitola and Štip. Skopje, March 12, 2013

Holocaust in the Balkans page 2 of 21 Balkan Jews in the 21st Century: Bridge to Friendship and Understanding

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In particular, during the night of March 3rd to March 4th, 1943, Bulgarian Occupation Forces swept the towns of Alexandroupoli, Komotini, Xanthi, Kavala, Drama, and Serres and, in one swift stroke, they apprehended all Jewish Greek inhabitants, rousing them in the middle of the night, confiscating their belongings and property. They assembled and held them in (mainly) tobacco warehouses. A few days later, they moved them to transitory points in Bulgaria proper. From there, they swiftly deported them outside the Bulgarian borders to the German Eastern Regions (sic), in accordance with the Dannecker – Belev Agreement signed in Sofia, on February 22nd, 1943. 3 This sealed the fate of those souls and it marked the first ever instance of mass deportations and certain subsequent annihilation of Jewish Greeks from occupied Greek territory. Their final destination was the Death Camp at Treblinka, occupied Poland.

A week later, on March 11, 1943, Bulgarian occupying forces, again,

rounded up all Jewish inhabitants of Skopje, Bitola, Štip and Pirot adhering to the same operational plan that served them well in Northern Greece.

The final

deportation destination was Treblinka where all were exterminated. And, a few days later, the first death train left Thessaloniki, with destination the Auschwitz–Birkenau Concentration and Death Camp, on March 15th, 1943 on German initiative. This is factual History. This is a solemn occasion in the shadow of a sad anniversary, that of the almost total annihilation of Jewish life in our region. Even though the success of the “Final” Solution surpassed all expectations of its perpetrators fortunately, to their detriment, we are here today. We are here to day both to remember but, most importantly, to celebrate life and a bright future for all, Jews and non–Jews. So, why are Jews important today? The answer is disarmingly simple: The Jews epitomized in the previous two centuries what was wrong with age long ingrained attitudes and misconceptions in Europe based on millennia old prejudices and Religious anti–Semitism that also permeated our geographical region. And thus, tracing the history of the Jews and their misfortunes is the best paradigm of things to correct and things to avoid. 4 Their tragic predicament together with the now, the present, brings to mind an ancient Greek adage «ουδέν κακόν αμιγές καλού» Skopje, March 12, 2013


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translated as “there exist no wrong, harm or evil without incorporating some good”. How, unfortunately, true this rings to our ears these days. There is no better proof of the enthusiasm and eagerness in achieving a lasting understanding and friendship of each other than our gathering here today, as the representatives of the surrounding countries, albeit to memorialize past abhorring events. This is no time for recriminations nor is it time to forget. We will always remember and transmit the memory. We will always strive for a constructive legacy. It is also important for all parties guilty to any degree to admit and accept their measure and responsibility. This will have the beneficial effect of catharsis as in ancient tragedies.

It will be beneficial foremost to the party bearing the guilt,

however light, and it will cement the bonds of friendship and understanding and good neighborliness. All of the above refer to and spring from what we are accustomed to call the Holocaust. But what is the Holocaust, how is it defined? Certainly Holocaust is not only the chronicle and narration of the misery, of the persecutions, of the murders inside gas chambers. It is not, and shouldn’t be, a pity producing mechanism. The persecution and physical annihilation of Jews by the Germans is only the culmination of the process and event that came to be known as the Holocaust. The term Holocaust incorporates all the primal causes, causae causans, irrespective of how far back we have to look and trace the past. Any actions or failures to react of any individual, group, society and/or states which tolerate or, worse, kindle activities that may lead to other Holocausts, not necessarily of Jews, are also included in the definition. Thus the Holocaust comprises both the past and the subsequent time span of the actual Annihilation which was the peak of the event. Memory, and the transmission of it, is paramount both as a leverage for the admittance of any guilt and/or responsibility from the perpetrators, and as a catalyst for teaching humanity the traps of prejudice, racism, injustice. How was the Jew the epitome of what was wrong in our corner of the Earth? History and politics of late 19th century Europe and onwards were dominated by various conflicts and a multitude of national and ethnic aspirations. The causa causans is not lost to history but can be traced in the final quarter of the 19th Century in the year Skopje, March 12, 2013


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1878, and the seeds of the future unfortunate events to the two Peace Treaties; the Preliminary one at San Stefano and the Final one at Berlin. The Principality of Bulgaria came to existence as an outcome of the Turkish – Russian war that ended in 1878 with the signing of the Preliminary Peace Treaty in San Stefano near Constantinople (today Yeşilköy). 5 The territory that was assigned with the Treaty to Bulgaria was much extended and encompassed large areas of what are now different, but friendly, states or parts of. Understandably, people affected by this, especially all but the Christian Bulgarians, opposed this treaty that put them under the authority of an untested new state entity which was created in the wake of a conclusion of war. 6 Mind you, this was 1878 and, with Jewish populations as a paradigm, the documented track record of neighboring state entities such as Serbia and Romania left many things to be desired 7 . . . Concepts like civil rights and/or political correctness were either completely absent or unheard of. Only one paragraph of Article VII of the treaty mentioned, incidentally, that “In the localities where Bulgarians are mixed with Turks, Greeks, Wallachians (Koutzo-Vlachs), or others, proper account is to be taken for the rights and interests of these populations in the elections and in the preparation of the Organic Laws;”. Now, this general statement, does not, most certainly, constitute a guarantee for civil rights, especially given the historic period of the time. Note how conspicuously Jews are absent and/or omitted, and, that the Treaty gives no definition of who is a Bulgarian, a Greek, and a Turk etc, nor does it elaborate what those rights and interests of these populations might be. The Great Powers however were not thrilled of having a Greater Bulgaria under the influence of Moscow in the midst of what they considered their sphere of influence. Understandably Serbia and Greece were also opposed to an extended Bulgaria for their own reasons. Thus the Great Powers moved swiftly to draft, finalize, and enforce a new Peace Treaty undoing the Preliminary one in order to safeguard their interests and not because of any demonstrated sensitivities or compassion towards Jews, other religious minorities or just plain minorities. So, a few months later, the focus of European attention shifts to the Congress of Berlin which lasts for a full month and concludes with the signing of the Berlin Peace Treaty of July 13th, 1878. 8 This Treaty limited severely the geographic boundaries of the Principality of Bulgaria compared with the territory allocated in San Stefano. It was a blow to the national aspirations of the Bulgarian people who were enthralled after San Stefano that they Skopje, March 12, 2013


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had achieved their goal in uniting all areas where the majorities were considered to be Bulgarians. With the benefit of hindsight we know that this clouded and blinded, in many instances, the sound judgment of successive Bulgarian governments of the era. The desire was always to try to reclaim the lands of the San Stefano treaty; furthermore, due to pressure exerted by various Jewish communities, 9 Articles were inserted in the Treaty with the intention to safeguard basic religious liberties and rights for non-Christian citizens of various states in the Balkans. One such was Article V stating that Bulgaria should take into account equal rights for all its citizens irrespective of religion as a basis for its public law. Another was Article XXXV for Serbia to honor the same. Am I allowed to conclude that the insertion of such clauses into a Peace Treaty proves and insinuates warranted cause?

Nonetheless, these

Articles refer to the rights of individuals and not groups, however defined. In 1885 the Principality of Bulgaria annexed Eastern Roumelia. 10 An aggregation of letters and reports concerning the Condition of Mussulman, Greek, and Jewish Populations in Eastern Roumelia, totaling 322 pages was presented at the House of Commons, UK in 1880. 11 This detail should not pass unnoticed since it conveys a feeling of established attitudes, comportments, and/or dealings with minorities in the region and at the epoch. Inherent in national aspirations was not only geography but, most important, ethnic aspirations.

All states competed with each other in claiming jurisdiction over

particular geographic regions based on the abstract term of ethnic majorities. These led to more conflicts, regional and global. If we fast forward in historic timeline we reach 1913 and the end of the 2nd Balkan War and the Treaty of Bucharest. 12 The coveted access to the Aegean is granted to Bulgaria. However, at no time, another conflagration breaks out, the First World War. Bulgaria sides with the Central Powers. After four years and countless human and property losses the victorious Allies impose their terms to the vanquished: to Germany with the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28th, 1919 (actually a collection of sub treaties), 13 and to Bulgaria with the Treaty Peace signed at Neuilly–sur–Seine on November 27, 1919. 14 In both, (USofA President) Wilson’s insistence in national self determination, having as a consequence the subsequent foundation of the multitude of European nation-states which, in turn, contributed seminally to the creation of many artificial majorities and Skopje, March 12, 2013


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minorities, is most obvious. Keep in mind that the Constitution of the USofA 15 was (and still is!) based solely on Individual Civil Rights and Liberties and the terms group or minority were and are alien to it. It shouldn’t pass unnoticed the fact that President Wilson strongly believed that national self determination would end the root causes which were most central in leading Europe to war in the first place. 16 The onerous territorial losses to Bulgaria are prominent in the Treaty of Neuilly. What is most interesting is the affluence of Articles pertaining to individual civil rights for all citizens of Bulgaria, albeit under the general heading of SECTION IV PROTECTION OF MINORITIES (of Part III Political Clauses of the Treaty). The insertion (and imposition) of those clauses, concerning domestic issues of the country in question, leads me to the conclusion that the record on human rights and religious liberties in Bulgaria, up to that date, was not the best. Again note how the term minority is ill defined, if at all. How does one define ethnicity, nation, and minority? One does not need to define the individual, the term is self explanatory. So, here, in this innocuous heading, the Jew, the perennial outsider and occasional scapegoat for all ills real or imaginary, is left powerless and unprotected. National self determination created state entities that equated their raison d’être to the existence of a particular majority aggregating a set of common characteristics that usually included language and religion within their boundaries or various groups united by such factors as common descent, language, culture, history, or occupation of the same territory, so as to form a distinct people and, thus, constitute the (ethnic) majority. It is obvious that for a majority to exist it must be juxtaposed to a minority and vice versa since the word insinuates comparison between two entities. Majorities in one state become the minorities in others.

Group rights are glorified to the

detriment of individual ones. Furthermore, most of the newly created states were mutually hostile or, the least, unfriendly to each other: Each one vied for territorial expansion that would incorporate their own “ethnic” groups that inhabited parts of the other (usually) neighboring states, territories that were assigned to various states by Treaties where the Great Powers had the first say. 17 18 Skopje, March 12, 2013


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So in Europe at least, usually the shared common characteristics of language and that of the Christian religion defined various ethnic groups or nations and, thus, the majorities and corresponding minorities. There was always a Bulgarian state, a Greek State, a Serbian (Yugoslav) state but no Jewish state. Jews were just a religious minority in all states that they inhabited, and even considered by many as foreign bodies, irrespective of their centuries long presence. They were a minority with no “mother state” to claim them. Very few state constitutions affirmed clearly and guaranteed full emancipation for all of their citizens irrespective of any differentiating characteristics such as religion etc. Citizenship in a truly democratic state should be based on social contract and not on the abstract notion of ethnicity. Greece, from the beginning, incorporated into the Article 1 of its first provisional constitution of Epidaurus in 1822 19 full religious liberties and full emancipation for all its citizens was enshrined with the 3d Protocol of the Treaties of London in 1830. 20

It is

interesting to note that all successive Greek Constitutions never did recognize minorities; they only recognized that all Greeks are equal under the law. Irrespective of laws and constitutions, customs, prejudices and ingrained misconceptions die hard. Therefore, then and now, a continuous concerted effort should have taken place so that the unity of all in the national corpus should not have remained only a Constitutional mandate, usually in many instances with no redeeming value, but should have been realized fully and every day in practice and deeds and not only words. Education was and is the means to accomplish that but it was both lacking and not forthcoming. On the contrary, conditions in inter war years not only did not help but, indeed, conspired in aggravating the problem. Before leaving the tumultuous months of 1919 near and around Paris, a few words on the Versailles Peace Treaty between the Allies and Germany are essential: The Treaty imposed onerous reparations and humiliating terms to the defeated state along with a severe territorial diminution and loss of colonies.

Realism was lacking and a

revengeful and vindictive spirit prevailed from the part of the Allies. They (Allies) did not see or foresee at the time (maybe they did not want to see . . .) that they were sowing the seeds of the future world military upheaval. In my opinion, this was also a contributory factual event for the breaking of World War II just 20 years later. In tandem with the bitter feelings of the everyday German, a fundamental change Skopje, March 12, 2013


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occurred in the very constitutive nature of anti–Judaism that very few noticed (except the Jews themselves of course!) and even fewer grasped its significance:

The

millennia old Religious Anti-Semitism now, with the help of warped “science”, became Racial Anti-Judaism! Now Jews may be anything, but a race?!

21

This

differentiation, so innocuous at the time, would lead to almost 6000000 human losses of Jewish souls just because they were . . . Jewish in the very near future. After all how can you exclude a person from the (national) corpus on just his or her religious beliefs? It becomes expedient to relegate that person to as belonging to a different race and, voilà, this person is inherently alien to the nation, no part of the corpus.

In this way the importance of the nation is exhorted, the group takes

precedence over the individual, the individual is subordinated to the mass and, with the benefit of hindsight and a good dose of National Socialism, that leads to the glory of the Volk, to the 1934 propaganda poster motto “Ein, Vok, Ein Reich, Ein Führer”, 22

to the Jew who is the eternal enemy of the nation and, lastly, to the Final Solution

of the “problem” – really, “whose” problem? Unfortunately in what concerns civil rights and privileges the domain of definition is not an analog one with a continuous spectrum of gradations. 23 It is a digital one with discrete states: it can either be 1 or 0, black or white. Grey areas are fraught with present and future dangers and also constitute a sure recipe for disaster. History has shown that, given grey areas, that is to say any degree of disenfranchisement, entropy (the Second Law of Thermodynamics) 24 takes hold and, in time, turns it to full black with all its repercussions. So in those times, where everything was measured and compared with an ethnicity yardstick, the Jew was always left outside. And he was left outside because he was not considered a party to either the artificial majority or to the corresponding minorities of the state. The timeline has reached the mature inter war years.

Financial crisis and

insurmountable daily life problems burden the average citizen. Slowly, but also incrementally, the quiet anti–Judaism, always present and kept “warm” in the back– burner, that originated and sprang from various political groups in various states becomes the convenient vehicle in order to transubstantiate the Jewish co citizen to a scapegoat responsible for all banes, sufferings and misfortunes. With the passing of Skopje, March 12, 2013


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time and with the permeance of racial Anti–Judaism into the social fabric as grata, in some instances, it (Anti–Judaism) became not only an accepted status by a large segment of the population but also state policy such as in the German Reich 25 and the Kingdom of Italy during the Mussolini era. 26 Furthermore, between 1918 and 1940 almost half of all European states had turned into dictatorships. 27 This is a strong indication, if not outright proof, that the creation of nation–states with no established sets of correct political conduct towards their citizenry along with a deficiency of Constitutional guarantees for civil liberties for all and no real commitment or legacy of adhering to the democratic principles, did not shield them from the sirens of autocracy. In most countries de jure constitutional emancipation never mutated to a de facto one. So, given the right circumstances, constitutional guarantees of civil rights for all were not only summarily forgotten and relegated to the dustbin but, on top, parliaments even passed [legislated, voted] Discriminatory Laws. The position of the Jew was tenuous at best. Now, it surely became precarious . . . In the late thirties most European states try to either fend off the looming dangers or to reach an accommodation. On the eve of World War II, Yugoslavia, a leading trading partner of the Reich and sharing common borders with it, sensed and guessed rightly Hitler’s expansionist “appetite”. Bulgarian governments of the time, always having their sights to right the “wrongs” of the Treaty of Neuilly, saw an opportunity for territorial expansion and Aegean Sea access if they sided with the Reich. 28 They believed that only gains would be the outcome of such a move. Thus, a full 7 months before the German Reich invaded Yugoslavia, they (the Yugoslavs) decided to offer Hitler a “present”: On October 5th, 1940, when President of the Parliament and Minister of Education was Anton Korošec, two Anti-Semitic Laws were published in the official Government Gazette of Yugoslavia. 29 Then, just 3 days later (!), as if it was prearranged, Gabrovski, Belev and others, on October 8, 1940 according to a NY Times article, 30 introduce Anti-Semitic Legislation which is immediately accepted by the Bulgarian Government and presented to the Parliament for voting. It becomes, officially, the notorious Law for the Protection of the Nation, taking effect in January 23, 1941. 31 Skopje, March 12, 2013

It is self evident that Jews, even Jewish


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Bulgarians, suddenly do not belong to the Nation. Its further repercussions later for the Jewish Greeks under Bulgarian occupation was that they were barred from acquiring Bulgarian citizenship as inhabitants of the “New” Bulgarian territories. So here we have Yugoslavia trying to appease Hitler and, simultaneously, Bulgaria trying to please him. The conclusion was and is that both states considered their citizens of Jewish descent to be less Yugoslav or Bulgarian respectively than their Christian compatriots, and that these laws just crowned ingrained state latent Anti-Judaism. A consequential result was to make discrimination against the Jews more “palatable” for some segments of the population and dress with a veneer of quasi legitimacy future actions. In 2012 Serbia in its Holocaust in Serbia Exhibit 32 stated that the Yugoslav Anti– Judaic laws were mild compared to ones passed in many other European states. As I emphasized above, in matters that culminate in Genocide, there can be no extenuatory comparison.

Anti–Semitic Legislation can not be benign or malignant; it is a

contradiction of terms. Accidentally pregnant is unacceptable. And, as history has shown, the distance between Anti–Judaic legislation and persecution that lead to the eventual finality of genocide loomed particularly short and, unfortunately, was proven so. In April 1941 the German Reich invaded the Kingdoms of Yugoslavia and of Greece. In a few weeks time the whole country (Greece) was occupied. In the wake of their lightning victory the invaders, in no time, ceded to their Bulgarian ally, which, in the meantime had joined the Tripartite Pact (March 1, 1941), territories that included the aforementioned cities (with the Clodius–Popov Agreement of April 27, 1941). 33 Actually the “New” Bulgarian territories amounted with respect to Greece, more or less, to those territories lost in the period 1913–1919. The old dream was realized, aspirations were fulfilled; On the other hand, what was the price to pay to the “benefactor”? The then rulers of Bulgaria embarked immediately on a drive of massive Bulgarization of the local Christian Greek population. 34 No local Bulgarians existed as such in the region since the voluntary exchange of populations between Bulgaria and Greece in the early to middle 1920s. A prohibition was implemented that forbade Skopje, March 12, 2013


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the use of the Greek language and required the use of Bulgarian; furthermore, the Law for the Protection of the Nation prohibited the granting of Bulgarian citizenship to persons of Jewish descent. Besides the hardships they heaped upon and were endured by the population at large, they persecuted the Jews doubly by also trying to coerce them to turn against their Christian Greek brethren. 35 What came as a surprise, I am sure, was the resoluteness, the steadfastness, the tenacity with which, even in the face of terror and physical intimidation, the Jewish Greeks refused to either rescind their Hellenic identification, their adherence to their Greekness, or turn against Christian fellow Greeks, notwithstanding whatever means or sirens their occupiers tried to use. The answer is very simple; Jewish Greeks were plain Greeks, no more but not less equal with other Greeks. The second class citizens of the late Ottoman Empire became, automatically, first class citizens of Hellas with no discriminatory clauses, on an equal footing with their Christian and Moslem brethren. Greece never legislated discriminatory laws since its founding. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the Germans of the SonderKommando Rosenberg detachment in Greece were equally, unpleasantly, shocked, after their detailed survey of the Jewish presence in the whole of Greece in 1941, to discover for themselves that there existed no such situation as a “Jewish Problem in Greece” (sic)! 36 After two years of occupation, the time came for Bulgaria to pay the price of its IOU promissory note for the largesse of her benefactor. By acquiescing to the persistent demands and wishes of the German Reich to deport the Jews inhabiting the New Territories of Bulgaria to the German Eastern Territory they redeemed their debt to them. 37 S o now the Jews became a commodity to be traded and/or bartered. Thus Jewish Greeks from Macedonia and Thrace were doubly persecuted both as Greeks and as Jews. They also had the dubious honor and distinction to be the first ever group (of Jewish Greeks) to be uprooted and deported for the sole purpose of their physical annihilation in Treblinka. The Bulgarian governments of the era were opportunists but had no genocidal aims, goals or inclinations, they were not genocidists; nevertheless, this did not prevent them to proceed with the aforementioned deportations of the Jews of the New Bulgarian territories. 38 In my opinion, the Bulgarian Perpetrators accepted with a light heart and flightily the “Resettlement to the East” and without the perpetrators, Skopje, March 12, 2013


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who surely knew what that meant and entailed, 39 subjecting themselves to the burden of wondering seriously [to cross–examine themselves] about the outcome of their actions, due to and given the “fertile” ground of Anti–Judaic Laws that had been legislated. This year 2013, on March 15th, we commemorated the 70th anniversary of the departure of the first train convoy from Thessaloniki carrying the first 2800 Jewish Greeks forcibly rounded up for deportation, 80 souls in each single cattle wagon. 47000 thousand more followed in successive dispatches.

Their destination was

Auschwitz – Birkenau and only 2000 souls survived. Just to give you a taste of German efficiency in matters of genocide it is shown, in documented evidence, that Hauptsturmführer SS Dieter Wisliceny, the equivalent of Theodor Dannecker in Thessaloniki, waived the surcharge levied on all printed orders of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki so that the printing and production of the special Nuremberg law Identification Cards (Ausweise) could be expedited! 40 Today, I am here amongst you as a Greek, not a Jew. My religious identity is Jewish. My father fought in the war also as a Hellene, not as a Jew. The full incorporation of the citizens of Jewish religion in the national corpus of the respective states in our area coupled with full and unconditional emancipation not only on paper and constitutional mandates but also in deed and continuous state rigorous application and safeguards, is the best proof that a functioning modern state that honors and protects all its citizens and their rights and privileges is a fact. The non–Jew should accept the Jew as equal and as an integral part of the corpus, and vice versa. We have to stop speaking about Jews as something apart. General statements like the one and I quote “we saved our Jews” are inherently unconstitutional since they insinuate a particular group outside the mainstream nation. In the 21st century there exist no Jews, only persons that define their religion as Jewish. And what better bridge for friendship and understanding as well as bonding constituent amongst our already friendly states than their citizens of Jewish religious identity whose DNA is not burdened with all the ills of the past? Skopje, March 12, 2013


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Notes (Citations, References, Video) 1

The present paper is based on an invited lecture delivered at a Scientific Forum organized by the Holocaust Fund, the Institute of National History and the Academy of Arts and Sciences on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of deportations of Jews from Skopje, Bitola and Štip, at the Academy at Skopje, on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. A concurrent Power Point presentation accompanied the lecture. Here are the links: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5v2gx4ppa7pdffg/Hagouel_Skopje_2013_0312_Debate_Fina l_dist.pdf https://www.dropbox.com/s/osl5zxwehygejjd/Hagouel_70th_Anniversary_Deportation_J ews_20130312_final_show_1.pps

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The Annihilation of European Jewry and, to a much lesser extent, of North Africa by the Germans and some of their allies during World War II is a very broad topic. This unique event in World History came to be known as the Holocaust. I give a definition in the main text. For our purposes the following books describe the Holocaust in general and, also, the Holocaust in the particular geographic region under consideration. Pertinent video media are also cited Those are: Jozo Tomasevich, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945, OCCUPATION AND COLLABORATION, Stanford University Press, 2001, Stanford, California Frederick B. Chary, The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution, 1940-1944, Snyder, 1972, London Michael Molho, In Memoriam: Hommage aux victimes Juives des Nazis en Grèce (in French), Seconde édition revue et augmentée par Joseph Nehama, Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, 1973, Thessalonique Raoul Hilberg, “La Destruction des Juifs d’Europe”, Fayard, 1988, Paris Gerhard Schoenberner, “Der Gelbe Stern – Die Judenverfolgung in Europa 1933 bis 1945”, Rütten & Löning Verlag GmbH, 1961, Hamburg Peter Longerich, HOLOCAUST The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews, Oxford University Press, 2010, Oxford Jack R. Fischel, Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust 2ed, The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2010, Lanham Walter Laqueur (Editor), The HOLOCAUST Encyclopedia, Yale University Press, 2001, New Haven DVD _ Sterne (Stars), East Germany (DEFA) and Bulgarian Co-Production, b/w, 92 min. Feature Dir.: Konrad Wolf, Script: Angel Wagenstein, Dramaturge: Willi Brückner, Camera: Werner Bergmann Editing: Christa Wernicke, Music: Simeon Pironkow, Cast: Jürgen Frohriep (Walter), Sascha Kruscharska (Ruth), Stefan Pejtschew, Erik S. Klein (Kurt), Ivan Kondow (Ruth's father), Stiljan Kunew (the camp doctor). 16mm, English subtitles, 1959 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053306/

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DVD _ Triumph of the Spirit, MGM – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer This story is based on the real life story and experiences of Salamo Arouch, a Jewish Greek from Thessaloniki middle weight boxing champion of the Balkan countries. Captured by the Nazis in 1943, Arouch was sent to Auschwitz where he was forced to fight over 200 opponents for the entertainment of the SS Officers. His survival and the survival of his family and others in his barracks depended upon his remaining champion, 1989 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098513/ DVD _ Empty Boxcars, A documentary on the triumph and tragedy of Bulgaria’s response to the “Final Solution” during World War II, 1940-1943, Directed by, Screenplay by, Produced by Ed Gaffney, 2010 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Empty-Boxcars-a-documentary-movie-by-EdGaffney/140505862662325 3

http://diariojudio.com/bin/forojudio.cgi?ID=8496&q=0 Spas Tashev [[email protected]], La deportación de los judíos de Macedonia, Vardar y la región del Egeo: 7ma. Parte La deportación de los judíos de las "nuevas tierras" en el año 1943, Mie Jul 11 2012 (21 Tammuz, 5772), 2012

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Richard S. Levy, Editor, ANTISEMITISM, A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTION, ABC-CLIO, 2005 Santa Barbara, California Marvin Perry and Frederick M. Schweitzer, ANTISEMITISM Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, New York Marcel Stoetzler, The STATE, the NATION & the JEWS, Liberalism and the Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarck’s Germany, University of Nebraska Press, 2008, Lincoln & London James Carroll, CONSTANTINE’S SWORD, The Church and the Jews, A History, Mariner, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, Boston DVD _ CONSTANTINE’S SWORD , Documentary, Storyville Films, 2008 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0902270/

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Preliminary treaty of peace between Russia and Turkey, signed at San Stefano, 19 February - 3 March 1878, (With Maps), Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, Turkey. No. 22 (1878), 26 pages, London Further correspondence respecting the preliminary treaty of peace between Russia and Turkey, signed at San Stefano, 19th February3rd March, 1878, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.1995] Turkey. No. 27 (1878), 13 pages, London

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Correspondence respecting the objections raised by populations inhabiting Turkish provinces against the territorial changes proposed in the preliminary treaty signed at San Stefano, 19th February,3rd March, 1878, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.2009] Turkey. No. 31 (1878), 64 pages, London Correspondence respecting the condition and treatment of the Jews in Servia and Roumania: 1867-76, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.1742] Principalities. No. 1 (1877), 372 pages, London Correspondence respecting the condition and treatment of the Jews in Servia, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [3829] Servia 1867, 31 pages, London



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Paul Isaac Hagouel

Map showing the territory restored to Turkey by the Congress of Berlin, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.2059] Turkey. No. 37 (1878), 4 pages, London Despatch from the Marquis of Salisbury inclosing a copy of the treaty signed at Berlin, July 13, 1878, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.2081] Turkey. No. 38 (1878), 33 pages, London Correspondence relating to the Congress of Berlin, with the Protocols of the Congress, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.2083] Turkey. No. 39 (1878), 284 pages, London

9

Max J. Kohler & Simon Wolf, Jewish Disabilities in the Balkan States, American Contributions toward Their Removal, with Particular Reference to the Congress of Berlin , American Jewish Historical Society, Publications, 24 (1916), 153 pages (Note: This is a representative article of many)

10

Correspondence respecting the affairs of Eastern Roumelia and Bulgaria, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.4612] [C.4767] Turkey. No. 1 (1886), 699 pages, London

11

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Correspondence respecting the condition of the Mussulman, Greek, and Jewish populations in Eastern Roumelia. Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [C.2552] Turkey. No. 5 (1880), 322 pages, London http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bucharest_%281913%29 Government Gazette of the Kingdom of Greece, Issue A, No. 229, Validation of the Treaty of Peace (Greek & French), 14 November 1913, Athens www.et.gr

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Terms of the armistices concluded between the allied governments and the governments of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, 1919 [Cmd. 53] Army, 28 pages, London Treaty respecting assistance to France in the event of unprovoked aggression by Germany signed at Versailles, June 28th, 1919, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 221] Treaty Series. No. 6 (1919), 8 pages, London Agreement between the United States of America, Belgium, the British Empire and France and Germany with regard to the military occupation of the territories of the Rhine, signed at Versailles, June 28th, 1919, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 222] Treaty Series No. 7 (1919), 8 pages, London Summary of Treaty of Versailles, House of Commons, [Cmd. 153] 1919, 257 pages, London Index to the treaty of peace between the allied and associated powers and Germany, signed at Versailles, June 28, 1919, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 516] Treaty Series No. 1 (1920), 60 pages, London Protocols and correspondence between the Supreme Council and the conference of ambassadors and the German government and the German peace delegation between January 10, 1920, and July 17, 1920, respecting the execution of the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 1325] Miscellaneous No. 15 (1921), 178 pages, London



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Paul Isaac Hagouel

Treaty of peace between the allied and associated powers and Bulgaria, and Protocol, Signed at Neuilly-sur-Seine, November 27th, 1919 [With Map], Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 522] Treaty Series. 1920. No. 5., 95 pages, London

15

http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

16

DVD _ (Arté) Paris 1919, un traité pour la paix (2009) Un mélange subtil d'archives rares et de scènes fictionnées pour un documentaire passionnant qui se regarde comme un grand film. Au lendemain d'un conflit qui a fait neuf millions de morts et huit millions d'invalides, Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson et David Lloyd George se réunissent à Paris pour définir les termes de la paix. Il s'agit à la fois de fixer le montant des réparations que l'Allemagne devra verser aux vainqueurs et de redessiner les frontières du monde après la chute des empires ottomans et austro-hongrois. La Conférence est prévue pour durer trois à quatre semaines. Elle va durer six mois. Six mois d'âpres débats, au cours desquels apparaissent d'évidentes divergences d'intérêts : la Grande-Bretagne tient à conserver le contrôle des voies maritimes ; la France veut se prémunir contre un éventuel retour de l'agresseur allemand ; l'Italie est prête à se jeter sur toute part du butin... L'histoire en direct Fondé sur le travail de l'historienne Margaret MacMillan - arrière-petite-fille de David Lloyd George -, Paris 1919 offre une plongée saisissante dans le huis clos des puissants. Paul Cowan mélange avec une incroyable fluidité les images d'époque (pour la plupart jamais vues) et des séquences de fiction. Un soin extrême a été apporté à chaque détail (décors, costumes, attitudes, dialogues...), au plus près de la réalité historique. Le comédien qui interprète Clemenceau, par exemple, s'exprime en anglais, comme le faisait le président du Conseil par égard pour Woodrow Wilson. D'une manière générale, les chefs d'État sont si bien joués qu'on a réellement l'impression de vivre en direct cette page de l'histoire du XXe siècle. Le récit s'appuie sur le travail d'historiens, mais aussi sur la correspondance et les journaux de plusieurs participants à la conférence. Grâce à eux, on comprend vite que faire la paix n'était pas plus facile que faire la guerre. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1395136/ Margaret MacMillan, Six Months That Changed the World: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Random House, 2003, New York Private communication and exchange with Professor Guy I. Benrubi, M.D., FACOG, 2012-2013 http://hscj.ufl.edu/directory/bio.aspx?id=951

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President Repeats Demand for Self-Determination, APPLIES HIS IDEAL VIEW, Establishes America's Right to Have Voice in Settlements, "Leaks Abroad Resented", By ROBERT T. SMALL, The Washington Post, Feb 20, 1920 EREZ MANELA, The WILSONIAN MOMENT Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism, Oxford University Press, 2007, New York

18

A leading example of the consequences of what would, could, go (and went!) wrong with the creation of a nation–state in the midst of Europe with semi– artificially defined borders that left many ethnic Hungarians outside the confines of the “mother” sate, is post–Trianon Hungary. Hungary was and still is at odds, to say the least, with all of its neighbours. The ramifications of the Treaty are felt continuously even today.



Paul Isaac Hagouel

Treaty of peace between the allied and associated powers and Hungary and protocol and declaration signed at Trianon, June 4, 1920 [with map.], Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, House of Commons, [Cmd. 896] Treaty Series No. 10 (1920.), 121 pages, London HUNGARIANS STORM AT COUNT KAROLYI: Josef's Demand for Full Revision of Trianon Treaty is Seen as Weapon for Enemies. His Party Joins Attack, Neighboring Countries Say He let Cat Out of Bag on Restoring Nation's Pre-War Status, By G. E. R. GEDYE, The New York Times, Mar 17, 1929; pg. E3 19

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http://norfid.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/nomos-epidaurou-proswrinon-politeuma-thsellados-b-e8nikh-suneleusis-astros-1823.pdf A _ Papers relative to the Affairs of Greece, Protocols of Conferences Held in London, House of Commons, 1830, 340 pages, London page 316 The London Conferences 1830 No. 25. PROTOCOL, No. 3, of the Conference held at the Foreign Office on the 3rd of February, 1830. Present: The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain; France; and Russia. ... The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and Russia appreciated the justice of this demand; and it was decided that the Catholic religion should enjoy in the new State the free and public exercise of its worship, that its property should be guaranteed to it, that its bishops should be maintained in the integrity of the functions, rights, and privileges, which they have enjoyed under the protection of the Kings of France, and that, lastly, agreeably to the same principle, the properties belonging to the ancient French Missions, or French Establishments, shall be recognized and respected. The Plenipotentiaries of the three Allied Courts being desirous moreover of giving to Greece a new proof of the benevolent anxiety of their Sovereigns respecting it, and of preserving that country from the calamities which the rivalry of the religions therein professed might excite, agreed that all the subjects of the new State, whatever may be their religion, shall be admissible to all public employments, functions, and honours, and be treated on the footing of a perfect equality, without regard to difference of creed, in all their relations, religious, civil, or political. ...

21

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Harcourt Brace, 1976, New York

22

http://www.bnu.fr/videodisque/18/NIM18448.jpg http://www.therupturedduck.com/WebPages/Documents/d306.htm

23

R.K. Rao Yarlagadda, Analog and Digital Signals and Systems, Springer, 2010, New York

24

Michael J. Moran, Howard N. Shapiro, Daisie D, Boetner, Margaret B. Bailey, Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics 7ed, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2011, New York

25

Marion A. Kaplan Editor, Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618–1945, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005, New York

26

Joshua D. Zimmerman Editor, Jews in Italy under Fascist and Nazi Rule, 1922–1945, Cambridge University Press, 2005, New York



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Paul Isaac Hagouel

Stephen J. Lee, European Dictatorships, 1918–1945 3ed, Rootledge _ Taylor & Francis, 2008, New York BULGARIA RENEWS TERRITORY DEMAND: Press Calls for Dobruja and an Outlet to the Aegean Sea through Greece, Expects Deal at Parley, By C.L. SULZBERGER, The New York Times, Jun 19, 1940; pg. 9 Private electronic communication of facsimiles of the two Antisemitic Laws from the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, October 5, 1940, from the Jewish Historical Museum, Beograd, 2012, http://www.jimbeograd.org/eng/ YUGOSLAVIA CURBS JEWS: Forbids Those Not Citizens in 1918 to Trade in Food, The New York Times, Sep 21, 1940; pg. 4 YUGOSLAVS RESTRICT JEWS: Decree Reduces Number Who May Attend Schools, The New York Times, Oct 6, 1940; pg. 24

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SOFIA DECREE LIMITS CIVIL RIGHTS OF JEWS: Law Accepted by Cabinet Is Held Sop to German Pressure, The New York Times, Oct 9, 1940; pg. 4

31

http://www.archives.bg/jews/51-Anti-Semitic_Legislation_against_the_Jews_in_1941

32

http://www.starosajmiste.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/katalog-holocaust-inserbia-1941-1944.pdf pages 20 & 21

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http://diariojudio.com/bin/forojudio.cgi?ID=8178&q=0 Spas Tashev [[email protected]], La deportacion de los judios de Macedonia, Vardar y la region del Egeo: 3ra. Parte, La transferencia a Bulgaria de Macedonia del Vardar y de la Region del Egeo por parte de Alemania. Mie Jun 13 2012 (23 Sivan, 5772), 2012

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http://www.serrelib.gr/boulgarikikatohi.html http://ellas2.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/%CE%B7%CE%B2%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1%CF%85%CF%80%CF%8C%CE%B2%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%B3%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B9%CE% BA%CE%AE-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%87%CE%AE/ (in Greek)

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http://www.serrelib.gr/evreoi.htm (in Greek)

36

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Abschlussbericht über die Tätigkeit des Sonderkommandos Rosenberg in Griechenland, Sonderkommando Rosenberg, 15 November 1941, Athen, Bundesarchiv Berlin, page 14 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlmp7ouf76hgt1k/Abschlussbericht%20%C3%BCber%20die %20T%C3%A4tigkeit%20des%20Sonderkommandos%20Rosenberg%20in%20Griechen land_1941.pdf German Units In Bulgaria. Manning the Greek Coast, Turks on the Watch, Jews Deported, The Times (London, England), Friday, Apr 30, 1943; pg. 3



Paul Isaac Hagouel

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Weekly Political Intelligence Summary No. 180 of 17th March 1943, Political Intelligence Summaries, TNA _ The National Archives, FO 371/36614-0013, page 15, London quote: Gabrovsky, Minister of the Interior, according to a German report, announced in the Sobranje on the 28th February that new and severer measures were to be taken against the Jews. Four special Jewish concentration camps had been set up, and to them Jews considered unreliable and guilty of spreading rumours would be sent. He also added that the worst offenders would be sent to the ghettoes in Poland. Weekly Political Intelligence Summary No. 181 of 24th March 1943, Political Intelligence Summaries, TNA _ The National Archives, FO 371/36615, pages 12-13, London quote: SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE. The almost identical timing of press campaigns throughout the countries of South-Eastern Europe leaves little doubt as to their origin. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda, working through the German Legations in the different capitals, appears to press one button and immediately the particular campaign is started. During the past week, it has been an intensification and justification of antiSemitism. Typical of this campaign is an article in the Porunca Vremii, of Roumania, which maintains that there must be a final settlement of the Jewish problem: "This, the Jews have brought on themselves. They have gone so far as to be a plague to all nations. Their demonstrations (of hate, greed and insolent antipathy) compel us to adopt such measures." Dnes, the Bulgarian paper, justifies such a policy towards the Jews because they have "endangered the interests of the State and of the people by their scandalous dealings, because they have been a disintegrating ferment in weak minds, and because they still continue their anti-social activities . . . Even the most simple-minded must realise that this fight is waged against an incorrigible people, so that the State, in applying these measures, is only acting in self-defence." Reports from many sources indicate that the Germans have recently increased considerably their pressure upon these South-Eastern European States to adopt these harsher measures against the Jews. In Bulgaria, for example, many Jews from occupied Thrace and Macedonia (Monastir and Skoplje) are said to have been rounded up and sent to concentration camps during the past three weeks. This is only a preliminary, according to other reports, to further action, which includes their deportation to ghettoes in Poland (Summary No. 180). In Roumania a number of "disturbers of law and order," including Jews and Communists, are reported to have been deported to an unknown destination by order of the Cabinet.

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Barbarity To Jews. Retribution by Allies, Commons Endorse A Pledge, The Times (London, England), Friday, Dec 18, 1942; pg. 4 Persecution of The Jews. Record of German Brutality, Plan of Extermination, The Times (London, England), Monday, Dec 21, 1942; pg. 3; The Tyranny In Europe. Resisting Bondsmen and Troubled Satellites, The Times (London, England), Saturday, Jan 02, 1943; pg. 13



Paul Isaac Hagouel

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Paul Isaac Hagouel, The History of the Jews of Thessaloniki & the Holocaust, 2006 & 2013, Thessaloniki https://www.dropbox.com/s/ozmj8h58j8v8io5/Hagouel_Thessaloniki_Holocaust_n_npicture.pdf (in English) https://www.dropbox.com/s/yttkjrxyq642k9f/Hagouel_Holocaust_WCUPA_2006_show.p ps?m (in English) https://www.dropbox.com/s/i58leisp25s0ras/HagouelHol_USConsulate_2008_color_show.pps?m (in Greek)



Brief Bio for Skopje Scientific Forum Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dr. Paul Isaac Hagouel – Greece

Dr. Paul Hagouel is an electrical engineer and an independent researcher – scholar in the fields of History of Modern Greece, History of the Holocaust, Vichy France, Human Rights & Religious Freedoms, and Comparative Religious Studies, mainly Christianity and Judaism. He has researched and written extensively on the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki and the Balkans and lectured both in Greece and abroad on those topics. His father Leon, a wounded and decorated veteran lance corporal of the Italian–Greek war, was a KL Auschwitz internee and survivor (Nr. 118633) and his mother Yvette was rescued by the Righteous Christian women Zoe Morou and Danae Pavlidou. Paul Hagouel received his BE “summa cum laude” and MS (EE) from New York University in 1972 & 1973, and his Ph.D. (EECS) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. He is a volunteer contributor of the News Gate website of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. Paul Hagouel has published many technical papers in international peer reviewed journals and international pertinent conference proceedings [35 publications], plus lecture notes and has more than 450 citations of his research work from international researchers (including his historical works). mobile: +30 6974389086 land: +30 2310270886 [email protected]

Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding (The Holocaust in the Southern Balkans) Paul Isaac Hagouel, Ph.D. Thessaloniki, Greece [email protected]

Invited talk and Presentation at the Scientific Forum

70 years from the deportation of Jews from Skopje, Bitola & Štip March 12, 2013 Skopje at the Academy of Sciences and Arts Co–organizers: Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute of National History Holocaust Fund

Paul Hagouel

Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding The calamity that befell the Jews of Europe and North Africa during the Second World War in general and, in particular, the Jews of Skopje, Bitola, Štip, Pirot, as well as the Jewish Greeks of Alexandroupolis, Komotini, Xanthi, Kavala, Drama and Serres under Bulgarian Occupation and the ones of Thessaloniki and surroundings as well as those of Soufli, Didimoteixo and Nea Orestiada under German Occupation 70 years ago has no comparison with any other event in World History nor will it ever be possible to be compared with any future one. This is a solemn occasion in the shadow of a sad anniversary, that of the almost total annihilation of Jewish life in our region. Even though the success of the “Final” Solution surpassed all expectations of its perpetrators fortunately, to their detriment, we are here today. We are here to day both to remember but, most importantly, to celebrate life and a bright future for all, Jews and non–Jews. So, why are Jews important today? The answer is disarmingly simple: The Jews epitomized in the previous two centuries what was wrong with age long ingrained attitudes and misconceptions in Europe based on millennia old prejudices and Religious anti–Semitism that also permeated our geographical region. And thus, tracing the history of the Jews and their misfortunes is the best paradigm of things to correct and things to avoid. Their tragic predicament together with the now, the present, brings to mind an ancient Greek adage «ουδέν κακόν αμιγές καλού» translated as “there exist no wrong, harm or evil without incorporating some good”. How, unfortunately, true this rings to our ears these days. There is no better proof of the enthusiasm and eagerness in achieving a lasting understanding and friendship of each other than our gathering here today, as the representatives of the surrounding countries, albeit to memorialize past abhorring events. This is no time for recriminations nor is it time to forget. We will always remember and transmit the memory. We will always strive for a constructive legacy. It is also important for all parties guilty to any degree to admit and accept their measure and responsibility. This will have the beneficial effect of catharsis as in ancient tragedies. It will be beneficial foremost to the party bearing the guilt, however light, and it will cement the bonds of friendship and understanding and good neighborliness. Page 1 of 5 Scientific forum 70th Anniversary of Jewish Deportation from Skopje, Bitola, Štip Holocaust Fund, March 12, 2013, Skopje

Paul Hagouel

All of the above refer to and spring from what we are accustomed to call the Holocaust. But what is the Holocaust, how is it defined? Certainly Holocaust is not only the chronicle and narration of the misery, of the persecutions, of the murders inside gas chambers. It is not, and shouldn’t be, a pity producing mechanism. The persecution and physical annihilation of Jews by the Germans is only the culmination of the process and event that came to be known as the Holocaust. The term Holocaust incorporates all the primal causes, causae causans, irrespective of how far back we have to look and trace the past. Any actions or failures to react of any individual, group, society and/or states which tolerate or, worse, kindle activities that may lead to other Holocausts, not necessarily of Jews, are also included in the definition. Thus the Holocaust comprises both the past and the subsequent time span of the actual Annihilation which was the peak of the event. How was the Jew the epitome of what was wrong in our corner of the Earth? History and politics of late 19th century Europe and onwards were dominated by various conflicts and a multitude of national and ethnic aspirations. The beginnings can be traced in the year 1878 and the seeds of the future unfortunate events to the two Peace Treaties, the Preliminary at San Stefano and the Final at Berlin. The territorial ambitions of the Principality of Bulgaria were severely reduced and this created a feeling of understandable bitterness and resentment. That however, clouded and blinded, in many instances, the sound judgment of successive Bulgarian governments of the era. The desire was always to try to reclaim the lands of the San Stefano treaty. Inherent in national aspirations was not only geography but, most important, ethnic aspirations. All states competed with each other in claiming jurisdiction over particular geographic regions based on the abstract term of ethnic majorities. If we fast forward in the historic timeline, we reach the end of the First World War, the Neuilly sur Seine Peace Treaty pertinent to Bulgaria, and the Wilsonian insistence in national self determination, when the US Constitution was based solely on Individual Civil Rights and Liberties and the terms group or minority were alien to it. National self determination created state entities that equated their raison d’être to the existence of a particular majority aggregating a set of common characteristics that usually included language and religion within their boundaries. It is obvious that for a majority to exist it must Page 2 of 5 Scientific forum 70th Anniversary of Jewish Deportation from Skopje, Bitola, Štip Holocaust Fund, March 12, 2013, Skopje

Paul Hagouel

be juxtaposed to a minority and vice versa. Majorities in one state become the minorities in others. Group rights are glorified to the detriment of individual ones. At this point enters the Jew, the perennial outsider and occasional scapegoat for all ills real or imaginary. The documented record of states like Serbia and Romania, even before 1878, indicates a deficiency of tolerance. Articles in the Treaty of Neuilly in 1919 indicate the same for Bulgaria and Serbia again. The overwhelming majority of European nation states based citizenship with full rights and privileges on ethnicity and not on social contract. Ethnicity is an abstract concept. Majority or minority is a comparative attributive adjective. The only self explanatory term is the individual. The individual needs no definition. Very few state constitutions affirmed clearly and guaranteed full emancipation for all of their citizens. Hellas, Greece from its official foundation with the Treaties of London enshrined full emancipation for all its citizens since 1830 and never legislated otherwise. Unfortunately in what concerns civil rights and privileges the domain of definition is not an analog one with a continuous spectrum of gradations. It is a digital one with discrete states: it can either be 1 or 0, black or white. Grey areas are fraught with present and future dangers and also constitute a sure recipe for disaster. History has shown that, given grey areas, that is to say any degree of disenfranchisement, entropy takes hold and, in time, turns it to full black with all its repercussions. So in those times, where everything was measured and compared with an ethnicity yardstick, the Jew was always left outside. And he was left outside because he was not considered a party to either the artificial majority or the corresponding minorities of the state. Where did all these lead? In the German Reich the importance of the nation is exhorted, the group takes precedence over the individual, the individual is subordinated to the mass and, with the benefit of hindsight, that leads to the glory of the Volk, to the 1934 propaganda poster motto “Ein, Vok, Ein Reich, Ein Führer”, to the Jew who is the eternal enemy of the nation and, lastly, to the Final Solution of the “problem”. In the Kingdom of Bulgaria, but also in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Anti–Semitic Laws were passed. In the Bulgarian case it was the Notorious Law for the Defense of the Nation. In 2012 Serbia in its Holocaust in Serbia Exhibit stated that the Yugoslav Anti–Judaic laws were mild compared to ones passed in many other European states. As I Page 3 of 5 Scientific forum 70th Anniversary of Jewish Deportation from Skopje, Bitola, Štip Holocaust Fund, March 12, 2013, Skopje

Paul Hagouel

emphasized above, in matters that culminate in Genocide, there can be no extenuatory comparison. Anti–Semitic Legislation can not be benign or malignant, it is contradiction of terms. Accidentally pregnant is unacceptable. And, as history has shown, the distance between Anti– Judaic legislation and persecution that lead to the eventual finality of genocide loomed particularly short and, unfortunately, was proven so. In the case of the Bulgarian Kingdom and governments of the time, the non–incorporation of their Jewish citizens in the national corpus and psyche, coupled with their decades old desire for border enlargement to the San Stefano treaty designated ones, led to its opportunistic accession to the Tripartite Pact and the cost incurred for the largess of the Reich was redeemed with the Jews of the Occupied Areas. In 3 days, on March 15th, we will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the departure of the first train convoy from Thessaloniki carrying the first 2800 Jewish Greeks forcibly rounded up for deportation, 80 souls in each single cattle wagon. 47000 thousand more followed in successive shipments. Their destination was Auschwitz – Birkenau and only 2000 souls survived. Just to give you a taste of German efficiency in matters of genocide it is shown, in document evidence, that Hauptsturmführer SS Dieter Wisliceny, the equivalent of Theodor Dannecker in Thessaloniki, waived the surcharge levied on all printed orders of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki so that the printing and production of the special Nuremberg law Identification Cards (Ausweise) could be expedited! Today, I am here amongst you as a Greek, not a Jew. My religious identity is Jewish. My father fought in the war also as a Hellene, not as a Jew. The full incorporation of the citizens of Jewish religion in the national corpus of the respective states in our area coupled with full and unconditional emancipation not only on paper and constitutional mandates but also in deed and continuous state rigorous application and safeguards, is the best proof that a functioning modern state that honors and protects all its citizens and their rights and privileges is a fact. The non–Jew should accept the Jew as equal and as an integral part of the corpus, and vice versa. We have to stop speaking about Jews as something apart. General statements like the one and I quote “we saved our Jews” are inherently unconstitutional since they insinuate a particular group outside the mainstream nation. In the 21st century there exist no Jews, only persons that define their religion as Jewish. Page 4 of 5 Scientific forum 70th Anniversary of Jewish Deportation from Skopje, Bitola, Štip Holocaust Fund, March 12, 2013, Skopje

Paul Hagouel

And what better bridge for friendship and understanding as well as bonding constituent amongst our already friendly states than their citizens of Jewish religious identity whose DNA is not burdened with all the ills of the past? I thank you very much.

Paul Isaac Hagouel [email protected] [email protected]

+30 6974389086 cell +30 2310270886 land

Presentation (PowerPoint) Link https://www.dropbox.com/s/osl5zxwehygejjd/Hagouel_70th_Anniv ersary_Deportation_Jews_20130312_final_show_1.pps

Page 5 of 5 Scientific forum 70th Anniversary of Jewish Deportation from Skopje, Bitola, Štip Holocaust Fund, March 12, 2013, Skopje

Skopje, February 5, 2013

Paul Isaac Hagouel Jewish Community of Thessaloniki

Respected Mr. Hagouel,

Marking 70 years of the Holocaust of 7144 or 98% of the Jewish population in the Republic of Macedonia, deported to the death camp of Treblinka on March 11, 1943, by the occupying Bulgarian army and police, organized by Tzar Boris III and the pro-nazi government of Bogdan Filov, as part of the six million European Jews that perished in the Holocaust the Jewish Community in the Republic of Macedonia and Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia invite you to the commemoration ceremonies in honor of their souls and memories.

Please find the commemoration program attached.

Bjanka Subotikj

Ljiljana Mizrahi

President of the Jewish Community

President of the Holocaust Fund

in the Republic of Macedonia

of the Jews from Macedonia

RVSP [email protected] + 389 2 3214 799 + 389 2 3237 543

Scientific forum "70 years from the deportation of Macedonian Jews" March 12, 2013, MANU, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

11:00 Macedonian National Anthem and a prayer song 11:05 Welcome Speech by Vlado Kambovski, President of MASA and Academic 11:20 Speech by the Rector of the “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Velimir Stojkovski PhD 11:35 Speech by Ljiljana Mizrahi – President of the Steering Board of the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia 11:40 Book Promotion: “Resistance Movement and the Jews from Macedonia” by Jamila Colonomos Book Promoter: Todor Chepreganov, PhD 12:30-12:45

Coffee break

12:45 Session I - Cultural Tradition of Macedonian Jews Chair: Mr. Luc Levi, Mémorial de la Shoah, France 12:50– 13:05 The Jews in Macedonia during the Roman and Medieval Period Milan Boskovski, PhD, Institute od National History, Macedonia 13:05-13:20 Zionist Movement in Macedonia (1899-1912) Vladimir Janev, PhD, Institute od National History, Macedonia 13:20-13:35 Zionist Organizations in Macedonia Mladenka Ivanković, PhD, Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Serbia, 13:35-13:50 Dimitar Vlahov’s Commitment in the Turkish Parliament for the Rejection of the Proposal to Prohibit Jewish Settlement in Palestine Daniela Blazhevska, PhD candidate


13:50-14:05 Dr. Elena Kavaeva Ettinger – Doctor and Founder of Macedonian Pediatrics Lidija Gjurkovska, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 14:05-14:20 The Jewish Community in Skopje During the Last Decades of the Ottoman Rule Petar Todorov, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 14:20 – 14:50 Lunch break 14:50 Session II – Macedonian Jews during World War II Chair: Todor Chepreganov, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 14:55 -15:10 The Paradox of Bulgaria during the Holocaust Michael Berenbaum, PhD, American Jewish University in Los Angeles, USA 15:10-15:25 The Bulgarian Law for the Protection of the Nation and the Agreement for Deportation of 20 000 Jews from Macedonia, Thrace and Southern Serbia Lawyer Rahamin Mizrahi, Jewish Community in the Republic of Macedonia 15:25-15:40 The Law on the Protection of the Nation and the Deportation of the Macedonian Jews Edward M. Gaffney, Jr., Valparaiso University School of Law, USA 15:40 – 16:00 Balkan Jews in the 21st Century: Bridge to Friendship and Understanding Paul Isaac Hagouel, PhD, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Greece 16:00-16:15 The Life of Rafael Batino (1910-1942) Simo Mladenovski, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 16:15-16:30 The Structure of the Jewish Population in Vardar Macedonia during the Interwar Period Borche Ilievski, PhD, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Macedonia 16:30-16:45 The Newspaper “Celokupna Bugarija” and the Jewish Question Gjorgji Chakarjanevski, PhD, Irena Avirovic, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia


16:45-17:00 The Policy of the Bulgarian State and the Attitude of the Civilian Population towards the Jewish Properties in Macedonia Teon Djingo, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 17:00 – 17:15 Why Bulgaria Remains Silent about the Deportation of Jews from Vardar Macedonia and Aegean Thrace? Yuliana Metodieva, Editor-in-chief of Obektiv, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 17:15- 17:30 The Deportation of Macedonian Jews: Bulgarian Legislative and Executive Power in 1941-1943, and the "Final Solution" Borislav Dichev, Historian, Bulgaria 17:30-17:45 The Plunder of Jews from Bitola by Bulgarian military and administrative authorities Mariјa Jovanovska, Museum of Macedonia, Macedonia 17:45 – 18:00 Coffee break 18:00 Session III– Macedonian Jews after World War II Chair: Mr. Goran Sadikarijo, Director of Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia 18:05-18:20 Macedonian Jews between Collective Memory and History Todor Chepreganov, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 18:20-18:35 Historical Circumstances, Causes and Consequences of the Implementation of the Nuremberg Laws Biljana Popovska, PhD, Misho Dokmanovik, PhD, Iustinianus Primus School of Law, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Macedonia 18:35- 18:50 March 11, 1943 and the Deportation of Jews from Shtip in the Memory of Their Fellowcitizens Sonja Nikolova, PhD candidate 18:50 – 19:05 Restoration of Jewish Community in Macedonia after World War II Aleksandar Manojlovski, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 19:05- 19:20 Holocaust Museum in Skopje: a Place for Memory and Historical Narrative Dragica Popovska, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia


19:20-19:35 The Memorial Center – a Monument for Macedonian Jews - Victims of the Holocaust in World War II Liljana Lazarevska, Holocauts Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, Macedonia 19:35-19:50 The Holocaust through the Lenses of MTV Misho Netkov, PhD, Macedonian National TV, Macedonia 19:50-20:05 Notable Figures of the Jewish Community in Shtip Verica Josimovska, PhD, Elena Josimovska, MA 20:05 Concluding remarks.

Venue: Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Bul. Krste Misirkov, 2, 1000 , Skopje, Republic of Macedonia http://www.manu.edu.mk/en/about/contact

Information: Irena Avirovic Mail: [email protected] Tel: + 389 70 244 153 www.ini.ukim.mk

Liljana Lazarevska Mail:[email protected] Tel: + 398 71 399 011 www.holocaustfund.org

DRAFT PROGRAM FOR THE COMMEMORATIVE ACTIVITIES ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPORTATION OF THE JEWS FROM MACEDONIA March 11, 2013 March 08, (Friday) 2013 „Empty Boxcars" movie by Ed Gaffney Place: Holocaust Memorial Center of the Jews from Macedonia - entry hall 19:30 Opening remarks by Mr. Goran Sadikarijo, executive director of HFJM 19:40 Movie screening 21:10 Remarks by the author and director (questions and answers) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 09, (Saturday) 2013 „The Third Half" movie by Darko Mitrevski Place: Holocaust Memorial Center of the Jews from Macedonia - entry hall 19:30 Opening remarks Mr. Goran Sadikarijo, executive director of HFJM 19:40 Movie screening 21:10 Remarks by the producer Robert Naskov and/or Katarina Ivanovska (questions and answers) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 10, (Sunday) 2013 Book promotion "Tide And Wreck" by Zeni Lebl Place: Holocaust Memorial Center of the Jews from Macedonia - entry hall 12:00 Opening remarks by Mrs. Ljliljana Mizrahi, president of the steering board of HFJM 12:05 Promoter Prof. Todor Cepreganov 12:30 Remarks by Ana Lebl on behalf of the deceased Zeni Lebl (Cocktail) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exhibition opening "New witnesses of the Holocaust 2012" Place: Holocaust Memorial Center of the Jews from Macedonia - entry hall 19:00 Two Sephardic melodies performed by Baklava 19:10 Opening remarks by Mr. Goran Sadikarijo, executive director of HFJM 19:15 Remarks by Ms. Sara Einik - Israel, project leader 19:30 Handing letters of gratitude to the following participants in the art colony: Sara Ajnik Adnan Alili Ana Androska Kristina Bozurska Nagip Ismaili-Nagi Cvetanka Jovanova Sandra Mieva Srgjan Mikikj Svetlana Popovska Alen Redzepagikj Simonida Filipova Kitanovska Dimitar Solakovski Elena Stavreska Dijana Tomikj Radevska Two compositions performed by Baklava Exhibition opening and viewing of the artwork (Cocktail)

March 11, 2013 (Monday) Skopje 10:30 Monopol Tobacco Factory - Skopje  Laying wreaths in front of the Monument of 7144 Macedonian Jews Heading towards Butel City Cemetery - Skopje (Organized transportation-the bus leaves from the front of the Monopol Tobacco Factory) 12:00 Butel City Cemetery – Skopje  Laying wreaths in front of the Monument of the Deported Jews  Laying wreaths in front of the Monument of the Fallen Freedom Fighters The bus will take the visitors to the Holocaust Memorial Center of the Jews from Macedonia 13:30 City Hall of Skopje  Reception at the Mayor’s office 20:00 Commemoration concert - Army Hall [Dom na ARM]  Present The President of the country HE Dr Gjorge Ivanov 21:30 Coctails

March 12, (Tuesday) 2013 Commemorative Academy in MANU Scientific forum "70 years from the deportation of the Jews from Macedonia" Book promotion "The Resistance Movement and the Jews from Macedonia" by Zamila Kolonomos Place: MANU formal hall 11:00 Macedonian National Anthem and a prayer song 11:05 Welcome Speech by Vlado Kambovski, President of MASA and Academic 11:20 Speech by the Rector of the “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Velimir Stojkovski PhD 11:35 Speech by Ljiljana Mizrahi – President of the Steering Board of the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia 11:40 Book Promotion: “Resistance Movement and the Jews from Macedonia” by Jamila Colonomos Book Promoter: Todor Chepreganov, PhD 12:00 Remarks by Samuel Sadikario PhD on behalf of the author 12:30-12:45

Coffee break

12:45 Session I - Cultural Tradition of Macedonian Jews Chair: Mr. Luc Levi, Mémorial de la Shoah, France 12:50– 13:05 The Jews in Macedonia during the Roman and Medieval Period Milan Boskovski, PhD, Institute od National History, Macedonia 13:05-13:20 Zionist Movement in Macedonia (1899-1912) Vladimir Janev, PhD, Institute od National History, Macedonia 13:20-13:35 Zionist Organizations in Macedonia Mladenka Ivanković, PhD, Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Serbia, 13:35-13:50 Dimitar Vlahov’s Commitment in the Turkish Parliament for the Rejection of the Proposal to Prohibit Jewish Settlement in Palestine Daniela Blazhevska, PhD candidate 13:50-14:05 Dr. Elena Kavaeva Ettinger – Doctor and Founder of Macedonian Pediatrics Lidija Gjurkovska, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia

14:05-14:20 The Jewish Community in Skopje During the Last Decades of the Ottoman Rule Petar Todorov, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 14:20 – 14:50 Lunch break 14:50 Session II – Macedonian Jews during World War II Chair: Todor Chepreganov, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 14:55 -15:10 The Paradox of Bulgaria during the Holocaust Michael Berenbaum, PhD, American Jewish University in Los Angeles, USA 15:10-15:25 The Bulgarian Law for the Protection of the Nation and the Agreement for Deportation of 20 000 Jews from Macedonia, Thrace and Southern Serbia Lawyer Rahamin Mizrahi, Jewish Community in the Republic of Macedonia 15:25-15:40 The Law on the Protection of the Nation and the Deportation of the Macedonian Jews Edward M. Gaffney, Jr., Valparaiso University School of Law, USA

15:40 – 16:00 Balkan Jews in the 21st Century: Bridge to Friendship and Understanding Paul Isaac Hagouel, PhD, Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Greece 16:00-16:15 The Life of Rafael Batino (1910-1942) Simo Mladenovski, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 16:15-16:30 The Structure of the Jewish Population in Vardar Macedonia during the Interwar Period Borche Ilievski, PhD, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Macedonia 16:30-16:45 The Newspaper “Celokupna Bugarija” and the Jewish Question Gjorgji Chakarjanevski, PhD, Irena Avirovic, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia

16:45-17:00 The Policy of the Bulgarian State and the Attitude of the Civilian Population towards the Jewish Properties in Macedonia Teon Djingo, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 17:00 – 17:15 Why Bulgaria Remains Silent about the Deportation of Jews from Vardar Macedonia and Aegean Thrace? Yuliana Metodieva, Editor-in-chief of Obektiv, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 17:15- 17:30 The Deportation of Macedonian Jews: Bulgarian Legislative and Executive Power in 1941-1943, and the "Final Solution" Borislav Dichev, Historian, Bulgaria 17:30-17:45 The Plunder of Jews from Bitola by Bulgarian military and administrative authorities Mariјa Jovanovska, Museum of Macedonia, Macedonia 17:45 – 18:00 Coffee break 18:00 Session III– Macedonian Jews after World War II Chair: Mr. Goran Sadikarijo, Director of Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia 18:05-18:20 Macedonian Jews between Collective Memory and History Todor Chepreganov, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia 18:20-18:35 Historical Circumstances, Causes and Consequences of the Implementation of the Nuremberg Laws Biljana Popovska, PhD, Misho Dokmanovik, PhD, Iustinianus Primus School of Law, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, Macedonia 18:35- 18:50 March 11, 1943 and the Deportation of Jews from Shtip in the Memory of Their Fellowcitizens Sonja Nikolova, PhD candidate 18:50 – 19:05 Restoration of Jewish Community in Macedonia after World War II Aleksandar Manojlovski, PhD candidate, Institute of National History, Macedonia 19:05- 19:20 Holocaust Museum in Skopje: a Place for Memory and Historical Narrative Dragica Popovska, PhD, Institute of National History, Macedonia

19:20-19:35 The Memorial Center – a Monument for Macedonian Jews - Victims of the Holocaust in World War II Liljana Lazarevska, Holocauts Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, Macedonia 19:35-19:50 The Holocaust through the Lenses of MTV Misho Netkov, PhD, Macedonian National TV, Macedonia 19:50-20:05 Notable Figures of the Jewish Community in Shtip Verica Josimovska, PhD, Elena Josimovska, MA 20:05 Concluding remarks. 20:30 Dinner

The Holocaust in the Southern Balkans: Balkan Jews in the 21st Century Bridge to Friendship and Understanding

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