Documents

Selection

1

Circular No. 206798, issued by the General Headquarters of the IV Army on June 30, 1941.

We hereby notify you that under Directive No. 193941 issued by the General Command we have been informed that:

Agents of the enemy are operating behind the front line. They are attempting to carry out acts of sabotage; they gather information for the enemy, and are not afraid to commit acts of violence, even against individual soldiers.

Jewish residents participate in these actions.

General Antonescu, during his visit to the front, called the attention of the commanders of the larger divisions within the army to the necessity of greater vigilance, and gave an order for the immediate execution of anyone whose actions are in any way contrary to the interests of the army or the state.

We ask you to instruct all the commanders and their divisions to take strict measures against all those found guilty of sabotage, espionage, disturbances, or any activity against the army or the state.

[332]

2

Telephone report No. 80, August 13, 1941.

Recorded by the Gendarmerie at Kishinev under No. 359 on August 13, 1941.

We inform you that on August 12, 1941 at 12.00 hrs, the military tribunal sentenced to death four terrorists who were captured in the town of Orhe by the Gendarme Legion of the town on July 21, 1941: Anatolie Romantienco, alias Alexandru the engineer, Vasile Safcu , alias official Locea, Iacob Mendel Froim , alias Marin the teacher, and Grigore Zadov, alias Iasu the barber. We had informed you of these people in report No. 39 of August 3, 1941.

Jews in the Tatarasi-Chilia camp were shot dead, because when they were taken to do agricultural work they refused, and behaved aggressively.

At approx. 18.00 hrs on August 6 of this year Gendarmes from Police Squadron No. 23 shot 200 Jews, and threw their corpses into the Dniester.

[332]

3

Minutes

Recorded August 9, 1941

I, the undersigned, Heinrich Frohlich, Untersturmfuhrer, (...) presented myself at the camp in Tatareti village, where there are 451 Jews, under the command of Gh. Ioan Vetu, Captain of the Gendarmerie Legion in Chilia Noua. I handed over the written command of General Antonescu, which stated that the Jews were to be executed immediately.

Untersturmfuhrer Frolich Captain loan Gh. Vetu

4

An extract from a speech by Mihai Antonescu, delivered at a meeting held on July 3, 1941 at the Ministry of the Interior:

Ethnic cleansing will be carried out through means of internment in labour camps and other such places. Jews and other aliens exhibiting signs of suspicious behaviour will be interned to prevent them from harmfully influencing the people.

The local authorities may also give an order for the deportation of Jews and other alien elements, should this prove necessary for the implementation of the ethnic [334] cleansing policy; these should be thrown over the border, because they do not have any business in Bessarabia and Bucovina while we are permanently imposing our national rights on these territories.

5

An extract from a speech by Ion Antonescu delivered at a cabinet meeting on July 8, 1941

.... I am in favour of the drastic deportation of Jewish elements from Bessarabia and Bucovina, and believe that they should be thrown over the border. I wish to take a risk and express my wish regarding this issue even if, there are traditional thinkers among you who would not understand me.

6

Headquarters, Department No. 2 October 4, 1941

Regional Command of Chernovitz

In accordance with the order of Marshal Antonescu, all the Jews of Bucovina are to be deported east of the Dniester within 10 days.

Lieutenant-Colonel R. Dimlescu m. p.

Head of Department No. 2

[335]

7

An extract from a speech by Ion Antonescu delivered at a cabinet meeting held on October 6, 1941:

...... Concerning the Jews, I have given instructions for all of them to be permanently removed from these provinces. The order is currently being carried out. There are still approx. 10,000 Jews in Bessarabia. They will be taken across the Dniester within some days, and if conditions facilitate it, we shall expel them to beyond the Urals.

8

June 3, 1942, No. 30149 Governorship of Transnistria

Confidential

To the Office of the County Head of Moghilev County,

Investigations have shown that in most of the villages and towns, it the Jews who constitute the permanent hot-beds of physical and moral infection. However, restrictions still do not apply to them.

We order you to arrange the necessary measures to intern and ghettoise all the Jews in the county. You must then order them to do industrial and agricultural work.

You are obliged to report the location and type of work you have assigned to them, and should report the measures taken by you to comply with this order.

[336]

9

July 5, 1942, No. 192 The Office of the County

Head of Moghilev County

Confidential

To the Police Stations, Gendarme Legions and Mayor's Offices of the county.

The issue of Jews in Moghilev county should be addressed as I have ordered. I will not tolerate any diversion from the given instructions.

You are obliged to replace Jews working in companies with Ukrainian experts and workers, even if these need to be brought from other towns and villages.

We must not allow the Jews to take root in our factories.

Even if we had needed Jewish experts at the start of production, there is no longer a justification to keep them on, when we can substitute them.

We shall live together with the Ukrainians here, not with the Jews.

It is part of Rumanian national dignity to expel Jews from all places where they feel indispensable.

Colonel Nasturas, County Head

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10

A extract from the New Year's Eve speech of Ion Antonescu, given to the army (January 1, 1942)

Dear Soldiers,

You can carry out your duties with your heads held high; and you should not fear the day of judgement, when it comes, as it will for all of us.

Your struggle is just.

You have behaved with modesty and humanity in the occupied territories and wherever you have been.

No one was robbed and insulted in the areas through which you marched.

Human beings are human beings to us, regardless of their nationality, and regardless of the harm they have done to us.

We have helped and supported everyone we have come across, and we have regarded them as human beings.

We have not deported anyone, and you have not thrust a dagger into the chest of anybody. We have not imprisoned innocent people. We have shown respect for all beliefs and political convictions. We have not displaced either individuals or families from their homes for political or national interest.

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11

The response of Marshal Antonescu to architect Clejan, who petitioned him in the interest of deported Jews:

The Leader of the Rumanian State, Bucharest February 4, 1944

Mr Clejan,

Your letter referring to the situation of Jews in Transnistria and beyond the Bug, and to the sums which have to be paid for exemption from forced labour gives me an opportunity to point out some aspects concerning the issue of Rumanian Jews, within the framework defined by the state of war and the events which preceded it.

As I have already explained to you in person, I was forced to deport Jews from Bessarabia and Bucovina, since the inhabitants hated them so much for their behaviour during the Russian occupation of these Rumanian territories. If I had not taken these actions, I am sure that the most horrible pogroms would have taken place.

Although I had decided to deport all the Jews from Bessarabia and Bucovina, various interventions and intercessions prevented me from doing so. Today, I regret that not having done so as the main enemy of the country lies among the Jews who have remained here. There is not one terrorist or communist organisation which has been uncovered by the police, in which Jews or frequently exclusively Jews could not be found. The tragedy of the Jewish race is that it is ungrateful to the country it lives in, while making a profit out of it. This is why I once again draw attention to the [339] fact that if the Jews continue to undermine this extremely tolerant state, then they will have to reckon with much more serious consequences than have had to until now, because the state can not leave unpunished those who actively, and with sinful consistence, play a part in bringing about its demise