Currents of History 2/2019
Sanja Petrović Todosijević
The Flight of the Jews from the Territory of the German Occupation Zone in Serbia 1941–1944
Abstract: The paper is an attempt to point to the “anatomy” of the Holocaust that occurred on the territory of German-occupied Serbia between 1941 and 1944 by analyzing: the dynamics of the Holocaust in Serbia, the location of the Jewish camp in Zemun and the Banjica Concentration camp, the motives that forced some members of the Jewish community to hide out and seek refuge on territories that were part of other occupation zones (Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian) where the attitude toward members of the Jewish people was somewhat more flexible.
Key words: Holocaust, German Occupation Zone in Serbia, Milan Nedic’s Government, Jewish Concentration Camp Zemun, Banjica Concentration Camp, Hiding
The first measures against the Jews on the territory of the German occupation zone in Serbia began immediately after April 6, 1941. The occupation administration, which relied entirely on the collaborationist regime, played a key role in implementing repressive measures against the Jews. The main role in resolving the “Jewish question” belonged to the Gestapo. In executing the Holocaust in the German occupation zone, the secret police in Serbia relied entirely on the Belgrade Municipal Administration’s Special Police, namely two sections that existed within the Special Police: Section VII or the Department for Jews and Gypsies and Section III or the Department for Foreigners and Border Services. According to reports from the German occupation authorities, the Holocaust on the territory of the German occupied zone in Serbia ended in May of 1942, when the Jewish concentration camp in Zemun, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish issue,” was shut down. An examination of the dossiers kept in the archives of the Police Administration Special Police Administration and the files from the Banjica Book of Inmates, points to systematic atrocities committed against members of the Jewish people on the territory of the German-occupied zone in Serbia even after May of 1942, directed against those members of the Jewish community who had attempted, in various ways, to hide or relocate to territories belonged to occupation zones where the attitude toward the Jews was somewhat more flexible (Italian, Hungarian occupation zone).
The hunt for the fugitive Jews lasted from the first days of the occupation to the liberation of Serbia in the autumn of 1944. This pursuit reached its highest intensity in late 1941, at the beginning of the work of the Zemun concentration camp, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish question.” The intensity of the search for the fugitive Jews did not let up even in the spring of 1942, when many fugitive Jews were rounded up in the operations of “clearing” the terrain of communists around the larger cities and in the Serbian countryside. As of February 1942, the arrested fugitive Jews were sent to the Banjica Concentration Camp to be taken from the camp to the various execution sites around Belgrade to be shot. The hunt for the fugitive Jews was part of the official policy of the occupying forces directed against the Jews. The collaborationist authorities played a key role in the process of locating the Jews who were hiding. The organization of the escape from the German-occupied territory in Serbia entailed several factors and mainly depended on logistics and the amount of money that the “fugitives” possessed. Selling forged papers or false identities was a very lucrative business in the years of widespread dearth and poverty. Among the citizens of Serbia there were those who agreed to help their erstwhile neighbors, friends, or acquaintances for reasons of pure compassion. Successful hiding depended directly on change of identity and frequent change of residence. Jews who had foreign citizenship or an Italian passport were in a somewhat better position. Possession of expensive “Italian papers” did not always guarantee a successful escape. Even when they succeeded in reaching other occupation zones, some Jews were returned to Serbia because they were considered “Serbian Jews” from the standpoint of the other occupation authorities, and were not under the jurisdiction of the services that operated outside the area under German control. It is difficult to say how many Jews who lived on the territory of the German- occupied zone in Serbia in April of 1941 or just found themselves there at the time and tried to escape, actually succeeded. It is known that around 900 Jews passed through the prison cells of the Banjica Concentration Camp through the autumn of 1944, most of whom had been caught attempting to escape. Underscoring the swiftness of the Holocaust in Serbia after May of 1942, reveals not only the high degree of systematicity of the occupation authorities in their endeavors to exterminate every single Jew, but also shows the German-occupied territory in Serbia as an area that was exposed to particularly brutal measures over a period of four years, not only against the Jewish, Roma, and Serb people, but also against all the other citizens who lived in this area.
The Flight of the Jews from the Territory of the German Occupation Zone in Serbia 1941–1944
Abstract: The paper is an attempt to point to the “anatomy” of the Holocaust that occurred on the territory of German-occupied Serbia between 1941 and 1944 by analyzing: the dynamics of the Holocaust in Serbia, the location of the Jewish camp in Zemun and the Banjica Concentration camp, the motives that forced some members of the Jewish community to hide out and seek refuge on territories that were part of other occupation zones (Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian) where the attitude toward members of the Jewish people was somewhat more flexible.
Key words: Holocaust, German Occupation Zone in Serbia, Milan Nedic’s Government, Jewish Concentration Camp Zemun, Banjica Concentration Camp, Hiding
The first measures against the Jews on the territory of the German occupation zone in Serbia began immediately after April 6, 1941. The occupation administration, which relied entirely on the collaborationist regime, played a key role in implementing repressive measures against the Jews. The main role in resolving the “Jewish question” belonged to the Gestapo. In executing the Holocaust in the German occupation zone, the secret police in Serbia relied entirely on the Belgrade Municipal Administration’s Special Police, namely two sections that existed within the Special Police: Section VII or the Department for Jews and Gypsies and Section III or the Department for Foreigners and Border Services. According to reports from the German occupation authorities, the Holocaust on the territory of the German occupied zone in Serbia ended in May of 1942, when the Jewish concentration camp in Zemun, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish issue,” was shut down. An examination of the dossiers kept in the archives of the Police Administration Special Police Administration and the files from the Banjica Book of Inmates, points to systematic atrocities committed against members of the Jewish people on the territory of the German-occupied zone in Serbia even after May of 1942, directed against those members of the Jewish community who had attempted, in various ways, to hide or relocate to territories belonged to occupation zones where the attitude toward the Jews was somewhat more flexible (Italian, Hungarian occupation zone).
The hunt for the fugitive Jews lasted from the first days of the occupation to the liberation of Serbia in the autumn of 1944. This pursuit reached its highest intensity in late 1941, at the beginning of the work of the Zemun concentration camp, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish question.” The intensity of the search for the fugitive Jews did not let up even in the spring of 1942, when many fugitive Jews were rounded up in the operations of “clearing” the terrain of communists around the larger cities and in the Serbian countryside. As of February 1942, the arrested fugitive Jews were sent to the Banjica Concentration Camp to be taken from the camp to the various execution sites around Belgrade to be shot. The hunt for the fugitive Jews was part of the official policy of the occupying forces directed against the Jews. The collaborationist authorities played a key role in the process of locating the Jews who were hiding. The organization of the escape from the German-occupied territory in Serbia entailed several factors and mainly depended on logistics and the amount of money that the “fugitives” possessed. Selling forged papers or false identities was a very lucrative business in the years of widespread dearth and poverty. Among the citizens of Serbia there were those who agreed to help their erstwhile neighbors, friends, or acquaintances for reasons of pure compassion. Successful hiding depended directly on change of identity and frequent change of residence. Jews who had foreign citizenship or an Italian passport were in a somewhat better position. Possession of expensive “Italian papers” did not always guarantee a successful escape. Even when they succeeded in reaching other occupation zones, some Jews were returned to Serbia because they were considered “Serbian Jews” from the standpoint of the other occupation authorities, and were not under the jurisdiction of the services that operated outside the area under German control. It is difficult to say how many Jews who lived on the territory of the German- occupied zone in Serbia in April of 1941 or just found themselves there at the time and tried to escape, actually succeeded. It is known that around 900 Jews passed through the prison cells of the Banjica Concentration Camp through the autumn of 1944, most of whom had been caught attempting to escape. Underscoring the swiftness of the Holocaust in Serbia after May of 1942, reveals not only the high degree of systematicity of the occupation authorities in their endeavors to exterminate every single Jew, but also shows the German-occupied territory in Serbia as an area that was exposed to particularly brutal measures over a period of four years, not only against the Jewish, Roma, and Serb people, but also against all the other citizens who lived in this area.Sanja Petrović Todosijević
The Flight of the Jews from the Territory of the German Occupation Zone in Serbia 1941–1944
Abstract: The paper is an attempt to point to the “anatomy” of the Holocaust that occurred on the territory of German-occupied Serbia between 1941 and 1944 by analyzing: the dynamics of the Holocaust in Serbia, the location of the Jewish camp in Zemun and the Banjica Concentration camp, the motives that forced some members of the Jewish community to hide out and seek refuge on territories that were part of other occupation zones (Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian) where the attitude toward members of the Jewish people was somewhat more flexible.
Key words: Holocaust, German Occupation Zone in Serbia, Milan Nedic’s Government, Jewish Concentration Camp Zemun, Banjica Concentration Camp, Hiding
The first measures against the Jews on the territory of the German occupation zone in Serbia began immediately after April 6, 1941. The occupation administration, which relied entirely on the collaborationist regime, played a key role in implementing repressive measures against the Jews. The main role in resolving the “Jewish question” belonged to the Gestapo. In executing the Holocaust in the German occupation zone, the secret police in Serbia relied entirely on the Belgrade Municipal Administration’s Special Police, namely two sections that existed within the Special Police: Section VII or the Department for Jews and Gypsies and Section III or the Department for Foreigners and Border Services. According to reports from the German occupation authorities, the Holocaust on the territory of the German occupied zone in Serbia ended in May of 1942, when the Jewish concentration camp in Zemun, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish issue,” was shut down. An examination of the dossiers kept in the archives of the Police Administration Special Police Administration and the files from the Banjica Book of Inmates, points to systematic atrocities committed against members of the Jewish people on the territory of the German-occupied zone in Serbia even after May of 1942, directed against those members of the Jewish community who had attempted, in various ways, to hide or relocate to territories belonged to occupation zones where the attitude toward the Jews was somewhat more flexible (Italian, Hungarian occupation zone).
The hunt for the fugitive Jews lasted from the first days of the occupation to the liberation of Serbia in the autumn of 1944. This pursuit reached its highest intensity in late 1941, at the beginning of the work of the Zemun concentration camp, which had a central place in the implementation of the “final solution of the Jewish question.” The intensity of the search for the fugitive Jews did not let up even in the spring of 1942, when many fugitive Jews were rounded up in the operations of “clearing” the terrain of communists around the larger cities and in the Serbian countryside. As of February 1942, the arrested fugitive Jews were sent to the Banjica Concentration Camp to be taken from the camp to the various execution sites around Belgrade to be shot. The hunt for the fugitive Jews was part of the official policy of the occupying forces directed against the Jews. The collaborationist authorities played a key role in the process of locating the Jews who were hiding. The organization of the escape from the German-occupied territory in Serbia entailed several factors and mainly depended on logistics and the amount of money that the “fugitives” possessed. Selling forged papers or false identities was a very lucrative business in the years of widespread dearth and poverty. Among the citizens of Serbia there were those who agreed to help their erstwhile neighbors, friends, or acquaintances for reasons of pure compassion. Successful hiding depended directly on change of identity and frequent change of residence. Jews who had foreign citizenship or an Italian passport were in a somewhat better position. Possession of expensive “Italian papers” did not always guarantee a successful escape. Even when they succeeded in reaching other occupation zones, some Jews were returned to Serbia because they were considered “Serbian Jews” from the standpoint of the other occupation authorities, and were not under the jurisdiction of the services that operated outside the area under German control. It is difficult to say how many Jews who lived on the territory of the German- occupied zone in Serbia in April of 1941 or just found themselves there at the time and tried to escape, actually succeeded. It is known that around 900 Jews passed through the prison cells of the Banjica Concentration Camp through the autumn of 1944, most of whom had been caught attempting to escape. Underscoring the swiftness of the Holocaust in Serbia after May of 1942, reveals not only the high degree of systematicity of the occupation authorities in their endeavors to exterminate every single Jew, but also shows the German-occupied territory in Serbia as an area that was exposed to particularly brutal measures over a period of four years, not only against the Jewish, Roma, and Serb people, but also against all the other citizens who lSanja PThe Flight of the Jews from the Territory of the German Occupation Zone in Serbia 1941–1944