Final Report of the International Commission on the - Minority Rights ...

model: Its ghetto became <strong>the</strong> largest in <strong>the</strong> world, packed with up to 350,000 Jews awaiting
extermination. Even before Stanescu’s return, <strong>the</strong> military commander <strong>of</strong> Chisinau City, Colonel Dumitru
Tudose, followed Voiculescu’s guidelines. On August 12, Tudose proudly reported: “I have purged <strong>the</strong>
city <strong>of</strong> Jews and enemy remains, giving it a Romanian and particularly Christian face. I have organized
<strong>the</strong> Jewish ghetto such that <strong>the</strong>se elements no longer pose any present or future danger.”
Pending <strong>the</strong> resumption <strong>of</strong> deportations, <strong>the</strong> Romanian authorities set up several dozen camps and
ghettos, from which <strong>the</strong> Jews were evacuated to seven larger camps, and established <strong>the</strong> ghetto <strong>of</strong>
Chişinau. By late-August <strong>the</strong>re were already about 80,000 Jews in <strong>the</strong>se ghettos: 10,356 at Secureni;
11,762 at Edineti; 2,634 at Limbenii Noi; 3,072 at Rascani; 3,253 at Rautel; 22,969 at Vertujeni; 11,000
at Marculesti; 11,525 in Chisinau; and 5,000-6,000 in smaller facilities in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Bessarabia.
At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> August, Voiculescu informed <strong>the</strong> press, “The Jewish problem has been solved in
Bessarabia. Today, in <strong>the</strong> Bessarabian villages <strong>the</strong>re are no longer any Jews, while in towns, ghettos have
been set up for those remaining.” The first phase <strong>of</strong> extermination was executed in Bessarabia and
Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Bukovina under Antonescu’s direct command. General C. Niculescu’s Committee for <strong>the</strong>
Investigation <strong>of</strong> Irregularities in <strong>the</strong> Chisinau ghetto (formed at Antonescu’s request to probe <strong>the</strong> rapid
and inexplicable enrichment <strong>of</strong> certain <strong>of</strong>ficers and <strong>the</strong> “failure” to confiscate deportees’ gold) found that
between <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> camps—after <strong>the</strong> “cleansing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> land”—and <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
deportations, “25,000 Jews died <strong>of</strong> natural causes, escaped, or were shot.”
The fate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> survivors <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first wave <strong>of</strong> extermination in both provinces was decided by Ion
Antonescu and announced to <strong>the</strong> military. This operation, too, lacked written orders, initially leaving no
traces and assigning no responsibility. But corruption in <strong>the</strong> Romanian military and civil government led
to occasional investigations at <strong>the</strong> request <strong>of</strong> Antonescu and o<strong>the</strong>r high-ranking <strong>of</strong>ficers responsible for
<strong>the</strong> campaign. The resulting reports disclosed almost all <strong>the</strong> secret orders, including <strong>the</strong> verbal ones. Thus,
<strong>the</strong> Antonescu regime failed to conceal its culpability for <strong>the</strong> imprisonment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> survivors in camps and
ghettos, <strong>the</strong> reign <strong>of</strong> terror <strong>the</strong>rein, and <strong>the</strong> eventual deportations. Conditions in <strong>the</strong>se camps—
characterized by forced labor, corruption, hunger, plunder, suffering, rapes, executions, and epidemics—
accounted for tens <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> deaths.
Deportations from Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Bukovina and Dorohoi County
The deportation <strong>of</strong> Bukovinan Jews was <strong>the</strong> outcome <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> two Antonescus’s decision to carry out
ethnic cleansing. Transcripts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> government meetings <strong>of</strong> June 25, 1941, and October 6, 1941,
document this decision. In 1941 and 1942, 21,229 Jews from sou<strong>the</strong>rn Bukovina were deported. The best
researched is <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> Jews from <strong>the</strong> county <strong>of</strong> Dorohoi. Despite his promise to Filderman on
September 8, 1941, that he would treat Regat Jews differently than non-Regat Jews, Antonescu
never<strong>the</strong>less ordered <strong>the</strong> deportation <strong>of</strong> Dorohoi Jews soon <strong>the</strong>reafter, with Jews from <strong>the</strong> Campulung,
Suceava and Radauti counties following suit. This sent shockwaves in <strong>the</strong> Romanian Jewish community.
Upon learning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> deportation, <strong>the</strong> civilian population in Dorohoi promptly pillaged Jewish property
and moved into <strong>the</strong>ir homes (even so, 244 out <strong>of</strong> 607 Jewish homes remained empty; <strong>the</strong>re were too few
Romanians in <strong>the</strong> town). Prior to <strong>the</strong> deportations, county authorities <strong>the</strong>mselves (prefect and mayor)
pleaded with <strong>the</strong> government that Jews be removed citing “concerns <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> citizenry.”
Filderman tried hard to reach Antonescu, yet he failed. The chairman <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian Supreme
Court, Nicolae Lupu, relayed his memo to <strong>the</strong> Conducator on December 3, 1941. Antonescu
hypocritically declared to Lupu that he was “deeply moved” by <strong>the</strong> deportations, that he had ordered an
investigation, and that he would order <strong>the</strong> return <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> deportees. No such investigation was conducted,
no Jew returned home by December 1943, <strong>the</strong> prefect <strong>of</strong> Dorohoi was promoted, and only <strong>the</strong> last
deportation train was stopped.