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

Tighina Agreement
On August 30, Transnistria’s status was finally resolved: The province was transferred to Romania, in
keeping with Hitler’s promise to Antonescu. General Nicolae Tataranu <strong>of</strong> Romanian War Headquarters
and General Arthur Hauffe <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Wehrmacht signed <strong>the</strong> “Agreement for <strong>the</strong> Security, Administration,
and Economic Exploitation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Territory between <strong>the</strong> Dniester and <strong>the</strong> Bug and <strong>the</strong> Bug-Dnieper.”
Paragraph 7 referred to <strong>the</strong> Jews in <strong>the</strong> camps and ghettos <strong>of</strong> Bessarabia and Bukovina and <strong>the</strong> Jewish
inhabitants <strong>of</strong> Transnistria: “The evacuation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews across <strong>the</strong> Bug is not possible now. They must
<strong>the</strong>refore be concentrated in labor camps and used for various work until, once <strong>the</strong> operations are over,
<strong>the</strong>ir evacuation to <strong>the</strong> East will be possible.” The agreement thus confirmed that <strong>the</strong> final goal was to
“cleanse” Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria <strong>of</strong> Jews.
At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> August, Antonescu met at Tighina with Governors Voiculescu <strong>of</strong> Bessarabia, Corneliu
Calotescu <strong>of</strong> Bukovina, and Gheorghe Alexianu <strong>of</strong> Transnistria. Voiculescu summarized <strong>the</strong> event: “I was
given instructions as to how <strong>the</strong> operation <strong>of</strong> driving <strong>the</strong> Jews across <strong>the</strong> Bug should be carried out.”
Antonescu made War Headquarters responsible for <strong>the</strong> deportation, under Topor. There would be no
administrative formalities, no nominal lists <strong>of</strong> deportees, only “strictly numerical groups.” Major Tarlef <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> Romanian General Staff relayed an unwritten order that “any document found upon <strong>the</strong> Jews should
be confiscated.” Jews indeed arrived in Transnistria with no identity; <strong>the</strong>ir papers had been burned at <strong>the</strong>
crossing points over <strong>the</strong> Dniester. Colonel Ion Palade succinctly told <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie <strong>of</strong>ficers in charge <strong>of</strong>
transferring <strong>the</strong> convoys from <strong>the</strong> camps to <strong>the</strong> Dniester: “By order <strong>of</strong> War Headquarters, Jews who
cannot keep up with <strong>the</strong> convoys, due to exhaustion or sickness, shall be executed.” To this end, a local
gendarme was to be sent ahead two days before each convoy set out to ensure (with <strong>the</strong> assistance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
gendarmerie precincts along <strong>the</strong> deportation route and <strong>the</strong> premilitary youth) that “every ten kilometers
<strong>the</strong>re would be graves for about 100 people, where those who could not keep pace with <strong>the</strong> convoy could
be ga<strong>the</strong>red, shot, and buried.”
Antonescu scheduled <strong>the</strong> first deportations for September 15, 1941. Beforehand, War Headquarters
made an urgent request to Topor for a report on “<strong>the</strong> exact status <strong>of</strong> all Jewish camps and ghettos in
Bessarabia and Bukovina,” including numbers <strong>of</strong> Jews and guard units. These reports reveal no German
military involvement. The Dniester was crossed at five points, listed here from north to south: Atachi–
Moghilev, Cosauti-Iampol, Rezina-Rabnita, Tighina-Tiraspol, and Olanesti-Iasca. Most Jews were
deported through <strong>the</strong> first three points. The deportations commenced September 16 with <strong>the</strong> Jews in <strong>the</strong>
Vertujeni camp and concluded by end <strong>of</strong> December. Palade and his subordinates relayed <strong>the</strong> verbal order
concerning <strong>the</strong> assassination and plundering. The commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 60th Police Company, who
supervised <strong>the</strong> deportation to Atachi, requested a written order. Captain Titus Popescu replied:
“Regarding <strong>the</strong> Jewish matter we do not work with written documents.”
On October 6, Ion Antonescu updated <strong>the</strong> government on <strong>the</strong> ethnic cleansing in Bessarabia: “As far
as <strong>the</strong> Jews are concerned, I have taken measures to remove <strong>the</strong>m, completely and for good, from <strong>the</strong>se
regions. The measures are under way. I still have about 40,000 Jews in Bessarabia who will be dumped
over <strong>the</strong> Dniester in a few days and, circumstances permitting, dumped fur<strong>the</strong>r over <strong>the</strong> Urals.” According
to <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie inspector general in Bessarabia, <strong>the</strong> deportations proceeded “in <strong>the</strong> most perfect order
and quietly.” Both before and during <strong>the</strong> deportation, hundreds <strong>of</strong> Jews died every day <strong>of</strong> hunger, thirst,
beatings, and torture; women and girls who resisted rape were killed; many Jews were murdered during
searches for <strong>the</strong>ir valuables. Even before <strong>the</strong> convoys headed for <strong>the</strong> Dniester, bodies were everywhere,
and additional corpses were left on <strong>the</strong> roadsides during <strong>the</strong> deportation. The method <strong>of</strong> plunder and