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

municipality, police, army, military, court, and railroad] were assigned specific tasks involving <strong>the</strong>
roundup, housing, and transfer <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews, for which <strong>the</strong>y were given <strong>the</strong> necessary manpower in <strong>the</strong>
field.”
Each transport began with a random selection <strong>of</strong> 1,000-2,000 Jews from among those who had
reported or been brought to Slobodka as well as from those brought before <strong>the</strong> deportation committees in
Odessa. These Jews were promptly robbed by representatives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> authorities and by an emissary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Romanian National Bank, who had come from Bucharest for this purpose. The gendarmes <strong>the</strong>n pushed
and shoved <strong>the</strong>ir charges onto <strong>the</strong> freight platform in Sortirovka (Sortirovocnia), some 10 kilometers (6
miles) from <strong>the</strong> ghetto and even far<strong>the</strong>r from <strong>the</strong> deportation centers in <strong>the</strong> city. The deportations began in
–20˚ C (–4˚ F) wea<strong>the</strong>r and continued despite blizzards, even when temperatures dropped to –35˚ C (–31˚
F). The only interruptions were caused by suspensions in rail service due to <strong>the</strong> extreme cold, <strong>the</strong> lowgrade
coal powering <strong>the</strong> locomotives, and <strong>the</strong> huge snowdrifts blocking <strong>the</strong> tracks. Until late January, <strong>the</strong>
Jews were transported in trains provided by <strong>the</strong> Germans through <strong>the</strong> Wehrmacht Liaison Headquarters in
Tiraspol.
The Jews were transported in boxcars, carrying some 120 people each. “There were so many Jews in
<strong>the</strong> railway car that it was hard to keep your feet on <strong>the</strong> floor.” Hundreds froze to death in <strong>the</strong> ghetto, on
<strong>the</strong> way to <strong>the</strong> train station, or waiting on <strong>the</strong> loading platform for <strong>the</strong> trains. Hundreds more perished
while sleeping in <strong>the</strong> streets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto when <strong>the</strong>re was no room in <strong>the</strong> houses. Fearing a typhus
epidemic, <strong>the</strong> administration’s Health Department and <strong>the</strong> Romanian army’s medical personnel ordered
all dead bodies to be removed from <strong>the</strong> city. Thus, <strong>the</strong> frozen corpses were also loaded onto <strong>the</strong> trains.
With no room to lay <strong>the</strong>m on <strong>the</strong> floor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cars, <strong>the</strong> bodies had to be placed upright—<strong>the</strong> frozen dead
alongside <strong>the</strong> living and those who perished en route. On February 13, 1942, Colonel Velcescu reported
that 31,114 had been evacuated by train to Berezovka These Jews were shot by local German
extermination units in cooperation with Romanian gendarmes, and <strong>the</strong>ir bodies were burnt by <strong>the</strong>
Germans. In all, 35,000 Jews out <strong>of</strong> 40,000 were deported, as stated by Dr. Tataranu in April 1942.
According to Vidrascu, 20-25 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> deportees froze to death before and during <strong>the</strong>
deportations. This figure might have been much less had greedy gendarmes and o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong>ficials not
stripped <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir property, <strong>the</strong>ir clothing, and especially <strong>the</strong>ir coats (particularly those made <strong>of</strong>
lea<strong>the</strong>r or fine fabrics). The gendarmes and soldiers who brought <strong>the</strong> Jews to Sortirovka referred to <strong>the</strong>
deportation train as <strong>the</strong> “hearse.” A Romanian <strong>of</strong>ficer who rode this train on January 18 (in a special car
provided for <strong>the</strong> military) recorded his impressions:
It was a terrible winter, <strong>the</strong> kind one encounters only in Russia...It was twilight. Some 1,200 women,
children, and old people from Odessa were brought to <strong>the</strong> train station under armed German guard. […]
On three sleds, towed by women, lay five old people who had forgotten to die at home....The Jews were
allotted ten boxcars; that is, 120 people to a car. On <strong>the</strong> cars was written: 8 horses or 40 people;
never<strong>the</strong>less, 120 were forced in. They were shoved, prodded with metal rods, jammed into <strong>the</strong> cars, but
<strong>the</strong>y got in. […] During <strong>the</strong> loading an old man and three women died. Their bodies were still loaded onto
<strong>the</strong> train....
That dismal night, a bundle [suddenly] fell from one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cars…and hit <strong>the</strong> platform with a sound
like a stone shattering. A few bits scattered here and <strong>the</strong>re on impact. They were pieces <strong>of</strong> a frozen baby
[who had fallen] from his mo<strong>the</strong>r’s arms….The mo<strong>the</strong>r lost her mind and stood wailing on <strong>the</strong> platform,
clawing her face….Then <strong>the</strong> train began moving forward. Toward death. It was a funeral train, a hearse.
Major Apostolescu, a General Staff emissary sent by <strong>the</strong> Romanian army to oversee <strong>the</strong> deportation
and confiscation, reported on January 18, 1942, that Romanian gendarmes had been in charge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>