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

straight to <strong>the</strong> Bug with <strong>the</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> getting <strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r side, come what may. On February 5,
Gebietskommissar Schlutter in Nikolaev sent Prefect Loghin <strong>of</strong> Berezovka a telegram warning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
ecological catastrophe wrought by <strong>the</strong> Romanians:
Some 70,000 Jews have been concentrated on <strong>the</strong> [Romanian] side <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bug, approximately 20
kilometers [12 miles] into [Transnistria], opposite <strong>the</strong> towns <strong>of</strong> Nikolaevka and Novaya Odessa, which lie
about 60 kilometers [37 miles] north <strong>of</strong> Nikolaev on <strong>the</strong> Bug. Rumor has it that <strong>the</strong> Romanian military
guard has been removed, so <strong>the</strong> Jews are being left to <strong>the</strong>ir fate and are dying <strong>of</strong> starvation and cold.
Typhus has spread among <strong>the</strong> Jews, who are trying in every which way to exchange articles <strong>of</strong> clothing
for food. In so doing, <strong>the</strong>y are also endangering <strong>the</strong> German territory, which can easily be reached by
crossing <strong>the</strong> frozen Bug River. The Gebietskommissar <strong>of</strong> Nikolaev requests that a decision be made as
soon as possible regarding <strong>the</strong> fate <strong>of</strong> [<strong>the</strong>se] Jews. They can be led so deep into Transnistria that crossing
<strong>the</strong> Bug will become impossible for <strong>the</strong>m. The Gebietskommissar asks to be apprised <strong>of</strong> what is being
done by <strong>the</strong> Romanian side.
The governor’s reply, written in <strong>the</strong> margins <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prefect’s letter, asserted that <strong>the</strong> existing
agreement had to be honored:
Send a cable stating that, in accordance with Article 7 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tighina Agreement <strong>of</strong> August 30, 1941,
<strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Transnistria shall be deported east <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bug when [military] operations so permit. We are
holding <strong>the</strong>m here in preparation for crossing <strong>the</strong> Bug and cannot return <strong>the</strong>m fur<strong>the</strong>r inland [inside
Transnistria]. Request that we be informed if implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> agreement is possible.
Schlutter indeed received such a telegram from acting-governor Emanoil Cercavschi-Jelita. The
message, which was worded in accordance with <strong>the</strong> written instructions <strong>of</strong> Alexianu, explained that <strong>the</strong>
assembling <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews in concentration camps (Konzentrationslagern) along <strong>the</strong> Bug was being done in
accordance with <strong>the</strong> Tighina Agreement (Article 7) signed by General Hauffe: “For technical reasons,”
<strong>the</strong> telegram stated, “<strong>the</strong> transfer <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews deeper into Transnistria is not possible at present.” On
February 16, Alexianu received a translation <strong>of</strong> a second telegram and inquired: “What answer was
given?” Cercavschi replied: “We responded to Generalkommissar Oppermann that we were taking steps
to burn <strong>the</strong> Jewish bodies.”
Alexianu and H<strong>of</strong>fmeyer met periodically to make practical arrangements and monitor <strong>the</strong> killings,
burials, and burnings. These “arrangements” were concluded orally, and <strong>the</strong> Romanians generally avoided
mentioning burning <strong>the</strong> bodies or mass executions in <strong>the</strong> documents sent to <strong>the</strong> Germans. However, in <strong>the</strong>
margins <strong>of</strong> letters, reports, and telegrams, <strong>the</strong>re are comments and instructions referring to <strong>the</strong> burning, to
corpses strewn in fields, to agreements allowing <strong>the</strong> Romanians to drive convoys <strong>of</strong> tens <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong>
Jews across <strong>the</strong> Bug. On <strong>the</strong> agenda <strong>of</strong> a March 7 meeting between <strong>the</strong> two, was a discussion <strong>of</strong> “Rastadt,
in <strong>the</strong> Berezovka district—Jews shot and left unburied.”
Once cooperation became routine with regard to <strong>the</strong> exterminations in <strong>the</strong> Berezovka district—and
once most <strong>of</strong> Odessa Jewry was dead—Eichmann produced a memo-cum-study on <strong>the</strong> “Deportation <strong>of</strong>
Romanian Jews to <strong>the</strong> Reichskommissariat Ukraine.” In this document, <strong>the</strong> foremost Nazi expert on <strong>the</strong>
liquidation <strong>of</strong> Jews contrasted <strong>the</strong> German and Romanian methods <strong>of</strong> genocide. Eichmann praised <strong>the</strong>
Romanians’ desire to eliminate <strong>the</strong>ir Jews but did not welcome <strong>the</strong> Romanian operation “at present.” He
agreed with <strong>the</strong> deportations “in principle” but criticized <strong>the</strong> “disorderly and indiscriminate” evacuation
<strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> Jews to <strong>the</strong> Reichskommissariat Ukraine, which threatened not only <strong>the</strong> German forces
but <strong>the</strong> local residents with epidemics, insufficient food, and o<strong>the</strong>r hazards. Eichmann explained: “Among