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

o<strong>the</strong>r things, <strong>the</strong>se unplanned and premature evacuations <strong>of</strong> Romanian Jews to <strong>the</strong> occupied territories in
<strong>the</strong> east pose a serious threat to <strong>the</strong> deportation [operation] presently being carried out among <strong>the</strong> German
Jews. For <strong>the</strong>se reasons, I request that <strong>the</strong> Romanian government be approached to put an immediate end
to <strong>the</strong>se illegal transports <strong>of</strong> Jews.”
If <strong>the</strong> Romanians continued deporting Jews across <strong>the</strong> Bug, Eichmann proposed that <strong>the</strong> SD (<strong>the</strong> Nazi
security service) be given a free hand to deal with <strong>the</strong> situation. However, Eichmann, although a highranking
RSHA <strong>of</strong>ficial, had no jurisidiction over <strong>the</strong> security police in <strong>the</strong> Ukraine, <strong>the</strong> Einsatzgruppen, or
<strong>the</strong> VoMi; only Himmler did. In Bucharest, von Killinger met with Mihai Antonescu, who <strong>the</strong>n
summoned Alexianu for an update, promising an early response. The Foreign Ministry in Berlin replied
to Rosenberg on May 12 that it had appealed to <strong>the</strong> Romanian government. The embassy in Bucharest
cabled back that Alexianu would soon report to Mihai Antonescu, after which “<strong>the</strong> deputy prime minister
would clarify <strong>the</strong> Romanian position.” Never<strong>the</strong>less, a German Foreign Ministry <strong>of</strong>ficial added, “28,000
Jews have been brought to German villages in Transnistria. They have since been eliminated.” This figure
represented <strong>the</strong> bulk <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Odessa Jews deported by train.
It is now known that 14,500 Jews—one transport <strong>of</strong> 6,500 and ano<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> 8,000—all from Bessarabia
and Bukovina were taken as close possible to <strong>the</strong> Bug in <strong>the</strong> area <strong>of</strong> Nikolaev and driven across <strong>the</strong> river
into German hands. Once on German territory, <strong>the</strong>y were apparently murdered by <strong>the</strong> local Germans, who
were organized into Nazi bands on both sides <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bug. The German authorities did not want masses <strong>of</strong>
dying Jews in <strong>the</strong> vicinity, since <strong>the</strong>re was a sizable German presence on both sides <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> river.
According to <strong>the</strong> Nazi census <strong>of</strong> 1943, <strong>the</strong> Nikolaev district (under Soviet administration) was home to
27,078 ethnic Germans. After <strong>the</strong> attempt to foist <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Odessa upon <strong>the</strong> Germans aroused such
strong opposition, <strong>the</strong> transports to Voznesensk were discontinued. The convoys reaching Berezovka and
Veselinovo were marched to ano<strong>the</strong>r area not far from <strong>the</strong> Berezovka-Veselinovo line—within a triangle
<strong>of</strong> sorts formed by Berezovka, Mostovoye, and Lichtenfeld and Rastadt.
The convoys trudged for days over <strong>the</strong> snow-covered plateaus to <strong>the</strong> Bug during <strong>the</strong> brutal winter <strong>of</strong>
1941/42. Along <strong>the</strong> way, <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie sergeants were re-routed, <strong>the</strong>reby sparing a few fortunate Jews
who never reached <strong>the</strong> German villages. These Jews, have testified to <strong>the</strong> weeks <strong>of</strong> aimless trudging in
circles. The cold was intolerable, yet <strong>the</strong> deportees had no shelter; convoys were left in <strong>the</strong> fields to fend
for <strong>the</strong>mselves, while <strong>the</strong> gendarmes hurried <strong>of</strong>f in search <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nearest village. The Jews had nowhere to
run in <strong>the</strong> little German kingdom by <strong>the</strong> Bug, and most Ukrainians did not want or dare to help <strong>the</strong>m. As
Schlutter reported in telegrams, <strong>the</strong> Jews were left unguarded, and many perished every day. The dead
remained in <strong>the</strong> fields; <strong>the</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> burial arose only in <strong>the</strong> spring.
Most convoys were eventually directed to Ukrainian villages in Berezovka district, where <strong>the</strong> Jews
were housed in unused stables, storage sheds, and o<strong>the</strong>r structures on farms. O<strong>the</strong>r ended up in <strong>the</strong> ruins
<strong>of</strong> villages emptied by war and by <strong>the</strong> SkR’s evacuation <strong>of</strong> Ukrainian villagers. The gendarmes moved on,
leaving <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian militia to guard <strong>the</strong> deportees. News <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir fate was not long in coming. The few
gendarmes scattered among <strong>the</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> villages primarily oversaw farming and were too small in
number to maintain order. Moreover, as noted by an SS <strong>of</strong>ficer at SkR headquarters in Landau, <strong>the</strong>
Romanians “did not wish to get <strong>the</strong>ir hands dirty;” even <strong>the</strong>ir mass exterminations in <strong>the</strong> “kingdom <strong>of</strong>
death” relied on <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian militia. Thus, <strong>the</strong> convoys were dispersed outside Berezovka’s German
villages so o<strong>the</strong>rs would do <strong>the</strong> dirty work.
The first known extermination <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews deported from Odessa took place on January 31, 1942, in
<strong>the</strong> village <strong>of</strong> Podoleanca, near <strong>the</strong> German enclave <strong>of</strong> Novo America, north <strong>of</strong> Veselinovo and Rastadt.
Ten “German civilian police [Selbstschutz], took 200 Jews out <strong>of</strong> [Podoleanca], led <strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> outskirts
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> village, and shot <strong>the</strong>m dead.” The dead were burned, and <strong>the</strong>ir belongings taken to Novo America.
The Jews <strong>of</strong> Odessa learned what was to be <strong>the</strong>ir fate on February 1 from Major Ion Popescu, <strong>the</strong>