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

The Fate <strong>of</strong> Local Jews in Transnistria
According to <strong>the</strong> 1939 Soviet census, 331,000 Jews lived in Transnistria, <strong>of</strong> which 200,961 resided in
Odessa. The Romanian occupation authorities found between 150,000 and 200,000 Jews in Transnistria.
According to Romanian and Soviet sources, up to 25,000 Jews were shot, hanged, or burned alive in
Odessa. Soviet authorities reported that <strong>the</strong>y had exhumed 22,000 bodies in Dalnic alone. Additionally,
<strong>the</strong>re were Jews shot in <strong>the</strong> street and elsewhere who could be added to this number. According to <strong>the</strong>
prefect <strong>of</strong> Golta, Modest Isopescu, approximately 10,000 local Jews were killed in Golta County at <strong>the</strong>
beginning <strong>of</strong> November 1941 before <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bogdanovka camp.
In January and February 1942, between 33,000 and 35,000 Jews were deported by train from Odessa
to Berezovka. Of <strong>the</strong>se, 28,000 were executed by <strong>the</strong> SS. Thousands <strong>of</strong> Jews (maybe around 30,000) from
<strong>the</strong> city and county <strong>of</strong> Odessa were marched to Bogdanovka in late 1941. There were 32,433 Jews
“evacuated from Transnistria” who were probably deported to Golta and liquidated <strong>the</strong>re. According to
German documentation, <strong>the</strong> testimonies <strong>of</strong> survivors, and <strong>the</strong> Romanian trial records, 75,000 Jews (most
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m locals) were murdered in Bogdanovka, Domanovka, and Akmechetka in late 1941 and early
1942. In September 1942, <strong>the</strong> secretary general <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Transnistrian government acknowledged that
65,000 local Jews had “disappeared” (code for killed) from <strong>the</strong> county <strong>of</strong> Odessa. In addition, according
to a Romanian report 14,500 local Jews from Transnistria were forced across <strong>the</strong> Bug River, where <strong>the</strong>y
were killed by <strong>the</strong> Germans.
The Soviet authorities estimated that 150,038 Jews were murdered in <strong>the</strong> counties <strong>of</strong> Golta and
Berezovka. On November 1, 1943, Third Army Headquarters recorded 70,770 Jews living in Transnistria,
<strong>of</strong> which 20,029 were local Jews. Based on <strong>the</strong>se numbers, between 115,000 and 180,000 local Jews were
murdered or perished in Transnistria. At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian occupation, only 20,000 local Jews
were left in Transnistria. At least 15,000 Jews from Regat perished during <strong>the</strong> Holocaust (in <strong>the</strong> pogrom
<strong>of</strong> Iasi and <strong>the</strong> deportations to Transnistria).
Various researchers have calculated different estimates <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> death toll <strong>of</strong> Romanian and Ukrainian
Jews under Romanian administration during <strong>the</strong> Holocaust. Dinu C. Giurescu counts at least 108,710
Romanian Jews who died in Transnistria; but this number does not take into account <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian Jewish
victims or <strong>the</strong> Jews killed on <strong>the</strong> spot in Bessarabia and Bukovina. According to Dennis Deletant,
between 220,000 and 270,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews perished in Transnistria, while Radu Ioanid
asserts that at least 250,000 Jews died under Romanian jurisdiction. Matatias Carp mentions 264,900
Romanian Jews missing, but this does not include Ukrainian Jewish victims. Raul Hilberg cites <strong>the</strong>
destruction <strong>of</strong> 270,000 Jews under <strong>the</strong> Romanians, as does Mark Rozen who counts roughly 155,000
Romanian Jews and 115,000 Ukrainian Jews killed in Transnistria. <strong>Final</strong>ly, Jean Ancel maintains that
310,000 Jews perished in Transnistria alone, and to this must be added ano<strong>the</strong>r 100,000 Jews killed in
Bessarabia and Bukovina during <strong>the</strong> 1941 campaign in <strong>the</strong>se provinces.
In summary, <strong>the</strong> total number <strong>of</strong> Romanian and Ukrainian Jews who perished in territories under
Romanian administration is between 280,000 and 380,000.
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In September 1941, <strong>the</strong> Antonescu regime published two volumes <strong>of</strong> investigative work that revealed
<strong>the</strong> criminal and terrorist character <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> legionary movement. The report was entitled, Pe marginea
prapastiei, 21-23 ianuarie, Bucharest, 1941 (On <strong>the</strong> Brink: Bucharest, January 21-23, 1941) (Bucharest:
Monitorul Oficial si Imprimeriile Statului Imprimeria Centrala, 1941); hereafter: On <strong>the</strong> Brink.
Aurica Simion, Regimul politic din Romania in perioada septembrie 1940-ianuarie 1941 (Cluj-
Napoca: “Dacia,” 1976), pp. 68, 76; hereafter: Simion, The Regime.
Matatias Carp, Cartea neagra: Suferintele Evreilor din Romania, 1940-1944, vol. 1, Legionarii si
Rebeliunea (Bucharest: Editura Diogene, 1996), pp. 56-57.