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

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<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prefecture. In <strong>the</strong> county <strong>of</strong> Mureş-Turda <strong>the</strong> concentration was carried out under <strong>the</strong> direction <strong>of</strong> Andor Joós and Zsigmond Marton, prefect and deputy prefect respectively. In Odorheiu County and <strong>the</strong> city <strong>of</strong> Sfântu Gheorghe, <strong>the</strong> county seat, <strong>the</strong> ghettoization was carried out under <strong>the</strong> general guidance <strong>of</strong> Dezsö Gálfy, <strong>the</strong> prefect. Immediate command in <strong>the</strong> county was exercised by deputy prefect István Bonda and Lt.-Col. László Kiss, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie in <strong>the</strong> county. In Sfântu Gheorghe proper <strong>the</strong> roundup was directed by Maj. Ferenc Filó and police chief János Zsigmond. As in all o<strong>the</strong>r major ghettos, <strong>the</strong> Târgu Mureş ghetto had a “screening commission” whose function it was to evaluate petitions from Jews, including claims for exemption status. The commission, whose attitude towards Jews was utterly negative, consisted <strong>of</strong> Májay, Bedö, and Col. Loránt Bocskor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie. In Târgu Mureş also <strong>the</strong>re was a “mint,” located in a small building within <strong>the</strong> ghetto. Among <strong>the</strong> torturers active in <strong>the</strong> drive for <strong>the</strong> acquisition <strong>of</strong> Jewish valuables were Ferenc Sallós and Captains Konya and Pintér <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie. The first transport was entrained for Auschwitz on May 27, 1944. By June 8, when <strong>the</strong> third and last transport departed, 7,549 Jews had been removed from <strong>the</strong>se local ghettos. Reghin. The ghetto <strong>of</strong> Reghin was established in a totally inadequate brickyard selected by mayor Imre Schmidt and police chief János Dudás. Both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m had attended <strong>the</strong> Târgu Mureş Conference with Endre on April 28, 1944. They were assisted in <strong>the</strong> selection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto site and in <strong>the</strong> roundup <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews by Maj. László Komáromi, <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Honvéd forces in Reghin; Lt. G. Szentpály Kálmán, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local gendarmerie unit; and Jenö Csordácsics, a counselor in <strong>the</strong> mayor’s <strong>of</strong>fice and <strong>the</strong> local “expert” on <strong>the</strong> Jewish question. Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews were housed in brick-drying sheds without walls. A number had to live in <strong>the</strong> open, and a few were allowed to stay in houses right near <strong>the</strong> ghetto at <strong>the</strong> edge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> city. At its peak <strong>the</strong> ghetto population was 4,000 people, <strong>of</strong> whom approximately 1,400 were from <strong>the</strong> town itself. The o<strong>the</strong>rs were brought in from <strong>the</strong> eastern part <strong>of</strong> Mureş-Turda County and <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn part <strong>of</strong> Ciuc County. The Jews <strong>of</strong> Gheorgheni in Ciuc County were rounded up under <strong>the</strong> direction <strong>of</strong> mayor Mátyás Tóth and police chief Géza Polánkai. Even exempted Jews were picked up along with rest and held toge<strong>the</strong>r with <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs in a local primary school, where <strong>the</strong> searches for valuables were conducted by Beéa Ferenczi, a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local police department. After three days at <strong>the</strong> school, where <strong>the</strong>y were given almost no food, <strong>the</strong> Jews were transferred to <strong>the</strong> Reghin ghetto. The Reghin ghetto was guarded by <strong>the</strong> local police and a special unit <strong>of</strong> 40 gendarmes from Szeged. Conditions in <strong>the</strong> ghetto were similar to what <strong>the</strong>y were elsewhere. Searches for valuables were performed by <strong>the</strong> police and gendarmerie <strong>of</strong>ficers guarding <strong>the</strong> ghetto and assisted by Pál Bányai, Balázs Biró, András Fehér, and István Gösi, members <strong>of</strong> a special gendarme investigative unit. To help with <strong>the</strong> “interrogation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews from Gheorgheni, Béla Ferenczi was summoned from that town. In <strong>the</strong> pursuit <strong>of</strong> hidden valuables, Irma Lovas was in charge <strong>of</strong> vaginal searches. The ghetto was under <strong>the</strong> immediate command <strong>of</strong> János Dudás. Sfântu Gheorghe. The ghetto <strong>of</strong> Sfântu Gheorghe held <strong>the</strong> town’s local Jews as well as those from <strong>the</strong> small communities in Trei Scaune County and <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn part <strong>of</strong> Ciuc County. The total ghetto population was 850. The commission for <strong>the</strong> selection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto site consisted <strong>of</strong> Gábor Szentiványi, <strong>the</strong> prefect <strong>of</strong> Trei Scaune County, who behaved quite decently toward <strong>the</strong> rural Jews; Andor Barabás, <strong>the</strong> deputy prefect; István Vincze, <strong>the</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sfântu Gheorghe police; and Lt.-Col. Balla, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmes in Trei Scaune County. All <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se had attended <strong>the</strong> Târgu Mureş Conference with Endre. The ghettoization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> few hundreds <strong>of</strong> Jews from <strong>the</strong> town <strong>of</strong> Sfântu Gheorghe differed from
<strong>the</strong> procedure followed elsewhere. On May 2, 1944, <strong>the</strong> Jews were summoned by <strong>the</strong> police to appear <strong>the</strong> following morning at 6:00a.m. at police headquarters along with all members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir families. One person from each family was <strong>the</strong>n allowed to return home in <strong>the</strong> company <strong>of</strong> a policeman to pick up <strong>the</strong> essential goods allowed by <strong>the</strong> authorities. After this <strong>the</strong> Jews were transferred to an unfinished building that had nei<strong>the</strong>r doors nor windows. The Jews <strong>of</strong> Ciuc County, including those <strong>of</strong> Miercurea Ciuc, were rounded up under <strong>the</strong> general command <strong>of</strong> Ernö Gaáli, <strong>the</strong> prefect <strong>of</strong> Ciuc County; József Abraham, <strong>the</strong> deputy prefect; Gerö Szász, <strong>the</strong> mayor <strong>of</strong> Miercurea Ciuc; Pál Farkas, <strong>the</strong> city’s chief <strong>of</strong> police; and Lt.-Col. Tivadar Lóhr, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmes at Miercurea Ciuc. Like <strong>the</strong> city and county leaders <strong>of</strong> Trei Scaune County, <strong>the</strong>se <strong>of</strong>ficials too had attended <strong>the</strong> Tîrgu Mureş meeting with Endre. The conditions in <strong>the</strong> Sfântu Gheorghe ghetto, which was under <strong>the</strong> immediate command <strong>of</strong> an unidentified SS <strong>of</strong>ficer, were harsh. The Jews from this ghetto were transferred to <strong>the</strong> ghetto <strong>of</strong> Reghin a week later. Sighetu Marmaţiei. Although geographically Maramureş County was part <strong>of</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Transylvania, for dejewification purposes it was considered part <strong>of</strong> Carpatho-Ru<strong>the</strong>nia and Nor<strong>the</strong>astern Hungary. Since it contained one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> largest concentrations <strong>of</strong> Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Hungary, <strong>the</strong> German and Hungarian <strong>of</strong>ficials were particularly anxious to clear this area <strong>of</strong> Jews. The details <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> anti-Jewish measures enacted in Maramureş County, as in Carpatho-Ru<strong>the</strong>nia as a whole, were adopted at <strong>the</strong> conference held in Munkács on April 12, 1944. Maramureş County and <strong>the</strong> municipality <strong>of</strong> Sighetu Marmaţiei were represented at <strong>the</strong> Munkács Conference by László Illinyi, <strong>the</strong> deputy prefect; Sándor Gyulafalvi Rednik, <strong>the</strong> mayor <strong>of</strong> Sighetu Marmatiei; Lajos Tóth, <strong>the</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> police; Col. Zoltán Agy, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local legion <strong>of</strong> gendarmes; and Col. Sárvári, <strong>the</strong> commander <strong>of</strong> District IV <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie. On <strong>the</strong> morning <strong>of</strong> April 15, Illinyi held a meeting in Sighetu Marmaţiei with all <strong>the</strong> top <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> county to discuss <strong>the</strong> details <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghettoization process, including <strong>the</strong> selection <strong>of</strong> ghetto sites. That same afternoon Tóth chaired a meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> civilian, police and gendarmerie <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>of</strong> Sighetu Marmaţiei at which <strong>the</strong> details <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> operation were reviewed. This meeting also established <strong>the</strong> twenty commissions in charge <strong>of</strong> rounding up <strong>the</strong> Jews. Each commission consisted <strong>of</strong> a police <strong>of</strong>ficer, gendarmes, and one civil servant. The ghetto <strong>of</strong> Sighetu Marmaţiei was established in two peripheral sections <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> city, inhabited primarily by <strong>the</strong> poorer strata <strong>of</strong> Jewry. The ghetto held over 12,000 Jews, <strong>of</strong> whom a little over 10,000 came from <strong>the</strong> city itself. The o<strong>the</strong>rs were brought in from many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mostly Romanian-inhabited villages in <strong>the</strong> districts <strong>of</strong> Dragomireşti, Maramureş, Ocna-Şugatag, Ökörmezö (now Ukraine), Rahó (now Ukraine), Técsö (now Ukraine), and Vişeu de Sus. The ghetto was extremely crowded, with almost every room in every building, including <strong>the</strong> cellars and attics, occupied by fifteen to twenty-four people. The windows <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> buildings at <strong>the</strong> edges <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto had to be whitewashed to prevent <strong>the</strong> ghetto inhabitants from communicating with non-Jews. To fur<strong>the</strong>r assure <strong>the</strong> isolation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews, <strong>the</strong> ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire and guarded not only by <strong>the</strong> local police but also by a special unit <strong>of</strong> fifty gendarmes, assigned from Miskolc, under <strong>the</strong> command <strong>of</strong> Colonel Sárvári. The commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto was Tóth; József Konyuk, <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local firefighters, acted as his deputy. The ghetto was administered under <strong>the</strong> general authority <strong>of</strong> Sándor Gyulafalvi Rednik, whose expert adviser on Jewish affairs was Ferenc Hullmann. It was Hullmann who rejected practically all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> requests forwarded by <strong>the</strong> Jewish Council asking for an improvement in <strong>the</strong> lot <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ghetto inhabitants. The Jewish Council consisted <strong>of</strong> Rabbi Samu Danzig, Lipót Joszovits, Jenö Keszner, Ferenc Krausz, Mór Jakobovits, and Ignátz Vogel. Like every o<strong>the</strong>r ghetto, Sighetu Marmatiei’s also had a “mint” where
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Final Repo
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Germany’s war against the
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which includes reputed experts led
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BACKGROUND AND PRECURSORS TO THE HO
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against which antisemites in <stron
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declaring in the p
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them. Thus, he con
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We must organize ourselves for a wa
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ureaucracy of wart
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this direction by Nicolae C. Paules
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promising leader of</strong
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organized a tariff and tax strike.
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Legion of
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less so in Romanian society as a wh
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This ambiguous, self-contradictory
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The Gigurtu government began to con
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The Case of Român
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Cuza’s argument that it is possib
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Românesc,” Sociologie Româneasc
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ole in the early 1
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European states, notably Romania an
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Germany's immediate interests at <s
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eligious communities, the</
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counterpart, “when [he] first met
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de Istorie şi Arheologie, “A. D.
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Romania. Muler to Luthe</st
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demands on territorial revisions an
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military mission to come to Romania
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High Command, informing the
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The Jews and the R
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Romanian army. Thus, in Ciudei in <
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antisemitism in Romanian society an
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Ibid., fond Micro-films, roll I.II,
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manifestations of
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power, as this power colonized West
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attraction, many Jews resettled in
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to defend itself; hence its support
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about the Holocaus
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Nichifor Crainic, “Dupa douazeci
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Isaia Tolan, “Revizuirea incetate
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X. Y. Z., “Rezolvarea problemei e
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andom searches and arrests, robberi
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Bucharest Prefectura. Almost two th
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epression was not ordered by Antone
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from villages and small towns. On J
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accident; it was contrived by <stro
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The second train to leave Iasi for
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care of th
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"premilitary," were also placed at
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according to the o
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Tighina Agreement On August 30, Tra
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elieved Transnistria would be occup
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the 331,000 Ukrain
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those inside to take the</s
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[longer] move.” After several wee
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eappear a few seconds later and sig
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operation and that “some
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Bukovina and Bessarabia. Einsatzkom
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other things, <str
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Berezovka district and burn <strong
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them in exchange f
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transport of 2,000
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Bulgarian, Turkish, Italian, or Swi
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were at least 122,000 Jews. Bukovin
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Wilhelm Hoettl, The Secret Front: T
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Ancel, Documents, vol. 2: no. 136,
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Carp, Cartea neagra, vol. 3: pp. 30
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Gosudartsveni Archiv Odeskoi Oblast
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Cable from the Mil
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1-1087, p. 114; list of</st
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Ibid. “Rezolvarea problemei evrei
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child’s birth, would be considere
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Indeed, the system
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Romanianization instead of<
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The Cultural Ghettoization
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The Status of Jewi
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give up any radios able to send and
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Conclusions The anti-Jewish legisla
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L.A., no. 99, p. 344. Trei ani de g
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moral, social, and intellectual nee
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Page 173 and 174: After coming to power, the<
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Page 181 and 182: Return of Roma Sur
Page 183 and 184: (in many cases, the</strong
Page 185 and 186: in Romania. History and Contemporar
Page 187 and 188: THE ROLE OF ION ANTONESCU IN THE PL
Page 189 and 190: December 16, 1941, meeting
Page 191 and 192: me from carrying out the</s
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Page 197 and 198: THE HOLOCAUST IN NORTHERN TRANSYLVA
Page 199 and 200: Others 22 968 Magy
Page 201 and 202: ultimatum but also consented to <st
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Page 215 and 216: deportation trains per day. While E
Page 217 and 218: Deportation Trains from Nor
Page 219 and 220: Câtcău Kackó Ciuc Csík Ciucea C
Page 221 and 222: Rona de Sus Felsöróna Rozavica Ro
Page 223 and 224: Bözödújfalu Bezidu Nou Budfalva
Page 225 and 226: Nagysajó Şieu (Bistrita-Nasaud Co
Page 227 and 228: (Indictment of Naz
Page 229 and 230: Randolph L. Braham, comp. and ed. (
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Page 233 and 234: Romanian government not to adopt <s
Page 235 and 236: still alive in the
Page 237 and 238: the Jews who worke
Page 239 and 240: We have been informed that various
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Page 243 and 244: Mitropolit pleaded with Mihai Anton
Page 245 and 246: Pozdnyakova, Yefrosiniya Starostina
Page 247 and 248: Ibid., pp. 224-225. Ibid., pp. 46-4
Page 249 and 250: the examined cases
Page 251 and 252: escape with negligible punishment;
Page 253 and 254: immense scale, enslaved millions <s
Page 255 and 256: means. The “ethnic Christian stat
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Articolul 15 al Convenţiei de armi
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members accepted as authoritative s
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camp in January 1945, for several m
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Beginning in the 1
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such access was strictly supervised
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enefit from translation into Englis
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furthermore, he ha
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lucrative Jewish business ever,”
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deaths of thousand
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Treptow who was residing in Romania
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Finally, it must b
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A.) Integral Negationism Although <
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other genocides re
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mankind, such as wars; the<
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age of 44, only on
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After deploring the</strong
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Michael Shafir, “Ex Occidente Obs
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See, for example, Giurescu who make
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Randolph L. Braham, Romanian Nation
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Mediafax, March 18, 2002, Monitorul
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See Ibidem, pp. 3, 54-55. Ibidem, p
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Radu Theodoru, Mareşalul, Editura
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egained from the U
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was a record of an
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secondary school use. Those institu
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including erecting statues, mountin
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