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

care <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m. These Jews were driven to a valley not far from town, where <strong>the</strong> women were raped by
several soldiers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Seventh Division. The elderly were brought to Division headquarters and accused
<strong>of</strong> "espionage and attacking <strong>the</strong> Romanian army." That same day, all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m were shot at <strong>the</strong> bridge over
<strong>the</strong> Prut in <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> inhabitants <strong>of</strong> Siret, who had been brought to <strong>the</strong> execution site.
On July 3, in <strong>the</strong> Bukovinan village <strong>of</strong> Ciudei, 450 local Jews were shot. Later that day, two hundred
Jews <strong>of</strong> Strojinet were gunned down in <strong>the</strong>ir homes. On July 4, nearly all Jews <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> villages <strong>of</strong> Ropcea,
Iordanesti, Patrauti, Panca and Broscauti, which surrounded <strong>the</strong> town <strong>of</strong> Strojinet, were massacred with
<strong>the</strong> active collaboration <strong>of</strong> local Romanians and Ukrainians. The radius <strong>of</strong> murder was extended on July 5
to include thousands <strong>of</strong> Jews in <strong>the</strong> villages <strong>of</strong> Stanesti, Jadova Noua, Jadova Veche, Costesti, Hlinita,
Budinet and Cires as well as many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> surviving Jews <strong>of</strong> Herta, Vijnitsa and Rostochi-Vijnitsa. The
slaughter <strong>of</strong> Cernauti’s large Jewish population, which would last for days, also began on July 5, as <strong>the</strong>
combined German-Romanian armies entered that city.
Herta was conquered by <strong>the</strong> Ninth Battalion on July 4/5, after a successful incursion. The Jews who
came to welcome <strong>the</strong> soldiers were met with beatings and forced to undress. On <strong>the</strong> same day, <strong>the</strong>
Seventh Division, under <strong>the</strong> supervision <strong>of</strong> General Stavrat and his aide, entered Herta. Vartic
immediately named a new mayor and formed a "civil guard" whose unique function was to identify <strong>the</strong>
Jews and round <strong>the</strong>m up with <strong>the</strong> help <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> army. A total <strong>of</strong> 1,500 Jews were assembled in four
synagogues and a cellar by patrols <strong>of</strong> soldiers and <strong>the</strong> civil guard who severely beat <strong>the</strong> victims. The
round-up <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews was completed rapidly with <strong>the</strong> aid <strong>of</strong> a local fiddler who was familiar with <strong>the</strong>
Jewish homes. The new local authorities and <strong>the</strong> army representative compiled a list <strong>of</strong> “suspects” and <strong>the</strong>
next day, July 6, a selection <strong>of</strong> Jews to be shot was made pursuant to <strong>the</strong> orders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> army. A member <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> civil guard identified <strong>the</strong> “suspected” Jews. The civil guard also forcibly removed young Jewish girls
from <strong>the</strong> synagogues and handed <strong>the</strong>m over to <strong>the</strong> soldiers who raped <strong>the</strong>m. Jews—primarily women with
small children and <strong>the</strong> elderly—were brought to a mill on <strong>the</strong> outskirts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> city and shot by three
soldiers. The shooting <strong>of</strong> this large group posed certain technical problems, as no thought had been given
to <strong>the</strong> need for graves. Therefore, after <strong>the</strong> execution, a heap <strong>of</strong> corpses lay in a pool <strong>of</strong> blood, guarded by
a soldier, who “from time to time fired shots with his rifle when one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dying moved.” Conversely, a
smaller group <strong>of</strong> thirty-two Jews, mainly young men, was brought to a private garden where <strong>the</strong>y were
forced to dig <strong>the</strong>ir own graves. They were <strong>the</strong>n lined up facing <strong>the</strong> graves and shot dead. In addition to
larger actions, <strong>the</strong>re were countless instances <strong>of</strong> individual terror and murder. For example, <strong>the</strong> rabbi <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> community was murdered in his home toge<strong>the</strong>r with his entire family; a five-year-old girl was thrown
into a ditch and left to die; and a soldier, who had just participated in <strong>the</strong> massacre <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> thirty-two Jews,
<strong>the</strong>n proceeded to shoot a young mo<strong>the</strong>r solely for personal gratification. Any survivors were later
deported to Transnistria.
The Sixteenth Batallion, followed immediately by <strong>the</strong> Ninth and Tenth Battalions, occupied Noua
Sulita on July 7, 1941. After only one day, 930 Jews and five Christians lay dead in <strong>the</strong> courtyards and
streets. On July 8, <strong>the</strong> Seventh Division entered <strong>the</strong> city and found it in a deplorable state. Pretor Vartic
took command and detained 3,000 Jews in a distillery. Additionally, fifty Jews were shot—at <strong>the</strong> behest
<strong>of</strong> Vartic and with <strong>the</strong> approval <strong>of</strong> Stavrat—allegedly in retaliation for “an unidentified Jew [who] had
fired a gun at <strong>the</strong> troops.” While Lieutenant Emil Costea, commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Military Police, and ano<strong>the</strong>r
<strong>of</strong>ficer refused to kill Jews, several gendarmes from Hotin quickly murdered eighty-seven in <strong>the</strong>ir stead.
Despite Russian resistance, <strong>the</strong> scope <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> task, and challenging physical terrain, Bessarabian Jewry
suffered <strong>the</strong> greatest losses to <strong>the</strong> Romanian campaign to “cleanse <strong>the</strong> land.” On July 6, just one day after
<strong>the</strong> Romanian re-conquest <strong>of</strong> Edineti, some five hundred Jews were shot by <strong>the</strong> troops, and sixty more
were murdered at Noua Sulita. July 7 marked <strong>the</strong> liquidation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>of</strong> Parlita and Balti, and on <strong>the</strong>
following day thousands <strong>of</strong> Jews were shot in Briceni, Lipcani, Falesti, Marculesti, Floresti, Gura-