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

according to <strong>the</strong> order I gave upon my arrival.” The commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romanian Fourth Army instructed
his units and <strong>the</strong> gendarmerie to force back all Jews identified as returning from Ukraine.
The Romanian soldiers continued to drive convoys <strong>of</strong> Jews from nor<strong>the</strong>rn Bessarabia to <strong>the</strong> Dniester,
ordering nightly stopovers being used for plunder and rape, and <strong>the</strong>n shooting hundreds to convince <strong>the</strong>
rest to cross makeshift bridges. Hundreds <strong>of</strong> Jews were pushed into <strong>the</strong> Dniester; whoever attempted to
climb out was shot. Hundreds more were gunned down on <strong>the</strong> riverbanks and cast into <strong>the</strong> dark waters,
which had started to overflow after <strong>the</strong> heavy rains. The transfer <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> convoys from one place to ano<strong>the</strong>r
created an additional problem, which <strong>the</strong> Romanian General Staff had not foreseen and which angered <strong>the</strong>
Germans, i.e. thousands <strong>of</strong> Jewish bodies were strewn everywhere, signaling <strong>the</strong> routes and attracted
Bessarabian peasants who eagerly stripped <strong>the</strong> corpses and yanked out gold teeth.
On July 30, <strong>the</strong> German Eleventh Army command requested that <strong>the</strong> Romanian General Staff stop
pushing Jews across <strong>the</strong> Dniester. “At Iampol <strong>the</strong>re are several thousand Jews—including women,
children, and old men—whom <strong>the</strong> Romanian authorities have sent across <strong>the</strong> Dniester. These masses are
not being guarded, and <strong>the</strong>ir food supplies have not been ensured. Many have started to die <strong>of</strong>
hunger…<strong>the</strong> danger <strong>of</strong> disease is increasing. Accordingly, <strong>the</strong> German army command has taken
measures to prevent [more] Jews from being [sent] across <strong>the</strong> Dniester.” In practical terms, <strong>the</strong>se
measures meant shooting thousands <strong>of</strong> Jews on <strong>the</strong> riverbanks.
As stated, Antonescu protested to Ambassador Killinger <strong>the</strong> German army’s return <strong>of</strong> Jews to
Romanian territory, claiming it contravened Hitler’s statements in Munich. Foreign Ministry <strong>of</strong>ficials in
Berlin dared not ask Hitler what he had told Antonescu, instead insisting that “<strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial transcript <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
talks…contains nothing in this regard.” Never<strong>the</strong>less, Ambassador Karl Ritter, a member <strong>of</strong> Ribbentrop’s
<strong>of</strong>fice admitted <strong>the</strong> possibility that “<strong>the</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Eastern Jews had also been also discussed,” and
<strong>the</strong>refore recommended that “General Antonescu’s request that <strong>the</strong> Jews not be pushed back into
Bessarabia should be taken into account.” On August 4, most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> huge column <strong>of</strong> Jews pushed by <strong>the</strong>
gendarmes across <strong>the</strong> Dniester was concentrated in Moghilev. For three days, <strong>the</strong> Germans conducted
“selections” and shot <strong>the</strong> old and sick, while <strong>the</strong> young were forced to dig graves. German and Romanian
soldiers murdered some 4,500 Jews. The convoy was driven fur<strong>the</strong>r along <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian bank <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Dniester. With each stop, <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> Jews grew smaller from executions, exhaustion, illness, and
infant starvation. On August 17 <strong>the</strong> convoy returned to Bessarabia at Iampol, by crossing a narrow
pontoon bridge made by <strong>the</strong> Romanian army. Of a convoy <strong>of</strong> up to 32,000 Jews, somewhere between
8,000 and 20,000 were killed on <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian side <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Dniester, and most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> survivers were
imprisoned in <strong>the</strong> Vertujeni camp.
Transit Camps and Ghettos
War Headquarters concluded that until <strong>the</strong> status <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian territory to be given to Romania
had been established, <strong>the</strong> deportations had to stop. Consequently, temporary camps and ghettos were set
up in Bessarabia. The special order for this project, given on August 8, regulated <strong>the</strong> imprisonment
regime, delegated responsibilities, and stressed that <strong>the</strong> Jews would not be maintained at <strong>the</strong> state’s
expense. Before leaving for Chişinău, Bessarabia’s governor, General Constantin Voiculescu, was
summoned by <strong>the</strong> Conducator, who outlined his policy in <strong>the</strong> two provinces and issued several unwritten
orders. The first problem <strong>the</strong> governor had to solve was <strong>the</strong> Jewish matter. Voiculescu subsequently
reported to Antonescu: “In this order <strong>of</strong> ideas, upon seeing <strong>the</strong> Jews swarming all over Bessarabia,
particularly in Chisinau, within no more than five days since <strong>the</strong> arrival <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> undersigned in Chisinau, I
ordered <strong>the</strong> setting up <strong>of</strong> camps and ghettos.”
Ghettos were new for Romania. Therefore, Presidency advisor Stanescu traveled to Warsaw “to study
<strong>the</strong> concentration structure in <strong>the</strong> German quarters and use <strong>the</strong>ir experience.” Warsaw was an excellent