Book on the Righteous - Jevrejska opština Zemun

Righteous Among The Nations - Serbia
Historical Background
8.500 individuals. In June 1941 out of approximately
12.000 Jewish people that had lived in Belgrade up to
the war, the final list of registered Jews counted 9.145
names. The remaining 3.000 never responded to the
German order to register and went into hiding inside
the city or sought shelter by escaping to the interior of
Serbia or territories beyond German authority. 33
In presenting a detailed systematization of all measures
introduced by German occupying authorities in Serbia
(including Banat and Sandžak), J. Romano lists them
into three groups: “a) Measures to destroy Jews economically
including looting and demolition of Jewish
cultural and historical values; b) Measures for mental
impediment …; c) Measures for physical extinction of
Jews - genocide”. 34
The aforementioned activities of occupation authorities
and the engagement of domestic police forces placed
under German command (the formation of the Jewish
police as a division of the Special police) 35 , was a
sinister intimation of the fast approaching physical annihilation
of Serbian Jews by occupying forces. At the
beginning of May, the German military commander for
Serbia issued and order for blocking and seizure of all
Jewish holdings, accounts and other valuables deposited
in banks while at the end of the same month by
“Order No. 7” the military commander proclaimed the
obligatory registration of Jewish property and appropriation
of Jewish shops in the territory of Serbia, Banat
and Sandžak with commissars taking charge (in Serbia
and Banat the commissars were mainly recruited from
volksdeutschers whereas in Novi Pazar from the ranks
of Muslim citizens); furthermore, the Jewish Community
was burdened with a high rate of contributions. 36
An additional “legal regulatory measure” was implemented
by the passing of the “Regulation pertaining
to Jews and Gypsies”, dated May 31, 1941. By the
said Regulation German military authorities publicly
Order for compulsory registration of Jews
proclaimed persons who, in accordance with the “principles”
determined by Nuremberg racial laws, were to
be considered as Jews and ordered to register and be
marked as such; also, to be forbidden employment in
all public services and trades, banned entry into public
places, forbidden to use public means of transportation
and to be stripped of almost all possessions. They were
furthermore compelled to forced labour duty which
was obligatory for men from 14 to 60 years of age and
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