The Kishinev ghetto, 1941-1942 : a documentary history of the Holocaust in Romania's contested borderlands / Paul A. Shapiro ; with chronology by Radu Ioanid and Brewster Chamberlin ; document translations by Angela Jianu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapiro, Paul A., author.

Contributor:

Ioanid, Radu, contributor.

Chamberlin, Brewster S., contributor.

Jianu, Angela, translator.

Language:

English

Romanian

Subjects (All):

Jews--Persecutions--Moldova--Chișinău--History--20th century.

Jews.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Moldova--Chișinău.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Jews--Persecutions.

History.

Chișinău (Moldova)--Ethnic relations.

Chișinău (Moldova).

Ethnic relations.

Moldova--Chișinău.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 262 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2015]

Summary:

"The Kishinev Ghetto, 1941-1942 sheds new light on the little-known historical events surrounding the creation, administration, and liquidation of the Kishinev (Chisinau) ghetto during the first months following the Axis attack on the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in late June 1941. Mass killings during the combined Romanian-German drive toward Kishinev in Bessarabia, after a year of Soviet rule in this Romanian border province, were followed by the shooting of thousands of Jews on the streets of the city during the first days of reestablished Romanian administration. Survivors were driven into a ghetto, persecuted, and liquidated by year's end. The Kishinev Ghetto, 1941-1942 is the first major study of these events. Often overshadowed by events in Germany and Poland, the history of the Holocaust in Romania, including what took place in Bessarabia (corresponding in large part with the territory of the modern Republic of Moldova), was obscured during decades of communist rule, denial, and policies that blocked access to wartime documentation. This book is the result of a lengthy research project that began with Paul A. Shapiro's travels to Romania for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to negotiate access to these documents."-- Provided by publisher.

"The Kishinev Ghetto, 1941-1942 offers a wealth of primary sources and insightful commentary about the little-known slaughter of Jewish residents of Kishinev (Chisinau) under the military occupation of Romania by Marshal Ion Antonescu, a Hitler ally"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Chisinau (Kishinev) Ghetto, 1941-1942: Creation, Administration, Liquidation / Paul A. Shapiro Shapiro, Paul A. 1

Prologue: Documenting the Tragedy 1

Chisinau Reoccupied 6

"Curatirea Terenului": Cleansing the Terrain 9

Chisinau Ghetto: Creation and Administration 14

Population of the Ghetto 24

The Massacres of Visterniceni and Ghidighici 27

Control of Ghetto Access and Egress 30

Escapes 43

Forced Labor 49

Deportation Orders 51

Final Preparations, Final Appeals 57

Liquidation of the Chisinau Ghetto 64

The Final Extortion: Corruption from the Top Down 70

The Aftermath 74

"Organized Plunder" Theft of Jewish Property and State Confiscations 77

Cleaning Up: Final Acts and Final Inhumanities, 1942 80

The End: Transnistria 86

Notes 90

Chronology of the Chisinau Ghetto and the Romanian Occupation of Bessarabia, 1941-1942 / Radu Ioanid Ioanid, Radu, Brewster Chamberlin Chamberlin, Brewster 129

The Documents

1 Inspector General of the Gendarmerie C. Z. Vasiliu, Order No. 37.519/1941, June 1941[surveillance of Jews] 141

2 Secret Report No. 954 of July 11,1941, Plan for Removal of the Jewish Element from Bessarabian Territory, from Lt. Col. Alexandru Ionescu, Bureau II, to Dacia 1, Section 2 142

3 Undated postwar eyewitness testimony of Marian Michael [wild killings, ghetto, deportations] 145

4 Directive No. 99 of July 28 (or 29/illegible), 1941, Governor Voiculescu to Chisinau Municipal Police [forced labor] 147

5 Secret telegram "Patria" [codeword for Ion Antonescu] to Governor Voiculescu, with Order No. 789 of August 5,1941 [forced labor of women] 148

6 Copy, receipt dated August 8, of the General Staff Headquarters Order No. 3303 of August 7,1941 [Star of David] 149

7 Report No. 1053 of August 12,1941, from D. Tudose, Garrison Commander of Chisinau, to Leadership and Administration of Bessarabia (Voiculescu) [creation of ghetto] 151

8 Communiqué No. 931 of August 28, 1941, from Governor's Chief of Staff, S. Atanasiu, to the Secretary-General of Public Works, Chisinau, with a copy of Report 2555 of August 20, 1941, from the Prefect of Lapusna County to Governor Voiculescu [forced labor] 152

9 Report No. 2061 of August 29, 1941, from D. Tudose, Garrison Commander of Chisinau, to the Administration of Bessarabia (Voiculescu) [reduction in perimeter of ghetto] 154

10 "Note" of September 7, 1941, from Gen. loan Topor [directives for liquidation of Vertujeni camp] 155

11 Undated "Information Note" signed by Tcacenco [Committee for Aid to Jews] 156

12 Letter No. 102 of September 11,1941, from the Jewish Ghetto Committee to the Garrison Commander of Chisinau [Jewish High Holiday observance] 158

13 Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate Counterintelligence Bulletin for September 10-20, 1941 [conditions in the ghetto] 159

14 Report No. 5915-S[ecret] of September 29, 1941, from Chisinau Police Station to Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate [conditions in the ghetto] 160

15 Note No. 8507 of October 5,1941, from Col. R. Davidescu, Chief of the Military Cabinet, to the Governors of Bukovina and Bessarabia [exchange of currency, jewels, and precious metals owned by Jews] 162

16 Report No. 10 of October 8,1941, Commissar of the Police Unit of the Ghetto to Chief of Chisinau Police [October 8 deportation] 163

17 Communiqué No. 4763 of October 9, 1941, from Chismau Garrison Commander Dumitrescu to Government of Bessarabia (Voiculescu) [appeals of the Jewish Ghetto Committee to Ion Antonescu and others] 165

18 Appeal from the President of the Jewish Ghetto Committee, G. Landau, to Ion Antonescu, undated, but October 7, 1941 166

19 Letter No. 1347 of October 9, 1941, from W. Filderman, President of the Federation of the Union of Jewish Communities, to Ion Antonescu 167

20 Communiqué No. 2830 of October 10, 1941, from Chisinau Gendarmerie Inspector Meculescu to Gendarmerie Legions at Cahul, Chilia, (Ismail,) Orhei, and the 23rd and 82nd Police Companies, transmitting "Instructions relating to the evacuation of the Jews of the Chisinau ghetto and of Southern Bessarabia" 169

21 Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate Counterintelligence Bulletin for October 1-10,1941 [deportations] 175

22 Order No. 368-C of October 10, 1941, from Voiculescu to all Prefectures, the Bessarabia Gendarmerie Inspectorate, the Chisinau Police Inspectorate, and the Chisinau Military Command ["cleansing the terrain"] 176

23 Report No. 6951 of October 11, 1941, from the Chisinau Police Station/ Siguranta to the Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate [rumors and nervousness in the ghetto] 177

24 Letter No. 1356 of October 11, 1941, from W. Filderman, President of the Federation of the Union of Jewish Communities, to Ion Antonescu 179

25 Communiqué No. 6991 of October 15, 1941, from Chisinau Police Station/Siguranta to the Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate [Baptized Jews] 181

26 Letter No. 1387 of October 18, 1941, from W. Filderman, President of the Federation of the Union of Jewish Communities, to Ion Antonescu 182

27 Open Letter of October 19, 1941, from Ion Antonescu to W. Filderman, President of the Federation of the Union of Jewish Communities 185

28 Communiqué No. 3363 of October 21, 1941, from the Chisinau Gendarmerie Inspectorate to the Government of Bessarabia and Chisinau Military Command [supply of carts] 188

29 Report No. 38 of October 22, 1941, from M. loan Paraschivescu, 23rd Police Company, to Chisinau Garrison Commander [seizure of currency, jewelry, and precious metals during deportation] 189

30 Letter of October 25, 1941, from W. Filderman, President of the Federation of the Union of Jewish Communities, to Ion Antonescu 191

31 Report No. 6178 of October 31, 1941, from Chismau Garrison Commander Dumitrescu to the Government of Bessarabia [number of Jews deported] 194

32 Report No. 6167 [?-report number partially illegible] of October 31, 1941, from Chisinau Garrison Commander Dumitrescu to the Government of Bessarabia [deportation of orphans] 195

33 Report No. 2108 of November 4, 1941, from United States Minister to Romania Franklin Mott Gunther to Secretary of State [deportations] 196

34 Communiqué No. 733-C of November 18, 1941, from Governor Voiculescu to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers [Jews still in Bessarabia] 201

35 Summary Report of Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Ovidiu Vladescu to Ion Antonescu, December 1, 1941 [establishment of a commission of inquiry] 202

36 "Note," undated, signed by Directorate of Romanianization official D. Giurgiuvanu [difficulty inspecting seized property] 204

37 Report Nr. 831/C of December 2, 1941, from Governor Voiculescu to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers [administration of the ghetto] 205

38 Memorandum on Fact-Finding Trip to Bessarabia and Bukovina, November 24-28,1941, attachment to summary report submitted by Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Ovidiu Vladescu to Ion Antonescu, December 1, 1941 [preliminary findings of irregularities] 208

39 Memorandum on the Jewish Question in Bessarabia ["Voiculescu Memorandum"], written after November 22, 1941, and submitted by Governor Voiculescu to Ion Antonescu on December 2,1941 210

40 Minutes of the Discussion on the Inquiry Report from Chisinau, Council of Ministers, Session of December 4, 1941 219

41 Report of December 9, 1941, from Inspector General of the Gendarmerie C. Z. Vasiliu [number of Jews deported and their location in Transnistria] 227

42 Declaration of Lt. Augustin Rosea, December 23, 1941 [description of deportation and "Alexianu" order] 228

43 Inquiry Report of the Commission Created Upon the Order of Marshal Ion Antonescu, State Leader, for the Investigation of Irregularities in the Chisinau Ghetto ["Inquiry Report 1"], January 1942 230

44 Inquiry Report No. 2 of the Commission Created Upon the Order of Marshal Ion Antonescu, State Leader, for the Investigation of Irregularities in the Chisinau Ghetto ["Inquiry Report 2"], January 1942 246

45 Communiqué No. 2141 of March 17, 1942, from Governor Voiculescu to Presidency of the Council of Ministers [request to reinitiate deportations] 249

46 Communiqué No.

4079 of May 6, 1942, from Chisinau Gendarmerie Inspector Meculescu to Government of Bessarabia [plan for reinitiation of deportations] 250

47 Report by Senior Physician Dr. loan Pascaly [alternate spelling Pasclay and Dr. Celan Eudochim], May 20, 1942 [deportation of hospital patients] 253

48 Report by Maj. Gheorghe Vartic, Commander of the Lapusna Legion of Gendarmes, undated [May 20, 1942 deportation] 254

49 Report No. 8391 of June 3, 1942, from the Chisinau Regional Police Inspectorate to Voiculescu [deportation of mental hospital patients] 256.

Notes:

"Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum".

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780817318642

081731864X

9780817388126

0817388125

OCLC:

896602589