A picture taken in Budapest shows the German Soldier saluting the Hungarian Gendarmes. As stated before the Gendarmes are not soldiers but the equivalent of a Policeman.You can see the special type hats they wore with the bird feathers sticking up.This was taken in Budapest March, 1944.            

The Expulsions and Murders of Summer 1941

Some of the Jews of Marmaros – in general, the wealthier and better established financially - ran around from government office to government office, in order to obtain official documentation proving their citizenship and taxpayer status. In the Budapest offices of the “Bureau for the Protection of the Rights of the Jews of Hungary” (the “Magyar Izraelitak Partfogo Irodaja”, which served all of the social groupings of Hungarian Jewry, Orthodox as well as “Neolog”) there were every day long lines of Jews waiting to get the necessary documents. Included in the crowd were a substantial number of Jews from Marmaros. Many of the applicants camped at the entrance to these offices during the night, in order to insure their turn when the office opened in the morning. And indeed, most of those who put in the efforts were lucky enough to receive the desired citizenship papers.

But very many of the Jews of Marmaros - and it seems that possibly even the majority - did not react to the citizenship decree as to a real and present danger. They did not imagine the satanic scheme which was being woven around this decree. They knew, and “the whole world knew”, that not only they but also their parents and ancestors were born and had died on this land (and of course were in every generation heavily taxed). Many Jews, therefore, did not make the effort to procure the necessary documents for citizenship. The struggle for a loaf of bread, literally speaking, prevented them from thinking along those lines. Many simply did not have the necessary sums of money needed to arrange for the documents.

Employees of the “Central Bureau for the Supervision of Aliens” (“Kulfoldieket Ellenorzo Orszagos Kozponti Hatosag”, or KEOKH) and in particular two especially infamous individuals, Odon Martinides (Martinides Odon) and Dr. Arpad Kisch (both well-known anti-semites) presented a plan for the expulsion of the “Polish and Russian Jews” with the claim that these Jews, whose source of livelihood was taken away by the anti-Jewish legislation in Hungary, would be able to start a new life in Galicia.

The plan was presented in an “innocent” and “humanitarian” manner, which was entirely “for the welfare of the Jews”. In a decree issued by the Lieutenant Governor of the District of Marmaros, Dr. Gabor Itai, on the 8th of July, 1941, it was stated:

“Law No. 12, of the year 1939, concerning the limitation of the role of Jews in communal and economic life, the steps taken to enforce this law and the third antisemitic law, now in preparation, compel and will continue to compel the Jewish residents of the country to relinquish their communal and economic status, in favor of the Hungarians, just as they did in regard to their positions in government service. In the district of Marmaros, where the anti-Jewish laws, among other things, have yet to be enforced, the review of residence-permits reveals that 45,000 Jews still live, who, either they themselves or their parents, smuggled into the district from Galicia, Bukovina and Poland. In the city of Marmaros-Sziget itself, there are more than 10,000 Jews. Strictest enforcement of the anti-Jewish laws, which will commence shortly, will endanger the economic basis of the local Jews. Due to the fact that a large part of Galicia is occupied by the Hungarian army, I urge the Jewish residents of the district, especially those who would like to relocate to Galicia, to fill out the proper forms with the authorities appointed for this purpose: The Mayor of Marmaros-Sziget, or those designated by him and the local rural authorities. I want to point out to all those interested in this idea, that the relocation will be centrally organized and carried out, this being made possible by virtue of the fact that most of the population of the captured territories have either retreated with the Russians, or were exiled by them. Therefore no great difficulties are to be anticipated in relocating the Jews to a new life. The welfare of the Jews themselves dictates their putting an end to their unhinged status in the district, by giving it up and opening a new life on Galician territory, with the aid of the authorities.”

This matter was presented both to the Jews and to the general public as something beneficial both to the Jews and to Hungary. However, the head of KEOKH, Shandor Shimnpalvi, attached secret additional instructions to the decree.

Throughout this book Sefer Maramaros, in many different sections, is described in detail only a very partial “tip of the iceberg” of the outcome of this “humane” Hungarian project. As a result of the carrying out of the Hungarian relocation plan, even at this early stage of the holocaust, a great void was already created in Marmaros Jewry. Entire communities in Marmaros were torn from their very roots, and thousands of Jews were murdered and slaughtered at the hands of the Hungarians. We will not here duplicate and repeat the description of the atrocities perpetrated upon tens of thousands of Marmaros Jews, in the summer and fall of 1941 (5701-5702). (See, among others, the individual articles for the cities and towns of Chust, Iasin, Drahiv, Teresif, Lipsa, Polien-Kabileczky, Igla, Unter-Apsha, Ober-Apsha, Bogdan, Bistina, Brister, Ganice, Dibeve, Volove, Vilhovitz, Vermezif, Zlatarif, Torn, Tecs, Maiden, Nankof, Niagova, Seniver, Kalin, Terneve, and Horints). In a few brief sentences, we will merely summarize some of the outward aspects of this terrible tragedy, which was a harbinger not only of the holocaust of Hungarian Jewry, but was also the beginning of the destruction of Polish Jewry as well.

Picture Of Gendarmes killing Jews

All of the Jews who were to be exiled to Galicia and Poland were brought to an assembly-point in the town of Iasin. From there, they were transported across the border, at the rate of about 1,000 people per day. By the 10th of August 1941, between 18,000 to 20,000 Jews were handed over to the authority of the Hungarian Army.

Picture of murdered Jews

To this day, no one really knows the number of Jews exiled during the summer of 1941. The sources disagree on this point: During the trial of the Hungarian officer Bardushi, the head of the Court mentioned a figure of 30,000 Jews; in an indictment against another officer in the deportations and murders, 18,500 Jews were referred to; a German document presented at the Nurenberg trials, (PS 1197) states the number as 11,000; in the “Pinkasei HaKehillot”, volume Hungary (page 107) is stated that “about 20,000 Jews were deported during this period”. Apparently, the author of “Pinkasei HaKehillot” chose a middle-figure, from among the various sources. It seems, that only He who knows all mysteries really knows the true figure, which will never become known to us. The murderers kept no records, because they were too busy to find the time for them.

The vicious and secret plan was carried out in great haste, the perpetrators doing all in their power to insure that there would be a maximum number of people murdered in as short a time as possible. This was strictly a “Hungarian job”, without any co-ordination with the Germans in the occupied Polish territory. Professor Randolph L. Braham, researcher of the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry, wrote a special monograph on this slaughter, (Collected Researches of Yad Vashem, 9, 1973, pages 111-118). Itai's decree, quoted above, is also published there. Braham states that “the Germans were not ready for the mass expulsion from Hungary. At first, they asked that it be stopped, because they could not handle all those Jews, and they felt that their movement presented a danger to the German transportation lines. But, at a joint German-Hungarian meeting convened on the 25th of August in the city of Vinitza in the Ukraine, with the participation of both military chiefs of staff, there was agreed upon a division of duties, and by the beginning of September, all the deportees from Hungary were to have been wiped out.”

The first and biggest mass-murder was carried out on 27-28 August, 1941 (4-5 Elul 5701), near the city of Kamenetz-Podolsk. In those two days, 23,600 Jews were killed, most of them Hungarian Jews (14,000-16,000) and the rest local Polish Jews. As the researchers of the Holocaust point out, the Kamenetz-Podolsk massacre was the first mass action in the “final Solution” of the Nazis, and the number of its victims reached 5 figures. Eye-witnesses reported that the perpetrators made no effort to hide their deeds from the local population. The Rabbi of Munkacs, Rabbi Baruch Rabinowitz, who was among the deportees (and only by powerful intercession was returned to Hungary), described his path of suffering to a Yad Vashem interviewer; This interview was recorded and transcribed and is found in the Yad Vashem Archives (03/3822).

Rabbi Rabinowitz suggested the possibility that the Nazis purposely did not hide their actions, in order to test the reaction of the Allies. And when this reaction failed to come - as is known to all of us - those in charge of the killings concluded (and to our sorrow, rightly so) that Jewish blood is free for the shedding, there being no one to protect or to avenge its spilling. Those responsible for the annihilation of the Jewish People continued to carry out the slaughter with even greater vigor and according to the detailed plan of the “final solution”.

Not all the deported Hungarian Jews - and the Jews of Marmaros among them - reached Kamenetz-Podolsk. The great majority of them were, however, brought to this city's ghetto, which was being erected in the summer of 1941. Before gathering the Jews into the ghetto, the Jews of Hungary were spread out among the Jews of Kamanetz-Podolsk and the nearby towns. As the survivors relate, the Hungarian Jews were received with open arms and the local Jews shared their meager bread-crusts and their living-quarters with them. The public buildings as well, synagogues and schools were made available to the deportees by the local Polish Jews.

When the ghetto was established, tens of thousands of Jews from the city and the entire area were concentrated there. The Hungarian Jews were also placed in the ghetto. As was already stated, the overwhelming majority of the Jews of the ghetto were murdered at the end of August, 1941. This was done slyly. They were told that it was decided to remove the Jews from Kamenetz-Podolsk and that they have to be taken elsewhere. Surrounded by Hungarian soldiers from the pioneer unit, German S.S. men, and Ukrainian troops, they were led 15 kilometers on foot over an area strewn with bomb-craters. They were commanded to undress and group by group were placed into the cross-fire of machine-guns. Many were buried alive.

The Jews of Marmaros who reached other parts of Galicia, their path of suffering bathed in blood, reached several of the concentration centers and ghettos of the Jews of Poland. The largest group, it seems, reached the Stanislav ghetto. The first slaughter there was carried out on the night of Hoshana Raba 5702 (October 11, 1941). Here also, many thousands were murdered and among them about 2,000 Hungarian Jews. Smaller groups were brought to the ghettos of Kolomea, Horodenka, Tarnopol, and others. Their fate was the same as the fate of the Jews of Galicia.

This shocking crime was thus the result of “fruitful” cooperation on the part of 3 nationalities of “enlightened” Europe - Hungarians, Germans and Ukrainians - but the prize in this case goes to the Hungarian People. They were the “pioneer” and initiator of these acts of genocide, this “opening act” of the murder of the Jewish People of Europe. After 4 years of carnage, the casualty figures reached the staggering number of over 5 million souls. To this Hungarian Nation, descendants of the “glorious” blood-thirsty Huns, it would be proper to award the “honor” given by the Torah to the nation of Amalek, which was also “the first one to start up” with the People of Israel - “Write this down in the record, as a testament”…

How did the deportees arrive at the destinations established by the murderers for their destruction? It seems that the number of routes were as many as the number of trainloads of deportees. Each shipment seems to have had its own fate, and within the groups each individual had his own fate. In the descriptions of the horror which are written in the book Sefer Maramaros itself, (such as under the entries for Iasin, Polien-Kablitzky, etc.) we describe how individuals who were at the brink of the abyss, and even somewhat beyond the brink - Divine Providence intervened and commanded that they live. There were trainloads of deportees which were taken directly by truck from Iasin to the Dniester River and even beyond, a distance of hundreds of kilometers. There were other shipments which were driven only to the area of Diatin, the first town across the border and from there did a long forced march on foot.

In the testimonies of survivors which we have read, a number of routes appear in this trail of suffering. We will mention three:

1. The route whose final destination was Kamenetz-Podolsk, in the tale of Moshe Deutsch from Teresif, which was: They were driven by trucks until Diatin (east of Iasin) and from there on, they were marced on foot – first east in the direction of Kolomea, then northeast to the sity of Horodenka and to the Dniester River at the city of Burschov near Uziran and the city of Chertkov and from there east, to the city of Kamenetz-Podolsk.

    

2. The route of Zvi Herman Smilovitch from Kalin and his group, whose destination was the city of Stanislav, who were also driven only to Diatin and from there were force-marched eastward to Horodenka, but from here were turned west to Kolomea, from there again a change of direction and this time northward to the city of Kalish and from there a sharp turn south-east in the direction of Stanislav near which most of this group was murdered. There were many zig-zags on this route and it was characterized by non-purposeful marching with no goal except to torture the marchers, to tire them, break them and cause them untold agony and pain.

    

3. The route of the group in the tale of Ilona Gertler-Deutsch, also very similar to the previous one, was also punctuated by many about-faces in different and opposing directions and it can clearly be seen that its only purpose was to torture the Jews and to cause them much suffering.

We have not yet mentioned how the marchers were treated as they trudged along this path of suffering, engulfed by death and murder at every step. A small fraction of this is written about and described in the book Sefer Maramaros under some of the entries already mentioned.

Reports and rumors about the murders in Poland began to sift back into Hungary by various means. Hungarian soldiers returned to their homes and spread the information. Here is the place to note that some of the Hungarian soldiers refused to take part in the killing. It is stated in one of the sources quoted by Braham (p. 117), “They were upset by the murder of men, women and children by machinegun fire and expressed their feelings in letters home or in reports given during furloughs”.

Neither did the few Jews who succeeded in escaping from Galicia and returning to Hungary rest or remain quiet upon their return. Headed by the Rabbi of Munkacs (one of the leading Chassidic Rabbis of Hungary and the Rabbi of one of the largest and most important communities of that generation), the returnees gave first-hand reports to individuals in the Jewish leadership of Budapest on the events which had occurred during the “relocation” to Galicia.

One of these escapees, a Jew named Stern, was made a member of a delegation from the “Bureau for the Protection of the Rights of the Jews” that visited the Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Franz Krestuh-Fisher, who was responsible for the Office of the Supervision of Aliens (KEOKH).

One of the great paradoxes in this tragedy was the fact that the Minister of the Interior of the government of Hungary, who bore the ministerial responsibility for the crimes of the Hungarians in Poland, was himself a decent man and one of the great liberals in the government of Hungarian regent Miklosh Horthy. (Krestch-Fisher was arrested in March, 1944 with the German occupation and was sent to the concentration-camp Mathausen. He died in Austria in 1948.) The Minister was greatly moved by what he heard. He didn't even let Stern finish his story. “I've heard enough!”, he said. Immediately he issued a strict order to the head of KEOKH to stop the deportations. And in fact because of his orders, 7 trains that had made their way to the border were forced to return, two of them already having reached Iasin. But even after the order of the Minister of the Interior, Hungarian Jews were still killed, because his order was only valid within the borders of Hungary. What happened beyond the border was under the jurisdiction of the military authorities and sometimes not even they had control of the situation, as the commander of each military unit did as he pleased within the occupied area under his command.

The Rabbi of Munkacs also told his interviewer: “In Hungary they did a lot for me, until I received permission to return. But the permission was given by the Ministry of the Interior and the army did not recognize it, so I had to smuggle myself across the border”. Nevertheless, the Hungarian Minister of the Interior's order saved thousands of Jews in Hungary and in Marmaros from deportation, from horrible suffering and from terrible deaths - until their fate was sealed in the spring of 1944.

       Munkacs Ghetto

The various figures concerning the deportations during the summer of 1941 from Hungary as a whole were quoted above. What was the number of the Jews of Marmaros that were caught up in these deportations? This also, no one knows – it seems that no one has tried to investigate the number of deportees from Marmaros in particular. It seems that this figure, as well, will remain hidden from us. Only He who knows all mysteries knows this.

Nevertheless, we have tried to arrive at an estimate as close to the truth as possible, given the facts and records at our disposal. If we had reliable statistics of the deportations from each town in Marmaros, we would then have been able to add them all together and reach a final sum. But unfortunately, this is not the case. Only concerning a few small towns do we have an accurate figure as to the number of deportees, such as: Unter-Apsha (271), Bilvaritz (120), Brister (134), Harisof (15), Trebusan (103), Nankif (55), Niagova (68), Negreviz (65), Sadeh-Lavan (107) and several other small towns. In most of the towns, either estimated numbers were given by survivors, or simply “tens”, “hundreds”, etc. For many towns, we only know that in fact deportations were made from the particular town, but we do not even have a raw estimate at to how many individuals were deported.

Professor Braham estimates that approximately 2,000 Jews escaped and slipped back into Hungary in various ways. If this number is correct, it seems that the Marmaros Jews who did this numbered about 1,000 souls.

As a result of the deportation decree, a number of the Jewish communities in several towns of Marmaros were completely uprooted. In a substantial number of places, the Hungarian gendarmes who carried out the deportation paid no attention to the documents proving Hungarian citizenship. Without any distinction, they placed any Jews they could find on the trucks. It seems that this generally happened in tiny villages where there was no government representative, not even a notary, nor any local government office. These tiny settlements, “beyond the dark mountains”, were exposed to the cruel whims and wild attacks of the infamous Hungarian gendarmerie. In bigger towns, where there were local and district government offices, the deportations were carried out according to previously prepared lists which did not include the names of Jews who had properly arranged their documents. But even in those larger towns there were cases where the local government initiated the deportation of certain Jews whom that local government was interested in deporting for reasons of their own. There were many such instances, probably several hundreds. From a geographical point of view, the deportations were especially cruel in the settlements in the areas near the villages Volovo, Maidan, Torn, and in the towns of “Dibever Rika”.

In the Romanian sector of Marmaros, the deportation affected Kretsnif, where about half of the Jews were deported, while in other places only a few individuals were deported. Probably this southern section of Marmaros was left for stage “B”, after the operation had been completed in the Czech sector. But, as previously mentioned, in the middle of August 1941 the decree was rescinded and the deportations were stopped, although only afterwards did the systematic murders begin across the border. Within two months almost all the deportees had been murdered.

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