75th anniversary of the Holocaust of Macedonian Jews


Today and tomorrow, with many events in Skopje, Bitola and Stip, the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust of Macedonian Jews in World War II will be marked. The organizers of the events are the Jewish Community in the Republic of Macedonia and the Holocaust Fund of the Jews of Macedonia, and under the auspices of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

As the government press service informs, the two-day commemorative program will begin today in Bitola, where the reception will be held with the mayor of Bitola Natasa Petrovska, laying flowers in front of the monument of the deported Jews from Bitola and the monument of the national hero Estreja Ovadija-Mara.
A government delegation led by the Minister of Culture Robert Alagjozovski will accompany the commemorative activities in Bitola, accompanied by the Ministers of Transport and Communications and Information Society and Administration Goran Sugareski and Damjan Mancevski and the State Secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Viktor Dimovski.
In Bitola, a symbolic Marsh of the living is scheduled, starting from the plateau of the Health Center “Haim Abravanel” to the railway station where the “festive farewell” will be symbolically marked, and a prayer will be held at the Jewish cemetery (Kadish) and the opening of the Jerusalem path. The commemorative activities in Bitola will end with the opening of the exhibition “Diplomat Righteous Among the Nations” at the Museum of the City of Bitola.

Within the commemorative program in memory of the deported Jews from Stip, there will be reception with the Mayor Blagoj Bocvarski, laying flowers in front of the monument of the deported Jews from Stip and the Jewish cemetery in Stip. A government delegation led by Minister of Health Venko Filipce and State Secretary of the Ministry of Health Vlado Milosev will attend Stip.

A commemorative evening will be held at the Macedonian Philharmonic in Skopje with a concert of open type. The event will include addresses by President Gjorge Ivanov, the Deputy Minister of State of Israel Elijah Ben-Dahan, the representative of the American Jewish Committee and the representative of the OSCE Chairman of the Anti-Semitism Committee Rabin Andrew Baker and the President of the Jewish Community in Macedonia Berta Romano Nikolic.
The commemorative program will continue on Monday in Skopje with the symbolic Marsh of the Living, which will begin at the Museum of the City of Skopje and will end at the Imperial Tobacco TCS or the former Monopoly, where the Macedonian Jews were deported. After laying flowers at the monument of 7,144 Macedonian Jews, addresses are given by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the President of the Jewish Community in Macedonia Berta Romano Nikolic. After the march, the delegations will head to the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, where a commemorative session is envisaged.
During the Second World War, 7,114 Jews were deported from Macedonia and were taken to the Treblinka death camp in occupied Poland. The gathering of Jews from several cities throughout Macedonia began on the night between 10 and 11 March 1943, after which they were brought to Skopje in the Monopoly building. The transport of the Jews from Macedonia began on March 22, 1943, and until March 29 the same year all Macedonian Jews were deported to Treblinka, from where no one returned.

On the eve of the commemoration, on March 5, 2018 the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia adopted the Declaration dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Jews from Macedonia. On March 6, the government adopted the working definition of the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance to Combat Anti-Semitism.