Skopje, 11 March 2024 (MIA) - The Jewish Community in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Holocaust Fund of the Macedonian Jews are commemorating Monday the 81st anniversary of the Holocaust of 7,144 Macedonian Jews, who were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp from Skopje, Bitola, and Shtip on March 11, 1943.

The central commemorative event, paying tribute to the 7,144 deported Jews from the country, will be held at the monument to the deported Macedonian Jews in Skopje.

President Stevo Pendarovski, caretaker Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi, Jewish Community President Pepo Levi, and the Israeli Ambassador to North Macedonia, Simona Frankel, are set to lay flowers and address the commemorative event.

Numerous delegations will then pay their respects at the monument of the deported Jews from Macedonia and at the monument of WWII fallen fighters at the Skopje-based Butel cemetery.

President Pendarovski will address the commemorative event Monday evening that will take place at the Holocaust Memorial Center, honoring the country’s deported Jews.

Jewish Community President Pepo Levi and German Federal Government Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin, are also set to address the event.

Through a “Procession of the Living”, the Municipality of Bitola, the Jewish Community in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Holocaust Fund of the Jews of North Macedonia marked on Sunday 81 years since the Holocaust of the country’s Jews.

Culture Minister Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska; MPs Marija Kochovska, Olga Lozanovska and Silvana Angelevska; the German Ambassador to North Macedonia, Petra Drexler; and Bitola Mayor Toni Konjanovski, laid flowers at the Monument to the Deported Jews in Bitola and the monument to Haim Estreya Ovadya.

Moreover, Shtip marked on Sunday 81 years since the deportation of the Macedonian Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. A commemorative session at the Municipality was attended by the Israeli Ambassador to North Macedonia, Simona Frankel, the Mayor of the Municipality of Shtip, Ivan Jordan, representatives of the Jewish community, as well as MPs and delegations from institutions.

As part of the commemorative events, a “Procession of the Living” was held from the building of the Municipality of Shtip to the monument of the Jews deported from Shtip. The Israeli Ambassador and other delegations paid a visit to Shtip’s Jewish Cemetery as well.

On March 11, 1943, 7,144 Macedonian Jews from Skopje, Bitola and Shtip were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp, which is one of the highest percentages of deported Jews in the world relative to the total population (98 percent).
Photo: MIA archive