Suchergebnisse

Nazi Germany, which invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, and then occupied it, had in its conquest plan the physical destruction of the Serbian and Jewish people. The German occupier began realizing the plan of destroying the Serbian and Jewish people immediately from the earliest days of the occupation. A total of 16,000 Serbian Jews lived in pre-war Serbia. Most Jews lived in Belgrade, about 12,000, while the rest lived in the above cities and settlements. During World War II, about 14,500 Serbian Jews were killed, or 90% of the total number who lived on the territory of Serbia. Also, more than 90% of the total Belgrade Jews perished. As few as 1,115 Belgrade Jews survived. The surviving Jews managed to hide in other places and villages in the heartland of Serbia, or few joined the partisan detachments. The annihilation of the Jews by the German occupier was part of the "final solution to the Jewish question" implemented throughout occupied Europe. Male adult Jews, but also women and children were killed in the Sajmište camp and in gas vans, which were specially made and brought from Germany. The shootings of Jews were carried out by the Gestapo, SS units and units of the German Wehrmacht army. Members of the Serbian special police as well as the armed detachments of Nedić's "Government of National Salvation" took part in the annihilation of Serbian Jews, primarily in raids and arrests. Then, they handed over the arrested Jews to the German authorities, who killed them in various ways. Serbian Nedić's special police also formed a special 7th subdivision in charge of Jews and Roma. The German occupation authorities did not have complete lists of Jews in Serbia who should be arrested. Here they were wholeheartedly aided by Serbian special police and Nedić's armed forces. Many Serbian Jews had changed their names and surnames to Serbian decades before. However, the special police were aware of that and delivered those names to the German occupier and arrested them and later killed them at Sajmište ...