Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the tragic deportation of 7,144 Macedonian Jews to the Nazi extermination camp Treblinka, a dark chapter in Holocaust history. The Jewish community in North Macedonia, together with the Holocaust Fund of the Jews of Macedonia, organized commemorative events to honor the victims and remember the atrocities that took place in 1943.
Prime Minister Kristijan Mickoski will lay flowers today at the memorial at the former Monopol building in Skopje and deliver a speech dedicated to remembering Macedonian Jews. Accompanying him, a parliamentary delegation led by MPs Ljupcho Prendzhov, Dafina Stojanoska, and Daniela Nikolova will pay tribute at several historic sites, including the Monument to Deported Jews, the Monument to Fallen Partisans at the Jewish Cemetery, and the City Cemetery in Butel.
Yesterday, President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova visited the Treblinka Memorial Complex in Poland, where she laid a wreath in honor of the 7,144 Macedonian Jews who fell victim to the senseless policies of the Nazi regime.
Earlier, a parliamentary delegation led by Deputy Speaker Vesna Bendevska laid flowers at the “Stone Menorah” monument and the monument of Estreja Ovadija-Mara in Bitola, continuing the remembrance of this tragedy.
On the night of March 10–11, 1943, Jews from Bitola, Štip, and Skopje were gathered at the Monopol in Skopje before being deported in three transports to Treblinka in occupied Poland. The first transport left on March 22, and by March 29, all Macedonian Jews had been deported – none survived.
In just 14 months, from August 1942 to September 1943, approximately 925,000 people perished at Treblinka, including the 7,144 Macedonian Jews. Their deaths bear witness to the brutality of the Nazi regime and underscore the enduring importance of remembering and honoring the victims.
