Selected text
However, on March 27, 1941, the Tripartite Pact, which
Yugoslavia had signed, was dissolved, and on April 6 the Germans began a
surprise bombing campaign in Belgrade. We were on Jovanov Street, in
Dorcol. The Germans bombed that Jewish neighborhood especially hard. We
fled to a village near Belgrade. When the bombing was over, we returned
home, took the necessary things and naively headed toward Thessaloniki on
foot. However, we did not even manage to reach Mladenovac, 50 kilometers
south of Belgrade, before Yugoslavia capitulated, and the army
disintegrated. I saw with my own eyes how the army fell apart, gave over
the weapons and was captured. When we arrived in Belgrade the Germans were
already there and immediately began a census of the Jews in the Pozarna
command. They made lists, and everyone had to wear a yellow band and go to
work cleaning the city, which was destroyed by the German bombing. It was
clear what was going to happen so we decided to go to our uncle's home in
Tuzla, thinking it would be better there because it was part of the
Independent State of Croatia. My older sister, Ina, remained in Serbia with
her husband.
In Tuzla, the first few months were relatively calm. Then they started to
make us register as well. They took us into forced labor in German
garrisons, to a distant village where there was a sawmill, and we loaded
planks and the like. When the partisan movement began, the repression
started in earnest. Every day we read announcements about which Serbian
partisan villages had been burned down and who had been killed.
Yugoslavia had signed, was dissolved, and on April 6 the Germans began a
surprise bombing campaign in Belgrade. We were on Jovanov Street, in
Dorcol. The Germans bombed that Jewish neighborhood especially hard. We
fled to a village near Belgrade. When the bombing was over, we returned
home, took the necessary things and naively headed toward Thessaloniki on
foot. However, we did not even manage to reach Mladenovac, 50 kilometers
south of Belgrade, before Yugoslavia capitulated, and the army
disintegrated. I saw with my own eyes how the army fell apart, gave over
the weapons and was captured. When we arrived in Belgrade the Germans were
already there and immediately began a census of the Jews in the Pozarna
command. They made lists, and everyone had to wear a yellow band and go to
work cleaning the city, which was destroyed by the German bombing. It was
clear what was going to happen so we decided to go to our uncle's home in
Tuzla, thinking it would be better there because it was part of the
Independent State of Croatia. My older sister, Ina, remained in Serbia with
her husband.
In Tuzla, the first few months were relatively calm. Then they started to
make us register as well. They took us into forced labor in German
garrisons, to a distant village where there was a sawmill, and we loaded
planks and the like. When the partisan movement began, the repression
started in earnest. Every day we read announcements about which Serbian
partisan villages had been burned down and who had been killed.
Period
Year
1941
Interview
Cadik Danon