Last Century of a Sephardic Community

Book excerpt: Discusses the history of the final century of the Jewish community of Monastir (now Bitola) in Macedonia, which originated in the Ottoman Empire and ended its days under occupation by Nazi-allied Bulgaria. Ch. 9 (pp. 169-189), "The Holocaust", recounts the nazification of policies toward the Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia, where Nuremberg-like laws and ghettoization were introduced, followed by Aryanization of businesses and robbery by taxation. Registration of all Jewish adults in Bulgaria facilitated deportation which, due to protests by prominent Bulgarian non-Jews, was limited to stateless residents of Bulgarian-occupied territories. Almost all of Monastir's Jews were deported to Treblinka, where 3,276 of them were gassed. The small number who escaped deportation were spared as doctors or foreign nationals. Some Jews managed to flee and join partisan groups. Pp. 203-250 contain a list of names (with addresses, ages, and occupations) of the Jews from Monastir who were killed in Treblinka.